"How reliable is the 2021 Volkswagen Passat?"

"Based on 26 NHTSA complaints, the 2021 Volkswagen Passat has a median complaint mileage of 5000 miles. The most common issue is Service Brakes."

"What are common problems with the 2021 Volkswagen Passat?"

"The most frequently reported component in NHTSA complaints for the 2021 Volkswagen Passat is Service Brakes, accounting for a significant portion of the 26 total complaints filed."

2021 Volkswagen Passat: Reliability Data

Source: NHTSA — 26 complaints

Total Complaints

5,000mi

Median Mileage

Service Brakes

Top Issue

Crash Reports

When Do Complaints Happen?

Distribution of NHTSA complaints by vehicle mileage at time of report.

100 25th Percentile

5,000 Median Mileage

27,232 75th Percentile

What Fails?

Most reported component issues from NHTSA complaints.

Service Brakes

Assist

Air Bags

Steering

Electrical System

Exterior Lighting

Automatic Steering

Sidewall

Unknown Or Other

Body

Severity Assessment

Crashes

Fires

Injuries

Deaths

Sample Complaint Reports

"VW Lane Assist is on when the vehicle is turned on. It must be turned off by the driver which I forget to do. Driving on country two lanes I've encountered joggers, bikers in the designated bike lane, service vehicles on the right shoulder. When I give them some extra room to avoid them the Active L..."

"The assisted lane control is working terribly on my car and cannot be turned off permanently. The take over steering must be turned off before I drive the car every single time. It does not work properly. Last week I went to steer around a pothole and almost went in the ditch because the steering..."

Source: NHTSA ODI Complaints Database. Names and identifying details omitted.

When Were Complaints Filed?

Number of complaints by the year the issue occurred.

Where Are Complaints Coming From?

Top states by complaint count.

TX: 5 MI: 4 CA: 4 MA: 3 NY: 2 FL: 2 OH: 1 NC: 1 TN: 1 IA: 1

Volkswagen Passat — Other Years

See how this model compares across different model years.

Year	Complaints	Median Mileage	Top Issue	Crashes
1990	50	179,000	Engine	0
1991	30	-	Electrical Heating Element	0
1992	60	-	Engine	4
1993	90	107,387	Heater Core	8
1994	36	-	Antilock/Traction Control/Electronic Limited Slip	0
1995	142	153,015	Gasoline	4
1996	48	84,200	Switch	0
1997	57	98,500	Heater Core	1
1998	476	80,000	Control Arm	7
1999	854	75,959	Control Unit/Module	15
2000	625	69,950	Antilock/Traction Control/Electronic Limited Slip	13
2001	557	58,100	Engine	20
2002	772	50,000	Ignition	15
2003	815	57,665	Fuel Pump	18
2004	348	68,000	Engine And Engine Cooling	12
2005	172	71,000	Engine And Engine Cooling	9
2006	779	63,000	Air Bags	24
2007	340	75,000	Air Bags	7
2008	240	92,000	Fuel/Propulsion System	3
2009	209	75,000	Engine	9
2010	226	71,500	Air Bags	7
2011	27	75,000	Engine	5
2012	658	57,500	Air Bags	15
2013	1023	50,000	Air Bags	43
2014	776	45,100	Air Bags	34
2015	388	47,000	Air Bags	19
2016	175	37,000	Electrical System	9
2017	173	24,200	Air Bags	13
2018	62	40,235	Service Brakes	8
2020	24	2,000	Engine	2

Data source: View this vehicle on NHTSA.gov | NHTSA ODI Complaints Database. Public domain.

Methodology: Complaint counts and mileage distributions are computed directly from consumer-reported NHTSA complaints. This data represents reported issues, not failure rates — vehicles without complaints are not represented. Full methodology.

Data through: 2026-03-28