There are 7 owner-reported engine complaints for the 2013 Volkswagen Golfin NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
Misfiring after cold starts. After driving the car in freezing temperatures, problem sometimes happens when the car is allowed to sit and water in the intercooler melts. It may start fine, but then starts misfiring when pulling into traffic and creates dangerous merges. Misfire goes away in the first 30 seconds to 2 minutes or so of starting the vehicle. Several dealer complaints but they have so far refused to install their own TSB repair under warranty. The most recent dealer visit had them replace the anti-shudder valve. The problem reoccurred two days later.
Car shut off while driving on the freeway at a high rate of speed. EPS and Check Engine light came on. Luckily was able to pull over without hurting anyone. Local repair shop said it is the timing chain system.
THE PROBLEM STARTED ABOUT THREE MONTHS AGO WHEN MY CAR HAD 50K MI. RIGHT AFTER IT HAD BEEN SERVICED BY THE DEALER. INITIALLY, THE YELLOW ENGINE LIGHT WOULD COME ON OCCASIONALLY (E.G. ON IN THE MORNING AND THEN OFF IN THE AFTERNOON). NOW THE YELLOW ENGINE LIGHT IS STEADY ON AND THE ENGINE MAKES SOME WEIRD NOISE WHEN STARTING. THE FAULT CODE P2015 (FROM OBD-II DIAGNOSTIC SET) INDICATES THAT THERE IS AN INTAKE MANIFOLD FAILURE. THE INTAKE MANIFOLD IS MAKING AN UNUSUAL RATTLING NOISE WHEN THE ENGINE IS RUNNING IDLE AND FUEL PERFORMANCE HAS BEEN AFFECTED. THE CAR USED TO RUN 27.5 MPG AND NOW IT IS RUNNING ABOUT 24 MPG ON AVERAGE. SOME OF THE FORUMS AND INTERNET SITES THAT I VISITED SAID THAT THIS PROBLEM OCCURS SO FREQUENTLY ON THE 2.0T TSI ENGINE USED ON VW GTI AND AUDI A3 BETWEEN 2009 AND 2015 THAT VW EXTENDED THE WARRANTY FOR THIS PART TO 120K MI. OR 5 YRS. (WHICHEVER COMES FIRST). HOWEVER, WHEN I TOOK MY CAR TO THE LOCAL DEALER THE MECHANIC SAID THAT, AFTER CHECKING THE VIN, THIS RECALL/WARRANTY DOES NOT APPLY TO MY CAR. PEOPLE ON THE INTERNET SAYS OTHERWISE AND TOLD ME TO TRY ANOTHER DEALER. UNFORTUNATELY, THERE IS NO OTHER DEALER NEARBY. THE LOCAL DEALER WANTS $ 1,400.00 TO REPLACE THE MANIFOLD AND CLEAN THE INJECTION VALVE. MY CAR HAS BEEN SERVICED ONLY BY THIS DEALER. I HAVE THE SERVICE RECORDS OF ALL SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE.
TIMING CHAIN TENSIONER FAILURE AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS. LOSS OF ENGINE POWER, BRAKING AND STEERING
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2013 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF. WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 65 MPH, THE VEHICLE STALLED WITHOUT WARNING AND THE CHECK ENGINE INDICATOR ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO THE DEALER WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED, BUT THE TECHNICIAN COULD NOT DETERMINE THE CAUSE OF THE FAILURE. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 112,700.
ON 5 AUG 2015, AT APPROXIMATELY 9:00 PM, MY 2013 VW GOLF TDI SUDDENLY DIED WHILE DRIVING DOWN A MAJOR THOROUGHFARE IN LEXINGTON, KY. I NARROWLY ESCAPED BEING HIT BY A TRACTOR TRAILER IN THE REAR END WHEN THE CAR DIED. I HAD PREVIOUSLY PUT $20 WORTH OF DIESEL FUEL IN THE CAR EARLIER THAT MORNING SO THE CAR HAD BEEN DRIVEN APPROXIMATELY 40 MILES AFTER FUELING BEFORE THE CAR SUDDENLY DIED. AFTER THE CAR DIED, IT WOULD NOT RESTART SO I HAD THE CAR TOWED TO THE LOCAL VW DEALER IN LEXINGTON, KY. I WENT BACK TO THE DEALER THE NEXT MORNING (6 AUG) AND DROPPED OFF THE KEY AND EXPLAINED TO THE ASSISTANT SERVICE MANAGER (MERRITT) WHAT HAD HAPPENED. I CALLED THE SERVICE DEPT BACK AROUND 3:30 LATER THAT DAY TO CHECK ON THE STATUS AND WAS INFORMED THAT THE HIGH PRESSURE FUEL PUMP (HPFP) HAD FAILED. THEY TOLD ME THAT THEY WERE STILL DIAGNOSING THE CAR TO DETERMINE THE EXTENT OF DAMAGE AND WHAT PARTS WERE GOING TO NEED REPLACED. SINCE THE HPFP IS A KNOWN ISSUE IN THE VW DIESEL MODELS, HE RECOMMENDED THAT I CALL CORPORATE VW OF AMERICA AND OPEN A NEW CASE WHICH I DID AND PROVIDED THE CASE NUMBER BACK TO THE DEALERSHIP. YESTERDAY (7 AUG), I GOT WORD FROM THE DEALERSHIP THAT THE ENTIRE FUEL SUPPLY SYSTEM HAD METAL SHAVINGS IN IT AND THAT ALL MAJOR PARTS WERE GOING TO NEED REPLACED, FUEL PUMP, INJECTORS, FUEL LINES, ETC AND THAT THE ESTIMATED BILL HAS GOING TO BE BETWEEN 5-7 THOUSAND DOLLARS. VW OF AMERICA ALSO CONTACTED ME YESTERDAY AND LET ME KNOW THAT THEY HAD BEEN IN CONTACT WITH THE LEXINGTON DEALERSHIP AND TOLD ME THAT THEY WOULD LET ME KNOW BY MONDAY, 10 AUG IF THEY WOULD COVER THE PARTS AND LABOR PAST THE WARRANTY EXPIRATION DATE SINCE THE HPFP FAILURE IS A KNOWN ISSUE ON THE VOLKSWAGEN TDI MODELS. I WILL UPDATE THIS AS I RECEIVE NEW INFORMATION. I AM RETIRED MILITARY AND A CURRENT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE.
I DRIVE 50 MILES ONE WAY TO WORK. DROVE CAR TO WORK AND PARKED FOR THE DAY (6 AM), WENT OUT AFTER WORK TO START CAR AND CAR WOULD NOT TURN OVER. CAR ACTED AS IF THE MOTOR WAS LOCKED, CAR IS A MANUAL DRIVE SO I LEFT CAR IN GEAR AND ROLLED BACK WARD TO BUMP MOTOR. CAR ATTEMPTED TO START AND WHEN FINALLY STARTED IT RAN VERY ROUGH. READ ON INTERNET REGARDING POSSIBLE INTERCOOLER ISSUE AND TOOK CAR TO DEALER. DEALER FOUND A LARGE AMOUNT OF WATER IN INTERCOOLER. DEALER UNAWARE OF TSB FOR THIS ISSUE BUT WAS ABLE TO FIND IN VW DATA BASE. TSB EQUIPMENT WAS INSTALLED, CAR HAS WORKED FINE UNTIL THIS EVEN AFTER WORK SAME SYMPTOMS ONLY CAR DID NOT REQUIRE BUMPING OF MOTOR. *TR
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
Data synced from NHTSA on Apr 25, 2026