Volkswagen Passat years to avoid
Across the 2015–2018 Volkswagen Passat, the 2015 model year drew the most owner complaints to NHTSA: 243, about 2.3× the 106 median of the other three model years with enough complaints to compare. It is also the oldest year in this comparison, and older years have had longer to accumulate reports. The most-reported components that year were the airbags and the engine. The 2018 drew the fewest of the years with enough complaints to compare, at 45. NHTSA holds fewer than 40 complaints for 2019, 2020 and 2022, too few to read as a quiet year rather than a gap in the records. Separately, the 2015 and 2017 each carry the most recall campaigns, 7. NHTSA returned no complaint records at all for 2021, so that year is left out of the comparison. Complaint volume and recall campaign counts also reflect how long a model year has been on the road and how many were sold, so they rank years within this model rather than measuring build quality.
The 2015 Passat is the outlier of the 2015–2018 Volkswagen Passat, with 243 complaints against the model's 108 median.
Every Passat model year, ranked
Every Passat model year NHTSA holds records for, most complaints first. Counts are NHTSA records as of 2026-09-15; recall campaigns and complaints are counted separately because a recall is the manufacturer acting and a complaint is an owner reporting. Years with enough on record have a page of their own.
| Model year | Owner complaints | vs the 108 median | Recalls | Most-reported component |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 Passat | 243 | 2.3× | 7 | the airbags |
| 2017 Passat | 110 | 1× | 7 | the airbags |
| 2016 Passat | 106 | 1× | 5 | the airbags |
| 2018 Passat | 45 | 0.4× | 4 | the brakes |
| 2020 Passat | 17 — too few to compare | — | 3 | — |
| 2019 Passat | 12 — too few to compare | — | 1 | — |
| 2022 Passat | 12 — too few to compare | — | 0 | — |
| 2021 Passat | No data | — | 1 | — |
NHTSA returned no complaint records for 2021. That is an absence of data, not evidence that owners reported nothing — those years are excluded from the comparison.
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- A higher count is not proof of a worse car. Complaint volume rises with sales volume and with years on the road.
- The comparison is between years of the Passat only. It says nothing about how the Passat compares with other models.
- NHTSA publishes owner reports without verifying them. A complaint is an allegation, not a defect finding.
- Recall campaigns cover production ranges. Only a VIN lookup shows whether one vehicle is included and whether the work was done.
Primary sources behind this page
Open the underlying public source and verify that its scope matches the question you are asking.
Volkswagen Passat year-by-year questions
Which Volkswagen Passat year should I avoid?
Across the 2015–2018 Volkswagen Passat, the 2015 model year drew the most owner complaints to NHTSA: 243, about 2.3× the 106 median of the other three model years with enough complaints to compare. It is also the oldest year in this comparison, and older years have had longer to accumulate reports. The most-reported components that year were the airbags and the engine. The 2018 drew the fewest of the years with enough complaints to compare, at 45. NHTSA holds fewer than 40 complaints for 2019, 2020 and 2022, too few to read as a quiet year rather than a gap in the records. Separately, the 2015 and 2017 each carry the most recall campaigns, 7. NHTSA returned no complaint records at all for 2021, so that year is left out of the comparison. Complaint volume and recall campaign counts also reflect how long a model year has been on the road and how many were sold, so they rank years within this model rather than measuring build quality.
Which Volkswagen Passat year is the safest bet?
Of the 2015–2018 Volkswagen Passat, the 2018 drew the fewest owner complaints to NHTSA — 45, against the model's 108 median. Years NHTSA holds fewer than 40 complaints for (2019, 2020 and 2022) are left out: too few reports is a gap in the records, not a quiet year. Newer years have had less time on the road, which lowers their count on its own, so treat this as a starting point and check the individual VIN.
Do complaint counts mean the Volkswagen Passat is unreliable?
No. NHTSA complaints are unverified owner reports, and the count rises with how many vehicles were sold and how long they have been on the road. They are useful for comparing years of the same model — which is what this page does — not for ranking one model against another.
How do I check a specific Passat?
Take the 17-character VIN from the windshield or driver-door label and run it through NHTSA's free recall lookup. That reports open campaigns for that exact vehicle, including whether the repair is still outstanding. A model-year page cannot tell you that.