Problems › Volkswagen › 2023 Golf
2023 Volkswagen Golf Problems & Owner Complaints
Age-normalised, this year draws ~2.8 complaints per year on the road — ranking 10 of 12 Volkswagen Golf years we track (1 = most complaints per year).
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What owners report
Electrical System is the most-reported problem area on the 2023 Volkswagen Golf, cited in 6 of 11 filed complaints (55%).
Back Over Prevention is next (3 complaints, 27%), followed by Engine (2), Forward Collision Avoidance (2), Exterior Lighting (1).
No complaint for this vehicle reports a crash, fire, injury or death.
Complaints by vehicle system
Owner complaints filed with the U.S. NHTSA for the 2023 Volkswagen Golf, grouped by the vehicle system each cites. A single complaint can name more than one system, so the group totals can add up to more than 11.
Electrical System 6
“Back up camera not working due to infotainment system not working. Dealer is aware, says they are waiting for a software update.”
NHTSA complaint #11579671, 2024
“While driving, Front Safety System Light came on. Additionally, Drive System light came on and car would not go over 25-30 mph.”
NHTSA complaint #11569945, 2024
“Infotainment system fails to start/load. Infotainment screen provides multiple error messages such and “component protection active” and/ or “you can activate this function at dealer” and subsequently becomes inoperable, including multiple safety related features: Back up/ rear view camera freezes image or does not turn on at all. Autonomous emergency braking (front assist) fail light comes on. Park distance control fail light comes on. Have been to the VW dealer on two different occasions for these issues specifically and the systems and problems not resolved. They reset/ updated the…”
NHTSA complaint #11559395, 2023
Back Over Prevention 3
“The problem is Component Protection, When the car goes into Component Protection you lose A/C and defrost, crash protection, It has been see by a Volkswagen dealer.”
NHTSA complaint #11523930, 2022
“Vehicles infotainment system does not turn on at startup - several error messages for safety features by most importantly, rear camera does not work when infotainment system screen is down and requires the dealer to activate it or fully black screen. Took to VW three times and they cannot determine the issue. Says it’s a software issue, but also showing “low voltage” warnings in computer diagnostics. Audi, owned by Volkswagen, just issued a recall for infotainment systems disabling rear cameras due to low voltage issues. The symptoms are identical to the VW issues. This is Audi recall intern…”
NHTSA complaint #11498915, 2022
“2023 GTI’s rear camera, cross traffic sensors and parking sensors not functioning as Infotainment system controls these systems, and is consistently blacking out and showing errors. Had VW in for several services and dealer told me it’s a VW Software issue. Hence, this issue is likely systemic. Considering it renders the backup camera intermittently non functional I consider this a big safety problem. VW needs to address this issue immediately and issue a TSB or a fix. Many owners having same issue. Taken vehicle to two dealer and they have told me it is a Volkswagen technology issue and is u…”
NHTSA complaint #11498753, 2022
Engine 2
“While driving, Front Safety System Light came on. Additionally, Drive System light came on and car would not go over 25-30 mph.”
NHTSA complaint #11569945, 2024
“This car should be under an active recall for 2022/2023 Volkswagen GTI/R due to insecurely installed radiator. But it's not listed somehow. The radiator was loose and caused rupture in coolant hose, and loss of coolant.”
NHTSA complaint #11493796, 2022
Forward Collision Avoidance 2
“Infotainment system fails to start/load. Infotainment screen provides multiple error messages such and “component protection active” and/ or “you can activate this function at dealer” and subsequently becomes inoperable, including multiple safety related features: Back up/ rear view camera freezes image or does not turn on at all. Autonomous emergency braking (front assist) fail light comes on. Park distance control fail light comes on. Have been to the VW dealer on two different occasions for these issues specifically and the systems and problems not resolved. They reset/ updated the…”
NHTSA complaint #11559395, 2023
“Having consistent issues with safety features and infotainment system that locks up with errors. Since new my VW Gti has been experiencing drivers' assistants' issues. At times the backup camera does not work. At times the the whole infotainment system will have various different errors that prevent any of the safety features to be turned on. The errors don't easily go away unless turning off the car and trying to restart it all.”
NHTSA complaint #11547917, 2023
Exterior Lighting 1
“Back up camera not working due to infotainment system not working. Dealer is aware, says they are waiting for a software update.”
NHTSA complaint #11579671, 2024
Fuel/Propulsion System 1
“While driving, Front Safety System Light came on. Additionally, Drive System light came on and car would not go over 25-30 mph.”
NHTSA complaint #11569945, 2024
Power Train 1
“The vehicle has a manual transmission and is equipped with a hill start assist feature. This holds the brake on a hill so the clutch and gear may be engaged and keep the car from rolling back. The feature in this vehicle does not release the brake when the vehicle starts moving forward and holds it for a set amount of time based on hill gradient. This had led to stalling of the vehicle, as the clutch and gear engagement process is completed before the brakes are released. This can be dangerous in traffic situations, especially in intersections.”
NHTSA complaint #11542557, 2023
Service Brakes 1
“All 2022 & 2023 Volkswagen GTI & R models with manual transmissions are impacted by this safety issue. When making a stop on any amount of road grade/hill, the vehicle brakes fully engage and will not disengage when removing your foot from the brake pedal, or by engaging or disengaging the clutch, or by applying throttle. Upon releasing the brake pedal, there is a programmed waiting period of 2-3 seconds where the brakes remain fully engaged, and the vehicle is unable to move regardless of the driver input. Once the waiting period expires, the vehicle begins an uncontrolled roll-back and th…”
NHTSA complaint #11540744, 2023
Unknown Or Other 1
“The infotainment of the car with the navigation gave wrong directions and almost drove me into a canyon rather than the street. I took it to the dealership and left it there for two days and the problem was still there.”
NHTSA complaint #11552167, 2023
Visibility/Wiper 1
“The problem is Component Protection, When the car goes into Component Protection you lose A/C and defrost, crash protection, It has been see by a Volkswagen dealer.”
NHTSA complaint #11523930, 2022
How we read this (methodology)
How to read this: raw complaint totals are not a clean reliability score — a model year with more cars sold, or simply more years on the road, accumulates more complaints regardless of how good it is. So this page leans on two signals that are not distorted by sales volume: the share of complaints falling on each vehicle system (the breakdown above) and NHTSA's own crash / fire / injury / death flags. When we compare model years of the same model, we normalise by years on the road (complaints ÷ vehicle age) rather than comparing raw totals. Age-normalised, the 2023 Volkswagen Golf draws about 2.8 complaints per year on the road, ranking 10 of 12 among the Volkswagen Golf model years we have ingested (1 = most complaints per year on road).
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Related
Data source: U.S. NHTSA (nhtsa.gov). SaveVIN surfaces public recall data and is not affiliated with or endorsed by NHTSA.