2022 Volkswagen Golf Reliability Report

Manual shift knobs crack and slide off the shifter rod, which cuts off gear selection. Reported cases range from about 100 miles to just under 4,000 miles. The backup camera freezes, lags, or goes black, and the infotainment screen can cycle on and off with no audio or camera. Built-in navigation loses its position and gives wrong directions. Isolated reports describe a panoramic moonroof shattering outward while driving and an emergency key that unlocks the driver's door but cannot start the car.

False "Travel Assist is currently not available" and SOS warnings flash across the instrument cluster with repeated loud chimes, at any speed and sometimes for an entire drive. In some cars the features keep working while the warning shows. In others, adaptive cruise disengages without warning, causing close calls with traffic ahead and behind. Turning the steering wheel can set off the faults. Dealers often cannot reproduce or fix the problem, and replacement steering wheels are hard to get. Some owners report going more than a year without a fix.

A steering wheel fault knocks out Travel Assist, adaptive cruise, lane keep assist, park distance control, and rear traffic alert, with flashing warnings and repeated chimes from engine start onward. When the fault hits, the steering wheel buttons can stop responding and active cruise control shuts off abruptly. One report describes the wheel turning toward oncoming traffic as the systems dropped out. Dealers often call for a new steering wheel, but replacements are scarce. Errors can come back after a new wheel and software changes, and some owners say cold weather makes it worse.

Most reports here repeat the loose radiator problem. The radiator comes free, the lower hose or its plastic connector rubs on a belt or pulley, and coolant pours out, setting off overheating or low coolant warnings. One filing raises a fire risk from a melted connector, and owners report waiting 1 to 4 months for parts. A separate report describes crank walk at about 51,068 miles: the engine shut down suddenly and metal shavings turned up in the oil pan. One shift knob failure is also filed here.

The backup camera fails to come on in reverse. Parking sensors, rear cross traffic alert, and adaptive cruise drop out at the same time and then recover at the same time. One failure happened along with the climate control screen failing to boot. A dealer confirmed the fault on two cars from the same owner, and the first was repurchased as a lemon. Another filing is about a repair held up by unavailable parts, not an actual failure.

Travel Assist and related safety systems switch off and on repeatedly, sometimes several times within a minute. Yellow warning lamps and chimes come with each switch and pull attention from the road. Messages also flag maneuver braking, rear traffic alert, and park distance control as unavailable. Emergency braking has kicked in on an open road with a rapid slowdown. A dealer traced one case to the steering wheel touch controls, but the replacement had no delivery date. The backup camera freezes at times, and a cracked shift knob is also reported.

The tire pressure system misses or downplays real tire damage. In one case a flat front tire set off no warning at all. In another, the damage alert vanished after about 10 seconds and left only the tire icon lit. An owner also could not figure out how to remove the damaged wheel to fit the spare, which could leave a driver stranded on a remote road.