2019 Volkswagen Golf R problems, complaints & recalls
Most-reported problem areas: Wheels (1) · Service Brakes (1) · Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings (1)
🧭 Reliability snapshot
Compared against other Volkswagen Golf R model years — complaint volume vs the model's median year, recalls and severity. How we score →
Safety recalls (2)
Tires:pressure Monitoring And Regulating Systems 2022-10-31 · campaign 22V815000 · 296,044 vehicles
Defect: Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2019 Volkswagen Tiguan LWB, Golf Sportswagen A7, Golf Alltrack, Golf R GP, Audi Q3, Audi A3 Cabriolet, 2019-2020 Jetta NF, Jetta GLI, Golf GTI, Atlas, Golf A7, Audi A3, 2020-2021 Atlas Cross Sport, and 2021 Atlas FL vehicles. The tire pressure monitoring system may not detect an air pressure loss in adequate time when deflating occurs among all four tires simultaneously. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirem
Risk: An undetected sudden loss of pressure in all four tires increases the risk of a crash.
Fix: Dealers will update the TPMS software, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed November 18, 2022. Owners may contact Volkswagen's customer service at 1-800-893-5298 or Audis customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Volkswagen's numbers for this recall are (Audi) 45J7, and (VW) 45J6 and 45J8.
Unknown Or Other 2021-05-05 · campaign 21V321000 · 46 vehicles
Defect: Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2017 Touareg GP, Tiguan, Golf A6, E-Golf GP, CCF, 2016-2017 Passat GP, 2018-2019 Golf R GP, and 2018 Atlas vehicles. These internal-use vehicles were sold without confirmation that they were built to all applicable regulatory requirements and may have been modified prior to sale. As such, these vehicles may fail to comply with the requirements of various Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
Risk: Vehicles that do not meet all regulatory requirements may have an increased risk of injury, crash, or fire.
Fix: Volkswagen will repurchase the vehicles. Owner notification letters were mailed May 20, 2021. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 01F1.
Service bulletins (398)
Technical service bulletins are repair instructions manufacturers send dealers for known issues. Unlike recalls, the fix is not automatically free — but naming the bulletin at the service desk can save diagnosis time and support goodwill repairs.
Engine 2026-09-17 · V0116152014815_20 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
suggested fuel additive
Unknown Or Other 2026-09-09 · SM 39-2026 · Other
this special notice is to inform dealers to return the parts listed if it meets the criteria provided.
Service Brakes 2026-08-27 · V4622022067177_5 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
repair or replace information
Power Train 2026-08-10 · V4015022033347_8 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
replacement instruction
Unknown Or Other 2026-08-06 · TT 00-13-04_7 · Other
permission to change daily order upgraded to red order
Unknown Or Other 2026-08-04 · V0026012081638_2 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
differences between a leak and seepage
Showing the 6 most recent of 398 bulletins. Search all of them free at nhtsa.gov.
What owners report
2026-06-22 · Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings · 💥 crash“while turning (right hand turn) slowly into parking space, vehicle engine unexpectedly reved and accelerated causing vehicle to jump curb and strike fixed object (tree). foot was not/not on the accelerator but rather on brake yet acceleration was so rapid vehicle could not be stopped prior to striking curb and fixed object. filing hhtsa report du…”
2023-09-20 · Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control“design defect - impossible to disable active cruise control, and use regular/traditional cruise control. if adaptive cruise control sensor becomes dirty, it does not work, and there’s no option to use regular cruise control. this is a design flaw which vw rectified with new (2021+) models. vw should offer a software update to correct this def…”
2023-07-20 · Unknown Or Other“the issue was the key fob was not detected. i put my bag in the front seat of the car and shut the door, i then put my 19month old son in her car seat and shut the door. when i shut the rear car door the hazard lights flashed as if the car had locked. i went to the driver door and tried to open the car door and it wouldn’t open. despite the key bei…”
2022-07-11 · Wheels“during annual state inspection on 7/8/22, tech found that the right rear wheel (19" vw pretoria gloss black alloy wheels) was bent on both the inside and outside. unsafe to drive. wheel had to be replaced. do not recall hitting any pothole or road hazard that might have caused this damage to the wheel. apparently, other owners of this model ca…”
2021-05-08 · Electrical System · 8,000 mi“the problem is with the vehicle's fuse system. the golf r came with no spare tire but an air pump, which needs to be powered by the 12v dc power of the vehicle. but when i use this original air pump, the fuse of the 12v dc power burns out. this happened for several times since i had the car in october, 2019. the dealer can only give me new fuse to …”
2020-09-29 · Service Brakes · 9,900 mi“four times over the last week while driving 35 mph straight down a residential road, i experienced an unexpected engagement of the front collision warning, and one of those four times, 4 days ago, i additionally experienced an unexpected engagement of the front assist emergency braking which caused me alarm, as the speed dropped dramatically from 3…”
Excerpts of consumer complaints filed with NHTSA, lightly truncated. They are owner statements, not verified findings.