The 2026 Volkswagen Jetta is sold in the U.S. as a gas compact sedan with 2 EPA-rated configurations. The most efficient version, the Jetta, is EPA-rated at 34 mpg combined. NHTSA lists 1 recall campaign for this model year, 1 rated critical, which gives it a Safety Signal grade of B. Owners have filed 6 complaints, most often about the electrical system. NHTSA crash-tested it at 5 stars overall. Manufacturer pricing runs from $23,995 to $33,745 across 5 trims.
Warranty basic 4 yr / 50,000 mi · powertrain None yr / — mi · roadside 3 yr
MSRP excludes destination. Open a trim for the complete spec sheet and standard/optional equipment. Have the car in front of you? Decode its VIN to see which of these trims it is and what it was priced at.
Specs & fuel economy
Source: EPA fueleconomy.gov
Configuration
Powertrain
Drive
Engine / motor
City
Hwy
Comb
Annual fuel*
Jetta
Gas
FWD
1.5L 4-cyl turbo
29
40
34
$1,950
Jetta Sport/SE/SEL
Gas
FWD
1.5L 4-cyl turbo
29
40
33
$2,050
*EPA estimate at 15,000 miles/year at EPA reference fuel and electricity prices. fueleconomy.gov record ids: 49269, 49270.
Insurers price the 2026 Jetta very differently, and the gap between the best and worst quote on the same car and driver is usually larger than any option you are weighing on this page.
Affiliate disclosure: some links on this page are affiliate links. If you request a quote or buy through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Nothing on this page changes because of it.
Recalls (1)
Source: NHTSA recall database
!critical
Electrical System
97TC
48,165 vehicles76% reported repaired
ProblemVolkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2025-2026 Jetta vehicles.The transmission ground wire may not have been properly connected during assembly, causing an open electrical circuit.RiskAn open circuit may draw a higher current and increase the risk of a fire.FixDealers will inspect and repair transmission ground wire as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 31, 2026. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 97TC. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall became searchable on NHTSA.gov on March 13, 2026.
These are vehicle campaigns — the ones the automaker filed against this model. NHTSA also records equipment recalls, filed by a parts maker against a component (a tyre, a child seat, an aftermarket part), and those are not listed here or counted above. nhtsa.gov/recalls shows both for a VIN.
Whether any of this applies to one specific Jetta
A campaign covers a build range, not a model year, so two identical-looking cars from 2026 can differ. Both of these check a VIN against the manufacturer’s own list, free, in about ten seconds. Volkswagen publishes its own lookup because federal rule 49 CFR 573.15 requires it to, and to keep it current to within seven days.
The manufacturer’s letter is the last step of a recall: it has up to 60 days after filing to mail owners, at the address on the registration. We email you the day NHTSA posts a recall on the 2026 Volkswagen Jetta, with what to do next. Nothing else, ever — no newsletter, no marketing, one-click unsubscribe in every message.
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Parts & accessories for the 2026 Volkswagen Jetta
Search by fitment on eBay Motors — OEM take-offs, aftermarket, and the trim pieces dealers no longer stock. The listing and the price are the seller's.
0 involved a crash · 0 a fire · 0 injuries · 0 deaths reported
2.0 per 10,000 built · Volkswagen reported 30,125 Jetta built (its Early Warning production report to NHTSA)
Filed per year: 2026: 6
Most-cited components
Electrical System3
Forward Collision Avoidance3
Unspecified2
Steering1
Exterior Lighting1
Engine1
In owners' own words
Filed with NHTSA by the people who own these cars, one per problem area. Quoted as written, with anything identifying removed.
The vehicle’s Forward Collision Avoidance system (Front Assist) and Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) intermittently malfunction while driving. On at least three separate occasions during clear, dry weather with clean sensors, the AEB system engaged full hydraulic braking unexpectedly with no obstacles ahead—once while utilizing Adaptive…
Forward Collision AvoidanceSep 21, 2026NHTSA owner report · ODI 11766007
The vehicle says it’s overheating and will go into limp mode it has also been reported that other 2026 Jettas have had the same issue
EngineAug 7, 2026NHTSA owner report · ODI 11755445
I'm not exactly sure on what happened but when using the lane stay assist it doesn't read the lines correctly causing the car to abruptly jerk in a unexpected direction! doing this during certain scenarios would cause an accident for sure. also the headlight auto switching for high beams malfunctions often causing the lights to flicker
SteeringJan 15, 2026NHTSA owner report · ODI 11711130
The contact owns a 2026 Volkswagen Jetta. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH, the vehicle brakes engaged independently causing the RPM to decrease and after a couple of seconds the vehicle began to work as intended. No warnings light illuminated A dealer was contacted.
Oil leak from Cylinder Head Cover; Coolant leak from the cylinder head gasket, Low coolant level, Visible coolant leak, or Coolant warning message in instrument cluster; Customer states error for Dynamic Cornering Light in MFI; Customer states no start condition; Customer states no start condition; Customer states wind noise and or water ingress; Customer states there is a leak from the front of t
Oil leak from Cylinder Head Cover; Coolant leak from the cylinder head gasket, Low coolant level, Visible coolant leak, or Coolant warning message in instrument cluster; Customer states error for Dynamic Cornering Light in MFI; Customer states no start condition; Customer states no start condition; Customer states wind noise and or water ingress; Customer states there is a noise when pressing the
Resurfacing Rotors during Perfect Delivery Inspection
A service bulletin is the manufacturer telling its dealers how to diagnose or repair a known condition. It is not a recall, not a finding that the vehicle is defective, and the work is not automatically free — though a bulletin is often what a dealer works from when you describe a symptom, so quoting the document number can save a diagnosis. The count is every communication filed; the list shows the most recent, one entry per campaign, because a single campaign is usually filed as several documents on the same day. The summaries are NHTSA's; the full documents come from the manufacturer.
Diagnostic trouble codes on file
Source: NHTSA manufacturer communications and complaints
Codes documented against this model year in the federal record. A code appearing here does not mean this vehicle will set it — it means the code is part of this nameplate-year's documented history.
Manufacturer-defined — the meaning is set by the automaker, not the standard.
Unknown Or Other
7 bulletins
Generic codes (the second character is 0 or 2) mean the same thing on every vehicle sold in the United States. Manufacturer-specific codes (1 or 3) mean whatever the automaker assigned, and no honest source can define them for you — which is why the ones here carry the evidence instead of a definition. A code is a link when enough separate federal documents name it across the catalogue to be worth a page of its own; the rest are listed here, where the vehicle is the context that makes them mean something.
Affiliate disclosure: some links on this page are affiliate links. If you request a quote or buy through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Nothing on this page changes because of it.
Manufacturer pricing runs from $23,995 for the S FWD to $33,745 for the GLI Autobahn FWD, across 5 trims. Those are MSRPs from the manufacturer's own press material; they exclude destination, options, taxes and whatever the dealer adds. Every trim and price is listed above.
Does the 2026 Volkswagen Jetta have any recalls?
NHTSA has posted 1 recall campaign for the 2026 Volkswagen Jetta, 1 of them rated critical. The most serious on file is 26V138000, covering Electrical System. Check your own VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls; a recall applies to specific build ranges, not every car.
How safe is the 2026 Volkswagen Jetta?
NHTSA gave the 2026 Volkswagen Jetta 5 stars overall in its New Car Assessment Program tests — 4-star frontal crash, 5-star side crash, 4-star rollover. WhichTrim also grades it B (85/100) on its recall record, which is a different question from crash protection.
What is the fuel economy of the 2026 Volkswagen Jetta?
Across the 2 EPA-rated configurations of the 2026 Volkswagen Jetta, the best EPA combined figure is 34 mpg. Figures are the EPA's own, per configuration, and every one is listed above.
What do owners complain about on the 2026 Volkswagen Jetta?
Owners have filed 6 complaints with NHTSA about the 2026 Volkswagen Jetta, most often about electrical system, forward collision avoidance, unspecified. Complaints are unverified owner reports, so treat the pattern as a signal and the individual report as an anecdote.
Are there service bulletins for the 2026 Volkswagen Jetta?
The manufacturer has filed 84 service bulletins and related communications with NHTSA for the 2026 Volkswagen Jetta, most often covering unknown or other, engine, electrical system. The most recent is dated 2026-09-23. A bulletin is not a recall: it is the repair procedure a manufacturer sends its dealers for a condition it knows about, and the work is not automatically paid for. It is still worth knowing — if the symptom matches, quoting the bulletin number at the service desk can save a diagnosis. The document numbers and summaries are listed above.
Which 2026 Volkswagen Jetta trim is the best value?
$9,750 separates the cheapest of the 5 trims from the most expensive, so the answer depends on which of the differences you would actually use. Every trim has its own page here with the manufacturer's full specification and equipment list, plus a short summary of exactly what it adds over the base trim — worth reading before a dealer frames the walk-up for you. The trim-by-trim ladder shows what every step up costs and what it makes standard.
Is the 2026 Volkswagen Jetta better than the 2026 Toyota Corolla?
The Toyota Corolla wins clearly, 94.5 to 83.7, on tech & comfort, fuel & range, price. The Volkswagen Jetta is ahead on warranty and space & cargo. We publish a full side-by-side of the 2026 Volkswagen Jetta against the 2026 Toyota Corolla — specifications by family, equipment feature by feature, safety record and ownership costs. You can re-weight what matters to you and the verdict recalculates.
What we hold, and what an empty row means
Paid vehicle-history reports will not tell you the difference between “nothing happened to this car” and “we never received that record” — both of the big two say as much in their own help pages. Most of what is on this page comes from complete federal registers, so we can tell you which is which, row by row.
Data
Held
Source
What it covers — or what empty means
Fuel economy & configurations
2 configurations
EPA certification records
Every configuration the EPA certified for sale, with its own test figures.
Emission certificates
none
EPA emission certificates
The EPA published no certificate we could match to a configuration on this page.
Recalls
1
NHTSA recall campaigns
A complete federal register: every campaign covering this model year, with severity and advisory flags.
Owner complaints
6
NHTSA complaint database
Also complete, but unverified: these are reports owners filed, not findings. Counts scale with how many were sold.
Crash ratings
2 tested
NHTSA NCAP
Only the configurations NHTSA chose to crash-test, which is never all of them.
Service bulletins
84
NHTSA manufacturer communications
Everything the manufacturer told its dealers about a defect or malfunction, short of a recall.
Investigations
none
NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
No defect investigation has been opened.
Driver-assist crash reports
none
NHTSA Standing General Order 2021-01
No report has been filed. Only entities named in the order report, and only crashes they hear of — so this is also what an unequipped car, or a manufacturer without telematics, looks like.
Specifications filed with NHTSA
none
NHTSA vPIC, decoded from VIN patterns
We had no VIN pattern to decode for this model year, or the manufacturer filed nothing usable.
Trims, pricing & equipment
5 trims
Manufacturer press kit
Transcribed from the manufacturer's own press material, every value carrying the document it came from.
Rebuilt nightly; this page was generated 2026-10-26. Every figure above is traceable to the source named beside it, and the JSON for this page carries the same values with their identifiers.
Safety Signal starts every model-year at 100 and subtracts points per open NHTSA recall campaign by severity: critical 15 (fire risk, park-outside or do-not-drive advisories), high 8 (brakes, steering, airbags, loss of drive power, structure, battery), moderate 6, minor 3 (software, labels, lighting fixed by an update). The most serious recall counts in full and each further one counts 85% of the one before, because a vehicle sold in millions is recalled more often than a rare one without being more dangerous — and because a flat subtraction bottomed the scale out, scoring a vehicle with 22 recalls within a point of one with six. A ≥ 90, B ≥ 80, C ≥ 70, D ≥ 60, otherwise F. Read it as what it counts: recall campaigns on the federal record, weighted by severity. The damping reduces the sales bias by roughly 40% but does not remove it: like our complaint counts, this is not normalized by how many were sold, so a best-seller still scores somewhat worse than an obscure model with the same real risk. NHTSA crash ratings, do-not-drive and park-outside advisories, and the crash, fire, injury and death counts in owner complaints are reported separately on every page and never blended into the letter — a vehicle can hold five stars and a poor letter at once, and where that happens we say so rather than leave you to notice. Because the scale subtracts from a clean sheet, a model year too new to have been recalled, complained about or bulletined scores full marks on an empty record; we label those grades provisional rather than present them as earned.
EPA figures come from fueleconomy.gov vehicle records. Recalls, complaints, investigations and crash ratings come from NHTSA's public flat files, refreshed nightly. Trim-level specifications and pricing are transcribed from the manufacturer's official press kit; every value carries its source in the data file.
