2023 Volkswagen Golf R

Routine

Owners filed 6 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the service brakes. It has been recalled 3 times.

What fails
ComponentReportsCrashesFiresInjuries
Service Brakes2
000
Unknown or Other1
000
Steering1
000
Power Train1
000
Electrical System1
000

3 safety recalls

Part 573 reports
Back Over Prevention › Software24V480000
Filed Jun 27, 202484,432 vehiclesVolkswagen Group Of America, Inc.

Defect. Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (VW) is recalling certain 2022-2024 Golf R, Golf GTI, 2024 Atlas, and 2024 Atlas Cross Sport vehicles. The rearview camera image may be delayed or deactivated after shifting into reverse. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 111, "Rear Visibility."

Risk. A rearview camera with a delayed or deactivated image reduces the driver's view of what is behind the vehicle, increasing the risk of injury or crash.

Remedy. Dealers will update the infotainment system software, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed July 15, 2024, and July 16, 2024. Owners may contact VW customer service at 1-800-893-5298. VW's number for this recall is 91US.

Suspension › Front › Macpherson Strut23V437000
Filed Jun 21, 202359 vehiclesVolkswagen Group Of America, Inc.

Defect. Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2023 Golf R A8 and Golf GTI vehicles. The strut mount may be deformed, loosening the bolted connections to the suspension strut mounting.

Risk. Loose suspension connections can cause steering instability, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy. Dealers will inspect and replace the right and/or left suspension strut mountings, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed August 18, 2023. Owners may contact Volkswagen's customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 40T3.

Engine and Engine Cooling › Cooling System › Radiator Assembly22V707000
Filed Sep 21, 20228,038 vehiclesVolkswagen Group Of America, Inc.

Defect. Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2022-2023 Golf R A8 and Golf GTI vehicles. The radiator may not have been attached correctly to the intercooler, which can result in a damaged coolant hose.

Risk. A damaged coolant hose can leak, causing the engine to overheat, and increasing the risk of fire. In addition, large amounts of coolant spilling onto the roadway can increase the risk of a crash to other vehicles.

Remedy. Dealers will inspect the radiator and replace any damaged parts, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed November 18, 2022. Owners may contact Volkswagen's customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 19Q8.

What owners reported

Newest filings
Service Brakes
Filed Oct 29, 2025MD

The vehicle has a feature called "hill hold" that can not be disabled where it holds the brakes when stopped on a hill untill 3 seconds after removing your foot from the brake pedal. This has resulted in many near miss safety hazards because I can not move the vehicle quickly enough to make a safety maneuver in the event of imminent collision from another vehicle when stopped on a hill.

Service Brakes
Filed Feb 13, 2025PA

Hello, The problem that I am having, and that many people have been having with the 8th generation Volkswagen Golf Rs (and GTIs as well) is with the "hill hold" feature. My car is manual transmission. When on a hill, the hill hold feature automatically holds the brakes after you take your foot off the brake. The way this feature is supposed to work is that the hill hold is supposed to release upon clutch disengagement and throttle input. It does not do that. Rather, it bites really hard on the brakes and makes it very hard to move the car forward, often resulting in brake and clutch wear. This is a safety issue in that it can cause the car to stall, leaving the car without the ability to move out of the way of danger in the middle of an intersection. This has happened to me at least ten (10) times since purchasing this car in July of 2023. There is no way to adjust the hill hold feature or to turn it off. The design of this feature is counter-intuitive to the way that all manual transmission drivers have learned to drive. It should not be necessary to "plan ahead" to take your foot off the brakes and wait three seconds (about how long the hill hold stays engaged) before you can move forward. Cars should be designed to go forward when the driver wants to go forward. With this feature, it makes it dangerous to move from a stopped position on a hill because the car may stall, i.e. the hill hold doesn't let the brakes go upon throttle input and clutch disengagement. I have read h

Unknown or Other
Filed Jun 11, 2024CA

The car’s own navigation calibration system has been inoperable for at least eight months and is known issue to VW. The system incorrectly places the car’s location, gives false navigation directions based upon that false location, corrupts the navigation calibration of any linked phone, which prevents that phone from giving correct navigation directions through the phone. This issue is ongoing and VW has not offered any fix.

Power Train
Filed Jun 11, 202420 milesCT

The contact owns a 2023 Volkswagen Golf R. The contact stated that while the vehicle was at a stop light on an incline, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended. The contact stated that there was a three-second delay before the vehicle responded. The contact stated that due to the failure, the vehicle was almost rear-ended by a local fire truck that was responding to a call. In addition, the contact stated that the failure had occurred over ten times since the vehicle was purchased in August 2023. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the failure could not be duplicated. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 20.

Steering
Filed Jan 10, 2024MD

The VW Golf current generation starting has “haptic” controls on the steering wheel and dash under the radio. As it stands right now you cannot make changes to radio, or cruise control without taking your eyes off th me road and look down at the steering wheel to find the button you are looking for. In most cars with normal buttons you learn where they are and can feel your way around them with having to look. The VW design of making the button touch sensitive makes it that if you would try to feel where it is located you would make other unwanted changes since all steering wheel controls are touch sensitive. Also the volume and hvac “haptic” controls under the radio screen are not illuminated, thus at night time making adjustments you again have to look at your steering wheel or look down and try to find in the darkness where the “haptic” sliding control is.

Electrical System
Filed May 26, 2023CA

These issues are related to unintentional use of controls on the steering wheel while driving. Pressing the blue “R” button on the left-side of the steering wheel initiates an immediate change in the Driving Mode. Driving Mode includes settings to the engine, transmission, suspension, steering, driver displays and dynamic safety systems. There is an orange warning panel in the Owner's Manual stating that this feature is active when driving. The “R” button is covered by my hand when holding the steering wheel in the 9 o’clock position. I often engage this function by mistake while driving due to the flawed ergonomic design of the steering wheel. There is a similar issue with the “View” buttons on the other side of the steering wheel.

6 of 6 complaints, reproduced as filed.

Across model years

Worst on record: 2017
YearComplaintsRecallsFiresDeathsAssessment
20263000Routine
20250100Routine
202412100Routine
2023 — this page6300Routine
202210500Routine
20196200Routine
20189400Routine
201715000Routine
201612400Routine
20151000Routine
20134000Routine
20121000Routine

Compare every Golf R year →

Reading this record

No unusual pattern of severe incidents in the complaint record.

Complaint counts track how many cars were sold and how long they have been on the road as much as they track quality. A common model from 2013 has had a decade to accumulate reports; a rare one from last year has not. The signal worth weighing is in the severity columns, in whether the same component keeps appearing, and in whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.

Recall repairs are free for as long as the recall stands. Check whether a specific car still has open work at NHTSA's VIN lookup.

Most recent recall on file: Jun 27, 2024. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.