Volkswagen Vanagon

Owners filed 22 complaints across 2 model years of the Volkswagen Vanagon. The 1990 drew the most (13).

Model years2
Complaints22
Recalls4
Fires2
Deaths0

Which Volkswagen Vanagon years should you avoid?

Not enough of the record to single a year out. Fewer than 4 Volkswagen Vanagon model years have at least 25 complaints and are old enough to judge, so any ranking would be noise. The table below has every year as filed.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →

Every Volkswagen Vanagon model year compared

Complaints per year
YearComplaintsRelative volumeRecallsFiresCrashesMost reportedStatus
19919
22—Engine and Engine Cooling › Engine › GasolineRoutine
199013
2——Fuel System, Gasoline › Fuel Injection SystemRoutine

Data: NHTSA complaint and recall files, October 2026. Complaints are unverified owner reports.