2019 VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE — Complaint #1766586
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:IGNITION:INTERLOCK/LOCKOUT filed September 3, 2021
NHTSA complaint #1766586 (ODI reference 11431672) concerns a 2019 VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE and was filed on September 3, 2021. The owner reports the failure occurred on August 15, 2021. The report was geocoded to Arizona based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as electrical system:ignition:interlock/lockout, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: yes, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE cohort independently describe similar electrical system:ignition:interlock/lockout failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2019 VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
My 2019 VW Beetle, AT, keyless entry was parked in a store parking lot. When I left the vehicle it wouldn't lock. I thought my fob battery died. I came out of the store about 30 minutes later and my car had rolled away. It came to rest about 50 feet away, up against a fixed object light pole. I was shocked! My rear bumper sustained damage. I got in my car and saw it was in D. I guess I left it in D, turned off the push button start/stop and it rolled away after I left it. I then did some checking and found that when push button start/stop tech is installed in many cars with the added safety features of audible sounds or transmissions ratcheting into park when stopped with transmission in Drive, which are standard safety features on most newer cars, but were not standard on my car. The car did not alert me to anything being wrong. This is a safety hazard. I noted that VW recalled their keyed entry Beetles for Rollaway Risks, but did not include key-less entry vehicles. A cal
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1766586 |
| ODI Number | 11431672 |
| Date Filed | September 3, 2021 |
| Failure Date | August 15, 2021 |
| VIN | 3VWJD7AT5KM |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.