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What 26 owners told NHTSA about the 2016 Volkswagen Cc

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (26)Crash / fire / injury (1)Airbags (11)Fuel system (8)Electrical system (4)Body & structure (2)Brakes (2)Lights (2)Engine (1)Speed control (1)Steering (1)Suspension (1)

2 of 26 complaints match · Body & structure · clear filters

Jan 7, 2023Transmission & drivetrainBody & structure

When I put my car in drive (to move forward) from a cold start, the vehicle hesitates, does not respond to the accelerator pedal, and does not move. During this time, the transmission does not engage, and the vehicle shakes and produces a loud clunking sound from underneath. After that faulty start, the vehicle operates normally, until the next cold start (vehicle is at rest for 30 or more minutes). Here is an example that shows the danger of this situation. When I back out onto my street, and I put the car in drive, a driver behind me expects me to move. That driver is not expecting a stationary car (stalled, in park, or anything else like the situation I am describing). That creates a safety issue because the driver behind me may not slow down. That driver could then collide with my stationary vehiclle. That could result in injuries or loss of life, to me, or to the driver or passengers in the car that hit me. I spoke to a VW dealer about this, Cherry Hill Volkswagen. They looked up information, and then replied to me "that's normal for that vehicle". The problem is this. That's not normal for any vehicle. That's a bad answer. I have been driving for 50 years, and I have never had any vehicle that performed this way, and I don't know anyone who has. That means it's not normal. If the dealer said "many drivers who own the same vehicle as you do have reported the same problem", that makes it a frequently occurring problem. It does NOT make it normal. Because the dealer did not acknowledge a problem, there has been no effort to correct it. - If every driver who purchased a 2016 VW CC encountered this problem, then every one of those vehicles should have been recalled so that Volkswagen could repair the problem. - If some of the vehicles that were purchased had the problem and others did not, that proves that it is a correctable problem. If NHTSA is aware of this problem and has not directed Volkswagen to correct it, then you are not doing your job.

NHTSA ODI 11500563

Nov 2, 2021SuspensionBody & structure

Vehicle has factory installed splash guards, the car bottoms out when hitting the slightest bump. Nina at VW corporate has been totally useless.

NHTSA ODI 11439071

Working with the data? Download all 26 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 25, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2016 Volkswagen Cc verdict →