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What 4 owners told NHTSA about the 2016 Volkswagen Eos

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 (4)Crash / fire / injury (1)Electrical system (3)Engine (1)Seats (1)Transmission & drivetrain (1)

3 of 4 complaints match · Electrical system · clear filters

Aug 30, 2024Electrical system

The contact owns a 2016 Volkswagen EOS. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked, the vehicle failed to start. The contact stated that the battery was drained and was jumpstarted. The contact stated that after the battery had been recharged, several unknown warning lights illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the instrument cluster had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 20,000.

NHTSA ODI 11611815

Jan 20, 2024Electrical systemSeatsFire

My seat heaters were on for 1 minute and started to smoke and burned multiple quarter sized holes in my seat. They burned holes in my winter coat and even made my skin have minor burns. There was a smoke that appeared and a very bad burning smell.

NHTSA ODI 11566679

Nov 17, 2022Transmission & drivetrainElectrical system

On 2 separate occasions, I lost transmission service to my 2016 VW EOS. 65K miles. While driving, my RPM increased dramatically, and it felt like the car went into neutral and wouldn't accelerate. I came to a slow, uncontrolled stop on the side of the road. The EPC code, check engine light and the gear indicator warning lights were flashing. It was very scary to not have any control of the car. Very unsafe situation. The code reader indicated code U0103 meaning "lost communication with gear shift module". LP and Sons DeLand FL, repaired the vehicle, citing: remove and replace transmission gear shift.

NHTSA ODI 11494025

Working with the data? Download all 4 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 26, 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 Eos verdict →