Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2011 Volkswagen Golf owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
Driving on interstate at 70 mph with cruise control on when car suddenly slowed and warning lights began flashing. I slowed to 60 mph and within a minute the engine shut off and was almost rear ended by a semi truck before I could get to the shoulder of the highway. Engine would not restart and I was stranded on the highway. Had to have the vehicle towed by AAA back to my home. Used my Ross-Tech VCDS scanning tool to troubleshoot and found codes: P0087 (fuel rail system pressure too low), P020 (cylinders 1-4 injection timing), P1004-P1007 (torque difference cylinders 1-4). Examined fuel filter and fuel metering valve and found metal chips and particles in both places. Based on this evidence, the high pressure fuel pump has likely failed. My safety was put at risk when the failure occurred due to the sudden loss of power and subsequent near collision with a truck. …
The High-pressure Fuel pump failed during a routine drive at approximately 1500 RPMs. This caused an immediate loss of power while in traffic. Manage to limp the car to the nearest gas station in which the car finally died and would not start. Had to call for a tow truck. This immediate loss of power could have cause myself and my daughter to get into an accident. Luckily, we were not on a major highway doing 65+ MPH, which could have been a lot worse. The vehicle flashed a MIL light or flashing glow plug light at the time of the incident. The car did not show any signs of possible failure beforehand. This same issue has been recalled by Fiat-Chrysler on their Heavy-Duty Ram pickup trucks with 6.7L Cummins due to catastrophic failure of the CP4 fuel pump.
While exiting the off ramp of the highway at 1100 at night the car died and I was lucky enough to make it to the side of the road as traffic behind me was locking up their brakes and swerving to avoid a collision. After an expensive tow and finally getting the vehicle to the dealer I was told the high pressure fuel pump had exploded in the tank sending metal into the whole fuel system. I am told the repair bill will cost around $6500 to fix. This car has 54000 miles and I had received a letter from vw stating my high pressure fuel pump had an extended warranty a month prior however vw will not pay for the repair costs. The vw dealer told me they did a fuel sample test and the fuel did not have enough lubrication in it which caused the fuel pump to fail. …
Takata recall my car has had a weird shuttering in any gear when coasting at a regular speed. I took it to one dealer and they said nothing is wrong with it you basically just don't know how to shift. Two weeks later I noticed a soft muffled hush sound that reminded me of a rock in a tire. When looking underneath the car we noticed dark liquid coating the bottom cover. We took it to a different dealer and after hoisting it up they called us and said that the flywheel had sprung loose due to faulty torque and a spring sprung into the transmission causing a hole and rupturing it. They also mentioned that this same part had been replaced back in 2014 but we were unaware . Our thought is this has been an ongoing issue and whomever replaced it the first time did not do it properly because no one and nothing should be able to understand torque the bolts at the proper pressure. …
The vehicle was in motion on a city street, and the engine stopped working. This resulted in a total loss of power during driving. Attempts to re-start the car were not successful. Note: no fault lights came on. A near miss collision occurred, but luckily no accident. Car was pushed to side of road and left for a few hours. After a few hours, the car did re-start with great difficulty. On re-starting, a plume of grey smoked came from the tail pipe this fault is the second time of occurrence after the manufacturer (vw) supposedly corrected a fault 202 error the last time a similar situation occurred. I feel the car's fuel system is a non-safe design as a serious collision nearly occurred.
High pressure fuel pump went out on my 2011 Golf tdi. My family and were driving down the road when it completely shut down almost causing an accident. Vw covers up to 120,000 miles, my vehicle has 122K miles. This car is my daily driver and almost lost my job due to this problem. Hpfp is a faulty pump and vw denies to cover this expense. I do not have $8000 to cover this expense, and I will keep on contacting vw to fix it. Other cars with higher mileage have been covered, but not mine. I am on of thousands with this tdi hpfp problem. I always use chevron diesel, so there is no way it can be "contaminated" it is vw faulty piece. I hope someone reads this and helps me out, thanks.
2011 Golf tdi 2door. Started throwing and error code of p2ba6. Took it for diagnostics and they stated that issue was a previous recall and was fixed already. I contacted vw directly to see how to go about the situation and they stated the car was fixed in 2011 and even though I only have 44K miles on the car they will still not fix the issue because it is out of warranty. In conclusion the part that had already gone bad and recalled has been fixed once they are refusing to replace the new part since it has been replaced. Clearly shows that the recalled part has not fixed the issue with it.
My Golf tdi suffered a catastrophic failure of the high pressure fuel pump (hpfp) causing my vehicle to stall in the middle of traffic. Luckily every warning light on my dash lit up about 30 seconds prior to complete failure allowing me to begin to merge from the left hand lane and coast with my hazards on to the right lane. From initial symptom to complete vehicle failure was less than 1 minute. Searching online this is a common failure, one that results in upwards of an $8000 repair.
I was on a road trip for vacation when my car died. I was driving about 35 MPH one evening when I heard a light metallic ping and, a few seconds later, the engine shut off and many lights in the dash cluster came on. The car coasted to a stop. I had it towed to the nearest mechanic the next day and, after they weren't able to find the root cause, I had it towed to the nearest vw dealership. The next day they informed me that the suspected problem was fuel contamination (gas in a diesel tank), which caused the fuel pump to fail and metal particles were found in the fuel pump/lines. This charge of fuel contamination came as quite a bit of a surprise, since the last fuel I?d purchased was at a fuel station near my home town (and a receipt confirms that this was a diesel pump, in case there is any doubt). I had traveled over 600 miles on a single tank. …
Last week, the engine light came on again in my Golf tdi the way it had a year ago when the fuel pump failed. I took it in again and was told the possibility it was a fuel pump issue again after they replaced the entire thing brand new last summer was close to zero. However, I received a call that afternoon saying once again the fuel pump was having problems due to "dirty diesel." last summer after the car was repaired I was told only to go to shell and chevron. I have only gone to the same chevron station this entire time and the problem occurred again. I was told by the dealer mechanic that dirty diesel is a rampant problem in the pacific nw and that it was not a good idea that I only went to one gas station and that I should try others. I was also told, I "barely" drove the thing as it only had 5000 miles added on it since last summer. …
Related recalls
Fuel system, diesel
Volkswagen is recalling certain model 2009-2012 jetta and jetta sportwagen vehicles, manufactured from May 2008 through September 2011, model year 2010-2012 Volkswagen golf vehicles, manufactured from May 2009 through September 2011, and model year 2010-2012 Audi a3 vehicles, manufactured from September 2009 through September…
Remedy: Volkswagen will install an improved fuel injector line for the number 2 cylinder on certain vehicles and will install vibration dampers on all of the injector lines.
NHTSA investigations
Diesel Fuel Injector Line Leakage
By letter dated October 3, 2011, Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (VW) notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that it will conduct a safety recall to address a defect in approximately 168,275 model year (MY) 2009-2012 Volkswagen Jetta, Jetta Sportwagen, Golf, and Audi A3 vehicles equipped with the 2.0L TDI Common Rail Clean Diesel engine (NHTSA Recall No.
High-Pressure Fuel Pump Failure
The Office of Defects Investgation (ODI) opened EA11-003 on February 7, 2011, based on 160 complaints to ODI and Volkswagen involving high pressure fuel pump (HPFP) failures in model year (MY) 2009 through 2010 Volkswagen Jetta and Golf and Audi A3 TDI vehicles and questions regarding fuel sample results provided by Volkswagen as part of its response to PE10-034.During EA11-003, ODI analyzed design information,…
Fuel System complaints in other Golf years
Frequently asked questions
How common are fuel system problems on the 2011 Volkswagen Golf?
NHTSA has 48 complaints about the fuel & propulsion system of the 2011 Volkswagen Golf, 44% of the model year's 110 complaints.
Is there a recall for 2011 Volkswagen Golf fuel system problems?
Yes — NHTSA recall 11V-490 (fuel system, diesel, Oct 3, 2011). Recall repairs are free at authorized dealers.
At what mileage do 2011 Volkswagen Golf fuel system problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 31,000 miles, and 36% before 25,000 miles.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.