Volkswagen Beetle, model year 2012. Filed by Volkswagen Of America, Inc and reported to NHTSA on 16 July 2012. 83 vehicles potentially affected.
What the notice says Volkswagen is recalling certain model year 2012 beetle vehicles. some vehicles may be equipped with summer tires that fail to comply with federal motor vehicle safety standards 110 "tire selection and rims" and 139 "new pneumatic tires for light vehicles."
Is your vehicle included? Check with your VIN at NHTSA, or ask a dealer. This page is an independent copy of the notice, kept so you can see what changed after it was published. It is not the authority, and the authority’s own text is the one to act on.
Volkswagen's own number for this recall: 44K8/W4. That is the number on the owner letter and on the dealer paperwork. 12V331 is the number NHTSA gave the same campaign, and the number this page is filed under. They are one recall, written two ways.
What owners ask about this recall
- Which vehicles does recall 12V331 cover?
- Volkswagen Beetle, model year 2012.
- What is wrong with them?
- VOLKSWAGEN IS RECALLING CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2012 BEETLE VEHICLES. SOME VEHICLES MAY BE EQUIPPED WITH SUMMER TIRES THAT FAIL TO COMPLY WITH FEDERAL MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY STANDARDS 110 "TIRE SELECTION AND RIMS" AND 139 "NEW PNEUMATIC TIRES FOR LIGHT VEHICLES."
- What can happen if it is not put right?
- DUE TO AN ERROR AT THE FACTORY, THE AFFECTED VEHICLES WERE PRODUCED WITH SUMMER TIRES THAT ARE POSSIBLY NOT IN COMPLIANCE WITH FEDERAL MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY STANDARDS 110 "TIRE SELECTION & RIMS" AND 139 "NEW PNEUMATIC TIRES FOR LIGHT VEHICLES." IN ADDITION, CUSTOMERS MAY BE UNAWARE THAT THEIR...
- Is there a fix yet?
- Yes, and it is free. VOLKSWAGEN WILL NOTIFY OWNERS, AND REPLACE THE NONCOMPLIANT TIRES, FREE OF CHARGE. THE SAFETY RECALL BEGAN ON SEPTEMBER 12, 2012. OWNERS MAY CONTACT VOLKSWAGEN AT 1-800-822-8987.
- What should I do now?
- Check your own vehicle by its VIN with NHTSA, which is the record to act on. Volkswagen calls this recall 44K8/W4, which is the number on the owner letter and the dealer paperwork.
Answered from the register this site holds. NHTSA is the record to act on.
What the authority says can happen if this is not fixed: “DUE TO AN ERROR AT THE FACTORY, THE AFFECTED VEHICLES WERE PRODUCED WITH SUMMER TIRES THAT ARE POSSIBLY NOT IN COMPLIANCE WITH FEDERAL MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY STANDARDS 110 "TIRE SELECTION & RIMS" AND 139 "NEW PNEUMATIC TIRES FOR LIGHT VEHICLE…”
affected
in the notice
caught
| Campaign | 12V331 |
|---|---|
| Filed by | VOLKSWAGEN OF AMERICA, INC |
| System at fault | Tires |
| Reported to NHTSA | 16 July 2012 |
| Model years | 2012-2012 |
| Vehicles named | VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE |
What the notice says today
The consequence
DUE TO AN ERROR AT THE FACTORY, THE AFFECTED VEHICLES WERE PRODUCED WITH SUMMER TIRES THAT ARE POSSIBLY NOT IN COMPLIANCE WITH FEDERAL MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY STANDARDS 110 "TIRE SELECTION & RIMS" AND 139 "NEW PNEUMATIC TIRES FOR LIGHT VEHICLES." IN ADDITION, CUSTOMERS MAY BE UNAWARE THAT THEIR VEHICLE IS EQUIPPED WITH SUMMER PERFORMANCE TIRES. SUMMER TIRES HAVE DIFFERENT GRIP AND PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS. THESE ISSUES MAY LEAD TO AN INCREASED RISK OF A CRASH.
The remedy
VOLKSWAGEN WILL NOTIFY OWNERS, AND REPLACE THE NONCOMPLIANT TIRES, FREE OF CHARGE. THE SAFETY RECALL BEGAN ON SEPTEMBER 12, 2012. OWNERS MAY CONTACT VOLKSWAGEN AT 1-800-822-8987.
What it said before
This campaign is in the register but not yet in the dated wording archive, so we cannot yet say whether its text has moved. It enters the archive on the next pass.
This is one of 455 notices in the record whose component field names tires. Across that group the median wait before owners were written to was 34 days.
Last checked . No change has been recorded in the wording.
The models named here, across their whole recall history
How to cite this record
Quoting the wording on this page means quoting a version, so the date belongs in the citation:
CarsMultiverse, recall 12V331, wording as read on 17 September 2026. https://carsmultiverse.com/recall/12v331/
The cross-border matches used on this site are deposited as a citable dataset: doi:10.5281/zenodo.22087136. The recall wording itself is published by the national authority named above and is theirs, not ours.
The recall record and its wording are published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and are US Government public domain. The dated archive, the comparison and any before-and-after above are CarsMultiverse. How fresh every engine behind this page is, is public on the status page. To check a specific vehicle, use NHTSA’s own VIN lookup.
Other Volkswagen notices we hold
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- 26V321: 2024 Tiguan
- 26V258: 2025-2026 Taos
- 26V185: 2025 Jetta and Taos
- 26V138: 2025-2026 Jetta
- 26V030: 2023-2025 ID
- 26V028: 2023-2024 ID
- 25V854: 2025 Tiguan
All 272 Volkswagen campaigns we hold · Every manufacturer in the record
The fingerprint of this notice
We take a SHA-256 of each of the three blocks of text the authority publishes and keep the first eight characters. As we last read campaign 12V331 on 23 August 2026, they were:
- Defect summary
96fe9755 - Consequence
47756014 - Remedy
98158fb6
We first read this notice on 21 August 2026. It has not moved since. If it ever does, these characters will not match, and the change will be dated here.
The wording we hold for 12V331 · how the whole register is watched
This notice names one vehicle among several registers that have written about it. Every notice this site holds for the Volkswagen Beetle, in all seven, is kept on that vehicle's own page, with the newest in each.
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Owners of these cars
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