10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
2,753 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

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problem #12

Jun 082023

Tiguan

  • miles
When I turned the car on to leave work, the Check Engine and EPC lights came on, the car went into "Limp Home" mode and a warning came on the dash saying "Max Speed 4000 RPMs". Immediately, I could smell fuel, so I turned the vehicle off and exited. I noticed the ground under the car was wet. My husband came to check it out and the same thing happened. We saw that fuel was flooding out from underneath the engine. As he drove the vehicle to an adjacent lot to be able to be towed, fuel spewed out from underneath the engine. We had the vehicle towed to a VW Dealership in Grand Rapids who was able to diagnose a broken fuel rail bolt inside the intake manifold after they had the same experience with a massive fuel leak. Per the service advisor, this was not the first time they've seen something like this. Given the extreme flow of fuel from the engine, I'd say I'm very lucky that this didn't happen while driving through town or at speed on the highway where a vehicle fire would be possible with fuel pouring out of the manifold onto the hot engine.

- Portage, MI, USA

problem #11

Jan 072022

Tiguan

  • miles
It has already recall for other model but not -€˜Tiguan-€™ Recall code is -€˜37M2-€™ Please do recall and save us from danger. Please.

- Woodside, NY, USA

problem #10

May 012020

Tiguan

  • 4,000 miles
The contact owns a 2019 Volkswagen Tiguan. The contact stated that while his wife was driving approximately 55 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power and stalled with several unknown warning lights illuminated. Since the initial failure, the failure occurred intermittently and the vehicle would restart soon after failure. The contact had taken the vehicle to a dealer however, the mechanic was unable to diagnose or duplicate the failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 4,000.

- Brooklyn, NY, USA

problem #9

Feb 182021

Tiguan

  • miles
My vehicle was parked in a slightly sloped driveway and turned off. After 2 minutes, car went back approx. 100 feet through walkway and ended up in the middle of main road. This is a serious malfunction of the vehicle as it can cause injury to someone. When called the customer service center, the rep says there is a recall on engine and transmission control software upgrade but I was not notified about this recall. In addition, on the nthsa website it says the upgrade is for "update to address elevated tailpipe emissions that were found during vehicle testing".

- Solon, OH, USA

problem #8

Jul 142020

Tiguan

  • 400 miles
Vehicle started leaking fluids 2 weeks after purchasing. The car has now been in 6 times for leaking oil fluids, as well as noisy brakes, and a bucking tranny. Has had seals replaced, boot replaced and is now leaking again 1/2021 in the front, and also leaking in the rear of the car.

- Depew, NY, USA

problem #7

Oct 282020

Tiguan

  • 9,000 miles
Sport shift. This is an underpowered and sometimes confused vehicle. Most owners say to drive in "sport" mode to help it not hesitate as much when accelerating from a stop (can have long hesitation for no apparent reason) and when passing at highway speeds. Per manual "sport mode will not allow transmission to go into highest gear" which is 8th gear. However once in sport mode, and cruising with steady speed and RPM, if you place selector to manual mode the shift indictor immediately displays 8 with no change in engine tone or RPM. This indicates to me that the transmission is already in 8th gear against design and operation manual description. I believe this is a contributing factor for the sluggish transmission response during normal operation which does not seem very different from sport mode and will cause premature transmission problems some owners have complained about. Dealer says there are no codes so this is normal.

- Morgans Point Resort, TX, USA

problem #6

Feb 152020

Tiguan

  • 18,000 miles
I have been experiencing intense throttle lag. This happens every time I stop but it is very excessive when rolling (10mph) and press throttle. It has become a safety concern as if I am merging into traffic and have to pause while other cars are around I feel it is very unsafe. I have spoken to other 2019 Tiguan owners and they have experienced the same issue. And doing my research I have seen some dealerships have fixed this issue while others haven't.

- Louisville, KY, USA

problem #5

Jan 082019

Tiguan

  • 2 miles
The transmission doesn't seem to work swiftly. Definitely a lag going on that is felt in the acceleration of the vehicle. Everything else is great with the car

- West Palm Beach, FL, USA

problem #4

Jun 212019

Tiguan

  • 300 miles
Vehicle frequently shakes/shudders violently under light/normal acceleration in stop-and-go traffic, creating a safety hazard and extremely uncomfortable driving situation. I purchased it a few weeks ago and have approximately 1300 miles on it - this has been happening since I took delivery. Under load, shortly after the transmission shifts and as the vehicle reaches approximately 9-11 mph at 2000rpm, the entire vehicle shudders as if the engine is being lugged or is misfiring. This really only occurs after the vehicle has had sufficient time to warm up and has been driven for some time in rush-hour traffic. It is more pronounced with the adaptive cruise control turned on. The shaking/shuddering has made me extremely dizzy and nauseous to the point where I have already become physically sick to my stomach once. I had to cut off 3 lanes of traffic to reach the shoulder so I could avoid getting sick in the car - this was on 7/8/2019, a week ago today. Several passengers will no longer ride in the car with me. I have returned the vehicle to the selling dealer twice over this issue and although their efforts to diagnose it were made in good faith, they have been unable to reproduce it. I have several videos of this issue that I attempted to share with the dealership upon dropping it off the second time, which the service technician told me he did not view after I picked the car up. I also recently discovered that my emergency communication/airbag deployment notification system (car-net), is completely non-functional due to a software bug and will not work at all until Volkswagen comes up with an update for it (per the dealer). I am extremely uncomfortable continuing to drive the vehicle for these reasons and continue to feel sick to my stomach every time I use it to commute to or from my job, which is just over 30 miles from my home.

- Canton, MA, USA

problem #3

Jul 022019

Tiguan

  • 135 miles
Purchased car June 30, check engine light illuminated on way home from dealer. Next day check engine light off, brake power boost failure flicker on screen, auto start/stop not functioning, restart car all gone. Next trip tire pressure warning, unable to reset. Had to go to an appointment and was heading to dealer on the way home, car went black, lost acceleration, no response from throttle while driving 75mph on busy freeway. Had to coast across five lanes of traffic to be safe. Restart car, drove to dealer. Total amount of miles on car 152. Purchased Sunday evening 6:30 pm in repair after near collision Tuesday evening 5:00 pm.

- San Rafael, CA, USA

problem #2

Jun 192019

Tiguan

  • 1,200 miles
I bought the Tiguan brand new from the dealership with high hopes for our family SUV. Almost immediately I noticed that the vehicle hesitated to accelerate from a stopped position a few times, but couldn't believe I was having a problem so soon after buying the car. When I realized that this was a recurring car issue and not user error, we had only owned the car for 3 weeks and the car had roughly 1200 miles. It was absolutely terrifying when I was turning left during rush hour traffic with my 12 month old son in the back seat and my car would not accelerate beyond about 5 miles per hour. Luckily the driver coming towards me on the main road slowed down with enough time for me to make my left turn and coast right into a nearby subdivision. I pressed my foot onto the accelerator to the floor and it took about 20 seconds for it to kick into speed. I took the car to the dealership where I assumed it would be fixed. After 9 days in the shop, they claim they drove the vehicle 80 miles and couldn't duplicate the issue. Therefore, they want me to put my family back into the car that is completely unsafe to drive. They tried to tell me that it was the "turbo lag" that I am experiencing which, in the long run, a manager admitted to my fiance and I is untrue isn't even what we are expressing as the problem. After talking to 3 managers, we finally found someone who is head of the service department at the dealership who sympathized with our issue and is letting us use a loaner until Volkswagen calls us back, but this is only after I showed them all of the other reviews on this website that state our exact issue. Now we wait to see if Volkswagen will do the right thing or if their customer service is as terrible as the dealership where we bought it when we went in with a real and terrifying issue. This is the beginning of what will be a recall. Unsafe and scary.

- Ferndale, MI, USA

problem #1

Feb 222019

Tiguan

  • 1 miles
Upon driving my new 2019 Volkswagen Tiguan this past winter. It was a very cold winter day, when starting my car it wouldn't go in reverse., then started to go, in reverse. I put it into D drive.. I would putt ( go and stop) like it was running out of gas. There was plenty of gas in it. It continued to display the epc yellow warning light. The light signal is engine control malfunction. I have notified my dealership I purchased it from. The state it will do that when it is very cold out. It is now spring time. It has done it twice

- Dunmore, PA, USA