10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 0 / 0
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 2 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 3,057 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
« Read the previous 20 complaints
Two times my panoramic sunroof on my 2019 Volkswagen Tiguan has exploded. The first time was Feb. 13, 2019, just a couple of months after I purchased the vehicle brand new. The second time was a week and a half ago on Aug. 8, 2019. Both times the panoramic sunroof exploded I was on the highway going to work and driving about 60mph. It sounded both times like a gun shot going off in my car. There was no warning either time, it just happened and was very frightening. Both times it happened I was far enough back from other vehicles. The most recent explosion was worse. A huge hole was left and pieces were flying off behind my vehicle. Thankfully I had the mesh screen closed, so none of the glass came into the vehicle on me. The hole that was left the second time was huge and flared outwards, which indicates a defect in the manufacturing of the glass. It is a definite safety risk. Thankfully both times it happened I was able to maintain control of the vehicle but I worry if it happens again. Thankfully it wasn't raining either time, if it was I might have gotten in an accident with the rain coming in on me and keeping me from being able to see the road. There should be a recall on the 2019 Volkswagen Tiguan panoramic sunroof.
- North Charleston, SC, USA
Two times my panoramic sunroof on my 2019 Volkswagen Tiguan has exploded. The first time was Feb. 13, 2019, just a couple of months after I purchased the vehicle brand new. The second time was a week and a half ago on Aug. 8, 2019. Both times the panoramic sunroof exploded I was on the highway going to work and driving about 60mph. It sounded both times like a gun shot going off in my car. There was no warning either time, it just happened and was very frightening. Both times it happened I was far enough back from other vehicles. The most recent explosion was worse. A huge hole was left and pieces were flying off behind my vehicle. Thankfully I had the mesh screen closed, so none of the glass came into the vehicle on me. The hole that was left the second time was huge and flared outwards, which indicates a defect in the manufacturing of the glass. It is a definite safety risk. Thankfully both times it happened I was able to maintain control of the vehicle but I worry if it happens again. Thankfully it wasn't raining either time, if it was I might have gotten in an accident with the rain coming in on me and keeping me from being able to see the road. There should be a recall on the 2019 Volkswagen Tiguan panoramic sunroof.
- North Charleston, SC, USA
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
Big manufacturer defect issue on Tiguan windshiled. Bought new 2016 VW Tiguan on 2016 Apr, windshield broke in two weeks, while I'm driving in a local way, slight turing right, crossing traffic @45 mile/H, (hwy 75 to East exchange, allen, tx, 75002) no trucks seen. Bought new 2019 VW Tiguan on 2019 Mar, windshield broke in Apr, within a month. A quiet highway, no big trucks passing by, and speed @ 65mile/H.(hwy 75 @ renner) asked dealer to report as quality or design issue, with no response.
- Allen, TX, USA
My brand new 2019 VW Tiguan fwd next day after buying showed multiple problems that related to transmission and breaking and a unknown source of rattling sound. I noticed when I cold start the Tiguan and let it idle for 3-4 minutes the normal engine sound slowly goes down but a louder and more noticeable rattling sound comes up. It is heard while driving also. It's concerning but what is more concerning is the that the Tiguan hesitates while shifting gears. I noticed it happens while accelerating from a stop. Not only it hesitates to accelerate you'd feel the cars struggle while shifting gears. Each time the gear is shifting you could feel the car is at a confused state and so you feel it thump. At other times I've experienced the car almost stalls where the RPM goes up but transmission slips. It doesn't change gear. The worst of all is that while slowly breaking the car tried to speed up. The RPM is also seen to go up. The very unfortunate news is that though the dealer's technician drove with me and saw the issue they don't have a fix. VW corporation also isn't providing a fix. There's other reports of similar problems. The Tiguan has a known transmission problem according to other owner reports. It may not be all Tiguan but my car is a lemon. The problem probably has to do with which location the car was manufactured. This is a very big safety concern. I am very worried about such erratic issues 2nd day. How did VW get past safety boards. They need to solve this issue before devastating events such as death or other things occur. No vehicles should slip gears while accelerating nor speed up while breaking.
- Springfield, VA, USA
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
The car stopped accelerating unexpectedly in the middle of the freeway while I was driving about 60mph. All kinds of emergency lights came up for no apparent reason, and the car blocked. The gear was locked and wouldn't respond to restarting the car. The car had to the towed, and after getting it in the truck I realized that one side of the headlights weren't working. The car has only 1700 miles. A similar but less severe event happeed threes days before. I took it to the dealer's service and they said they couldn't find anything wrong with the car.
- Martinez, CA, USA
- New Paltz, NY, USA