This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
This vehichle stalls when accelerating from a dead stop. This has caused several close calls when pulling out. Dealer calls it turbo lag "This is normal". Cant be normal.
The engine lag is extremely dangerous. It takes 2-3 full seconds for the ending to engage at full throttle. The risk of an accident is severe due to the total lack of responsiveness.
Error: stop / start message, vehicle acting like it was about to stall out, couldn-??t go over 25 mph, engine light came on, and lane assist keeps disabling. First incident 3/8/2023. Second incident 5/3/2023.
The vehicle has a lag that keeps it from properly accelerating from a stop, it also seems like there might be an issue with the transmission because the vehicle will jerk back and forth when letting off of the gas like it is a manual transmission but it is an automatic transmission. It seems like the vehicle never knows what gear it should be in.
My car has been leaking cooling into the head gasket for 4 months. I have been waiting a month for parts and no update. My passengers and my safety was at risk when my car stalled out on a busy road. The problem has been inspected by the Volkswagen dealership. I found out there was a problem when my engine coolant light came on after less than one month of owning the vehicle. My front collision warning does not work correctly. It alerts me when there is vehicle in front of me or when there is a fork in the road. My car was on cruise control and came close to a vehicle and no notification or alert notified me and I have the feature set to alert me "early" to avoid collision.
- Cohoes, NY, USA
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Defect in the head gasket results in rapid dissipation of the engine coolant which may risk overheating and fire. The issue first appeared at around 15 thousand miles. I can see in online forums that there dozens of other consumers that report facing the same issue at least as early as September 2022. There is already a complaint field for this same problem with NHTSA under ID 11501924. There are no remedies offered by VW and my car is currently inoperable and is indefinitely at the dealership's garage. There has been no manufacturer's report by VW for this issue in compliance with 49 CFR Part 589 despite the issue being clearly widespread. I would appreciate this matter to be looked into for potential recall campaign initiation. VW is offering no rentals or loaners while I continue to pay my monthly lease payments with no sight of having my car repaired any time soon.
Engine coolant sign was on. Checked levels of coolant, it was very low. Took the car to the dealer, they diagnosed it with faulty head gasket/leak. Dealer ordered parts to fix the engine. Safety concern: engine can get overheated if issue is not discovered in time. Also car has been underperforming, issue with acceleration, turbo lag, power delivered by engine. Could be related to the head gasket issue or a different issue. Waiting to hear more from the dealer and I will send more updates
While stop at red light on 2 occasions, the car goes into the auto stop start feature. The light turns green and I depress the accelerator to start to drive and nothing happens. I frantically try to determine what's going on my, shifter is in Drive and nothing. I press ignition to start and it states car in drive. Shift car to park and car starts. This all occurred after VW did Campaign #24IR. This is dangerous since if people don't realize your not moving they can rear end you or go backwards on a hill.
Vehicle when new was grinding brakes and smell like they were burning. brought to dealer no issue found. Vehicle did this numerous times like calipers were sticking and not releasing. Vehicle had excessive oil burn. 1/2 quart down with 1000 miles. Vehicle was over filled when brought back to dealer.. no warning light. Oil was change a 2nd time with no issues. Brought vehicle back to dealer on 2/16/23 for oil change. After 2 weeks oil light came on for excessive oil. brought back to dealer again for them to drain some oil out. Now having issues with filling car with gas. Pump keeps clicking off, which could be EVAC system. This car has only 9000 miles and shouldn't have this issues.
The vehicle suddenly loses power without warning/notice for a few seconds when attempting to accelerate from a stop; the car will move at speeds between 1-3 mph. The condition occurs multiple times during a drive cycle, especially when cold but also when at operating temperature, and has happened in wet and dry conditions causing numerous near-miss accidents due to the lack of poor response. This is a rental vehicle from National.
The check engine light has come on 4 times in 5 months and car goes into limp mode in the middle of traffic making it unsafe. I pull over turn off car and turn back on and it runs fine for several weeks and then it does it again. Antelope Valley VW tells me I'm getting bad gas but I use Mobil, Chevron, or Shell
Vehicle is consuming coolant. It is not leaking. Over the course of 2-3 months I'm adding 6-8 ounces of coolant. VW dealership cannot provide a diagnosis for the missing coolant and claims it is normal. I suspect slow head gasket leak. The VW Taos forum has numerous posts from owners experiencing similar symptoms with some requiring head gasket replacement. My fear is that at some point the leak will expand and cause major engine damage or seizing. If that happens during a freeway commute an accident or fire could occur. VW should investigate and recall any vehicles subject to early head gasket failure.
When coming to a stop the car stalled, max rpm 3000 warning fired with check engine light. Once restarted it bucked as if it was not getting fuel then stalled again. Dealer had just installed update 48 hours prior to this happening
While attempting to accelerate from a stop, my Taos began to shake, the check engine light began flashing, and the car felt as if it were going to stall. I pulled over, turned the car off, turned it back on, and the car was drivable. This occurred around 5,000 miles. The dealer confirmed multiple misfires and a high pressure oil leak. The parts were replaced. My taos has a terrible lag when accelerating. This is a constant problem. It barely moves then all of the sudden it will take off, causing the wheels to spin out and your head to hit the headrest. This is extremely dangerous and has almost caused multiple accidents for me. I took the vehicle in to service and they stated that the Emission pump valve was stuck open, causing it to drive badly. The pump was replaced at around 6,000 miles. The car continued to drive badly and at approx 7,000 miles, I was accelerating from a stop when the car began to shake again and would not accelerate. The check engine light began flashing and the start/stop error message appeared. I pulled over and turned off the car. I turned it back on and the engine light went off but the start/stop still did not work. I brought it to the dealer and they confirmed additional engine misfires. The dealer cleared the codes and advised me to use premium gas. The Taos is supposed to run on 87, not premium. There are multiple online forums for Taos Owners. A concerning amount of people have complained about these exact same issues with their vehicles and that VW's "fix" is to run premium gas. This vehicle seriously needs to be looked into, as it is posing a serious safety hazard to all involved.
I purchased my VW TAOS on Nov 26, 2021, and since then I have experienced faulty issues 4 times. 2022 Jul twice, Sep once, and Nov once. When merged to the main road the car refuses to accelerate and gives strange sounds in transmission/engine area. The first 2 times I had the issue with loss of power and significant lag in acceleration I could see the "start/stop error" message in the dashboard, and I had to pull over to the side of the road. I drove in the parking lot nearby for few minutes and continued driving when the engine seemed OK, but the automatic engine start/stop system failed to work on traffic lights when car fully stopped. I notified my local dealership about this issue and got an appointment for inspection in August. When examined they recommended changing my fuel to premium and explained that the fault was caused by the quality of gas I put. I followed their instruction and only been pumping Unleaded-91 Premium grade fuel for the last 2 months, but I had a more serious issue in mid-September. In the middle of traffic at 40mph speed a sudden loss of power occurred followed by a check engine light flashing. Again, I had to make an emergency stop from the second lane to pull over into the shoulder. When I notified this to my dealership, they recommended to get the car checked during my first oil change that was supposed to happen a month later because when I consulted with the operator, they said I should observe if the problem is going to reoccur. On 7th of Nov 2022, I got my oil changed for the first time at the dealership and drove my car for a while and it seemed fine. However, by the evening when I tried to drive it back home the same issue with worse noise in the engine area took place and car failed to accelerate in the middle of the traffic where I had to act quickly to pull over to the side of the road causing risky situation to other drivers on the road and myself. I am now convinced that this issue is never going to be fixed.
Vehicle has gone limp, almost like a stall, no matter how much the gas pedal is pressed. It happens for a few seconds and then it picks back up like normal. Check engine light and EPC light come on. Has happened pulling out of parking spot, at a traffic light, and in traffic. The first time it happened I took it to the local VW dealership where they told me I had water in my gas. Hard to believe as I go to a well known gas station and my other car gets the same gas and has never had this issue. I paid to get the car back, and drove it until the tank was empty. I've been adding higher octane gas like they recommended and it just happened again recently.
I was driving along in the left lane of a 6 lane busy highway with traffic moving along at about 80 mph when out of the blue with no warning indication whatsoever, the Taos engine shuts off and just lost all capability to accelerate. I had to then maneuver across 5 lanes of 80 mph traffic as I was rapidly losing speed to make it to the shoulder. All this to say, this put me in a very dangerous situation with no forewarning that anything could be wrong. It took a few tries to get the engine to start back up from the shoulder. It is said that VW knows about this issue for the AWD models, but my case is evidence that it also happens to FWD models. This issue is very unsafe.
While driving down the road at a speed of 45mph my vehicle decelerated to a speed of 20mph. Vehicle would not let me accelerate to get out of the road to safety. Check engine light started flashing, EPC light came on, tracks control light came on, and caution symbol under oil gage came on. VW of Macon erased 7 stored codes after doing a diagnostic. The technician was unable to find the issue or repair. I was told by the dealership that they have had several other vehicles like mine to do the same thing after I voiced safety concerns and life threatening concerns if traveling on the interstate. I was informed that this issue happened to someone going on the interstate at a speed of 85mph. This is an extreme safety issue and It should be addressed immediately.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Wapakoneta, OH, USA