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.
1. car is unsafe starting from a stop and after slowing down to accelerate out of a turn. in both instances there is a significant lack of response w/ the accelerator where it won't actually respond until there's about 2-3k RPMs. this makes it extremely dangerous at intersections because you can't trust that it will accelerate in a responsive manner. many times, the car will respond as if you've dropped the clutch on a manual transmission - jerking around like a 15YO learning to drive a stick. The problem has not been confirmed by dealer - they were supposed to review at our 1st year maintenance but didn't then wanted to charge me to come back. It has not been inspected by others. There are no warning lights. 2. The coolant level on car consistently drops despite low mileage (1st time was around 9k) and less than a year old. It's a risk because it may be a head gasket or engine issue. The dealer did not find anything, but it continues to go through coolant. Advised to keep an eye on it. ???" Not inspected by others. Yes low coolant warning light - first appeared multiple times around 9k.
Vehicle has been having accelerator issues. Car has not been registering acceleration. This has happened on 6 separate occasions. The first occurrence happened when I was at an intersection and I took my foot off the brake and put my foot on the gas pedal. No acceleration besides the torque received when not applying gas (1-3mph). This lasted for about 7-10 seconds and then I jolted forward due to gas pedal being pressed down and car registering the gas. The other occurrences have happened when I start my car in the morning. I will start my car and apply gas. The car does not register the gas, it moves slowly from the torque converter. This lasts about 7-8 seconds of this slow moving. My foot is applied to the gas pedal, but car doesn't register it. After about 8 seconds, my car will register my foot being on the gas pedal. It goes from about 1 mph to 12-17 mph in 2 seconds. When it does, the gas pedal is not pressed 1/2 day down, 3/4 way down or all the way down to the floor. The gas pedal is pressed very gently. I learned from the first time in the intersection, not to press the gas pedal down all the way due to the aggressive acceleration of the car at an unknown time. The date of the intersection occurrence I did not record due to me thinking it was a one off situation. After the second time I started documenting each time this happened. Temperatures have varied from when this happens, it does not happen when it is a certain temperature out. I have driven my car consistently and does not happen when leaving my car sit for long periods of time. I have had regular maintenance on my car. Date of events this has happened 01/08 01/16 01/17 01/29 01/31 This is very concerning to me as I am afraid my car will hit an object or a human without my control. This car was bought new from the dealership and is less than 3 years old. I have reported this problem to the local dealership and have an appt in February.
Vehicle accelerates rapidedly or sluggish from stopped. Unable to anticipate which response you may get operating the vehicle and is therefore a safety in my opinion. Also the drop pad overheats my android phone to the point the phone shuts down and is so hot you can't pick it up.
Accelerating from hard stop causes vehicle to jerk. There is a lag that is dangerous when sitting in traffic. I was sitting in bumper to bumper traffic when I accelerated. The car has no response and then will have a sudden acceleration seconds after pushing the pedal. This only happens when accelerating from a hard stop. I have called 2 local dealers and they confirmed they have seen this issue. 1 dealer stated they have seen this issue in my exact model, with no fix. 2nd dealer states they have seen it in a different model but have no fix for my current model. This problems puts the safety of myself and others at risk.
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.
- Englewood, CO, USA
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The car auto-accelerates and the acceleration is very jerky. When you put the car in gear it accelerates without control. Too dangerous to drive in the city.
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.
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.
In some cases when attempting to propel the vehicle from a stop or slow roll to a quicker state of acceleration, response to pressing the pedal down to accelerate is delayed enough to potentially cause a dangerous situation. Once the vehicle starts to accelerate, it does so in a snapping way that almost causes another dangerous situation. This is being discussed by several owners on social media groups. Some people are buying 3rd party ODB2 gadgets that help resolve this, which mean it is possibly solvable with a ECU update that manages throttle response, turbo, and perhaps shift points.
While driving, there is a significant lag in acceleration after pressure is put on the gas pedal. There have been multiple instances where I have been making a left turn across traffic and the lag in acceleration has caused me to almost get into an accident. Downshifting and attempting to accelerate immediately after also produces a significant delay, which prohibits the driver from avoiding accidents if needed.
This car has a dangerous delayed acceleration problem. While making a left hand turn the car DID NOT apply the correct amount of acceleration proportional to the pressure applied to the gas pedal. It got to the point where I was basically flooring the gas pedal AND THE CAR DID NOT CHANGE SPEED! Because the car would not accelerate I almost got hit. After the turn a delayed surge of speed made the car jerk/lunge in an dangerous manner. If I didn't have a firm grip on the steering wheel I would have lost control of the car. I'm terrified driving this car in heavy traffic conditions. Volkswagen needs to fix this before someone has an accident and dies.
A stop sale order was placed the following Monday after I signed my lease of the 2022 VW TAOS with 4MOTION. Not only was I not contacted about this safety recall but upon taking it in for severe turbo lag reasons on Sep21 I was informed that it was unsafe to drive and needed to be kept for an undetermined extended period of time with no loaner or rental. I-??m paying 500 a month to lease and insure a brand new car that I simply cannot use? It-??s unacceptable. VW needs to buy back my car so that I can be in a reliable safe vehicle from somewhere else.
When I depress the accelerator, the car jumps ahead or stalls. I took this to the local dealership and was told this car is on a do not sell list- 1 day after purchase. They, along with VW customer care has advised against driving the vehicle and encouraged it be towed to a dealership. This is my only vehicle and without it I have no transportation. They are unable to provide alternate transportation. I have been working with VW customer care.
Yesterday afternoon, while driving on I-55 in heavy Chicago Saturday traffic, my Taos 4Motion stalled out (mid-drive) in the middle lane of I-55, and I was nearly smashed into by several vehicles. My gas pedal didn't work, and yet my car appeared to be on. In an effort to find a way out of danger as fast as possible, I managed to get the car going again, only to have it stall out a second time (mid-drive) while trying to get onto a shoulder to safety. I was nearly smashed into again. Three hours after a VW roadside assistance tow truck got to me, I learned that a mere six days after I purchased my Taos 4Motion, VW issued (1) a recall on the specific problem I have described, and more importantly, (2) issued a stop-sale order on Taos models with 4Motion. I was never informed of this recall, and I have since learned VW is not sending notice of this recall until October 5, 2021. This is unacceptable. People could die, and no one is saying anything. I spoke by telephone with Nick Faciano of VW Crystal Lake Illinois this morning--my dealership--and he informed me that he had spoken with VW corporate representative that morning and that, and I quote directly, "I even contacted Volkswagen corporate this morning and again, they're still telling us not to contact the customers, that they're doing it." Obviously, this has not been done. And it's already too late for me to be notified. What about the next person" Will someone have to be smashed on I-55 or anywhere else, and die, before VW does something about it" A recall that customers are not notified about when a stop sale order has been put in place is irresponsible and calling for a lawsuit---peoples lives are on the line.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- West Linn, OR, USA