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.
I got a new job with a significant raise and was so happy I rewarded myself with a brand new 2018 VW Tiguan (sel premium R-line). Besides some seemingly inconsistent hesitation when taking off from start, the car has a great ride, the steering is german and like no other. The adaptive cruise control saves me so much stress on my 40 minutes drive into work. Sound great right? well, it was, until....I got my first oil changed on time, like I should, then at ~14,500 miles in May 2020, my low oil level light came on. I checked that there were no visible oil leaks in the driveway or under the car, there weren't. I called the dealer to confirm I wasn't nuts and that my oil was changed ~4,000 miles ago. They said I should add oil, that it's normal for Volkswagen's to burn through a lot of oil. So I asked what type of oil was used in the car so I could buy the same type. This was very alarming that I was adding oil to a care with only ~14,500 miles. I thought, okay, maybe they didn't actually change my oil, maybe it's a fluke. So I added the oil and the low oil level light turned off, so I proceeded driving it as normal. Now, I've been working from home due to covid-19 so I've been driving very minimally. I put ~1000 miles on the car since added oil and the low oil light came on again on 8/28/2020. I parked the car and called and made a service appointment at the dealership. I didn't drive it all all over the weekend, then took it in on 8/31/2020. The service guy checking me in told me "VW considers it acceptable for their cars to burn through a quart of oil every 1,000 miles." You have to be kidding me. This car doesn't even have 16,000 miles on it yet. This is not okay and not normal. So here I sit on 9/2/2020. The dealership still has my Tiguan and are running what they say is a new series of tests to check what could be causing the car to burn oil.
This vehicle has an erratic and often severe hesitation when accelerating, which makes it extremely dangerous to drive on the highway as the driver can not gauge the rate at which the car will speed up. It happens less frequently when driving under 40 miles an hour on a city street but is unpredictable at speeds above this. I've been driving for over 25 years and this is the first vehicle in which I've experience this uneven lag. I've also experience issues with the auto start/stop function, when the vehicle is stopped on an incline at red lights it has failed to restart, requiring a manual restart (put in park and restart engine). This vehicle does not seem safe. The most recent occurrence of the acceleration lag was June 14, 2020, but it had occurred regularly since I purchased the vehicle from the dealership in January 2020.
When accelerating, engine does not respond accordingly. Engine hesitates to accelerate and will stay in the low rpms despite the pedal being full pushed in. After a few seconds(maybe 15-30sec), it will rapidly accelerate corresponding to where the pedal is. This constantly happens, it has occurred ever since I purchased the vehicle 1 year ago. I cannot tell if it is an issue with the engine, the transmission, or the electrical components between the 2. it makes trying to merge onto a highway, accelerate into another lane, or turn onto a street very dangerous as I cannot be certain when it will accelerate. This issue occurs in all modes (eco, normal, sport). I have taken this to a dealership once but they said they couldn't find anything wrong with it. Additionally, there is an issue with the side passenger seatbelt sensor. It keeps going off if I have my phone charging sitting on top of it or if I rest my hand on the seat.
My car hesitates when accelerating at a complete stop. I press the accelerator to pull into traffic and it seems the car just doesn't want to go! this makes it very dangerous to drive period. It takes a few seconds for the car to 'wake up' and finally accelerate.
While driving on the highway, at highway speed (70mph), an error appeared saying the engine had exceeded 4000rpm, which it hadn't, and then it shut off for "safety". we lost the power steering and brakes at 70mph. We were able to get off the road, stop and restart the car and proceed home. This happened three times. The car is now at the dealer. The car is 18 months old with 20K miles.
- Huntingdon Valley, PA, USA
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I bought a car from VW South orlando 7 month ago and since than I had a lot of issue with the car engine light was going on and off I been their like 5 times now and just pissing me off I want a replacement car
I purchased the car brand new iat the end of 2018. At the end of 2019 the car now needs new brakes and has less than 19,000 miles. The car shakes when you break. The dealership stated usually brakes and rotors last 30,000 and cited "common causes" for needing new breaks. The dealership stated they would cover labor at good will to replace brakes and rotors and then came back that would cover 60% and provided me 3 different amounts for a total. Additionally, in December 2019, the check engine light came on after driving through a dangerous intersection turning left the car started to stutter and was shaking, after they reviewed it, they stated that the car had "misfired" and not all 4 engines started at the same time, only 3 of the engines did. I am requesting that the car be reviewed for compliance and safety regarding the brakes and engine. Additionally, I am requesting that Volkswagen cover the cost and labor of replacing brakes and rotors.
After fueling up at a gas station the 2018 Tiguan would not start. It was dead. Stationary at the fuel pump. Warning lights came on the dash to indicate steering column failure. No symptoms, the car would not try to start or begin to start. Just errors on dash. Car is only 1 year old with less than 10K miles on it. Dealer asked technician to jump car. No change. Car had to be towed to dealer. Dealer indicated a new steering column needed to be ordered and installed and that it was very odd to have failed. Quick research shows this happens all the time on vws. How can a part like this fail in less than 10K miles?
The car hesitates one to two seconds from a stop when the accelerator pedal is depressed quickly halfway or more as you would do to merge quickly into fast moving traffic. The problem can also be duplicated when moving slowly around 5 mph. This problem has existed since the beginning but now seems to be getting worse. I consider this a safety issue since the car does not respond as expected/required under all conditions.
On multiple occasions, subject vehicle displayed check engine light and epc light at random intervals, causing car to unexpectedly be limited to 4,000 RPM and unable to accelerate past 40mph. As a result, this put driver in extremely unsafe situations and endangered safety of passengers and fellow drivers, particularly on highway. First encountered at 34,000 miles on odometer. Persisted through 41,000 miles. Seconds before error is encountered, vehicle would run rough and undergo rough shifts. In addition, vehicle also suffered with sluggish acceleration from stop. Vehicle taken to service center multiple occasions. On first encounter, technician instructed simply to reset vehicle. When taken second time, code P0203 injector short circuit cyl 3 was diagnosed and engine harness replaced. However, issue continued. When taken third time, injector harness replaced.
It takes a scary amount of time for the car to speed up when accelerating. The RPM module shows the acceleration but the vehicle doesn't actually speed up to match it. This is a safety issue especially when merging on to the freeway. An accident is bound to happen as I am not able to control the speed of the on coming cars and am unable to get my car up to speed to match the others. Also, the car randomly shuts down when stopped, a message saying please start engine manually pops up. This is also a safety concern and is bound to cause an accident as it happens a few times a month. A few months ago my car turned off when I stopped at the red light, a car was exiting the freeway as the light had turned green so they kept their high speed, I quickly turned my hazard lights on and the car had to swerve to the right lane to avoid rear ending me.
Severe hesitation when trying to accelerate, most noticeable from a full or near stop. Pulling out quickly into moving traffic often results in moments of no acceleration at all. It can be frightening and potentially dangerous. A quick google search for "Tiguan hesitation" brings up many complaints about this issue. Dealer is aware but says there is nothing that can be do as it is the nature of the transmission and engine. VW America says thank you for the feedback and they will "keep an eye out for trends and report as needed." I believe that if not corrected this issue will result serious accidents and injuries. The date below is the last time I experienced the issue but has happened many times since leasing the car this past January 2019.
The car gets filled with strong odor of gasoline inside the cabin and I was loosing gas at a rapid rate in addition the car was loosing speed. There is also the problem with the sto-start system, once the car was at a stop, the car would not turn over and start again. It would get stucktrying to turn on and at the same time I was loosing gasoline. I had to remove all passengers from the vehicle including my one month grand son due to the strong odor of gasoline. This incidents occured several times during the weekend of November 1 through November 4th when I dropped off the vehicle at the dealership.
Driving at 42-45 mph on a 0% slope. Car initially maintaining about 1,300 RPM. Without changing speed, pressure on the accelerator, or incline of the road, transmission would shift down by 3-4 gears resulting in a jump in the RPM up to about 3,200. Vehicle would cycle through the down shifting and the jump in RPM, and then shifting back up to lower the RPM back to normal. Within 1.2 miles, car cycled through this three times, and that was what I could capture on video! it continued for 15-20 miles before I could get it to a Volkswagen dealership. Finally, the engine temperature gauge shot up and sat about maximum value for about 3 seconds and then fell back down to dead center (normal operating temp). At that point, I was already on my way to VW to drop it off. About 1 mile from the dealership, I got the "check coolant! see owner's manual." Alert on my dash even though the temp gauge was normal at that time. Finally got to VW and was told the transmission thing was normal ("they like to hunt a lot"). I don't believe that for a second. After 18,000 miles, I would not all of the sudden realize the transmission doing that. Shifting by one or two gears is probably normal for a dsg, and I'm sure that has been happening all along - but it is so small that I don't notice the change. When a car shift down by 4 gears within 1-2 seconds and the car lunges forward as the RPM shoot up to maintain the speed, that is something that isn't normal. Currently vehicle is still in the shop. Will likely need a new water pump, coolant reservoir, wire harness (due to coolant migration). They also think there may be transmission fluid inside the coolant reservoir, but are still trying to tell me that the shifting problem is "normal"... I'm tired of dealing with Volkswagen and their shifty service department and procedures and can't wait to get rid of this car.
Cars response to driver accelerator inputs is hesitant and erratic. Car motion is unpredictably when accelerating from stand still. The performance is not predictable and very without apparent external environmental factors. Unpredictable performance endangers car occupants while entering traffic. The behavior has been determined by dealer as normal against other 2018 models but is different against 2019. VW us has not returned inquiry requests.
I was driving on interstate 95 North in the fast lane ( at 70 mph), when the "engine exceeds 4000 RPM" warning came on the dash board/system read out and the car lost power and started decelerating (to 40 mph). I continued to push the gas pedal but the car came to a complete stop. I put on my flashers and restarted the car and coasted to the shoulder. I put the park, stopped the car and waited and restarted the car. We entered the highway again and as I tried to accelerate, the car hesitated and decelerated again. This time I moved over to the right shoulder, stopped and got out of the car. My husband's friend was in the car with me and my husband was following behind us. I called my insurance company and explained to them what was happeing with the car and they came and towed the car to ourisman laurel voklswagon. I left a note and a key in the drop off service bow and now 24 hours later I have not received a call from any service personnel. It seems from reviewing other complaints, that several people (more than 20) have had the same issue.
We purchased 2 2018 VW Tiguan. Volkswagen Tiguan experience loss of acceleration creating a dangerous and risky environment for my daughter. Visited dealer few times and they told me problem can not identified. They even take car for overnight ride and cannot duplicate problem. Besides loss of acceleration, there are lot of problems with the start stop systems which also can not be identified. When there will be a formal communication from NHTSA regarding this matter ?
Vehicle engages automatic braking system without any prompting...no other vehicle anywhere in sight. It has happened on a rural two lane road, with a farm on one side and woods on the other and has also happened on a 4 lane road within city limits, but no vehicle in front of me, but one to the rear passenger side in the lane heading in the same direction. Every time this happens it brings the vehicle to a complete stop, regardless of speed. I have experienced whiplash on several occasions, as well as my husband and my 7 year old daughter. The amount of force is so violent that I would imagine it is equivalent to being hit by another vehicle. I had just picked up take-out once when this had happened, and the salsa in the takeout bag flew off of the back seat and the force caused the lid to come off and salsa was all over the 2nd row, front row, as well as myself and windshield to put into perspective how forceful this is. I fear the day that it engages and a car is behind me, because it will kill someone. We only drive this car now only if it is absolutely necessary and we can't make other arrangements.
Stop/start function on new Tiguan is behaving erratically. On a couple of occasions, when the foot brake is applied the car stops, but will not start again when foot is lifted off the brake. Brake goes hard and will not depress. Engine has to be switched off and on again for car to move. Most recent occasion happened while turning into traffic, needed to back up and could not. Thankfully oncoming traffic was just barely able to swerve around me.
At 2982 miles engine light came on start/stop error when car was moving there was RPM drop and rough engine.. dealer diagnosed misfire cylinder #2, poured additive in fuel, told me car was road tested invoice shows same mileage in and out. At approx. 7400 miles the same identical thing happened when I was driving. The car was towed to dealer May 13, 2019. Dealer informed me May 15, 2019 there was misfire cylinder # 2 and cylinder #4. car is still at dealer as of today May 2019. These miss fires are a driving hazard, they cause RPM to drop, can cause engine shut down loosing power steering and power brakes. Misfires very common on VW / Audi 2.0 tsi engines. VW / Audi stalling customer with fixes that don't work. Please investigate.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Lynchburg, VA, USA