10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
2,259 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

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.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan steering problems

steering problem

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2018 Volkswagen Tiguan Owner Comments

problem #11

Jan 202024

Tiguan

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

- Power steering pump PN#5QN-423-055-A, not sure if dealer kept. - Risk to both as lost all power steering in winter weather. - Yes, confirmed defective by dealer - I do not know if they did additional inspection or send to Manufacturer. - On [XXX] a yellow power steering light illuminated while driving and steering became more difficult. I took vehicle home and reached out to Volkswagen and then to local service center where I purchased. I was given a date of 2 weeks out at the Countryside, IL location and then was told the Orland Park, IL location could accept my vehicle on [XXX] which when I started the vehicle and the yellow light was now red and had completely lost power steering. I had vehicle dropped off in early AM. I was told they cannot provide a loaner because they are all out because they have so many vehicles in for repair. I did not get any response about situation for over a week and after few calls a week and half later I was told the rack and pinion needs to be replaced & the part is backordered & not expected until March 7, 2014. Could not guarantee because were unaware of quantity & how many need to be fixed before as 1st come 1st served. The service advisor told me they have been experiencing many issues with power steering, engine, turbo, timing chain errors, and a # more of issues throughout their lineup. I asked a percentage and he stated 30-40%, this shocked me completely. He calmly said that they produce so many vehicles that this is a low #? I reached out to Countryside, IL told them that I need a vehicle it the interim after negotiation they finally agreed to transfer vehicle to their location and provide a loaner. I was required to to get vehicle there myself on [XXX] I was not able to start vehicle because battery was dead, after jump still red light no power steering. Was told that typically they don't do transfers and would have to diagnose again. I received car back on [XXX] have less than 10 miles seems ok4now INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFOR

- Palos Hills, IL, USA

problem #10

Dec 292023

Tiguan

  • miles
My 2018 Tiguan won-??t turn on. The dash says, -??Steering Lock Fault. Stop!-?? I towed it to the dealership and they replaced the steering column. Four days later it happened again while I was in the middle of the city at night and couldn-??t go anywhere. This is a safety hazard because it could mean even after a repair, it can continue to lock up and not turn on out of no where. Both times there was never any warning given anywhere by the vehicle that this could happen. Just out of the blue it decides not to turn on and gives me that message.

- Mckinney, TX, USA

problem #9

Jul 132023

Tiguan

  • miles
Hi DMV, (NHTSA.gov), The steering light issue, Dealer currently do not have an ETA, the car is at the dealership still waiting for parts. Is unsafe to drive with this issues because the Steering got stuck. Thank you for the opportunity to share this problem. Sincerely [XXX]. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

- Smithtown , NY, USA

problem #8

Dec 202022

Tiguan

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

When I first purchased my vehicle the epc came on multiple times and I had to take it back to the dealership. Fast forward last week when I was going home on the eway same issues car wouldn-??t accelerate the car was idled at the speed of 40mph it wouldn-??t go any faster for a few minutes then it took off out of no where. Also when I was taking my kids to school I was making a left turn and lost control of my vehicle because it was idled and took off out of no where. That-??s not safe for me my kids or any passengers traveling with me. It-??s also not safe for other drivers or pedestrians. Very scary moment took my vehicle in that same day to be told it was battery issues. They claimed because the epc light wasn-??t on it-??s harder to diagnose to get another battery and to keep the car overnight to see if that works if not further diagnose the car. I picked my vehicle up had my battery inspected by a different service provider and was told the battery was just fine. I keep reaching out to the location I got the vehicle from their not correcting the issue and corporate just told me to go to another dealership and gave a im sorry about your frustration comment. Clearly the car has a defect always had one since day one when it was supposed to be a cpo vehicle in the first place. And I had issues the same week I purchased the vehicle. Also haven-??t had my car a year and I-??m having all kind of issues

- Chicago, IL, USA

problem #7

Sep 052022

Tiguan

  • miles
The dealership for my vehicle is over 70 miles away. My battery died and I went and replaced it. When I did all sorts of lights came on in my car, my power steering wouldn-??t work, my cruise control wouldn-??t work, and my AC wouldn-??t work. I took it to the dealership to see what was going on with it. It turns out my battery was placed backwards in my car and when that happened it fried the fuse for my entire system, it broke my AC unit, it broke my alternator, and messed up my electrical system. Yes I do believe there is a risk to my safety with this issue. I could not turn my car when I drove it. I was told by service representative that this has been happening a lot more often with people who are just trying to change the battery. The only time the vehicle was inspected was by the service department at the dealership. No they-??re weren-??t any problems prior to failure and they appeared after the battery was placed.

- Cheraw, SC, USA

problem #6

Oct 012021

Tiguan

  • miles
My VW Tiguan was out of alignment, as happens to every car. Unfortunately, the VW Dealership informed me that I cannot get a simple alignment for $100 because VW requires calibration of the Adaptive Cruise Control any time an alignment is done. I could not find this anywhere in the Owner's Manual, nor are there any other warnings on the car or in any paperwork I signed. The VW dealership wanted an additional $400 (for a total exceeding $500) to provide both services. I am concerned about this 1) because VW does not communicate that this is a limitation of the ACC system, and 2) while an alignment should be the customer's responsibility to pay for, calibrating the ACC system should not. Anyone could go get an alignment done at a tire or brake shop for about $100 - what happens if they try to use their ACC afterwards and an accident happens? VW should cover ACC calibration as part of the limited warranty, and clearly warn customers not to perform one service without the other.

- Denver, CO, USA

problem #5

Dec 312019

Tiguan

  • 9,500 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

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?

- Wynnewood, PA, USA

problem #4

Jun 122019

Tiguan

  • 7,000 miles
I was driving on the expressway and suddenly my car started veering strongly to the left, heading me directly towards the concrete median. I struggled with the steering wheel to correct back to my lane but ended up moving 2 lanes over and almost into the median. I was able to move back a bit one lane over but seemed to have almost no control over the steering. It seemed the car had taken over steering and I was fighting it, moving side to side among 3 lanes. It was terrifying. It seemed to take several minutes of fighting and trying to regain control of steering my car when suddenly I was able to steer again and stay in my lane. When I took my car to the dealership they said the reason this occurred was that all 4 of the wheels were out of alignment. This makes no sense as I've not hit any potholes or anything that could cause one or two to be out of alignment, never mind all 4. they realigned the wheels and reset the lane assistance. I've since turned off the lane assistance as I no longer trust that feature. Too bad since that was one reason I purchased that car.

- Evanston, IL, USA

problem #3

Sep 132018

Tiguan

  • 2,000 miles
Today, the car stalled while I was station/stopped at the red light and got dragged by the truck which almost ran over my car. My car's sensor switched to emergency mode and would not let me drive. I wanted to drive my car away when I saw the danger. However, L could not and almost got killed and ran over by the 18 wheels truck.

- Mclean, VA, USA

problem #2

Jun 032018

Tiguan

  • 350 miles
The safety systems on the vehicle are severely defective. The active lane keep assist frequently tries to steer me into other lanes rather than keeping me in my own, which has nearly caused me to have serious collisions on multiple occasions. The dealer and manufacturer have disregarded my concerns. Here is a video of the issue happening multiple times: Https://www.youtube.com/watch?V=6zzvzgsarle and here is a link I found just today where someone else reported this issue on an online forum over a year ago: Https://www.carcomplaints.com/Volkswagen/Tiguan/2018/steering/steering.shtml#1 I believe that, given the serious safety concerns, Volkswagen should be providing me with a full refund for this vehicle under my state's lemon law (and they should be doing so anyways to preserve my safety, to take accountability for the problems in their product, and to thoroughly investigate the problem.)

- Suwanee, GA, USA

problem #1

Jan 242017

Tiguan

  • 6,000 miles
Sel premium trim lane assist malfunction - system will inaccurately detect lane lines and attempt to adjust the vehicle to the center of the lane, even when it already is centered in the lane, resulting in the vehicle pulling into the adjacent lane. Has nearly pulled the vehicle into adjacent lane with another vehicle present in the lane resulting in near collisions on numerous occasions. System will also register as the vehicle somehow departing into the lanes on both sides of vehicle at the same time, and will essentially lock the steering wheel in place. See included photo evidence - both lines on the side of the vehicle are solid white indicating that the departure mitigation is activated, and the green "lane" icon indicates that the lane departure system is currently activated. Dealer service department response: ""npf unable to reproduce customers concern".

- Dallas, TX, USA

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