— A Volkswagen Tiguan recall has been issued for more than 12,500 model year 2018 Tiguans because the front seat belt webbing may tear and fail to restrain occupants in crash impacts.
The problem affects both the driver and passenger frontal seat belts.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation in January 2018 following two incidents where the driver's seat belts broke during testing.
Volkswagen could not find a final root cause for the seat belt ruptures but believes an outside influence may have contributed to the seat belt ruptures in the two tests. VW says all other vehicle tests for the Tiguan were successful and did not result in seat belt failures, and no field reports have been received.
The VW seat belt recall includes 10,835 Tiguan SUVs in the U.S. and 1,678 vehicles in Canada.
Volkswagen dealers will inspect the front seat belts and replace them if needed when the recall begins January 19, 2021.
Owners of 2018 Tiguans may contact the automaker at 800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 69BH.
