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The 2021 VW Tiguan was a model that hoped to make up for the shortcomings of the previous years. After all, the company claims this SUV is “Refined.” Yet, it seems to suffer from many of the problems of the previous options, including defective service brakes and a poorly-built structure.
Click on other model year to view more problems: 2018 2019 2020 2022
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NHTSA Complaints for the 2021 Volkswagen Tiguan
| Complaint Category | Number of Complaints |
|---|---|
| Electrical System | |
| Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control | |
| Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking | |
| Structure:body | |
| Engine | |
| Vehicle Speed Control | |
| Structure:interior Panels:ceiling | |
| Unknown Or Other | |
| Visibility:sun/moon Roof Assembly | |
| Parking Brake |
Problems with the Service Brakes
In order to stop a vehicle, the service brakes must be functional and easy to use. Yet, the Tiguan is struggling with this concept.
Car and Driver was quick to point out, “The Tiguan’s brake-pedal action is soft and it doesn’t match up to the firm, progressive pedals we enjoy in other members of the VW’s family tree.”
Not only that, but Tiguan models from previous years have been involved with class action lawsuits over the automated braking system, because it causes the vehicle to slow down or stop for no reason. Additionally, there is an NHTSA investigation into the safety of the Tiguan because during a side impact test, the driver door opened on its own. Hopefully the brakes are working enough to avoid these kind of accidents or Volkswagen will have to “refine” its payouts to injured owners.
Problems with the Structure
Following up on that investigation, it seems that the structure isn’t as good as it is made out to be. VW can’t get most any system in this car right.
Just read this review from a user that rented the Tiguan. It was left on the KBB website. “I rented this car for a week and drove 1000 miles in Arizona. I was surprised when I found out this car is turbo charged. Good thing, but it’s not enough to pass at hwy speeds. The creature controls are confusing. And the entry system is confused. If I opened the passenger door for my guest and went to the driver’s door the doors lock when I place my hand on it. Very frustrating trying to get into a car and it locks when you touch the door handle. The instrumentation is not easy to use or look at features that should be available. How do you view the mileage on the car when it is running? If you select automatic on the climate control, it does not turn on the air conditioning. I guess I don’t know what auto means! Paging through the dash, center instrumentation selections seems worthless. Certainly not a road warriors car. I drive many vehicles plus average over 35,000 miles a year on my own cars. Not a car I will buy!”
Beyond all of these complaints, there have been numerous lawsuits about the sunroof in Tiguan models throughout New York and California. It appears that Volkswagen might have known about defects with the sunroof that was causing it to leak, yet continued selling models to customers anyway. Maybe the company should consider refining the SUV to not include a sunroof. Clearly, VW doesn’t have enough engineering expertise to get this small piece of glass fitted right to ensure safety and that occupants remain dry.
Your Lemon Law Legal Rights
Think you have a lemon? Sit back and let the experts work out your lemon case at no cost to you. The law makes Volkswagen pay legal fees. You may be able to get your lemon out of your life. Every year, auto manufacturers buy back, replace or pay cash settlements to thousands of ‘lemon’ owners like you.
Complaint Data
| Category | Visibility:sun/moon Roof Assembly |
| Date | Mar 20, 2023 |
| State | TX |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 volkswagen tiguan. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at an undisclosed speed, the sunroof shattered. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 7,000. |
| Category | Electrical System, Engine |
| Date | Dec 05, 2022 |
| State | NC |
| Description | The car will suddenly shut off while slowing down or coming to a stop. The “start/stop†error message is displayed and the car displays to “manually restart carâ€. At first this happened only sporadically, but now this is happening while on the highway in traffic or while turning in an intersection. Today it has happened 5 times. Our car only has 10,000 miles and has had problems from the beginning. The fuel pump had to be replaced after sitting at the dealership for a month while they tried to fix and unknown “epc†error that displayed and completely shut our car off while driving on the highway—not coming to a stop. |
| Category | Electrical System, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Nov 22, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | From a cold start and backing down the driveway, the suv displayed an error code “error: driver door contact switch†and automatically put the park break on. The driver had to put the tiguan in park, turn off the vehicle, and release the emergency break restart the tiguan and pulled back up the driveway. The driver proceeded to open/shut all the doors to ensure that all doors were closed. The drive started the tiguan and proceeded to back out the driveway and the same thing happened with the error code and the park brake. The driver restarted the tiguan and pulled back up the driveway and turned off the tiguan exited the vehicle locked it and noticed the error code was still showing on the dash. |
| Category | Engine |
| Date | Nov 21, 2022 |
| State | SC |
| Description | I have to put oil into the engine every 2000 miles. The dealership has run 2 separate oil consumption tests and they claim they are unable to find anything wrong. |
| Category | Air Bags, Air Bags: Air Bag/restraint Control Module |
| Date | Oct 03, 2022 |
| State | ID |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 volkswagen tiguan. The contact stated that the air bag warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the air bag control module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was advised to contact the dealer for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 13,000. |
| Category | Electrical System |
| Date | Sep 23, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | While coming to a stop, the car displayed an error code “ error: driver door contact switch†and automatically put the car in park using the emergency break. The driver would have to put the car in park, turn off the vehicle, and release the emergency break to continue. The volkswagen tiguan would do this at every stop. The driver pulled over and opened/shut all the door to ensure that no doors were open and it was only after reading in a form that the driver discovered that it is an electrical issue/software issue that the computer registers the door as open. |
| Category | Structure:interior Panels:ceiling |
| Date | Sep 07, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | On ~august 1, 2022, the "overheard console" (containing lights, bt microphone, and sunglass compartment) unexpectedly "dropped" out of the vehicle's ceiling. The plastic and adhesive keeping this part in place appeared to have cracked into pieces, and the weight of the part caused it to fall. I was driving during this incident and it startled me into nearly having an accident. When I called the dealership I purchased this brand new car from less than two years ago, (hewlett volkswagen of georgetown, texas) they informed me that I was one of many customers experiencing the same issue on tiguans manufactured in the last 2 years. In fact, when I described what happened, the service advisor guessed my make/model before I provided further detail. The dealership refused to accommodate my safety (let along the inconvenience) by offering a tow/loaner vehicle, so I had to drive over 25 miles (~40 minutes) to bring the car in to get the broken console removed. In that trip, I almost got into another accident because the part dangling from my ceiling was obstructing my view while driving. I have been waiting 6 weeks to get this part replaced, which the dealership confirmed was back order issues because they've had so many instances with other vw tiguans this summer. I have contacted vw customer service hotline and the dealership about a recall on this, but both validated that they've never filed anything despite being fully aware that "dropping overhead consoles" have been a recurring safety risk for cars with my make/model/year for months. While I've waited for vw to take responsibility, I've injured myself getting into my vehicle at night because I have no lights inside the car, let alone at extreme risk for assault. And because I cannot use the bt microphone, a feature which encouraged me to buy this car brand new, I have had to make sacrifices in my career. My life and the lives of others have been put at risk because vw has refused to consider this a safety recall. |
| Category | Electrical System, Structure |
| Date | Aug 26, 2022 |
| State | GA |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 volkswagen tiguan. The contact stated while driving 40 mph, the overhead console detached from the vehicle. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the overhead console to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 20,000. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Aug 15, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 volkswagen tiguan. The contact stated while driving approximately 15 mph, the vehicle would brake independently suddenly. The contact stated that the independent braking had been an ongoing failure since he purchased the vehicle. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated, however, prior to the sudden braking, a warning beeping sound would activate. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that there was no failure of the braking system. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 11,000. |
| Category | Structure:interior Panels:ceiling |
| Date | Aug 04, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | I was driving down the road and the overhead console fell out of the roof... I researched it and found this has happened to many people. Just glad I didnt wreck |
| Category | Equipment:electrical:infotainment |
| Date | Jul 27, 2022 |
| State | IL |
| Description | The infotainment system is horrible. It causes driving issues when it starts randomly playing music, freezes up and does not work. |
| Category | Back Over Prevention: Sensing System: Camera |
| Date | Jul 19, 2022 |
| State | UT |
| Description | The backup camera freezes and stops working. The car has to be turned off and back on again for it to work. The dealer informed me it was not a safety issue and I should use my mirrors. This is absolutely a safety issue. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Jul 11, 2022 |
| State | ME |
| Description | Sunroof exploded while I was driving down the highway. I was going 65-70 mph, no other vehicles around me. |
| Category | Tires |
| Date | Jun 02, 2022 |
| State | OH |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 volkswagen tiguan equipped with continental tires, tire line: procontact tx, tire size: 235/50/r19, dot number: a384wd2d. The contact stated while driving 25 mph, the tpms warning illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer where the fault code was reset; however, the mechanic there was no failure found. The contact stated that on another occasion while driving 70 mph, the rear passenger's side tire experienced a blowout. The contact stated that the tpms warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was not drivable. The vehicle was towed to a tire shop and had the rear passenger side replaced with a used tire. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer however, the mechanic found no failure with the vehicle. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 3,200. The vin was not available. |
| Category | Parking Brake, Power Train |
| Date | Mar 10, 2022 |
| State | NV |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 volkswagen tiguan. The contact stated while driving out of the driveway at approximately 5 mph, the parking brakes engaged independently. An alert stating that the vehicle is in motion was heard. The contact turned off and restarted the vehicle, and was able to continue to drive; however, the failure reoccurred while driving on the highway. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer. The dealer informed the contact that they were unable to diagnose the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but provide no assistance. The approximate failure mileage was 7,000. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Jan 14, 2022 |
| State | PA |
| Description | So this issue occurs once you remote start your vehicle. If you have remote started your vehicle, you get in the car, activate it by pressing the start/engine on button and go - when you later go to use the adaptive cruise control or standard cruise control the vehicle will fail to activate either cruise control option. The only way to regain control of this feature is to power off the car completely and then restart it without using remote start. This is a known vw issue and there has been no observable action or report about this issue except for discussion with the dealer/service department. It should be noted that this is a non-issue if you do not use the remote start function. |
| Category | Electrical System, Fuel/propulsion System, Structure:body |
| Date | Dec 03, 2021 |
| State | PA |
| Description | The gas door on the vehicle would not open. It is locked when the vehicle is locked, and is unlocked when the vehicle is unlocked. The gas door opens by pushing the door, and the door will pop open. After repeatedly locking and unlocking the vehicle, the gas door still would not open. I ended up prying the door open, breaking it off in the process. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Oct 17, 2021 |
| State | CO |
| Description | The adaptive cruise control will be working perfectly fine and then it will just stop working. I can be using it all day and then all of a sudden I get in the car and I get up to speed and I go to press the adaptive cruise control button to set it and it starts off trying to set the speed and then all the sudden I get an error saying that it can't set the speed. However, none of the buttons to try to set it back on track will not do anything you just keep getting the same error code with the little red light on the dashboard with the car in a little parentheses things around it. But if I were to put it in park turn the engine off and then turn it back on it works perfectly fine. It's been dangerous because that's happened to me on the interstate and I've noticed that it happens quite often when I'm on the interstate so I'm not sure if it's because of the speed of up to 75 mph that I'm going but it's also done that when I've been going 30 mph and I've tried to set it. It's dangerous because if I have my music up loud I don't hear the ding and the light on the dashboard doesn't always catch my attention so I'm assuming that the adaptive cruise control has taken and is working correctly when it's not. I bought this vehicle brand new on a lease with 100 miles on it and it's always done it since I purchased the vehicle in september 2021. |
| Category | Back Over Prevention: Rearview System Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Aug 18, 2021 |
| State | TX |
| Description | When using remote start function the following safety function are not operative, not working as advertised by vw, adaptive cruise control, cruise control, automatic/emergency braking, rear cross traffic warning and forward collision warning. I have been trying to get my local vw dealer, vw of corpus christi to repair the issue and the are telling me that it is a "known issue and that vw is working on a fix. This has been the case for over two months now. My concern is that vw is selling vehicles that have a potentially dangerous safety issue and are using they costumers as test dummies. If vw is in fact aware that there vehicles have safety issue, why are they still being allowed to sell them in the us? Seriously concerned... |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Aug 16, 2021 |
| State | FL |
| Description | My adjusting distance / gap configuration is set to "far" but it so far it happened twice while @70 mph speed and the car ahead of me start slowing down and my car was supposed to start adapting, instead it start accelerating which isn't the norm. If I wasn't paying attention I could have rear ended the car in front of me on high speed causing death or major injuries to everyone around me. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Aug 04, 2021 |
| State | CA |
| Description | The center console (where my lights, the buttons for the sunroof, and where typically sunglasses would go) was dangling and the clips inside were broken |
| Category | Structure:body |
| Date | Jul 21, 2021 |
| State | OH |
| Description | After owning this vehicle for about a month (and 50 of my miles, 526 total), this new vehicle was taken to the local dealer for a rattle/vibration coming from an area behind the left ear of the driver. The vehicle has now been at the dealer for over a week and is not expected to be returned for at least another 5-7 days. After doing some research I have found that this issue has existed on vw tiguan's since at least 2018. Https://www. Vwvortex. Com/threads/2018-tiguan-issues-purchased-on-9-16-b-pillar. 8903433/ some have stated this is a safety issue concerning welds in the b-pillar structure. I just wanted it to be on record that I am part of the owners that is experiencing this issue. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Jun 05, 2021 |
| State | PA |
| Description | When the vehicle is started remotely and cruise control was not turned off before turning off the vehicle, the acc system shows an error and fails to engage when the driver tries to set cruise control. If one relies on acc often but does not often use remote start, this situation can lead to improper driver expectations and rear-end collisions as the car doesn't brake when the driver expects it to. This is a well-known issue at vw dealerships and widely reported by owners on vw forums. Mostly it's just an annoyance, but today I experienced it as a safety issue. |
| Category | Structure:body |
| Date | Mar 14, 2021 |
| State | MI |
| Description | On 12mar2021 we took possession of our 2021 tiguan r-line in which we purchased new from vw chatham ontario canada. On 13 march 2021 we were driving home around 8pm on highway 21 at a speed of 85 kilometres towards thamesville, ontario, temperature was 2 deg celsius, windows were rolled up sunroof closed and sunroof screen was completely open when all of a sudden a loud bang ear ringing happened and the driver my fianc and I were covered in small pieces of glass. We immediately pullover and looks up and found that the front panoramic section of the sunroof had exploded. I am 100% certain that a rock did not cause this as the road was empty no other cars. My fianc was extremely rattled and very upset. I opened the doors to see if any foreign object was inside the vehicle and nothing was present. The amount of glass inside the vehicle was significantly less then the amount of glass missing from the sunroof. We closed the sunroof screen and drove home another 4 kilometres. When we arrived home we pulled the vehicle into the garage and inspected the sunroof. What I seen was very disturbing as the glass remaining was billed away from the vehicle confirming the glass exploded away from the vehicle not into the vehicle. |
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About the Author:
Brian Jones spent more than 20 years working as an ASE Certified Master Tech and Parts Specialist at multiple dealerships. Brian has become an authority in the industry, traveling across the country to consult for car dealerships and contributing his expertise as a writer for several major automotive publications. In his spare time, Brian enjoys working on pickup trucks, muscle cars, Jeeps and anything related to motorsports.
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From the first week I owned my 2021 Volkswagen Tiguan the car continually hesitated from start I brought the car back and asked her to be returned the dealership and no way was going to help me get out of my lease.I was told to get used to stepping on the accelerator faster so the car would not hesitate. I’ve never had a situation like this occur but truly feel like it was a safety issue I brought my car to three different dealers for their evaluations all replied with the exact same verbiage your car performs within factory specs. As time went by because suddenly started lunging when switching into second gear the odometer would read 7,000 RPM the car would go back and forth and then inevitably catch up with whatever the problem was. Volkswagen customer service was useless in helping me try and get this travel taken care of every time I took it to the dealer the things that was used your car is functioning within Factory specifications. I feel this car is unsafe I’ve emphasize that and multitude of times to various reps service advisors service managers and anyone who would hear my problem. Please let me know if there’s anything we can do about the situation I intend on bringing my car first thing again tomorrow morning to see if they can diagnose this problem. All levels of Volkswagen management from customer service to sales to service are aware of the problems that are going on and refuse to adjust them accordingly.