2009 Volkswagen Tiguan
This year drew an ordinary 166 complaints for a Volkswagen Tiguan — the model's median is 109. What they were about is the unusual part: 51.2% of them mention engine, against 16.6% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Volkswagen Tiguan was redesigned for 2009. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 166 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 109 |
| Involving a crash | 4 |
| Involving a fire | 6 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| EPA combined | 21 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- engine — 51.2% of this year's complaints, against 16.6% across the other years of this generation (3.1×).
- fuse — 28.3% of this year's complaints, against 8.8% across the other years of this generation (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: fuse, melted, box, fuse box.
- causing — 18.1% of this year's complaints, against 7% across the other years of this generation (2.6×).
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
THE TIMING CHAIN TENSIONER IN THIS VEHICLE IS KNOWN TO FAIL AND DESTROY ENGINES. THEY HAVE ISSUED TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETINS ON THE ISSUE, BUT HAVE DONE NOTHING TO RESOLVE THE ISSUE FOR OWNERS. MY WIFE AND CHILD WERE IN THE CAR AND THE TENSIONER FAILED AND TH…
WHILE DRIVING 40 MPH, THE VEHICLE STALLED AND ALL THE WARNING INDICATORS ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC WHO DIAGNOSED A LOUD NOISE, NO COMPRESSION, AND A METALLIC METAL TO METAL NOISE COMING FROM THE ENGINE. THE ENGINE WOULD NEED…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 14V441000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 13V569000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 08V235000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Volkswagen Tiguan was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan? What happened to yours?
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