2012 Volkswagen Tiguan
This year drew an ordinary 152 complaints for a Volkswagen Tiguan — the model's median is 109. What they were about is the unusual part: 8.6% of them mention ignition, against 2.1% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Volkswagen Tiguan, which began in 2009 and ran to 2017. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 152 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 109 |
| Involving a crash | 10 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| EPA combined | 23 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- ignition — 8.6% of this year's complaints, against 2.1% across the other years of this generation (4.1×). Owners wrote it as: ignition, coil, ignition coil, four coils.
- point — 8.6% of this year's complaints, against 3.2% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: point, video, know what, prevent.
- epc — 6.6% of this year's complaints, against 1.9% across the other years of this generation (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: epc, highway car.
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
I WAS DRIVING AND THE CAR BEGAN TO STALL AND VIBRATE. I HAD TO PULL OVER AND TOOK THE CAR IN AND THE REPORTED THAT THE IGNITION COIL WAS BAD.
Ignition Coil failed while on highway. Car hesitated , shook, and and slowed down. Created dangerous situation where we had to merge across to get off highway.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V329000 UNKNOWN OR OTHER Fixed free of charge.
- 15V483000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V441000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE 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 2012 Volkswagen Tiguan? What happened to yours?
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