2018 Volkswagen Tiguan
Complaints about this year name accelerate far more often than the other years of this generation — 13% of them, about 6× the usual rate of 2%.
First year of a new generation. The Volkswagen Tiguan was redesigned for 2018. 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 | 531 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 109 |
| Involving a crash | 9 |
| Involving a fire | 6 |
| Recalls | 13 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 23.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- rattle — 7.5% of this year's complaints, against 0.3% across the other years of this generation (28.2×). Owners wrote it as: rattle, tsb.
- epc — 8.1% of this year's complaints, against 2.2% across the other years of this generation (3.7×). Owners wrote it as: epc, epc light, other drivers, exceed.
- makes — 6.4% of this year's complaints, against 1.2% across the other years of this generation (5.3×).
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.
Also unusual this year
- rattle — 7% of complaints, 18× usual
- noise — 11% of complaints, 5× usual
- hesitates — 6% of complaints, 10× usual
What owners wrote
I AM HEARING A RATTLE IN MY VW TIGUAN'S B-PILLAR WHEN DRIVING. IT IS IN MY EAR. WHEN I TOOK TO THE DEALERSHIP, THEY TOLD ME THAT ALL TIGUANS MAKE THIS NOISE. I DON'T BELIEVE A NOISE SHOULD BE HAPPENING AND MAKES ME WONDER IF THE CAR IS UNSAFE [VIN].
CONSISTENT RATTLING NOISE FROM B PILLAR AREA. AFTER SEVERAL ATTEMPTS OF RESOLVING THE ISSUE WITH VOLKSWAGEN, THEY WERE UNABLE TO PROPERLY DIAGNOSE OR FIX. THE RATTLE OCCURS DURING REGULAR DRIVING CONDITIONS, BUT PRIMARILY WHEN DRIVING ON BUMPY SURFACES.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20V724000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V732000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 18V324000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 19V679000 UNKNOWN OR OTHER
- 18V262000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 18V375000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 18V467000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 18V824000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 13. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
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 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan? What happened to yours?
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