2019 Volkswagen Tiguan
This year drew an ordinary 187 complaints for a Volkswagen Tiguan — the model's median is 109. What they were about is the unusual part: 18.2% of them mention electrical, against 7.2% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Volkswagen Tiguan, which began in 2018 and ran to 2024. 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 | 187 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 109 |
| Involving a crash | 6 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 24.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- electrical — 18.2% of this year's complaints, against 7.2% across the other years of this generation (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: electrical, check starter, brake lights, signals.
- headlights — 9.1% of this year's complaints, against 2.6% across the other years of this generation (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: headlights, daughter driving, illuminate, roadway.
- switch — 8% of this year's complaints, against 1.9% across the other years of this generation (4.3×). Owners wrote it as: switch, driver door, costs.
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
During Hot weather the vehicles electrical will shut down while driving displaying a message saying check starter system and I will loose all lighting and brake lights and turn signals and HVAC systems and engine will shut off also I was going down the highway…
THIS IS A SECOND COMPLAINT ABOUT THE HEADLIGHTS ON MY VEHICLE. THE LOW BEAMS DO NOT ILLUMINATE THE ROADWAY SAFELY. I COMPLAINED TO THE [VIN] WHO REFERRED ME TO THE DEALER. WHO STATED THAT THERE IS NO ADJUSTMENT THAT CAN BE MADE. PER THE DEALERS DESCRIPTION THE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V241000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 18V824000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 19V188000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 22V226000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 22V815000 TIRES 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 2019 Volkswagen Tiguan? What happened to yours?
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