2011 Volkswagen Tiguan problems
Owners have filed 242 complaints with NHTSA about the 2011 Volkswagen Tiguan. Engine is the most reported problem area, at 26% of complaints. After that come electrical system (20%) and lighting (16%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 242 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 26% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 6 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 1 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 56,000 miles 200 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 8 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 34 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 66 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 40 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 32 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 12 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 7 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 1 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 200 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 56,000 miles. For engine specifically, the median reported mileage is about 76,000 miles (58 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 6 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 1 injury reported. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 90% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2011 ranks 6th most-complained-about out of 18 model years of the Volkswagen Tiguan with enough data (137 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 3 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Tl* the contact owned a 2011 volkswagen tiguan. The contact stated that while driving at 40 MPH, when approximating a green light, the vehicle in front made a sudden complete stop causing the contact's vehicle crash into the rear of the vehicle. The air bags failed to deploy. Medical attention was sought for the contact but the injuries sustained were unknown. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an impound lot. The dealer was not informed of failure. The vehicle was destroyed.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 volkswagen tiguan. The contact stated that the head lights, brake, and turn signals would intermittently fail. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the technician diagnosed that there was a melted fuse in the fuse box and as a result, the fuse box needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was repaired. The failure and current mileage was 59,000.
Last week my wife told me that she could smell an electrical short and feel a burning sensation coming from her VW driver?s seat while she had her seat warmer on. I immediately had her take it in to the local VW dealership service center for diagnosis. This issue is a fire hazard and safety issue as we could not drive the car for fear that the short in the electrical system could cause a failure of the power assisted systems while in motion rendering the car unmanageable in traffic.
The fuse box in the engine compartment melted. This caused my front-right headlight, rear-left brake and turn signal light, and middle brake light to stop working. My car is all stock and I've done nothing to cause it to exert excess electrical power. I am reporting this because it seems to be a very common problem with VW and is an obvious design flaw.
I was turning left off of a hwy. I attempting to accelerate to 40 miles and the car hesitated like it was switching gears, decreased in speed and started shaking. I pulled over, checked the gas cap, - it was closed. Turn car off for a few minutes, restarted, car still shaking. I drove the car to safe place off the road. The car would not accelerate past 20 miles hours. I put the hazard lights on, but they kept going off. Then I called the tow truck.