2004 Volkswagen Touareg problems
Owners have filed 373 complaints with NHTSA about the 2004 Volkswagen Touareg. Electrical system is the most reported problem area, at 14% of complaints. After that come tires (10%) and fuel system (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 373 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 14% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 16 and 14
- Injuries and deaths
- 14 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 35,000 miles 249 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 | 103 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 26 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 28 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 19 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 37 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 19 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 7 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 4 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 5 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Among the 249 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 35,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 33,000 miles (37 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 16 complaints mention a crash; 14 complaints mention a fire; 14 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2004 ranks 1st most-complained-about out of 12 model years of the Volkswagen Touareg with enough data (246 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 4 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.
Leaking gas caught on fire put it out but now I have no head lights no high beams replaced everything still nothing. All lights on dash go crazy kills battery all the time and had to replace something in the rear end. Overall it has cost me $2500 and I still have no headlights at all and leaking gas. It’s my only vehicle I hope next time it doesn’t catch back on fire could have been worse and still could be. Somebody could get hurt and I have kids.
Airbag module defective with only 54,496 miles and a $1200 cost to fix. This is a safety issue! Dash lighting has went on and off for airbag. A washer pump defective, power train transmission jumps and has been an ongoing problem and known problem by volkswagen but nobody wants to admit the defect problem.
One morning in june 2017 my husband stopped for gas. After getting gas he started to turn out of the gas station when our car (2004 volkswagen touareg) stopped moving and shut down. My husband tried several times to start and move the car, but to no avail.the car had to be towed (at our expense) to our local gas station.the gas station performed $1,164.16 worth of work. They did an excellent job of locating the problem and fixing it for a reasonable price.