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Volkswagen / Tiguan / 2020

2020 Volkswagen Tiguan problems

Owners have filed 209 complaints about the 2020 Volkswagen Tiguan with NHTSA. Electrical system accounts for 15.8% of them — narrowly the most common, ahead of engine at 12%. A further 23.9% were filed without a specific system named.

Complaints209
Crashes8
Fires0
Injuries11
Deaths0

What owners report breaking

Unknown or other 23.9% · 50
Electrical system 15.8% · 33
Engine 12.0% · 25
Forward collision avoidance 10.5% · 22
Structure 7.7% · 16
Service brakes 4.8% · 10
Visibility/wiper 4.8% · 10
Exterior lighting 3.8% · 8
Severity

Of those complaints, 8 describe a crash and 11 report an injury.

Reading the numbers

Across the 14 model years of the Volkswagen Tiguan in this data, 2020 sits 8th by complaint volume. 2022 draws the most.

Filings are rising — 112 in the last three years against 80 in the three before. For a vehicle this age that usually points to a wear-related failure owners are hitting now.

The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 17,000 miles.

In owners' own words

After sitting in the hot sun for an hour or so, turned it on, and got a "check starter" warning, and all the dash instruments went off. No lights, turn signals, brake lights. Radio worked, windows worked for a bit, then nothing. Had power steering and brakes. Had warning lights on the mirrors. No AC/heat. Speedometer, tach, fuel, temp, display - all off. Car still ran. Found issue to be a faulty ignition switch Electrical system
SOS malfunction light came on after downloading & syncing the car with the MyVW app. I took the car to the dealer & they said the module needs to be replaced & it would be $1500 because it’s out of warranty but it seems like in 2021 VW replaced it for free because it’s a known issue. I did not purchase this car until 2024 so it’s not covered. There are multiple people noting the same issue on online forums. Electrical system
An update was pushed to the safety emergency response system for VW vehicles better known as Carnet. The update has caused the emergency safety response system to be disabled and now that the car is out warranty the dealership is requiring the owners to pay to repair the module out of pocket although the functionality malfunction was due to the update pushed out by Volkswagon. Electrical system

Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.

Safety recalls

Checking NHTSA for open recalls…

Other Volkswagen Tiguan years

2016 146 complaints · 25.3% air bags 2017 101 complaints · 29.7% air bags 2018 450 complaints · 17.6% engine 2019 290 complaints · 19.0% electrical system 2021 183 complaints · 25.1% engine 2022 452 complaints · 23.2% engine

Compare all 14 model years →