6.7

fairly significant
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
9,865 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan drivetrain problems

drivetrain problem

Find something helpful? Spread the word.
Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan Owner Comments (Page 2 of 3)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #28

Sep 212019

Tiguan

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I am having several problems with my Tiguan. The passenger seat detection sensor is very sensitive. I can place my phone or something very light on the seat and my car automatically starts to chime and the passenger airbag is turned on. This could be a safety hazard in the accident if no passenger is present. The other issue I have with this car is the acceleration is inconsistent. Sometimes I can hit the accelerator and the car flies, other times, the car stutters and has some lag.

- Cumming, GA, USA

problem #27

Sep 162019

Tiguan

  • 4,000 miles
Car hesitates erratically and unpredictably when accelerating. It's most noticeably from a dead stop, but also at speed as well. Sometimes the car accelerates fine, but other times, when attempting to accelerate from a stop to cross a street in busy traffic, the car will just sit unresponsive for seconds and barely accelerate. The unpredictableness of the acceleration behavior is dangerous and an accident waiting to happen. This behavior has been present since the car has been purchased to present. While the hesitation is inconsistent, it is often and common.

- Oakland, CA, USA

problem #26

Sep 112019

Tiguan

  • 2,500 miles
Since owing my 2018 VW Tiguan, it has had an intermittent problem moving forward when I push on the throttle from a complete stop. Sometimes there is a delay of 2 to 3 seconds before the car moves forward. This is very dangerous and could cause an accident.

- Centereach, NY, USA

problem #25

Aug 182019

Tiguan

  • 34,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I was driving on interstate 95 North in the fast lane ( at 70 mph), when the "engine exceeds 4000 RPM" warning came on the dash board/system read out and the car lost power and started decelerating (to 40 mph). I continued to push the gas pedal but the car came to a complete stop. I put on my flashers and restarted the car and coasted to the shoulder. I put the park, stopped the car and waited and restarted the car. We entered the highway again and as I tried to accelerate, the car hesitated and decelerated again. This time I moved over to the right shoulder, stopped and got out of the car. My husband's friend was in the car with me and my husband was following behind us. I called my insurance company and explained to them what was happeing with the car and they came and towed the car to ourisman laurel voklswagon. I left a note and a key in the drop off service bow and now 24 hours later I have not received a call from any service personnel. It seems from reviewing other complaints, that several people (more than 20) have had the same issue.

- Silver Spring, MD, USA

problem #24

Jul 042019

Tiguan

  • 9,400 miles
9,000 miles and 16 months later of getting it, the car is failing to get enough power after full stops in red lights and mandatory stops. Seems like the gearbox is not making on time the downshifting, sometimes taking 3 seconds to react, imagine this in an intersection! this has put my family and as I have read many others too. Now trying to get Volkswagen's say on this but after reading many opinions this will be a long battle.

- Miami, FL, USA

Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...

problem #23

Sep 232018

Tiguan

  • 1,625 miles
Transmission has loud knocking and whining sounds when accelerating. Slow to respond to power during passing, changing lanes or entering highways. Dangerous while crossing a highway from a stop sign. Told by several VW technicians that this is "normal". have discovered that VW had issued a technical service bulletin to all its dealers to tell customers who complain about the transmission that "this is a normal condition". have heard the same response from 3 dealers. This is a cover up to avoid a recall of this unpredictable transmission.

- Amherst, NY, USA

problem #22

Jun 192019

Tiguan

  • 16,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

When accelerating from a stop in the 2018 VW Tiguan it hesitates for approximately a few seconds before moving forward. This occurs at all times when accelerating into the lower gears 1-3. once past gears 1-3 the vehicle operates normally. This is extremely dangerous when trying to merge with traffic or pulling out on the open road. During research I have found this is a common problem with various years of the car model and has yet to be addressed by VW. Please help, I fear for my family to be in this vehicle when this occurs.

- Lufkin, TX, USA

problem #21

Apr 132019

Tiguan

  • 8,000 miles
My wife called me panicked because her 2018 VW Tiguan sel, with 8000 miles, cut out on her while slowly pulling into a busy intersection. She described the problem as if the car lost complete power for a few seconds, even though she did not have her foot on the break at the time, and the car was not able to accelerate. My wife quickly put the car into reverse, where it responded well moving backwards, and threw on her hazards. The vehicle is less than 1 year old and she is deathly scared of driving it now. The vehicle is a hazard! when looking online for similar power train issues, many other customers are reporting a similar experience.

- Miami, FL, USA

problem #20

Mar 052019

Tiguan

  • 14,000 miles
My vehicle displayed a sign stating that their was low coolant. I took it to the dealer around 14,000 miles and the PCM has been destroyed. The engine hasn't been getting coolant for some time. Once that was replaced my car stopped accelerating properly and rogers really roughly mainly through gears 1-3. it's really dangerous if I need to accurate quickly to merge the response time is off and I have had several near misses. I flagged this with VW and they are refusing to acknowledge that their is an issue. I would like to get this resolved before myself or others are injured.

- Charlotte, NC, USA

problem #19

Apr 022019

Tiguan

  • 2,600 miles
When accelerating. It feels like the motor is vibrating too much like it's going to rip itself out. The car has only 3K miles. It's been addressed to Volkswagen! motor mounts are ok and transmission mount is good as told by dealer. This occurs every time the car is accelerating from a standstill

- Astoria, NY, USA

problem #18

Feb 242019

Tiguan

  • 17,900 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

When pressing pedal from a stopped position to accelerate the vehicle there is either a lag in response or no response causing the vehicle not to move when going from a stopped position to moving action into traffic. This has been noted at random moments, more noticeably when vehicle is first turned on. However, it has happened countless times when vehicle has been driven for several miles. This lack of accelerator response puts my family and I into a very dangerous situation.

- Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

problem #17

Feb 012019

Tiguan

  • 2,000 miles
Dangerous jerkiness and loss of power when shifting through first 3 gears. When coming out of a stop the vehicle experiences noticeable lag as it shifts through each gear. Engine revs, power drops, and then it suddenly jerks into gear. Took it to dealership and was told there are no trouble codes and I should just keep driving. Issue was reproducible in normal and sport mode, and was verified by the technician when I made him accompany me on a test drive.

- Oakland, CA, USA

problem #16

Mar 012018

Tiguan

  • 55 miles
Purchased a 2018 VW Tiguan sel in febuary 2018. Brought to dealer twice (so far) and bringing it backi tomorrow. Has stayed in shop for 5 weeks since purchase. Serious hesitation when accerlating. My wife refuses to drive the vehicle in fear of her life !! (and so am I) these cars must be stopped being sold...will not be long before someone is killed....

- Thibodaux, LA, USA

problem #15

Sep 062018

Tiguan

  • 3,300 miles
From a stop, and at low speed, the vehicle hesitates very badly. At times, with the gas pedal to the floor, the car does not accelerate for 2-3 seconds or more--it just coasts. In other situations, the transmission does not engage at all, and the engine revs to high RPM. This has led to near accidents on multiple occasions: When crossing traffic to make a left-hand turn, merging into traffic after making a right-hand turn, or attempting to get to speed entering a freeway. Further, this is not how the vehicle behaved on the test-drive. If it had, I would never have purchased it. To date, the vehicle has spent more that 3 weeks in the service department of the local VW dealership. After this period of service, the vehicle was returned to me, and I was told that VW had determined that this is a "feature of the vehicle", and that nothing more would be done to address the problem. This is a safety hazard, and a bait-and-switch.

- Denver, CO, USA

problem #14

Sep 012018

Tiguan

  • 5,000 miles
The Tiguan has been having issues with hesitation while shifting between 1st and 2nd gear. You can feel an immediate loss of power, loss of boost and a bucking feeling while it shifting. I've also driven another Tiguan of the same year and the issue was present on that specific model too. This issue is not only an annoyance but also a safety issue while merging or trying to accelerate from a stop.

- Warrington, PA, USA

problem #13

Aug 062018

Tiguan

  • 20,000 miles
Tiguan 2018 hesitates to accelerate with a lapse of a few (3 or 4) second before the car finally accelerates after a full stop or from slow speeds. This issue tends to be constant and can be extremely dangerous as it happens when trying to pull from a busy intersection or from any other situation where you need to move quick, its a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt if VW doesn't come up with a resolution. Im now on my second service apointment within a month. Seems to be a known issue with this model very frustrating!!!!!

- Forest Hills, NY, USA

problem #12

Aug 152018

Tiguan

  • 8,000 miles
When starting vehicle (either cold or warm), vehicle has a several seconds hesitation when pushing down accelerator. Vehicle does not move, hesitates then lurches forward as if the vehicle is not getting sufficient power to move. Vehicle has been to the Volkswagen dealer several times and they have been unable to repair. This is dangerous when you are entering a highway or crossing a multi lane road and have to move quickly and the vehicle does not respond.

- Shorewood, WI, USA

problem #11

Apr 042018

Tiguan

  • 9,000 miles
There is all this hesitation when accelerating almost like a bucking or the engine is not getting enough gas/oxygen mix. Then you can press the gas pedal a quarter of the way down and the engine hesitates then throws the car into high gear and takes off. I have driven a lot of cars the past week even a VW touareg that did not act like this car does with the accelerator. It is like the accelerator is not sending the correct single to the engine or the engine's computer is not interrupting it correctly from the accelerator. The computer in the car can be bad and give a false positive. This vehicle has been to 4 dealerships and field engineers have stated that there is a problem but VW refuses to buy back the vehicle. There have been several requests but they keep getting denied and say there is no fix for the vehicle and I feel it is unsafe to drive. I have almost got into 3 accidents because the accelerator would not react and the car stalled out.

- Burnsville, NC, USA

problem #10

May 172018

Tiguan

  • 3,338 miles
In the first month of owning the vehicle, the fuel pump and fuel tank had to be replaced. Since then the vehicle has displayed intermittent loss of response to the accelerator pedal. This occurs when first shifting into drive, the vehicle will not respond to any input into the accelerator pedal. The engine rpms will hold at 1000 or drop to almost stalling the car. After about 10-20 seconds of this, the car will suddenly recognize the throttle input and will lurch forward. There is no indication of when the vehicle will decide to respond to the throttle input. The B-pillar on both sides of the car started to rattle when the ambient temperature was over ~55 F. this has been serviced once, per a technical service bulletin from Volkswagen. The service simply made the problem intermittent. The tsb states that the problem is caused by the air bag modules rubbing on the metal of the frame and body. Additionally the tsb procedure instructs the service technician to slide a screw driver between two pieces of body or frame metal, and use a hammer to bend the panels apart from each other. Has this be proven to not compromise the structure of the vehicle? the transmission consistently fails to find the correct gear to be in at low speeds or from a stop. When starting from a stop the transmission has a harsh shift in the first 3 gears. The transmission at time will start off in the 3rd gear, with the throttle fully engaged, and will take several seconds to determine that it needs to be in the first gear. By the time it finally shifts into first, it is at the peak RPM's for first gear and will harshly shift into second gear. This is then quickly followed by another jerky shift into third gear. Starting the car off in third gear has caused issues for making a turn in a break in traffic to the point where I can no longer reliably deem that to be a safe maneuver.

- Denver, CO, USA

problem #9

Aug 012018

Tiguan

  • 0 miles
The Tiguan experiences severe and dangerous acceleration hesitation when accelerating from a stop or from very slow speeds. There is a significant delay between the accelerator being depressed and the car actually accelerating, which causes an extremely dangerous situation when attempting to merge with other traffic or enter a roadway from a side street. This issue is very consistent, and occurs in all operating conditions (engine warmed, engine cold, automatic gear selection or manual gear selection, in 'sport' mode and in regular driving mode). The issue is present in all driving situations where acceleration from a stationary or slow speed is required.

- Greenville, SC, USA

Read the next 8 complaints »

Not what you are looking for?