Coscienzios

Model years to avoid

Volkswagen Tiguan

What it says about you

Opinion

Handsome, sensible, slightly more expensive to keep than the badge implied. You knew. You bought it anyway. You would again.

Not measured, not from the data, and offered in fun. Everything below this is not.

19 model years on record, 2,462 complaints filed.

The years to look at closely: 2018 (accelerate). Everything else drew a normal number of complaints for this model.

What owners report, and when

Faults that dominated the complaints of more than one model year. Not the same question as which year to avoid — a car can have an ordinary number of complaints every year and have most of them be about the same thing.

  • electrical 2012, 2019, 2020 peak 18.2% of that year's complaints
  • epc 2012, 2018 peak 8.1% of that year's complaints

Every year

  1. 2027 nothing on record 0 complaints
  2. 2026 0 recalls 23 complaints
  3. 2025 2 recalls 44 complaints
  4. 2024 2 recalls 57 complaints
  5. 2023 1 recall 60 complaints
  6. 2022 5 recalls 251 complaints
  7. 2021 5 recalls 132 complaints
  8. 2020 3 recalls 137 complaints
  9. 2019 5 recalls 187 complaints
  10. 2018 accelerate 531 complaints
  11. 2017 4 recalls 73 complaints
  12. 2016 2 recalls 96 complaints
  13. 2015 4 recalls 62 complaints
  14. 2014 3 recalls 83 complaints
  15. 2013 3 recalls 139 complaints
  16. 2012 3 recalls 152 complaints
  17. 2011 3 recalls 160 complaints
  18. 2010 2 recalls 109 complaints
  19. 2009 3 recalls 166 complaints

What does a Volkswagen Tiguan say about you?

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Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints — compared against itself rather than against other cars, so popularity and age do not decide the answer.