2017 Volkswagen Tiguan
This year drew an ordinary 73 complaints for a Volkswagen Tiguan — the model's median is 132. What they were about is the unusual part: 23.3% of them mention inspection, against 8.7% across the other years of this generation.
Last year of its generation. This Volkswagen Tiguan ran from 2009 to 2017, so it had the whole run for its faults to be found and fixed. Last years are usually the most sorted of a generation.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 73 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 132 |
| Involving a crash | 6 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 21.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- inspection — 23.3% of this year's complaints, against 8.7% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: inspection, use, exit, dangerously.
- much — 13.7% of this year's complaints, against 3.9% across the other years of this generation (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: much, thank, feature, compliance.
- lost — 16.4% of this year's complaints, against 6.5% across the other years of this generation (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: lost, lost power, fuel pump, minutes start.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
Approximately three weeks ago I began to hear a clicking sound in the steering wheel when turning in either direction. Within two days I began to receive an error message that stated "error air bag". The airbag error icon displays on the console at all times.…
VW NEW MODEL INSIDE REARVIEW MIRRORS ARE SELF DIMMING (ELECTRICALLY) BUT THEY DO NOT DIM AS MUCH AS THE MECHANICALLY (DRIVER) DIMMING MIRROR OF PRIOR YEARS. DRIVER EYE FATIGUE AND GLARE, ESPECIALLY FOR OLDER DRIVERS, WITH THIS DEVICE IS MADE UNBEARABLE, ESPECI…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V329000 UNKNOWN OR OTHER Fixed free of charge.
- 16V955000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 18V102000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V321000 UNKNOWN OR OTHER
How this was worked out
Every year of the Volkswagen Tiguan was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2017 Volkswagen Tiguan? What happened to yours?
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