2021 Volkswagen Tiguan
This year drew an ordinary 132 complaints for a Volkswagen Tiguan — the model's median is 109. What they were about is the unusual part: 34.1% of them mention oil, against 13.4% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Volkswagen Tiguan, which began in 2018 and ran to 2024. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 132 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 109 |
| Involving a crash | 2 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 24.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- oil — 34.1% of this year's complaints, against 13.4% across the other years of this generation (2.5×).
- pressure — 13.6% of this year's complaints, against 5.1% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: pressure, failure caused, excess, creates.
- opened — 9.1% of this year's complaints, against 2.1% across the other years of this generation (4.4×). Owners wrote it as: opened, parking brake, process, restarted vehicle.
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
The lower oil pan cracked due to excess pressure in the engine from a broken oil air vent. This is a very common issue in VW tiquans, that VW knows about but doesn't recall. The faulty air oil vent leads to cracked lower oil pans and oil dumps that can damgae…
Check engine light came on with excessive oil leaking from engine. Dealer inspected and diagnosed the PCV/Oil separator had failed, multiple valve stem seals had failed, and valve stem guides were worn causing excessive crankcase pressure. Dealer recommended c…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V038000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V716000 BACK OVER PREVENTION Fixed free of charge.
- 22V176000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 22V226000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 22V514000 BACK OVER PREVENTION Fixed free of charge.
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 2021 Volkswagen Tiguan? What happened to yours?
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