For every car sold, owners filed about as many complaints about the 2019 Tiguan as about the typical Tiguan year. Among the 8 Tiguan years with enough complaints to compare, owners filed the fewest about the 2021 (0.33 per 1,000 sold) and the most about the 2018 (1.73).
Safety complaints filed by owners in the first three years, per 1,000 sold.
1.1 times this nameplate’s own median
Counted from 70 complaints filed in the first three years, of 197 ever. 95% lower bound 0.50.
The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters. The bar is how many complaints each rate rests on.
| Model year | Per 1,000 | Complaints | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 1.54 | 40 | |
| 2012 | 1.11 | 32 | |
| 2013 | 0.71 | 22 | |
| 2014 | 0.29 | 8 | |
| 2015 | 0.36 | 11 | |
| 2016 | 0.33 | 13 | |
| 2017 | 0.31 | 14 | |
| 2018 | 1.73 | 178 | |
| 2019 | 0.66 | 70 | |
| 2020 | 0.36 | 38 | |
| 2021 | 0.33 | 35 | |
| 2022 | 1.54 | 139 | |
| 2023 | 0.62 | 46 |
Phrases over-represented in these complaints compared with the same component on every other vehicle. Counts are complaints containing the phrase.
| starter | 15 | 26% | |
| check starter | 14 | 25% | |
| starter system | 14 | 25% | |
| hot | 13 | 23% | |
| brake lights | 10 | 18% |
Failures cluster early, which is the signature of how the car was built rather than of wear. A low-mileage example has not yet passed the risk window.
That is not a clean bill of health, and not a criticism of the agency: investigations open for many reasons and complaint volume is only one of them.
For every car sold, owners filed about as many complaints about the 2019 Tiguan as about the typical Tiguan year. Among the 8 Tiguan years with enough complaints to compare, owners filed the fewest about the 2021 (0.33 per 1,000 sold) and the most about the 2018 (1.73). The typical year is the median across its model years.
The parts owners named most often in complaints filed to date: Electrical System (57), Engine (44), Unknown Or Other (39). The phrases they used are listed above.
Complaint records cannot settle that on their own. They count safety problems owners chose to report to the federal government, not every repair. What they do show is how this year compares with the other Tiguan years: for every car sold, owners filed about as many complaints about the 2019 Tiguan as about the typical Tiguan year.
Among years with enough complaints to compare, the 2021, at 0.33 per 1,000 sold. Every Tiguan year, ranked.
No guide we read covers the Tiguan.
Example records behind this page, each on NHTSA’s own site: