What goes wrong with a 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan?
Owners and drivers have submitted 459 complaints about this vehicle to NHTSA. They are reports, not confirmed defects, and here is what they are about.
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Owners and drivers have submitted 459 complaints about the 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan to NHTSA, spread across 31 component categories. The most reported category is engine, with 79 reports. A complaint is somebody telling the federal government what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect, not a manufacturer finding, and not a failure rate.
- Complaints submitted
- 459
- Component categories
- 31
- Most reported
- Engine
- Latest report
- August 5, 2026
Data: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, as ingested August 17, 2026
What these numbers are, before the table
These are complaints submitted to NHTSA by owners and drivers. They are reports, not confirmed defects and not a manufacturer finding, and they are not a failure rate: a car that sold well collects more of them than a rare one for no other reason than that more people own it.
The component category is chosen by the person filing, out of NHTSA's own list, which is why one of the largest categories on almost every vehicle is "unknown or other". Read the table as a map of what owners chose to report rather than as a ranking of what breaks.
All 31 categories.
Most reported first. Crashes, fires, injuries and deaths are counts of reports that also mentioned one, as recorded by the person filing.
| Component | Complaints | Crashes | Fires | Injuries | Latest report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engine | 79 | 1 | 1 | 1 | August 5, 2026 |
| Unknown or other | 50 | 0 | 0 | 1 | April 25, 2026 |
| Power train | 49 | 0 | 0 | 0 | February 1, 2026 |
| Electrical system | 42 | 1 | 2 | 2 | April 18, 2026 |
| Structure | 39 | 0 | 0 | 0 | March 20, 2026 |
| Fuel/propulsion system | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | April 18, 2026 |
| Vehicle speed control | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | November 8, 2023 |
| Service brakes | 19 | 1 | 0 | 2 | September 14, 2025 |
| Exterior lighting | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | October 29, 2023 |
| Seat belts | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | October 27, 2023 |
| Air bags | 15 | 2 | 0 | 2 | March 20, 2026 |
| Forward collision avoidance | 15 | 1 | 0 | 1 | December 2, 2025 |
| Steering | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | January 20, 2024 |
| Suspension | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | March 11, 2026 |
| Lane departure | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | April 25, 2026 |
| Back over prevention | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | April 25, 2026 |
| Visibility/wiper | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | May 18, 2019 |
| Electronic stability control (ESC) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | February 1, 2020 |
| Visibility | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | November 4, 2025 |
| Electrical system | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | January 21, 2022 |
| Engine | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | December 20, 2023 |
| Power train | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | December 20, 2023 |
| Unknown or other | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | February 25, 2023 |
| Wheels | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | February 21, 2025 |
| Air bags | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | January 21, 2022 |
| Fuel/propulsion system | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | December 20, 2023 |
| Interior lighting | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | August 1, 2018 |
| Parking brake | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | February 15, 2024 |
| Seats | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | December 9, 2017 |
| Service brakes, hydraulic | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | April 8, 2019 |
| Steering | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | January 21, 2022 |
What to do if your car is doing one of these
A category on this page is not a diagnosis. If your car is making a noise, showing a light, or leaking something, the useful question is what that symptom means and whether it needs the shop tonight or next week.
The symptoms guide works the other way round from this page: it starts with what you can hear, see or smell and says whether it is roadside, a tow, or a booking. If what you are seeing matches a recall campaign on this vehicle, the repair is free at a franchised dealer.
Who works on Tiguans in Brooklyn?
We do, at 619 Coney Island Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11218, family owned since 1977. Diagnostics first, then the work, and a flatbed if it will not start where it sits.
New York State DMV registration file, August 17, 2026 snapshot of the five New York City counties. Model names come from NHTSA's federal VIN decoder. A registration is a record in a state database, not a car on the road. How we counted. The borough is where the registrant receives mail rather than where the car is driven.
Fuel economy: EPA and DOE ratings published at FuelEconomy.gov, unaveraged, so each configuration is its own row. Recalls and complaints: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, the agency's own wording, as ingested August 17, 2026. Complaints are reports members of the public filed, not confirmed defects. The NYC registration study is the analysis these counts sit on top of.
234 vehicles in this directory, covering 520,848 registered cars. Data as of August 17, 2026.