Complaint volume
132 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
Complaint records
2020 Volkswagen Tiguan Complaints
132 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2020 Volkswagen Tiguan, grouped by component category.
132 Total complaints
5 Crash reports
0 Fire reports
5 Injury reports
Complaint data reflects consumer-submitted reports. A complaint is not proof
of a defect, recall, or manufacturer fault. Enriched severity fields come
from official bulk records when the complaint can be matched by ODI number.
Buyer interpretation
How to use these complaints before buying
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
Pattern to inspect
The most common categories are unknown or other, electrical system, engine. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 5 crash reports, 0 fire reports, 5 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 23 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 26,734 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to unknown or other, electrical system, engine?
- Can I see recent maintenance and repair records?
- Has the vehicle ever been towed, involved in a crash, or repaired for the same issue twice?
- Can we also check the recall record for this 2020 Volkswagen Tiguan?
Used-car checklist
Use these complaints before the test drive.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
2020 Volkswagen Tiguan
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2020 Volkswagen Tiguan complaints?
5 Crash
0 Fire
5 Injury
0 Fatality
3 Towed
3 Medical attention
What are the most common 2020 Volkswagen Tiguan complaint categories?
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 32
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 20
ENGINE 16
SERVICE BRAKES 9
STRUCTURE 9
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 5
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 4
VISIBILITY/WIPER 4
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 3
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 3
132 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | There is an overhead controls console for the interior light, emergency phone and sunroof. This console is above the interior rearview mirror. This console broke away on its own and is dangling by three wires. It blocks the rearview mirror. I can see that the bracket which you bolt to secure it in place is very flimsy plastic and has broken. The console is rather heavy and I was surprised that it would even be attached with a plastic bracket. It's a safety hazard because you can't use the rearview mirror and your vision out the passenger side window is obstructed. My local VW honored the warranty but it still should be addressed with a better fix for this. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | SOS button is erroring out. It won't reset back to green is staying red and showing Error: Emergency call function. This is a known issue see attached error on my vehicle and a few screen shots others have reported on different blogs. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | When the car is parked under the Sun on hot days. The car will lose the power and we get message on Dashboard "Check Starter System" When this happens and car is running, it will lose power, No AC, No Lights, No Brake Lights, No Hazard Lights, Speedometer will not work but Engine is running and you can drive the car. It is extremely dangerous to drive it that way. Some folks reported that replacing faulty ignition switch resolve the issue but it needs to be properly investigated and issue official recall on all VW models which are experiencing the issue. Its on VW Tiguan, Golf, Jetta for sure. Please see the video of issue [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Tiguan overhead sunroof/bluetooth control console detached and fell down on its own and was hanging by wires. No one was in the car. Very dangerous if it had happened when driving. Had to drive it to dealer by rigging a bungee cord and paper clips to hold it up at least a few inches. Another problem is an ongoing moldy smell in the car especially when rainy or humid. I do not see any leaking of water. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | STRUCTURE | The contact owns a 2020 Volkswagen Tiguan. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked, the contact noticed that the center console had detached and struck the contact on the head. There were no serious injuries sustained; however, the contact stated a red mark was left on his head. The contact was concerned that the failure could recur while driving. The vehicle was taken to the dealer however, the diagnostic test result was not disclosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 91,000. The VIN was not included. | Crash: No Fire: No | 91,000 |
| May 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | We purchased car two weeks ago. Twice the engine has shut off while driving down a hill. The warnings say "Check the starter system" and "Ignition Switched Off". There was one warning about the starter system being deactivated or something like that. After the first time we brought it back to dealership. They couldn't diagnose. They found something with AC and took care of that. The car drove for a week and then it happened again. Both times it has happened after being parked for a couple of hours and both times it happened while driving down a hill. 2020 Volkewagen Tiguan with about 56k miles. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | VW needs to handle this situation or I will be hiring a lawyer for a class action lawsuit. There are tons of people who are or have experienced what I’m experiencing with my Tiguan. White mold all through the middle seat carpet due to the floor air vents pushing air directly under the heavy mats that have no way for air to circulate out of. Heavy condensation has built up and there is a heavy presence of white mold through both sides. This is the 2nd time I have sent in a complaint regarding this HUGE health issue and design flaw. It is a huge risk to my health, my children’s health, and every other person who is dealing with this as well. I have found an abundance of people who have posted photos and shared their white mold flooring issue online. I have supplied photos to show the extensive damage it has done to my car. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | Overhead console which controls lights, sunroof, garage opener, just FELL DOWN. You can see where the glue and the plastic surrounding the screws holding the console up failed and cracked. Console has never been altered, is rarely touched except for light buttons as I don't like to open roof and my garage opener is on my phone. I don't have kids who could have messed with it. VW is refusing to cover cost of its repair as my 4 year warranty ended 16 days ago. If I had been driving while it happened, It would have caused an accident. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL | The headliner control panel just falls which distracts the driver as well as all forward safety components fail to respond. I feel it is dangerous as this is extremely distracting | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | SUSPENSION,ENGINE | The motor mounts failed and need to be replaced, the car has never been in an accident or even driven in harsh conditions. There is another part that failed in the engine which causes it to leak oil. The vehicle has a hard time accelerating intermittently. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | SOS warning light malfunction, cannot make call to emergency services; was told it is a module that needs to be replaced for over $1000 dollars. Forums and chatrooms state this is a wide spread issue. Dealership does not deem to replace due to out of warranty. Malfunctioned while it WAS in warranty, was not only reset and the light would malfunction light would turn on after a few days. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | ENGINE | While driving vehicle spontaneously shuts off with the following warnings "ignition system off. Pull over safely", "Check starter". This has occurred more than once when I was traveling over 50 mph and could have led to a severe crash if I were not fortunate enough to have minimal traffic in the area at the time. I have brought it into the dealer and they were unable to identify the cause. Instead, they replaced the battery and front right speed sensor. The problem of my vehicle spontaneously shutting off has only persisted on 4 more occasions after this visit to the dealer. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | SERVICE BRAKES | I am getting 2 warning messages- fault electronic parking brake and error driver door contact switch. The car seems to think my door is open and therefore turns on the emergency brake for safety. This has happened when I am parked and also when I am driving. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | SERVICE BRAKES | Please see attached documents | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | We bought the vehicle one year ago from Carvana. There are air vents under the front two seats which blows cold air underneath the 2nd row floor mats. This creates condensation and produces a bunch of mold and mildew. My flooring/carpet is now covered in mildew and mold with a very bad odor. We could not figure out where it was coming from until I finally lifted the floor mats. This is a very poor design and will make people sick which will lead to lawsuits. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2024 | POWER TRAIN | The car was jerking due to a faulty transmission sensor. VW instructed the dealership to clean and reinsert the old sensor, which they state is an appropriate first step. Several days later, the cleaned part failed and caused the car to jerk and stop responding while I was driving. This jerking caused the car behind me to come very close to rear-ending me. I am concerned that VW is putting old parts back in warrantied cars, which are already known to have jerking transmission problems, to run out of the warranty. With this policy, they are putting drivers, passengers, and other cars on the road in danger. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | I am unaware of how to properly name the problem on this vehicle, but it is the panel that controls the sunroof/moon roof. It has fallen out of place on two occasions. The second time and the major cause for concern is because it happened while I was driving. And that is a safety hazard because it startled me and it easily could have cause me to swerve and wreck into someone or something. Also, if you aren’t able to get this issue fixed immediately it is dangling, wires/cords exposed and causes an unclear view of the rear view mirror. It constantly swings when you’re driving and can be a great distraction if you’re trying to keep it from swinging so much from hitting the driver, or just coming detached period and possible causing some electrical issues and possible injury. This problem has been taken to my local dealership twice and addressed, and dealership has stated that it will only repair as a courtesy twice. This isn’t a consumer wear and tear issue, it is clearly a defect from the manufacturer and poor construction of this component in the vehicle. This defect has only been inspected and repaired by the local dealership, I do not believe it has been escalated to the manufacturer for review. There was no prior warning to this panel falling, it just fell suddenly, without warning. After researching other online forums on this specific vehicle and the problem there are many consumers online with this same issue and some has had the issue occur more than others. This is not something that the consumer should have to constantly deal with or be responsible for due to poor quality of construction. There are vehicles that are of older date and age that do not have this issue, and for this to be happening to a daily new modeled vehicle in roughy 3 years or less is a problem. This needs to be seriously inspected and recalled for a better way to assemble this so that consumers do not have this issue, and it does cause injury or even death. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | AIR BAGS | Hit head on by other vehicle and airbags did not deploy. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 2 Medical attention | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | An update was pushed to the safety emergency response system for VW vehicles better known as Carnet. The update has caused the emergency safety response system to be disabled and now that the car is out warranty the dealership is requiring the owners to pay to repair the module out of pocket although the functionality malfunction was due to the update pushed out by Volkswagon. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Driving on the interstate with the windshield defrost on due to the winter weather coming from Texas into Arkansas and the in car electrical turned off and the dash screen said “check starter system” and then told us to safely park the vehicle. All electronics in the car turned off but the car system was still going. I was able to drive the car to an exit and park all with the dash and infotainment system shut off. Thankfully the steering wheel didn’t lock. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | STRUCTURE | The contact owns a 2020 Volkswagen Tiguan. The contact stated that water was entering the rear seat of the vehicle. The contact stated that the water intrusion had caused a short circuit in the vehicle and the vehicle was driving with Reduced Engine power. The contact stated that the water intrusion also disrupted the Bluetooth functionality. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the gateway control module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The contact researched online and related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V947000 (Electrical System, Structure). The failure mileage was approximately 63,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 63,000 |
| Nov 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Fuel door gets stuck intermittently. Have to bang on the side of the car to have it released | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | overhead console detached dropped down while driving, yes available for inspection. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? created hazard for front seat occupants. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? No | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | Since the day I bought this car from the dealer (who stated oil change should be every 10K miles), the car's engine oil light goes on every 5-6 months. This is a new car and never goes past 6-7K miles on the engine. I believe there is an engine oil consumption problem with these type of vehicles. This is a safety hazard. Additionally, it is unheard of to have to replace oil in a brand new car in the 21st century every 5-6 months. Please help me with this. I am still making car payments on a car that is flawed! | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Center console fell from headliner. Thankfully it did not happen while I was driving which may have caused an accident. Safety would have created a visual hazard that would have impaired driving. Many other VW owners of the similar year, make and model have taken to the internet to share the exact same issue. The service dept at the dealership I go to said they have seen quite a few of these issues for this vehicle. There was no warning for this. The garage door opener component had become less responsive over the past few months but did not relate this to being a connected issue until today. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |