2024 Volkswagen Tiguan: What to check before buying

Fire is the most serious pattern. Three reports involve the car catching fire, and one describes smoke from the front, then flames under the hood, with no warning lights beforehand. That fire destroyed a nearly new car at about 7,000 miles. Infotainment failures are more common. The screen freezes, goes black, or cycles on and off, and the rear camera, navigation, and driver-assistance features drop out with it. Wi-Fi dropouts cut CarPlay and Android Auto. A recurring SOS error disables emergency calling. Repeat dealer visits often end with no fix available.

Cracks appear on the driver's side of the windshield on their own, noticed on entering the parked car rather than while driving. Another report lists only broken glass. A separate complaint involves a damaged wiper motor, blamed on the automatic wiper sensors. The owner says the manual does not clearly explain how to fully turn them off, and the dealer quoted $1100 for the repair. Three reports are too few to show a clear pattern beyond glass damage.

Both reports are about a part shortage, not a defect. After crash damage, replacement headlight assemblies are on national backorder with no delivery date. In one case the car sat unrepaired at a body shop for 194 days, and the shop would not release it with a single working headlight. One owner also could not get the rear camera recall repair done because the recall part was unavailable.

Smoke from under the hood followed by flames shows up in one report. The car was less than a year old, gave no warning signals, and burned to a total loss. The other report describes heavy oil consumption starting around 1000 miles: a repeat low-oil warning, a test showing 4.5 quarts burned per 1000 miles, and a smoke cloud at startup. Dealers called this abnormal for a new car, but the manufacturer said it was within limits.

On a slope, the car moves the wrong way: it rolls forward in reverse and backward in drive, with no warning lights. Another report describes lurching under light throttle, and the car lunging forward when start/stop restarts the engine even with the brake pressed. Both problems led to near misses with objects or other vehicles. One technician reproduced the lurching on a test drive, but the reports do not show a fix.

The front sensor drops out at random while driving. A "no sensor view" message appears with warning lights, including SOS, and forward collision warning, lane keep, and adaptive cruise control shut off. A second report describes fumes and white smoke entering the cabin after an oil change. The dealer traced it to a cam or valve-area plug that was on backorder. The exposure made the occupant sick.

When the car is shifted into reverse, the rearview camera shows a black screen or no image. Both reports involve recall 25V082000, and in both the recall part or update was not yet available, so dealers turned owners away, one of them three times. One driver nearly hit a pedestrian in a wheelchair while backing up, at about 13,500 miles.