Owners have filed 18 complaints with NHTSA about this car, most about the automatic emergency braking, electrical, and transmission. The 9 checks below target those problems, in the order you would do them at the car.
2025Tick items off on your phone at the car, or print it. Ticks stay on this device.
0/9 checked
2025 Volkswagen Tiguan: inspection sheet
Before you go, or before you touch the car0/3
Ask the seller not to warm the car up first0/2
At least 20 minutes, with some highway0/4
These checks are specific to this model year. For tires, body panels, fluids, and the other basics every used car needs, use the general inspection guide.
Nearby years usually share most parts, so their problems are worth checking on this car too.
Worth adding to your 2025 checks
Worth adding to your 2025 checks
EPA figures for each version of the 2025 Volkswagen Tiguan. Use them to confirm you are looking at the version that was advertised, and as a yardstick on the test drive.
| Version | Drive | EPA rating |
|---|---|---|
| 2.0L 4-cyl | AWD, FWD | 25–29 mpg |
NHTSA complaints for the 2025 Volkswagen Tiguan, grouped by the part owners named. Open a row to read what goes wrong.
Automatic emergency braking triggers with nothing ahead, then applies the electronic parking brake and throws the car into Park. Reports describe it in turning lanes at low speed and even while stopped at a red light, sometimes upward of 15 times. Front Assist and side or rear assist fault lights come on and clear after a restart. One dealer's master technician reproduced the fault, yet cars still spent weeks in the shop. A sudden stop in traffic raises a real rear-end collision risk.
Cruise control stops responding to the steering wheel buttons, then later speeds up or slows down on its own while set. Dealers first could not reproduce it, then replaced the buttons without success, and the next fix, a clock spring and wiring harness, sat on back order. A separate report describes the engine shutting down at a red light in a week-old car, with the gears unresponsive so it could not be pushed in neutral, followed by the starter cranking on its own. That stall in traffic is a serious safety risk.
The electronic parking brake engages without driver input and the transmission shifts into Park, stopping the car abruptly at low speeds, at stoplights, and during parking. One report counts upwards of 50 events, which matches the false braking described under forward collision avoidance. Other reports describe the engine stumbling, stuttering, and dying with no warning lamps, and two factory inspections found no fix. Both faults leave drivers stopped in traffic lanes, with a risk of being rear-ended.
A piece of the lower front shutter breaks off, leaving the shutter stuck and the engine overheating, with a check engine light the day after purchase. The mechanic suspected a rock, but the car had been driven only once. The other report is a design concern rather than a failure: rear door panels are hard plastic while the fronts are padded, raising worries about injuries to rear passengers in a side impact. That owner ended up in a different model and paid the difference in value.
Excerpts from complaints Tiguan owners filed with NHTSA, as written. Listen for the same symptoms on your test drive.
I got into the middle lane, getting ready to turn left. I was going about 15-20 mph, when I got into the middle lane, the Emergency Brake came on and slammed my car into park. The master technician experienced the problem. There was no warning lamps, but there were symptoms that lead up, like trying to back up or go forward when turning on the vehicle and it deploying the emergency brake and putting it into park MULTIPLE times.
Filed with NHTSA, February 2026
Car randomly brakes by itself with no obstacle in front, no cars in front, sometimes emergency brake activates when standing on red light. On attached photos you can see messages after incident occures
Filed with NHTSA, January 2026
Engine stumbles repeatedly, stutters and dies. No warning lamps. Car inspected twice by manufacture but no solution found. Continues to show same characteristics. Have to pull off the road to avoid danger to self and other autos.
Filed with NHTSA, December 2025
Complaints for this year next to the average for the other model years, area by area.
The 2025 has the fewest owner complaints of the 8 Tiguan years we cover, well under the average of the others. Newer years have had less time to collect complaints, so compare like with like.
Recall repairs are free at any Volkswagen dealer, but the seller may never have had them done. Check each campaign number against the VIN.
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2025 Tiguan vehicles. The passenger occupant detection system (PODS) may experience a fault in the wiring and deactivate the front passenger air bag when the seat is occupied.
Risk: A deactivated passenger air bag increases the risk of injury during a crash.
Fix: Owners are advised not to allow occupants to sit in the front passenger seat until the remedy is complete. Dealers will repair the affected wiring harness in the front passenger seat, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed February 5, 2026. Owners may contact Volkswagen's customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 74HE. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall became searchable on NHTSA.gov on December 12, 2025.
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2025 Tiguan vehicles. A tie rod bolt on the rear axle assembly may be loose, which can lead to a loss of vehicle control.
Risk: A loss of vehicle control increases the risk of a crash.
Fix: Dealers will replace the affected tie rod bolt, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed September 5, 2025. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 42E7.
Cars shoppers compare with the Volkswagen Tiguan, with their own 2025 checklists.
2025 owner complaints, side by side
