2026 Volkswagen Tiguan

The contact owns a 2026 Volkswagen Tiguan. The contact stated that while driving at 5 MPH, the air bag warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed; however, the diagnostic information was not provided to the contact. The dealer informed the contact that an ignitor part needed to be ordered to repair the vehicle. The vehicle was scheduled to be repaired. The contact was concerned that the vehicle was unsafe and that the air bags might not deploy in a crash. The failure mileage was approximately 500.

NHTSA ID

11773761

Incident

Jul 1, 2026

Mileage

500 mi

While driving a 2026 Volkswagen Tiguan in Los Angeles County, CA, the vehicle spontaneously and without driver input shifted itself into Neutral. The vehicle experienced a complete loss of motive power and stopped driving. I was travelling with my newborn infant in the back seat when the vehicle lost propulsion in active traffic, creating an extreme and immediate collision hazard. The vehicle had to be coasted to the shoulder under hazardous conditions. Car literally stopped in the middle of a busy intersection. Several dashboard lights came on during this incident. The next day the engine light turned on.

NHTSA ID

11771583

Incident

Oct 3, 2026

The engine cuts off WHILE DRIVING and hard stops the car. OBVIOUS safety issue for myself and 3 children. The car is still “on”, the car is still in DRIVE but nothing happens when I press the gas, it feels like the E brake is engaged, I get the on and off pop up text - no check engine or any other warning or text - that says “please start engine manually”. When I press the ignition button the car cuts completely off. I then have to press it again to fully start the car again. Hard stopping at any MPH in traffic or intersections, etc. could be deadly. I’m a single mom of 3 with no other transportation. Local VW told me the diagnostic was fine. They’ve tried blaming it on seatbelt safety mechanisms - that is NOT what’s stopping the car. We all buckle and stay that way, it’s GA law. Even if it did this over a seatbelt I’d be concerned as to how a car hard stopping at any mph in the middle of traffic is any safer than unlatching a belt! The dealership is fully aware. VW corporate is fully aware. Case #07796308. No accidents at all. No outside maintenance. No inspections by anyone other than the one at the dealership mid Sept. This is becoming more frequent. This was a known issue in 2025s and there is an open recall for 2026s, per my research, but for some reason my VIN isn’t coming up in it.

NHTSA ID

11771495

Incident

Sep 15, 2026

The contact owns a 2026 Volkswagen Tiguan. The contact stated that while driving at significantly slow speeds, the transmission independently shifted into Park (P), causing a total loss of motive power. The driver restarted the vehicle to correct the failure. The contact stated that the failure occurred on multiple occasions. The local dealer and manufacturer were notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 100.

NHTSA ID

11771317

Incident

May 1, 2026

Mileage

100 mi

Driving on Massachusetts interstate 93 at 65mph with my three children, the vehicles engine and computer system shut off after the dash showed the word “goodbye”. After the cars engine shut completely off it then applied automatic braking and almost caused a certain fatal accident at high speed for myself, my children and everyone on the road around me. The dealership was made aware of a sensor issue that causes error codes for air bag sensors but they have not made a serious attempt to service the vehicle or make accommodation to have the car serviced and is aware of potential electrical system issue but said it’s fine. It’s just a sensor. This could have ended lives thankfully there was light traffic.

NHTSA ID

11769985

Incident

Oct 7, 2026

Subject: Safety Concern: 2026 Tiguan Rear Seat Occupancy/Seat Belt Indicator I am writing about a safety-related limitation in the seat belt indicator on my 2026 Tiguan. The front seat indicators show occupancy as soon as someone sits down: red if unbuckled, green once buckled. The rear seat indicators behave differently. When a passenger sits in a rear seat, nothing appears until the belt is buckled. The indicator then turns green, and if the belt is later unbuckled, it turns red. As a result, a blank rear indicator looks identical to an empty seat, so the driver has no way of knowing an unbuckled passenger is seated in the back. The rear indicator should show red when a seat is occupied and unbuckled, as the front does. When I brought the vehicle in for its first service on Oct 2, 2026, the service manager, David Love, told me this is simply how the system operates. I then spoke with a Customer Care representative at 800-893-5298 on [date], who said they rely on the dealer service department and could not say whether this is a software design issue. I would appreciate a written response that addresses: 1.Whether the rear seats have occupancy sensing, or whether the indicator relies on the buckle switch alone. 2.Whether this behavior is intentional. 3.Whether a software or hardware update is planned to show unbuckled rear occupants.

NHTSA ID

11769586

Incident

Jan 1, 2026

Purchased vehicle new 6/6/2026. In the 4 months we have owned the vehicle, we have had the emergency braking/maneuver braking system activate while backing up the vehicle 20-30 times. It slams the car into park, slams the emergency brake on and suddenly stops the vehicle completely. The drivers head slams into the seatback hard and has caused headaches and neck pain. No object or anything that should have caused this activation were present. No sensor warnings occur. Has been to our dealership twice and we have been told "vehicle is operating as designed" just because no error codes come up. No VW representative has been involved yet beyond the dealer service manager. My wife is fearful to drive car anymore.

NHTSA ID

11769242

Incident

Oct 5, 2026

After purchase, brought it home brake engages going into the garage. I try to back up, but the embrace engages again. I don’t know how many times the e brake would not allow me to move forward or backward but this went on for several minutes. Date unknown- backing out of my driveway, ebrake engages after I am in the street and trying to move forward. Sept 7 2026 - car does not recognize key. Unknown date- pulling out from parking on side of a town street. Ebrake engages leaving me in the line of traffic. Tried 5 times both forward and reverse before the car would move more than a few feet or inches. Sept 19 Pulling out from parking in middle of lot, ebrake engages. Only took 2 try’s to get car to move forward. Oct 3, 2026 - pulling out from parking lot, no one behind me or ahead of me, ebrake engages after car was in lane of traffic. Car would not move forward or reverse without ebrake engaging. After the 5th try, moved forward. There may be a couple more incidents that I don’t recall. The car was brought to VW dealership to look into this issue on sept 18, 2026. The dealership could not find anything wrong. I cannot reproduce this issue, but being left out in traffic twice within a month is a huge safety concern. The only dash light the comes on is the e brake light. There are no sounds either. But the ebrake engages very heavy. Which makes this a rear end collision concern also.

NHTSA ID

11769105

Incident

Aug 27, 2026

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