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2023 Volkswagen Taos

Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations

More warning signs than most Taos years

Owner complaints for the 2023 Volkswagen Taos are substantially higher than the model-year median of 53.

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How this year compares

Owner complaints by model year

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Counts vary with age, sales and reporting. They are not failure rates.

What owners reported most

All reported categories

Tap a category to read its complaints. One report may name several components.

When problems were reported

Mileage at the reported incident

Limited mileage data: 6 of 106 reports include usable mileage. There isn’t enough coverage to show a useful chart.

NHTSA’s mileage field refers to the reported incident, not necessarily the filing date. This shows report counts, not the likelihood of a failure.

What to inspect

Issues worth paying extra attention to based on owner reports.

  • Engine. Review the 42 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Service Brakes. Review the 33 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Electrical System. Review the 22 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →

NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.

2 crash reports0 fire reports1 injury reports

Engine complaints

42 reports
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Mileage unknown · Jun 27, 2024
Engine

Coolant leak and head gasket problem after only 20,000 miles. Common issue others have reported.

NHTSA ODI #11597224

Mileage unknown · Jun 5, 2024
Engine

I bought this vehicle in April of 2023, brand new with 300 miles on it. The dealership then sold to a different dealership in June of 2023. In November/December of 2023, a light on my dash came on saying that my antifreeze was low. I opened up the hood and there was absolutely NO antifreeze in it. I called my dealership, they co…

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I bought this vehicle in April of 2023, brand new with 300 miles on it. The dealership then sold to a different dealership in June of 2023. In November/December of 2023, a light on my dash came on saying that my antifreeze was low. I opened up the hood and there was absolutely NO antifreeze in it. I called my dealership, they couldn't get me in until January 2024. So I filled it up with antifreeze and made it to my appointment in early January. The dealership told me that my previous dealership hadn't filled up my antifreeze all the way and that I had just burned that much since April. They topped it off and "checked all the lines". Then in April of 2024, the antifreeze light came on AGAIN. Not even 4 months later. I go check and AGAIN my antifreeze is completely EMPTY. NOT EVEN 4 MONTHS LATER! So I call the dealership and tell them what's going on. They get me in and then call me to tell me my head-gasket is blown. On my brand new car?!?!? So the dealership has now had my dealership since May 5th, 2024. It is now June 5th, 2024 and they are still waiting on parts. The car as of May 5th, 2024 had 12,000 miles on it. There were no signs of my antifreeze leaking, I park it in the garage everyday, nothing on the floor of the garage. The only thing that made me aware was the light coming on and screaming at me that I had no antifreeze.

NHTSA ODI #11592677

Mileage unknown · Jan 16, 2024
EngineService Brakes

My brakes went bad in under 5,000 miles they replaced the rear and now the front brakes are making noise. I have had to go into the dealer twice to get my coolant replaced. It needs it again and I feel we should not have to keep going into the shop when there is a known head gasket issue.

NHTSA ODI #11565732

Mileage unknown · Jan 2, 2024
Engine

Red central warning light and coolant/temp light came on when leaving home. Blown head gasket at 10,150 miles. Car had no coolant, had to be towed. Dealer agress it's the head gasket. No ETA on parts at this time.

NHTSA ODI #11562995

Mileage unknown · Dec 15, 2023
Engine

Two months ago I noticed an issue with my 2023 VW Taos. VW topped off the fluids and told me to stop back in if it happened again. Three weeks later I was 200 miles from home and it happened again. I stopped in another VW dealer and they topped off the fluids and said if it happened again to bring it in. Today, December 15, 2023…

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Two months ago I noticed an issue with my 2023 VW Taos. VW topped off the fluids and told me to stop back in if it happened again. Three weeks later I was 200 miles from home and it happened again. I stopped in another VW dealer and they topped off the fluids and said if it happened again to bring it in. Today, December 15, 2023 I take my vehicle to the VW dealer with ~22,000 miles and the service advisor and mechanic come over to me and said "we are not allowing you to leave in your car today". I asked why and they said the head gasket is gone and the engine needs to be taken apart. They said corporate requires pictures of this because it is a known problem with this engine between 20K and 30K miles the engine head gasket cracks, coolant light enables, and the engine can blow. They gave me a loaner and said plan to be in the car for a few months as we have a back order on parts, corporate needs to review this, and it will take time as we must remove the engine to repair the gaskets that are in between the upper and lower sections. I come home and log into a VW Taos forum online to find 6,000 people reporting this same issue in the US and Canada. This has not been recalled, but it is obvious from the forum that models between 2019 and 2023 with this specific engine type has this issue and it is well known to VW but they're not recalling it. I don't want a car after the engine has come out and gone back in. They need to take my car back and keep it! How can this be allowed in America?

NHTSA ODI #11560282

Mileage unknown · Oct 27, 2023
Engine

Engine cooling system has lost coolant. Very concerned because it is not leaking or evaporating - has entered the engine.

NHTSA ODI #11552227

Mileage unknown · Sep 5, 2023
Electrical SystemEngineFuel/propulsion System

Purchased a 2023 VW Taos SE on December 21st, 2022, with 11 miles on it. The first check engine light came on the end of January 2023 and it started having the acceleration lagging issue right before that. Dealer said it was a fuel issue and fixed it. Second check engine light was in March, dealer said to not top off the gas whe…

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Purchased a 2023 VW Taos SE on December 21st, 2022, with 11 miles on it. The first check engine light came on the end of January 2023 and it started having the acceleration lagging issue right before that. Dealer said it was a fuel issue and fixed it. Second check engine light was in March, dealer said to not top off the gas when pumping and fixed it. Third check engine light came on in April and VW Corporate's Service team got involved, claimed it was an emissions issue and fixed it. This entire time, the acceleration lagging issue continued sporadically. To the point you would have to floor the accelerator to get it to move, especially when changing lanes in traffic. Which a 2-3 second delay is dangerous! I had a car behind me honk, because the Taos was not accelerating. No matter what the dealer did to fix it, it did not work. Other issues include playlists not playing in Apple CarPlay, a rattle noise when accelerating, e-brake turning on by itself, air not blowing cold, dashboard and entertainment screens dimming for no reason and the smell of sulphur in the car. I followed Florida's Lemon Law and VW bought back and refunded me for the Taos as it is a bonafide lemon! This was my 6th VW and my last. The issues the Taos has reminds me of VW's timing chain tensioner lawsuit, which affected VW #5.

NHTSA ODI #11542764

Mileage unknown · Aug 28, 2023
EnginePower TrainVehicle Speed Control

I purchased the new 2023 TAOS Volkswagen. I am experiencing sudden burst of acceleration when I’m gently accelerating. I have had several near misses of having an accident. I have read several other reports of the same problem on online forums. What is Volkswagen going to do about this? I just paid $35,000 for this new car and I…

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I purchased the new 2023 TAOS Volkswagen. I am experiencing sudden burst of acceleration when I’m gently accelerating. I have had several near misses of having an accident. I have read several other reports of the same problem on online forums. What is Volkswagen going to do about this? I just paid $35,000 for this new car and I’m afraid I’m gonna have an accident the way it suddenly accelerates. Please contact me so I know if there’s anything I can do to resolve this problem. This car is my only transportation and it scares me to drive it. This should not be happening.

NHTSA ODI #11541108

Mileage unknown · Aug 10, 2023
Engine

I had just purchased this car- it was my first day driving it. I drove it from the dealer to my home and then out to dinner with no problems. I should note the each time I started the car I turned off the "Stop/Start" feature. On our way home from dinner I was stopped at a red light and all of a sudden the engine shut off and a …

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I had just purchased this car- it was my first day driving it. I drove it from the dealer to my home and then out to dinner with no problems. I should note the each time I started the car I turned off the "Stop/Start" feature. On our way home from dinner I was stopped at a red light and all of a sudden the engine shut off and a messaged displayed saying "Please Start Engine Manually". I was shocked, but put my car in park and was able to start it back up. I should note that the radio continued to work and the air continued to blow (even though it was no longer cold). I started driving and was less than 1/4 mile from my turn, but as I was approaching the car stalled again. This time while I was driving! Thankfully I was able to safely glide into the shopping center and park the car. I tried putting it back in park and starting it up again a few times with no luck. I should note that it wasn't like the engine was trying to turn over, there was nothing happening at all. I exited the car for a minute and then got back in to try again and thankfully it started up this time. I live right down the street from the shopping center so I went ahead and drove it home. Someone from the VW dealer picked the car up the next day because I refused to drive it again- my kids are always in the car with me. Since then I've researched this and found many more accounts of similar things happening to other Taos drivers. The dealer has found no error codes and they are trying to tell me it was "Low Battery Voltage", but that just doesn't make any sense considering how things happened. I'm now in contact with VW to see if they can help at all. I cannot drive this car with the possibility of stalling again. I won't put my kids at risk. The car is still at the dealership as I'm waiting to hear back from VW.

NHTSA ODI #11537639

Mileage unknown · Jul 6, 2023
Engine

Vehicle is 6 months old, 4747 miles, stalled going uphill at 10mph. Upon attempted restart, smoke billowed out of the exhaust and engine compartment. Contacted VW Customer Service and was towed to VW dealership. Turbo failed and caused a laundry list of parts to fail. Parts are out till September.

NHTSA ODI #11530692

Official recalls

0

No recalls in this snapshot.

Model-level recall history does not show whether a particular VIN is affected or has received a repair. Check a VIN with NHTSA ↗

NHTSA investigations

0

No exact-year investigations in this snapshot.