2022 Volkswagen Tiguan

I've had a 2022 VW Tiguan SEL-Premium 4-Motion for about 1 week. It has approximately 23,000 miles on it. After a few days of problem free driving, the car displays a warning "Travel Assist Currently Not Available" upon startup and also while driving. The problem sometimes goes away on its own, other times it keeps warning the driver of an error with the system. I've seen in reoccur at least half a dozen times in one week. There is no way to fully disable this system to prevent the warning from occurring. I ran a scan of the error codes, and found code B17B8F2 to be the issue. I cleared the code and then it returned within 15 minutes. Research led me to find this is a very common problem. VW has issued their own TSB which can be found on this website. TSB transaction no. 2070207/1. It appears the entire steering wheel needs to be replaced to resolve this issue. In my mind, this should be a voluntary recall on all models affected by this problem. It appears this is a manufacturing defect but I've also seen that there is a huge backlog of steering wheels needed before parts can be installed to rectify the situation, leaving owners without a remedy to fix a distracting warning light and sound.

Car was purchased new on 3 Oct 2022. I was at dealer on 17 Jul 2023 for the 5th time for issues with infotainment screen going black and/or freezing. Diagnosis revealed it needed another F5 computer chip (the 2nd replacement). In addition, I was informed I needed a new steering wheel. A few days later, lane departure and travel assist function would turn off/on spontaneously, frequently pulling me from my lane. As of 23 Jul 2023, the infotainment screen died. I no longer have a my backup camera which I rely on extensively. In addition, I lost my navigation, apple play, radio, phone charger. VW has no ETA for a replacement parts and stated a loaner was not included in my purchase warranty. I am investigating their buyback program, however that may take over 45 days. I DO NOT FEEL SAFE IN THIS VEHICLE.

While driving down our sloped driveway with nothing in front of us, the automatic braking kicked in and brought our car to a very sudden halt without warning. The passenger was wearing a seatbelt and got thrown forward, causing soreness and mild injury to his shoulders. The problem has not been examined by the dealership. We adjusted the sensitivity level of this system to low as a result.

The vehicle continually displays an error stating "travel assist not available" and a loud tone sounds. This occurs up to 7 times in a row, or intermittently, as the vehicle is being driven. There is no detectable pattern for when this comes up - it happens when you first start the car, when you're driving in a parking lot, when you driving on the freeway, anywhere. The sound is so loud that it is startling each time it happens. It has become a safety issue to us because it is highly distracting and alarming. We have taken it to the dealership once for repair. They said they "reset" something, but it is continuing to happen and we cannot turn it off.

At 13k miles the vehicle started saying travel assistant is unavailable and constantly beeping. I went in the VW Camelback to get it fix they had to order a part I bought it back today March 9th 2023 to get fixed had car all day they said it was steering module which they replace car still under warranty. As soon as I drove away the car popped up travel assist not working again and the car keep slamming in the brakes will driving. Taking it back to the shop yet again.

1-Most importantly, while driving my vehicle on 4 separate occasions I am alerted of possible impact or close vehicle and the car hard brakes by itself on 2 of theses malfunctions I was almost rear ended. 2- I was sitting in my vehicle on a phone call in my buildings garage and my windshield just cracked out of nowhere. Nothing hit my vehicle and a crack just started rising from the bottom of the Left drivers side straight across the center of my windshield . 3- on several occasions while driving my radio/gps display just blacked out and I had to reset it in order to get it back on. 4- my front suspension sounds like is is going to fall out of the car when I hit the smallest of bumps, it almost sounds like it was installed and never tightened up. 5- when it rains or snows the sensors on the vehicle start bugging out and alerting me of multiple hazards when in fact there is nothing near me. This issue may be related to the earlier mentioned statement #1 This could be a scary thing for some people.

I took possession of this vehicle on 7/08/2022 and have had multiple problems with the infotainment ctr, cruise control, homelink, wireless charging pad, etc. However the most serious problem occurred on 08/27 when while sitting at a stop light on a downward hill ( I was the front car with a line of vehicles behind me ) while attempting a left turn I accelerated to realize that the car had turned off and I was coasting into the middle of a busy intersection with no way to stop as cars behind me were attempting to turn left also. I attempted to coast off the side of road and out of the intersection as cars were flying around my vehicle, honking their horns and trying to avoid a collision with me. I had a passenger in the car, we were both terrified. The car was still in Drive and a warning message appeared that the vehicle must be manually restarted. The cross traffic started to drive through the intersection as I now had put the vehicle in park and restart and get the car out of the intersection and into a safe place. The day prior ( 08/26 ) the car had also shut down on me as I was pulled off the side of the road and attempted a left turn into a driveway ( while working on my job ). I went directly to my dealership and was told they would get me an appt the following week, however the same problem occurred the next day ( 08/27 ) which almost resulted in a crash. I was told by the dealership that it is a Start/Stop issue, that VW is aware of the problem however there is no fix at this time. I no longer feel safe driving this car. The problem has been reported to VW and a case has been opened. The dealership has had my car for 27 days as of today. They state that they have not been able to duplicate the issue.

I want to make you aware of a situation that I experienced with my daughters new 2022 Tiguan VIN [XXX]. We were driving in very windy conditions with light rain. I lost temporary control of the vehicle. There did not seem to be enough water for hydroplaning although that's what it felt like. This SUV was very difficult to regain control of despite only going 60 mph when the loss of control occurred. I am an experienced driver that spent most of my career in sales. I drive a lot in the worst of conditions and traffic. I could barley keep this vehicle on the road. That night on the news we saw a report of a meteorologist student that was killed due to an accident caused by hydroplaning. Guess what type of vehicle, VW Tiguan. Not feeling it was a safe vehicle for our daughter to continue to drive, we traded it in. We received a recall notice from VW. A broken rear suspension knuckle can cause a loss of stability, increasing the risk of a crash. This could very well be what occurred. Or possibly the auto braking system kicked in without cause. The torch during braking was strong enough to make everyone in the car sore for a few days. Thankfully we did not hit any other vehicles on the road around us. We went back to the VW dealership where we purchased the vehicle from to trade in or sell back the vehicle. We suffered a great financial loss for trading in this new vehicle to Subaru. Well worth it for to protect the safety of our daughter. The issues with the Tiguan's' needs to be looked into closely because on a busy highway at 60mph if my daughter would have been driving the outcome I believe would have been much worse. Very scary! INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).