2018 Volkswagen Tiguan acceleration problems

Filed Jan 15, 2024 · Acceleration, Engine · IL

On multiple occasions, while driving on the highway, subject vehicle displayed check engine light and EPC light at random intervals and an alarm saying exceeded 4000 came on. RPM's were not over 4000. Speed and acceleration severely limited making it dangerous to pull over on the highway in traffic. Had to pull car over and restart engine. This has happened numerous times. Also experienced shaking and skipping or missing of transmission. The car has also had the engine stall or stop when at red light or stopped forcing restart of engine.

Filed Jul 5, 2022 · Acceleration, Engine · CO

The first time this problem occurred was in April right after a routine maintenance check. The car was idling in a parking lot when the engine started to vibrate and a warning was displayed that said "Max Engine Speed 4000 RPM". The car was turned off and then back on. The warning did show up on the display, but the "check engine" light was lit. The car was driven back home, and after that drive the check engine light was not lit anymore. To be safe the car was taken to the dealer. The dealer was not able to replicate the issue. Later, in July, the max engine speed and EPC warnings were displayed on the screen in the middle of a trip. At this time there was also a loss of acceleration power. The driver pulled over, stopped the car, and then restarted it. When the car restarted the warning lights were no longer on so the driver completed the trip. In the manual it says that the car can still be operated if the EPC warning light is on, but that it should be taken to a dealer. This led the driver to believe that it was safe to complete the trip and take the car to their home dealership after the holiday. The following day, the EPC warning light and the max engine speed warning both appeared in the middle of a drive. The driver was driving up a hill on a backroad with no possible pull off. The driver had to stop the car in the middle of a road directly after a blind turn. The driver restarted the car and was able to drive about 10 yards before the warning came on again and the engine cut out. The driver repeated turning the car off and then back on multiple times to be able to safely get the car up the hill and to an area where a pull-off was available. Luckily, no other cars were coming at the time the car was stalled. It was a very unsafe location! The car is currently in the process of being towed to the dealer to be worked on. This seems like a very serious safety concern that is affecting other Tiguan owners too.

Filed May 28, 2022 · Acceleration, Engine · SC

Car has multiple malfunctions. Has had noisy valvetrain, lack of power upon acceleration, has sputtered with a load on engine especially uphill. Car shut off completely while at 60 mph and nearly caused a catastrophic collision with my whole family in the car. Car presents substantial safety risk. Multiple codes/warnings have flashed up on the display screen(Evap,Trans,fuel inj,etc). Transmission went into "emergency mode" after being started up today, then went away after restarted. Car has been to dealership but issues were not properly addressed/ignored. VW of America is well aware of issues with these cars but ignores the consumers needs and puts consumers at great safety risk by doing so. This vehicle has both engine and transmission issues as well as odd electrical anomalies.

Filed Mar 22, 2022 · Acceleration, Electrical · TX

At 48k miles, fuel efficiency began to significantly drop. At next start up, engine would not turn over and EPC light came on. I waited 30 minutes, unlocked the steering wheel and was able to start the vehicle and EPC light turned off. I took it into Volkswagen dealership to have it looked over and they could not duplicate the issue nor find cause for lower fuel efficiency. The issue with fuel persisted intermittently. Then at 57k, while driving long distance, I noticed what seemed like misfiring when accelerating above 65 mph. There were no noises, no warning lights, and fuel efficiency seemed about the same. I continued driving and about 6 hours into my drive, EPC light came on, RPM's shot up to 4,000 and car began violently shaking while losing significant power and dropped down to 30 mph. I was in the left lane when it occurred and had to quickly move over to the right lane. The car then could not exceed 40 mph with the pedal held to the floor. I turned on my hazards while I continued driving an additional 30 miles to the nearest Volkswagen dealership. Because of how heavy the traffic was and the high speeds of the travelers, it put myself and my passengers at risk from not being able to accelerate, along with the other drivers having to either brake hard or quickly change lanes to avoid my car. At the Volkswagen dealership, diagnosis found code p0204 cylinder 4 injector. They confirmed 4th cylinder misfiring and replaced the fuel injector harness. Since that repair, my car has been shaking at idol, when initially taking off, and if I turn of the start/stop function.

Filed Oct 12, 2021 · Acceleration, Engine · NY

Like many other people who have complained, the same EPC engine light turning on after the engine stalls while driving. This has happened multiple times while driving on the highway while going 65mph+. The max speed 4000 rpm message comes on the dashboard. The car does not accelerate and pulling over is necessary in order to shut off the car and restart the engine. This is incredibly dangerous and the car’s speed cannot be controlled.

Filed Oct 29, 2020 · Acceleration · 41,000 miles · FL

The car does not accelerate from a stop especially on hot days after being in stop and go traffic. I step on the gas and literally nothing happens. The engine doesn't rev and the car does not advance. I can push the gas pedal multiple times before it finally accelerates and then it does it in an out of control manner. I have had to sit through a full cycle of a light before it has started. I have brought it to a dealership multiple times with this complaint, but every time they are unable to get it to fail. I brought it in for a recall and the problem was made worse and not better. The car is not safe. The issue began within 6 months of purchase and while it isn't constant, it has been a repeated problem for the past 2 years.

Filed Mar 19, 2020 · Acceleration, Engine · AZ

My car hesitates when accelerating at a complete stop. I press the accelerator to pull into traffic and it seems the car just doesn't want to go! This makes it very dangerous to drive period. It takes a few seconds for the car to 'wake up' and finally accelerate.

Filed Nov 27, 2019 · Acceleration, Engine · TX

It takes a scary amount of time for the car to speed up when accelerating. The RPM module shows the acceleration but the vehicle doesn't actually speed up to match it. This is a safety issue especially when merging on to the freeway. An accident is bound to happen as I am not able to control the speed of the on coming cars and am unable to get my car up to speed to match the others. Also, the car randomly shuts down when stopped, a message saying please start engine manually pops up. This is also a safety concern and is bound to cause an accident as it happens a few times a month. A few months ago my car turned off when I stopped at the red light, a car was exiting the freeway as the light had turned green so they kept their high speed, I quickly turned my hazard lights on and the car had to swerve to the right lane to avoid rear ending me.

Filed Nov 4, 2019 · Acceleration, Engine · 17,608 miles · NY

The car gets filled with strong odor of gasoline inside the cabin and I was loosing gas at a rapid rate in addition the car was loosing speed. There is also the problem with the sto-start system, once the car was at a stop, the car would not turn over and start again. It would get stucktrying to turn on and at the same time I was loosing gasoline. I had to remove all passengers from the vehicle including my one month grand son due to the strong odor of gasoline. This incidents occured several times during the weekend of november 1 through november 4th when I dropped off the vehicle at the dealership.

Filed Oct 3, 2019 · Acceleration, Engine · MD

Cars response to driver accelerator inputs is hesitant and erratic. Car motion is unpredictably when accelerating from stand still. The performance is not predictable and very without apparent external environmental factors. Unpredictable performance endangers car occupants while entering traffic. The behavior has been determined by dealer as normal against other 2018 models but is different against 2019. Vw us has not returned inquiry requests.