2023 Volkswagen Taos Complaint Log

After about 10,000 miles, we started getting a loud squeal noise in the front brake area when taking off from a stop. We have taken the vehicle to the dealership and also spoke to the service department several times. We keep getting told that it is a common noise with the Taos and there is nothing wrong or no fix. There is no way a brand-new vehicle should be making this noise.

The rearview camera will shift the picture from time to time/distort it. Others times the camera won't come on, displays message saying "rear-view camera unavailable", or the screen comes on and it flickers the lighting to the picture.

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

The vehicle has 8000 miles on it and was sold to me knowing it had a well known head gasket problem. The vehicle has acceleration and overheating problems when it runs out of coolant which is leaking. The problem has been confirmed by suburban Vw in Farmington hills Michigan and it has been in service there since [XXX]. I reported the problem 8 months after purchase but they were unable to take it in due to many different reasons including lack of spare parts, not enough staff and no rental cars. I have had to top the coolant up on 5 occasions and have had leaks and stains on my garage floor which I reported INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

OCU module goes out. It takes out the SOS button. SOS light turns red and two lights on the dash turn on. This is the third time for this vehicle. Replace the module until it fails again, and throw another one at it. No actual fix.

The contact owns a 2023 Volkswagen Taos equipped with Kumho Tires, Tire Line: Crugen HP71, Tire Size: 215/55/R18, DOT Number: [XXX]. The contact stated that the TPMS warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer and the warning light was reset. The contact stated that the failure had reoccurred. The contact stated that the tires were defective; however, the dealer refused to replace the tires. The tire manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The tire failure mileage was unknown. The vehicle failure mileage was approximately 130,000. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Vehicle Make/Model/Year: 2023 Volkswagen Taos Component: Service Brakes / Electronic Parking Brake Odometer Reading: ~45,000 miles I am reporting a recurring issue with the rear brake pads on my 2023 Volkswagen Taos. The rear brakes were first replaced at around 25,000K miles due to premature wear and noise. A little over a year later, the brakes are again making noise and showing signs of wear. The issue appears to be affecting many Taos owners based on online forums and published warranty extensions from Volkswagen. Volkswagen has acknowledged premature rear brake pad wear on 2022–2025 Taos models by extending the brake pad warranty to 2 years or 24,000 miles. However, I am now outside of this extended warranty due to mileage, and the manufacturer is declining further coverage, citing "normal wear and tear" — despite this clearly being a design or electronic system defect, not regular use. There is reason to believe the Electronic Parking Brake (EPB) or brake bias may be contributing to the excessive rear brake wear. I am concerned that this could pose a safety risk if the brakes fail unexpectedly, and it is also placing an undue financial burden on owners who must replace brakes every year. I am requesting that NHTSA investigate this issue further and determine whether it warrants a broader recall or mandatory service campaign to protect consumer safety.

The vehicle has less than 16,000 miles and the rear brake pads already need to be replaced. Volkswagen refuses to cover the replacement even though the brake pads should not have worn out so soon.

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.

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.

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?

I have brought the Taos back to Volkswagen dealership repeatedly for failure of the infotainment screen this screen displays the back up camera when the car is put into reverse The dates :12/14/23 , 2/21/24 , 8/27/24 ,9/5/24 , 10/23/24 , 11/13/24. Each time inspections , repairs, updates have been made and through 11/5/24 the infotainment screen has continued to fail without warning leaving us without access to the back up camera ( along with other information). In discussing these issues with Taylor B, from Volkswagen customer service she states this is a known issue with the Taos but can not offer any solution to the problem Mileage and date of incident indicate the start of issue

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.

Navigation system is frequently giving an incorrect location. This has been occurring since I purchased the vehicle in September. My concern is that if I needed to transport myself or another to emergency services or if I needed to let emergency services personnel know my location I would be unable to do so correctly. Incidents such as mine are not unique if you can see here on the Taos forum. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

While driving Dec 10, 2024 my VW Taos failed to accelerate after slowing at an intersection. If this happens when I’m turning, on coming traffic has to slow down unexpectedly. The EPC light and check engine light came on. Car would not go above 15-20 mph. Called dealer and cautiously drove car to dealer. The mechanic said a popped fuse was reason the lights came on and car wouldn’t accelerate. They replaced 10A fuse and said codes/lights corrected. Now on 12/23/24 same exact issue has occurred. This is a huge safety concern. Taos 2022 models had a safety recall for a fuel delivery module that was causing that exact same issues and EPC and check engine light to come on. I am waiting for the dealer to call me back now to discuss how serious this really is and to get them to acknowledge they didn’t truly diagnose the vehicle the first time (given the 2022 Taos safety recall). Please investigate, I believe the 2023 models have the exact same problem. Not being able to accelerate is dangerous in multiple scenarios.

While driving 65mph on fwy when the passenger side rear window SHATTERED! No rock, no bump, no shot, nothing. It absolutely imploded for no reason! The car was bought brand new ONE MONTH ago. It came with “factory tint” but it, too, disintegrated. I am very concerned about what caused this and when it may happen again. There is something really wrong with this window. The dealership says I will have to pay for it.

Purchased 12/1/202312/2/2023- Tire flat next day (paid 200.00) 12/7/2023-  2/1/2024-EPC 2/2/2024- EPC again 4/9/2024- 1-squeak breaks - no resolve 2-Red circle warning in the middle of the cluster-no resolve3-wireless phone and gps turns off -no resolve 6/1/2041-Brakes squeak (2x)- 2 new brake pads 2-Radio (2x) screen will turn off and reset-maps- software was updated 3- wipers sporadically stop and turn on no reason-  nothing found 4-Electrical- Yellow warning lights with forward and/or side collision came on and shut off. - no resolve.  

I purchased this car on 11/16/2023, brand new with 32 miles on it. On 11/20/2023 the automatic start-stop failed while I was at an intersection and the car would not move. There were no warning lights, messages, or other symptoms of the problem. Fortunately a police officer drove through the area minutes after the car stopped and was able to help me until a tow truck arrived. The car was towed to the dealership, who determined that the issue was with the starter, but did not provide me with paperwork as they put me in a different vehicle.

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

The contact owns a 2023 Volkswagen Taos. The contact stated while approaching the vehicle, there was a loud pop coming from the lower driver’s side of the vehicle, and shortly afterwards the contact noticed a crack on the front windshield. The contact stated that the windshield had been replaced twice before and was awaiting the replacement of the windshield again. The contact stated that the cracks all stated at the same place on the windshield. The local dealer was contacted and declined to repair the vehicle because there was no open recall for the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 100.

The throttle response from a stop in the Taos is not immediate. Sometimes it will take 2 seconds to react to throttle input. There have been times where you accelerate and it will go extremely slow ans then a sudden burst of acceleration. This can be extremely dangerous when pulling into a roadway with traffic. There is also not an immediate reaction when throttle is applied quickly at Highway speeds. Almost was hit 3 times while driving this car because it would not accelerate as expected.

The contact owns a 2023 Volkswagen Taos. The contact stated while reversing, the contact depressed the brake pedal however, the vehicle failed to stop in a reasonable time. The auto-brake assist engaged, and the vehicle was able to come to a complete stop. The vehicle was taken to the dealer however, no cause for the failure was found. The failure reoccurred. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 10,000.

The throttle response from a stop in the Taos is not immediate, and will lag. Sometimes it will take 2 seconds to react to throttle input. This can be extremely dangerous when pulling into a roadway with traffic. There is also not an immediate reaction when throttle is applied quickly at Highway speeds. Once the car reacts, it runs flawlessly, it must be a computer issue or throttle response setting.

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.

Rear brake pads and rotors went out twice Noise coming front wheel at low speed Window goes down when you press up

Defective braking system Persistent noise from brake pads and rotors After many attempts to fix the issue, dealer stated there is nothing further they can do

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.

Brake pads are fading quicker than usual. Also, the coolant. Just checked and added some coolant today. I never filled my other 2 older cars, one with 22k miles and the other one has 25k miles on them. I never had to add a coolant on them. This VW is barely 3k miles and it’s having these issues already.

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.

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.

Driving on the freeway driver cutt me off I had to apply the brakes fast car brakes did not stop the car smooth the brakes grabbed and locked up causing the car to skid off the road did not respond when applied during an emergency to avoid collision. Excessive brake dust and do not stop car.efficiently.

I purchased the 2023 Taos SE at the beginning of may. When accelerating on the highway, the ACC light and engine light came on and the car started rapidly decelerating. Lane assist, cruise control and ACC were not able to be used. I managed to pull to the side of the road, and was towed to a VW dealership in Rochester. The computer came back saying it was bad fuel. They drained the fuel, and charged us due to user error/using the wrong fuel. I have confirmation from the gas station this is incorrect. The next day, the same incident happened when accelerating on the highway. My hometown dealer also ran a report and it came back as bad fuel. They drained the fuel, but kept the car to test drive. I refused to take it back until a different solution was found. They finally were able to recreate the situation, and said there was an issue with a fuel injector module. I picked up my car yesterday, and did not even get home before the car powered down on the highway.

The blind spot warning and rear cross traffic warning features are listed on the VIN for my vehicle which I purchased new. However, they are not on the vehicle, I was not told they were not on the vehicle, and I didn't sign anything saying they were not on the vehicle. How can the ADAS (adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning) work without these key features? I don't trust VW to tell me if these other features work and I'm concerned for my safety to try these out.

I purchased this car new less than 18 months ago and have been problems with it ever since. Brakes wear down prematurely and cause metal contact to rotors that causes bad screeching, stutters and affects my braking distance. I work for drive-share platforms as well as work as a personal driver for children in Ventura County and become more and more worried about the safety of my passengers as well as myself. I've taken my vehicle to the dealership multiple times and they keep repeating that everything is normal over and over again or that they fix whatever issue that they find but my car is still not fixed. This has been going on for over a year, they don't offer any help and they seem to ignore my concerns and I am very unsatisfied with Ventura Volkswagon and their customer service. I'm tired of having to pay to replace my rear brakes every 1-2 months, I want VW to find a better solution for me since this malfunction isn't only related to my vehicle. I see tons of other VW Taos owners complain online about the same issue and how VW just tells everyone that they need new brakes! Find a permanent fix, or give me my money back... They tell me to keep driving it as it is but I can't work with my vehicle in this condition knowing that the occupants' safety is compromised.

Check engine light came on not long after buying the vehicle, additional electrical issues began including window regulator failures and battery failure.

Pulling into a parking spot, vehicle had a sudden burst of acceleration, as it was still on the road, resulting in an accident. Vehicle drove over a parking curb, hitting a small tree and a sign. Vehicle felt like there was a lag in response timing of the throttle to acceleration response. No one was injured, including myself the driver. Vehicle at this moment is at the VW dealership getting repaired. Insurance was notified at time of accident. No warning lights occurred at time of accident.

When put in reverse vehicle would not move (reverse back). Vehicle needs to be restarted several times for it to reverse properly. A safety issue when trying to maneuver in live traffic.

The contact rented a 2023 Volkswagen Taos. The contact stated that while the vehicle was in drive with the brake pedal depressed and entering the garage, he released the brake pedal and the vehicle rolled and stalled. Additionally, the vehicle failed to start. The contact had to hold the fob near the WIFI button to start the vehicle. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 7,400.

Within the first 24 hours of picking up this new car warnings for 3000rpm max appeared, engine overheating and potential damage to engine components appears and engine functioning was decreased, exhaust control malfaction message, and electronic engine control message with associated symbol for lane assist warning message. When the electronic engine control message with checklight appeared, acceleration was impaired and it was difficult to speed up on the road. There was the potential for fire and gasoline explosion and risk to drivers and passengers due to possible collision accidents. I have brought the car to the dealership and was turned away the first time due to being told it was low voltage. While drive home the EEC message, electronic engine control malfunction with warning light appeared again and I called and said I was going to drive back to the Volkswagen dealership and this time they took the car. This was a worrisome experience for me. .

After setting the emergency brake in wet conditions, rear pads fuse themselves to the rear rotors. When the E-Brake is disengaged, the car wont move. The solution is to stand on the gas until enough power dislodges the brake pads. After this exercise, there is a high spot on the rotors that needs to be scuffed off before normal operation resumes. This is a significant safety issue as many could try to dislodge the brakes and lose control when they unexpectedly release. I have taken to the dealer and have been told this is normal operation. A quick search of the internet yields others complaining about similar issues.