2023 Volkswagen Taos Electrical System Problems

Started driving, engine light comes on and it shows error code “start/stop error” Car won’t go past 30pmh.

I was driving home from work in rush hour so traffic was pretty heavy and all of the sudden my gas pedal would not accelerate my car at all. I was cruising at 8-10 MPH as it was stop and go traffic. About 10 seconds later my break pedal stiffens and I am unable to break. Neither the gas or break pedal were functioning. It is a miracle that no accident was caused. I turned on my hazards lights but I was in the middle lane so I was unable to pull over (as I could not accelerate or break). I put my car in neutral but that did not help anything. I ended up having to put my car in park and turn the car completely off and back on before the pedals would function again. I got my car towed after the situation as I was terrified to drive in case it happened again. The dealership told me since no lights or codes came up they can’t find anything wrong. They gave me my car back but I do not feel safe driving the vehicle.

Whole dash goes black while driving. Also fuel system is not up to par. Rear brakes fail after 6months on my third time changing them since I purchase the car.

I am reporting a 2023 Volkswagen Taos, VIN [XXX] , purchased new on [XXX]. The vehicle has shut off completely while driving three times, each time with multiple warning lights. Incident 1 – [XXX]: Engine shut off while driving. The dealership told me it was “safe to drive in” and claimed to repair it, but the problem returned. Incident 2 – [XXX]: Engine shut off again, required towing. The dealership attempted another repair, but it was not fixed. Incident 3 – [XXX]: Engine shut off at 55 mph on the highway, and the vehicle lost brake assist, creating a severe safety hazard. Roadside Assistance initially refused to tow unless I paid over $500. I have an open Volkswagen Corporate safety defect case, #[XXX], and the dealership has opened a repair order today to document the issue. Despite multiple repair attempts, the defect persists, making the vehicle unsafe to drive INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

While I was driving down the road going 40 mph I heard and felt the engine stop. My dashboard display and stereo cut off, and the check engine light, check oil light, check battery light, and tire pressure alert light came on. I could not accelerate my car or move it forward at all, I could not see the speedometer due to the dashboard display going out. I pulled over and put the vehicle in park before turning it off. I waited a minute or two and turned it back on with no issue, it proceeded to drive with no further problems. I took it in to the dealership where I purchased the car and they told me they performed all the checks possible and found no issue with the vehicle. They were unable to reproduce the issue when they drove the car. As of now this has happened once in this vehicle.

The vehicle begins to feel like it is skipping while driving. The EPC light comes on, the dashboard beeps and indicates lane assist is unavailable, check engine sign illuminates. The vehicle will drive for a short time but then jerks and just stops. This has happened at least 3 times. Dealer has already replaced the fuel pump, electrical wiring and some switch that wasn't readying properly. After the fuel pump was replaced, the tank was filled, continue to track down miles and gallons. When the vehicle got to 135 travel miles left and one notch above the gas tank, it jerked and stopped immediately at an unsafe spot on the road. The sensor was not properly reading the gas and the tank was empty! This last incident was the same evening after an inspection and 60K service. This vehicle is unsafe and VW should be making this right. Warranty has expired and now they want to charge me for the same issue. This has been going on for months and I believe the vehicle is unsafe and is putting me in danger of having or creating a bad accident.

2023 Taos SE shuts off completely at red lights/when I’m stopped more than 60 seconds. It prompts me to shift into park, put the key to steering column and restart, then shift back into drive and go. Dealer scanned it on two separate occasions and has no explanation. Couldn’t reproduce. Very dangerous as increases risk of crashes and rear ended when a car needs to be restarted mid roadway. The 2022 model had a recall for this exact stalling issue and they claimed to have fixed it but doesn’t appear so. Last occurred to me 9/6/2025 around 7:13pm.

Accelerating Transmission Shifting When accelerating from a full stop, using same force of pressure on foot to accelerate the vehicles behaves differently every time. Vehicle will rev and have a 1-3 second delay to move the wheels/tires, or have no delay. There is no common variable to know how the vehicle will accelerate from stop to stop. Have tried to narrow down anything unique to identify when this happens but it is sporadic and unknowing how the vehicle will behave. Specifically, have noted if the occurrences are unique to: Slope or incline, humid weather versus dry, fuel type (have always used same), cold temperatures versus warmer or cool, or any unique non-ordinary operating conditions. Safety risk- anytime vehicle is supposed to accelerate. Daily safety risks- We enter a roundabout and attempt to accelerate, and vehicle hesitates for 3 seconds causing us to not enter or risk hitting vehicle oncoming. Vehicle behind attempts ot accelerate as well usually resulting in. honking at us- daily. Left hand turn. Apply pressure to accelerator, and cannot make turn or get hit by oncoming vehicle. Parking lot. Accelerate over speedbump, vehicle lags/rev's, and then rapid acceleration causes vehicle to jolt almost hitting people/animals. Window will go up when switch is in position to lower and vice versa. Issue from day one. Our dog was in vehicle. Window down about 4 inches. At intersection. Went to accelerate which hesitated while holding switch to lower window, and window went up with our dogs nose still between car interior and exterior. Focus was on driving if we could make through intersection and could only imagine if we had a child with their hand out. The above is noted when vehicle has been in for service. Vehicle is currently at dealer and we will not accept vehicle until Volkswagen identifies issues. Known issues with this year and model AWD model.

The contact owns a 2023 Volkswagen Taos. The contact stated while driving 45 MPH, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal. The ETC (Electronic Throttle Control) warning light illuminated. In addition, the engine revved independently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the cam shaft timing had failed. The timing belt and cam magnet were replaced. The contact stated that on a separate occasion, while driving 45 MPH, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal and the engine revved independently. The ETC warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer and was diagnosed that the cam shaft sensor had failed. The vehicle was repaired. The contact stated that recently the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer to be diagnosed and the contact was informed that the air hose had failed. The vehicle was repaired. The contact stated that several unknown warning lights were illuminated intermittently. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 11,000.

EPC (engine light) light came on two separate times while car stopped accelerating and was shaking a lot with smells of chemicals from vents all at once. Inside electrical issues as well. Car bought new First incident was the first week and a few months later and a year later

Vehicle has Bluetooth and stopped working. Took it to the dealer they stated the j494car net module not functioning. This caused the sos system to not work the Bluetooth not to work and the app to track the vehicle not to work. They had to replace the module to get it to work.

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)

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.

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.  

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.

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.

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

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. .