There are 4 stored owner reports matching the air bags & restraints leading-label group for the 2008 Volkswagen Touareg in our NHTSA-sourced dataset. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
This group counts stored reports whose component label starts with one of this site's matching prefixes, ignoring case. Each matching report counts once within the group. Components mentioned later in the label or only in the narrative are not searched. How component counts work
Loaded 4 of 4 matching reports.
Open the full vehicle complaint log (all categories)THE DASHBOARD CONTROL CENTER SHOW THE DRIVER SIDE AIRBAG FAILURE . THIS ISSUE HAPPENED IN 2014, AND 2015 , BUT WEREN'T REPORTED BY 2 VW DEALERS FROM MASSACHUSETTS . THIS WARNING SIGN IS ALWAYS ON . THE ACTUAL DEALER , WHO WAS DIAGNOSED TE ISSUE , CONFIRMED THAT THE DRIVER SIDE AIRBAG DOESN'T PROPERLY WORK
MY ISSUE STARTED OUT WITH THE PASSENGER AIRBAG OFF WARNING INDICATOR LIGHT BEING ON EVEN WHEN AN AVERAGE SIDE ADULT WAS SITTING IN THE PASSENGER SEAT. IT ESCALATED TO AN AIRBAG FAULT WARNING LIGHT ON IN THE CONTROL PANEL. THIS LIGHT DOES NOT GO OFF. ANOTHER ISSUE STARTED WHEN I WOULD ENTER THE CAR AND THE DOOR SIGNAL WAS SUDDENLY LOUD AND ODD SOUNDING. THIS WENT ON FOR A WEEK OR SO THEN ALL OF THE SOUNDS IN THE CAR CEASED COMPLETELY. NO BLINKER SOUND, NO LIGHTS ON INDICATOR, NO INTERIOR LIGHTS, NO DOOR OPEN INDICATOR, AND NO PARKING BRAKE INDICATOR. LASTLY, WHILE PICKING MY DAUGHTER UP FROM COLLEGE, I FOLDED THE BACKSEAT DOWN IN ORDER TO FIT HER BAGGAGE. THE CENTER SEAT BELT BECAME STUCK IN THE DEFAULT POSITION. I AM UNABLE TO GET THE SEAT ALL THE WAY DOWN BECAUSE THE SEAT BELT IS LOCKED AND IT IS NOW SNUG AGAINST THE BACKSEAT.
SEAT BELT RETRACTORS, FIRST REAR PASSENGER BELT STOP RETRACTING, THEN REAR CENTER BELT BECAME UNUSABLE BECAUSE IT ONLY RETRACTS SYNCHING TIGHTER AS FOLD DOWN SEAT OPERATED. NOW, DRIVER SIDE SEAT BELT IS LOOSING ITS ABILITY TO RETRACT INTO COLUMN. NO ACCIDENTS OR INJURIES HAVE OCCURRED BUT THE SEATING POSITIONS ARE UNUSABLE. VW WANTS CLOSE TO $1,000 TO REPLACE THE PASSENGER AND CENTER SEAT BELTS AND RETRACTORS.
SEATBELT LOCKED UP WHILE DRIVING AND DOES NOT UNLOCK! MANY OF THE OWNERS OF THE SAME MODEL HAVE REPORTED THIS SEAT BELT (MIDDLE PASSENGER SEAT) LOCKING UP AND NOT BEING ABLE TO UNLOCK. THIS COULD BE A MAJOR HAZARD IN CASE OF AN ACCIDENT AND FIRE THE PASSENGER WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO RELEASE THEMSELVES EXCEPT BY CUTTING THE SEATBELT! EVEN WHEN DRIVING NORMAL AND NOT BEING ABLE TO UNLOCK YOURSELF COULD BE DANGEROUS. THE ONLY WAY TO GET OUT IS TO CUT THE SEAT BELT AND THE SEAT BELT IS NOT EASY TO CUT IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE PROPER CUTTING TOOL. WE THE OWNERS OF THIS VEHICLE WOULD LIKE NHTSA TO ADDRESS THIS ISSUE WITH THE MANUFACTURERS. I APPROACHED THE VW CUSTOMER CARE I WAS TOLD BY THE VW CUSTOMER CARE THAT THEY WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO HELP ME AT ALL. MY VEHICLE IS BARELY OUT OF THE CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED WARRANTY BY MILES BUT IT IS STILL UNDER WARRANTY IF YOU GO BY THE NUMBER OF YEARS (LESS THAN 2 YEARS) BUT VW IS NOT CONCERNED OF THIS MAJOR MANUFACTURING DEFECT. *TR
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
NHTSA source checks for this vehicle year
Checks are recorded separately for each dataset, not for the whole page. Dates use UTC. A missing check date does not mean no records exist.
Vehicle import recorded: Apr 28, 2026. This is the stored import date, not confirmation that every source was successfully refreshed.