Owners have filed 491 complaints on the Volkswagen Taos, covering 2022–2026. The system named most often is Engine (98 reports). Worst years by volume: 2022, 2023, 2024; cleanest: 2026, 2025, 2024. 10 reports describe a crash. On average the car was 1.6 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Volkswagen Taos
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 491 Taos complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Engine 98 Read
Car transmission is lagging. It’s unsafe merging on highway. Lags for way too long when changing lanes and accelerating
The vehicle suffered a recurring mechanical failure of the fuel injectors and a flooded EVAP charcoal canister, causing the engine to run lean (Fault P2177) and lose power. This defect creates an unreasonable safety risk as it can cause the engine to stall or lose motive power unexpectedly at highway speeds.…
Unknown head gasket, went out at 22,000 miles Low coolant light High engine temperatures Overheating Empty coolant reservoir Smell of coolant Coolant residue on the engine block Most of the head gasket failures also occurred at relatively low miles
Electrical System 84 Read
There was a safety recall on the 2025 VW Taos that I drive ([XXX]). On XXX an incident occurred causing a gear shift. The vehicle was dropped off at to Kelly Volkswagen in [XXX], [XXX] on XXX. The gear shift issue cause damage to the back on the vehicle. The collision center gave me a quote 3,600 dollars to fix the…
Vehicle was involved in a front end collision with left front impact. Damage spread across front of vehicle. Air bags did not deploy. Vehicle has been having electrical issues recently. Head unit will do “hard reset” while driving disabling all safety features. Car also will alert fob not present after vehicle has…
The speedometer on the new 2025 Volkswagen Taos undervalues the speed by 5%. For example, if the SUV speedometer says 40 mph the actual speed of the vehicle is 42 mph. This seems to be a known problem on new Taos vehicles but is not being addressed by Volkswagen. They are saying legally a 10% variance is allowed and…
Service Brakes 82 Read
I rented this car from Enterprise. When I pulled out of the rental car facility, the car lurched forward. I applied the brakes. The car slowed down but did not stop and I rolled out into the street to the right. Enterprise is on the top of the hill and Pacific Coast Highway is at the bottom. The trolley and train…
Vehicle: 2024 Volkswagen Taos Mileage: ~20,000 miles Issue: Sudden unintended acceleration + Automatic Emergency Braking failure Crash: Yes Total Injuries: None VIN: 3VVVX7B29RM028089 Complaint Description: On [date], at approximately 6:00 PM, I was driving my 2024 Volkswagen Taos (about 20K miles) on Highway 92 East…
The brake pedal failed and went to the floor; the vehicle would not brake. The service center identified the issue as a problem with the master cylinder. The vehicle had been serviced at an authorized service center every 10,000 miles. This incident occurred while driving and posed a threat to life and safety; the…
Power Train 64 Read
Incident 1: Noticed hard starting one morning. After stopping for gas various engine warning lights illuminated (including EPC light). Took to VW dealer few days later, found trouble codes stored (P0148). Fuel pump replaced few days after diagnosis. Incident 2: Driving on highway for ~10 mins. Experienced total power…
My 2024 S AWD VW Taos has a serious lag when I need to speed up fast. The car does not go at all if I try to accelerate quickly and has almost caused many accidents. I have needed to quickly get out of the way of other drivers who were not paying attention and tried to accelerate quickly only to have my car not go…
The car was purchased new and now has 1,600 miles. On nine different occasions the car has stopped moving (but has not stalled) when trying to accelerate. In two of those instances (accelerating from a red light and entering a roundabout) I nearly had an accident. I've had the car at the dealership twice and I was…
Vehicle Speed Control 24 Read
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,…
The contact owns a 2022 Volkswagen Taos. The contact stated while attempting to drive from a complete stop, the accelerator pedal was depressed twice but failed to respond. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact depressed the accelerator pedal harder and the vehicle accelerated unintendedly and crashed…
While driving with my ACC activated to 71MPH, I was pulled over by Mass state police and told that my speed was between 76-81MPH. I've since confirmed the statement of the officer to be accurate by comparing the displayed vehicle speed is lower than what's displayed on apps such as Waze and google maps. Citation [XXX]…
Fuel/propulsion System 17 Read
I purchased a 2023 VW Taos SE about a year ago (May 2025) as CPO less than 7k miles. It is still under the warranty; however, I already had to bring this Taos to the VW dealership for 3x. First was A/C was not cool enough. They found a leak. In June 2026, I had to bring due to the engine light being on. They found out…
I went to the Fiesta Albqueurque VW June 2025 multiple times resulting in close to 2 weeks without a car. Found a oil leak and head gasket - bolt jam replaced. In XXX, car shook, took it to first Fiesta ABQ, who identified a low battery charge. However, the car continued to shake end of XXX and we then, took this to…
2022 VW TAOS 4 Motion fuel line leak; called for appointment 8/30/21 prior to receiving the Important Safety Recall Letter in mid September when the information was first told of possible fire starting under the car on the internet. First available appointment at the VW dealer was 10/6/21. Needless to say, the VW TAOS…
Structure 12 Read
Brand-new 2026 VW Taos purchased Nov 28, 2025. Within 6 days (Dec 4), both front doors became severely misaligned and detached from proper positioning. Visually, the body line from the rear doors is completely uneven.The vehicle had 5 repair attempts for this issue. Four attempts at Volkswagen Cypress between December…
Driving south on [XXX] and was hit on the front driver side by a vehicle that jumped lanes while traveling north bound on [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
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
Engine And Engine Cooling 11 Read
The contact owned a 2022 Volkswagen Taos. The contact stated while driving in the parking lot at work, the engine stalled, she turned the vehicle off, waited to restart the vehicle, and drove the vehicle but could not stop. The contact crashed into the fence. There was no warning light illuminated. The air bag did…
The contact owns a 2024 Volkswagen Taos. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed and attempting to accelerate, the vehicle hesitated for an extended period before suddenly accelerating rapidly, almost causing a crash. The vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular…
The contact owns a 2024 Volkswagen Taos. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was driven to the shoulder of the road. The check coolant warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that while attempting to start the vehicle, the vehicle failed to start. The…
Taos years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Structure | — | — | |
| 2025 | Electrical System | 2 | — | |
| 2024 | Air Bags, Seat Belts, Forward Collision Avoidance | 1 | — | |
| 2023 | Air Bags | 2 | — | |
| 2022 | Air Bags, Forward Collision Avoidance | 5 | — |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 233 |
| Average complaints per series | 2.1 |
| Worst single series | 8 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 1.6 years |
A model average of 2.1 hides a worst series at 8. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
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How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,115,966 of them, covering 2,019 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Taos?
By complaint volume, 2022, 2023, 2024 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Taos years are the cleanest?
2026, 2025, 2024 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Volkswagen Taos have?
491 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2022–2026. Of those, 10 describe a crash and 0 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.
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