2023 Volkswagen Tiguan Safety and Reliability

All of the Tiguan's virtues could be undone by poor crashworthiness scores, but there's nothing to worry about in this area. The 2023 model achieved only Good crashworthiness scores in every test along with a Top Safety Pick+ award for 2022. Its headlights were rated as merely Acceptable, though.

At the NHTSA, the 2023 Volkswagen Tiguan SUV was partially evaluated, scoring four stars for the rollover test and five stars for the side crash test. However, the agency noted that during the side impact test, the driver's door unlatched and opened. That was the only issue picked up in the NHTSA's Volkswagen Tiguan safety review.

Those impressive VW Tiguan safety reviews are little surprise considering the array of standard safety gear. The Tiguan lineup is generously specified with safety equipment. All models have six airbags, including front side airbags and curtain airbags for front and rear occupants. A rearview camera, tire pressure monitoring, forward collision warning with autonomous emergency braking and pedestrian detection, blind-spot monitoring, rear traffic alert, and automatic post-collision braking are all standard.

From the SE and up, the Tiguan gets VW's IQ.DRIVE system. This endows the SUV with semi-automated capability with lane centering and a capacitive steering wheel and uses front and rear radar sensors. At this level, the VW also has active side assist, adaptive cruise control with Stop & Go, lane-keep assist, travel assist, and emergency assist. The SE R-Line Black adds park distance control, and the range-topping SEL R-Line has park assist, high beam control, dynamic road sign display, and an overhead-view camera.

According to J.D. Power in the USA, the 2023 Tiguan has a rather average quality and reliability rating of 73 out of 100. Several other compact SUVs are rated more highly than the Tiguan in this area.

So far, the 2023 model has no recalls to its name. However, the 2022 model was recalled four times. Issues included a faulty rearview camera image, a spoiler that could separate, a rear suspension knuckle that could break, and an improperly tightened brake pipe nut. Fortunately, no major maladies have affected the powertrain in recent years.

If anything does go wrong, the Tiguan is sold with a four-year/50,000-mile limited warranty that extends to the powertrain. A two-year/20,000-mile complimentary scheduled maintenance warranty is part of the deal in the US too.