[barathi23]

I own a Volkswagen Tiguan 2019, purchased in December 2019. I have been driving the car for around 10,000 kilometres a year on average. I have driven it for around 49000km till June 2023. I have made less than 5 long drives(over 200km) in the whole time owning the car. I mostly drive to and from my work and hit the highway for a less than 100km on weekend. I have never serviced my vehicle anywhere other than the dealer in my town. One day in mid June 2023, while driving back, after going about just 2km the rear wheels started to misbehave, they acted like the brake was being applied, and I heard short screeching noise from the rear wheels. It felt like the brake is misbehaving and the brake being automatically applied when my foot is not even on the brake, then is slowy applied the brakes and the rear wheel began getting more and more locked up as I bring the vehicle to stop along the side of the road. When I finally stopped the vehicle the rear wheel was completely locked up and when I tried to move the vehicle slowly the vehicle won't even move. All this happened in maximum 10 seconds. I was driving at 40kmph since I was inside the city. The drive selector was in normal mode. I don't use the four wheel drive unless I'm entering an underground parking of a building, I have never taken the vehicle off-roading.
Now coming back to the incident, I was worried and called the VW service center person, the person who usually handles my service requests. He said the roadside assistance is not available at this time of the evening and I have to arrange my own means of towing it back to my place, since the service center closes by 6pm. I told him how am I supposed to tow the vehicle if the rear wheels don't rotate. He told be it might a problem in the brake pads or ABS sensor. I had just changed to brake pads 7000kms previously. He asked me to wait for a while and try starting the vehicle and see if the problem persists.
I waited 10 minutes and started the vehicle and moved it. Hola it moved no sign of any issues. But any way I went back to the office, parked my car. Got another car and went to home. My home is 15km from the office. It was a Saturday evening. Then I had some work on Monday, dint use the vehicle on Monday. On Tuesday it took the car to the VW service center, which is 25km from my office. On the way I could feel the rear wheels gripping slightly on 2 occasions. I reached the service station and reported the same to them. 2 service engineers got in the car and asked me to get in the passenger seat and we drove for 2 kilometres, there was not issues. They said there is no issue and said let's go back to the service center, I asked them to drive further to see if the issue replicates. And as we drove 2 more kilometres the issue did not appear and we decided to go back to the service center. As soon as we made a U-Turn I could slightly feel the slight gripping noise from the rear wheel. I told them that and they could as well sense the slight gripping noise as we drove further, but soon faded away and there was no noise or gripping. As we reached near the service center and made a turn to cross the road the wheel gripped totally and the wheels froze in the entry way in the service center. We stopped the vehicle for 5 minutes and again started and moved the vehicle to the service floor. They told they inspect vehicle and find out what the issue is.

2 days later they said the brake rotors and brake pads need replacement. it costs 50000k including labour. I said okay do it. A few days later the parts arrived and they were replaced. But the issue still persisted. They said there could be problem with the differential. But they dont have the tools to open the differential, and it will take one more week to get the tools open it.

1 more week later they said the differential is worn upon inspection, this could be due to the computer system malfunction. And the computer system could have malfunctioned, because the sensors of the vehicle could have malfunctioned due to any heat issue. They plugged the vehicle into the computer and said all sensors are working fine. But may be they caused some malfunction while driving. The differential is gone, it needs to be replaced. It costs 5lakhs.

I asked them to claim it out of the warranty. They replaced the differential, had to be ordered from Germany. It took 1 month to arrive and then replaced. Volkswagen company said they will not pay out of warranty, because it is wear and tear. I have to shell out 5lakhs to get the vehicle out of the service center.

I can't believe Volkswagen makes vehicles that are worth scrap after 5 years of use. Especially vehicles made in the Europe dont suit the Indian Roads. I made it a point never to buy Automatic 4wheel drive vehicles. Not just that never buy expensive stuff. Vehicles are just for moving from point A to B and all these fancy features are just waste. Just get a car with decent convenience features like good interiors, good music system, good center console, powered seats. That's it. All other features like all automatic all-wheel drive, ADAS tech, sun-roof, DSG, are ways companies lure you to sell their cars. And after that they dont give a damn about how consumers live with this. I meant to buy a BMW X1 initially, I heard from a friend of mine the steering column after 20000km in 3 years time and he had to spend a fortune on getting it replaced. I steered clear of Audi's, BMWs, Mercs just to avoid paying a fortune to get parts replaced. But fate/VW dint spare me. Tiguan Service cost is not low either. I paid 50k for crown oil, and general service in the 4th year service. They told me more stuff has to replaced the 5th year service and the estimate runs over 60k. But by the middle of 5th year I got served this.
In my life I'm never going for techy cars. I'm an engineer and I understand all moving parts have wear and tear, and there is no escaping these huge bills. Definitely in less than 8 years the differential will fail in haldex/4motion cars.

Incase you are interested in all wheel drive cars go for the Thar with manual all wheel drive or other cars with manual all-wheel-drive. Automatic all wheel drive cars rely on sensors and sensors will fail in time, waiting serve you "big and well".
Sorry for the long post. I cut out the parts when I tried negotiating fruitlessly to claim warranty. But I don't know big tech jargons about cars and they used them wisely to chuck my case.

[Guna]

Sad to hear the ordeal.
Differential is not a wear and tear item and it is not designed to be replaced in it's lifetime due to wear an tear. It is like gearbox, if it fails during warranty, they need to replace it free.
Please write to VW and tell them you are approaching the consumer court.

[barathi23]

Originally Posted by Guna

Sad to hear the ordeal.
Differential is not a wear and tear item and it is not designed to be replaced in it's lifetime due to wear an tear. It is like gearbox, if it fails during warranty, they need to replace it free.
Please write to VW and tell them you are approaching the consumer court.

Okay, I ll do that. Thanks Guna.

[Akshay1234]

In this case I think the Haldex AWD system is integrated into the rear differential. Hence these guys possibly didn't know what or how to diagnose and ended up replacing the complete assembly. That being said, it certainly should be covered under warranty, as a Haldex shouldn't fail this soon. When DSGs are covered under warranty, so should the Haldex. Please take it up with VW.

[ajmat]

Another possibility leading to premature differential wear could be that the tread depth of the tyres differs by 4mm or more. This leads to wrong inputs leading to even more wear.

[barathi23]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Another possibility leading to premature differential wear could be that the tread depth of the tyres differs by 4mm or more. This leads to wrong inputs leading to even more wear.

What you said is true, but isn’t that example of fragile design / isn’t that prone to cause failure, the fact that tread difference of 4mm could cause a system to fail.
We aren’t driving inside closed environments, we are driving the cars on the roads, especially our road conditions. Isn’t that more reason to avoid buying this car. How can you expect a car owner to know a minute detail such as a 4mm tread difference could blow up in the face one day. The customers are not educated regarding the fragility of the cars while buying them. In fact the sales men don’t say anything about maintaining and handling the car at all nor do the service center people.

Sales people just want to push the cars, Servcie center people don’t know anything about the car until some problem arises and the company tells them to somehow tie it all on the customers head.

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by barathi23

... Volkswagen company said they will not pay out of warranty, because it is wear and tear. ....

If your car is under warranty, there is no reason why the differentials shouldnt be covered. If the diffs are wear and tear then the whole car is wear and tear item and whatever warranty is, is a scam.

Originally Posted by barathi23

.. I paid 50k for crown oil....

This is a red flag.I think they made a mistake from their showroom of not properly replacing the oil and hence you landed in this situation. Thats also why they are not claiming warranty on the same.

[barathi23]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

If your car is under warranty, there is no reason why the differentials shouldnt be covered. If the diffs are wear and tear then the whole car is wear and tear item and whatever warranty is, is a scam.

This is a red flag.I think they made a mistake from their showroom of not properly replacing the oil and hence you landed in this situation. Thats also why they are not claiming warranty on the same.

Thanks Danush. I argued the same about this to them. Unfortunately I don’t have proof of that. I don’t know to how to open the differential to check if crown oil is replaced. They informed be that have changed oil properly.

As per what Ajmat said in the earlier reply, the company said the sensors might have malfunctioned because of the difference in wear on the rear tyres, that would have caused the heat in the sensors and that is why the diff wore out. I said there are atleast 10 Tiguans in my city and some of them are riding on flat rubber, how come they don’t have this issue. To which they say it only happens some times, and when it doesn’t happen it’s alright and when it happens the consumer is at fault.

These reasons seem silly to me, how am I supposed to know that and how is one supposed to stop it from happening.

[UD17]

Originally Posted by barathi23

Volkswagen company said they will not pay out of warranty, because it is wear and tear. I have to shell out 5lakhs to get the vehicle out of the service center.

That's certainly not true, that differential is wear and tear item. It just feel like they are trying to just deny the warranty.

One question: Did you received the email from VW saying that they will not honor the warranty? Or its just dealer's information?

Please directly connect with VW higher ups for solution. If this case don't deserve a warranty replacement then what else will?

Moreover differentials on 4WL/AWD system are quite reliable and there are numerous example of high ran vehicles in India and also around the world. Be assertive in your demand.

[Tgo]

Can I just ask what prompts you to use off road/4 wheel drive mode in underground parking lots?

If that’s done on a daily basis, I can imaging the tight turns with 4wd locked every day can damage even a Toyota 4wd let alone VW.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by Tgo

Can I just ask what prompts you to use off road/4 wheel drive mode in underground parking lots?

If that’s done on a daily basis, I can imaging the tight turns with 4wd locked every day can damage even a Toyota 4wd let alone VW.

I don’t think the Tiguan has any 4WD lock in the true sense of the word. It’s a standard VAG 4Motion system which is usually FWD but can send power to the RWD axle on demand.

From our own TBHP review:

Volkswagen has equipped the Tiguan with its 4MOTION all-wheel-drive system. As is usually the case with such crossovers, in normal conditions, the system sends power to the front wheels only. If road conditions require more traction, it will send the necessary amount of torque to the rear wheels. The system monitors which of the four wheels has the most traction and is able to send torque to those wheels. If slippery roads make a wheel lose traction, the system hits the brake on that wheel and transfers the remaining power to the other wheels. The AWD will help you when touring remote parts of the country and over the likes of slush, muck & sand. It's no offroader like the Fortuner though.

There are 3 terrain modes one can choose from by using the rotary knob on the centre console (over and above the on-road mode):

• Snow - This should be engaged on icy or snow-covered roads. It provides better accelerator sensitivity in these conditions. "S" mode is disabled.

• Offroad - Accelerator sensitivity is adjusted for rough terrain and unpaved roads. Engine braking is always available and hill start assist + hill descent control are switched on. Acceleration is restricted while driving downhill and it is not possible to shift to "S" mode.

• Offroad individual - All the adjustments that are made under the offroad mode are incorporated in this mode. Additionally, the driver can customize certain parameters to his liking (explanatory pic toward the end of this post).

[suryaj1990]

The Tiguan holds a lot in common with the Yeti which is recently sold! However, this has a newer unit of the Haldex. All you need to do is, check if the Haldex oil has been changed every 60,000km or 3 years. If this has not been followed or suggested to you, it does not make a difference, you can easily slam the VW dealership for the cost. Please reference to your service record and check owners manual to see if this is to be done on a 60,000km interval first.

This is a common carelessness done by VW Skoda units in India. We have a Yeti India specific group and almost 90 such cars reported that their Haldex units were not serviced

[barathi23]

Originally Posted by Tgo

Can I just ask what prompts you to use off road/4 wheel drive mode in underground parking lots?

If that’s done on a daily basis, I can imaging the tight turns with 4wd locked every day can damage even a Toyota 4wd let alone VW.

I don't use the four wheel drive on a daily basis, just on some occasions when the underground parking entrance height is too narrow and I doubt if the car will enter without the roof of the car crashing into it.

It happened just once, where I tried to park next this building and the building security asked me to park in the underground parking. I told him that I doubted the car would enter the space because the lip is too low in the entrance. But he said all cars go, you can certainly go, but when I entered the parking it was evident that the car would crash in to the roof of the parking, and thank god I had 4motion turned on and hill hold assist, I put the car in reverse and pulled out.

Ever since I use 4 motion when entering underground parking, so as to pull out if the car cannot enter the parking. It might seem silly, but there are some spaces that are built without after thought. Better to be safe than sorry. Otherwise I dont turn on all wheel drive.
On one other interesting occasion we were travelling in Ooty. It was dark evening after 9pm, and no one on the road to ask directions and I couldn't understand the direction given by the hotel people on the phone. I trusted google maps and drove 50meters down a narrow mud road that is going down very steeply, and later realised that the road is a foot trodden path and cars cannot go in it. I thanked I had 4 motion and hill hold assist to come back out. Otherwise me and my wife would have reached bottom of the hill.

[voldemort]

Originally Posted by barathi23

I asked them to claim it out of the warranty. They replaced the differential, had to be ordered from Germany. It took 1 month to arrive and then replaced. Volkswagen company said they will not pay out of warranty, because it is wear and tear. I have to shell out 5lakhs to get the vehicle out of the service center.

Is the vehicle still in the service center? Have you had a chance to take a long drive to ascertain that their fix (replacement of differential) actually solved the problem?

2 days later they said the brake rotors and brake pads need replacement. it costs 50000k including labour. I said okay do it. A few days later the parts arrived and they were replaced. But the issue still persisted. They said there could be problem with the differential. But they don't have the tools to open the differential, and it will take one more week to get the tools open it.

They first said it might be the brake pads/rotor, but it wasn't. Now they said sensors controlling the differential "could have malfunctioned"? This suggests to me that the service center folks are potentially incompetent. All the more reason for you to ensure that the problem has been fixed before you part with your money.

1 more week later they said the differential is worn upon inspection, this could be due to the computer system malfunction. And the computer system could have malfunctioned, because the sensors of the vehicle could have malfunctioned due to any heat issue. They plugged the vehicle into the computer and said all sensors are working fine. But may be they caused some malfunction while driving. The differential is gone, it needs to be replaced. It costs 5lakhs.

If a sensor is malfunctioning, shouldn't the car detect and report it in the instrument-console? Ask them about this. I know VWs are capable of self-detecting and reporting a wide range of problems in the console. Generally, the engineering practice is to show a warning when a sensor is malfunctioning, even if the underlying thing they are sensing is fine.

"Sensors of the vehicle could have malfunctioned due to any heat issue" frankly sounds like BS. Despite my reservations about VW reliability in general, sensor malfunctioning due to heat is something that shouldn't happen in everyday driving conditions.

Ask them to explain exactly how this failure occurred. When they ask you to shell out ₹5 lakhs, it's their responsibility to identify and tell you exactly what, why and how the fault occurred.

In any case, write to VW, and push hard to get this handled under warranty.

I can't believe Volkswagen makes vehicles that are worth scrap after 5 years of use. Especially vehicles made in the Europe dont suit the Indian Roads. I made it a point never to buy Automatic 4wheel drive vehicles. Not just that never buy expensive stuff. Vehicles are just for moving from point A to B and all these fancy features are just waste. Just get a car with decent convenience features like good interiors, good music system, good center console, powered seats. That's it. All other features like all automatic all-wheel drive, ADAS tech, sun-roof, DSG, are ways companies lure you to sell their cars. And after that they dont give a damn about how consumers live with this.

For what it's worth, Toyota 4WD automatics seem very reliable.

When you buy a luxury product you naturally get more features and bells and whistles (unless you're buying a Porsche). It's a matter of one's risk appetite. Some people like the luxury/convenience-features (and possibly superior performance, ride, and handling), and are willing to accept that they may have to suffer a bit more downtime. Others prefer absolute reliability.

I meant to buy a BMW X1 initially, I heard from a friend of mine the steering column after 20000km in 3 years time and he had to spend a fortune on getting it replaced. I steered clear of Audi's, BMWs, Mercs just to avoid paying a fortune to get parts replaced.

For reliability, among the brands you mentioned I actually prefer BMWs and Mercs over VW.

Originally Posted by barathi23

when I entered the parking it was evident that the car would crash in to the roof of the parking, and thank god I had 4motion turned on and hill hold assist, I put the car in reverse and pulled out.

You probably don't need 4WD to reverse up an incline. I mean, plenty of lesser cars can reverse up a hill just fine without 4WD.

[NomadSK]

Extremely sorry to hear about your ordeal and to deal with such incompetent mechanics who use your personal property as a Guinea pig.

A quick question, wasn’t OBD scanner plugged in to get to the fault codes or was everything done on hit and trial basis. These modern cars are well equipped to throw the Sensor related faults with OBD scanning.

Mechanical components just don’t fail like that, unless there have been major lapses in regular Maintenance.