Tiguan lighting system hidden problems

According to foreign media reports, the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently stated that it is conducting security investigations for the Volkswagen Tiguan compact SUV. NHTSA has received several reports of the failure of the owners of the Tiguan in the United States, saying that the car's external lighting system will suddenly stop working.

NHTSA stated that they had received 26 reports of faults in the external lighting system of Tiguan. The target of this survey was mainly Volkswagen Tiguan vehicles with production years between 2009 and 2011, with a total of approximately 61,000 vehicles. Some owners reported that the fuses of the exterior lighting system of the vehicle were accidentally blown, which led to the failure of external lighting systems including vehicle headlights, brake lights, and turn signals. The NHTSA online system records show that “the owner’s report stated that lighting system failures will increase as the vehicle's driving range increases. Most of the fault analysis points to a 30-amp fuse in the engine compartment. The fuse is located in the external lighting. Once the circuit is damaged, it will cause the external lighting system to fail."

Fortunately, as of today, NHTSA has not received any reports of accidents caused by this failure. A spokesman for Volkswagen said the company is actively cooperating with the NHTSA investigation.

The preliminary investigation is the first step in the US vehicle failure recall process. The results will directly determine whether NHTSA will require the public to recall and repair the batches of vehicles involved.