Other engine problem on the 2010 Volkswagen Tiguan
1 fire 1 of the 10 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2010 Volkswagen Tiguan report other engine problem at a median of 40,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 75,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 20,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 90,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 72,876 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
33% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19,324 miles | 29,000 miles | 42,100 miles | 75,000 miles | 92,200 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 a fire is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 13 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 1,500 miles, and latest on the 2011 at 85,000 miles.
By volume the 2018 carries the most reports, with 56; the 2010 has 10. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Tl*the contact owns a 2010 volkswagen tiguan. In july 2010, the electronic power control light illuminated. The dealer replaced the accelerator pedal at that time. In october 2010, while the contact was driving approximately 40 MPH and attempting to turn, the vehicle suddenly stalled. The contact was able to restart and drive to the dealer where a few parts were replaced (the name of the parts were unavailable). The contact called the manufacturer who offered to assist with a one month payment towards the vehicle. The failure mileage was approximately 4,000 and the current mileage was 6,053.
(cylinder failing/injectors leaking) engine light came on and the dealer said it was bad gas in my tank to let the gas run out and to fill up somewhere else. Car didn't have much power and idling wasn't smooth. They also said that if I keep getting bad gas that it will damage the catalyst converter which I then replied check the gas receipts in the car since I only buy bp and mobile 93 octane not my fault that gas station might be selling bad gas. We do own another car an audi with a turbo engine as well and we get gas at the same gas stations and we haven't had any problems. Weeks later the car wasn't running any better so I took it to another place for them to let me know why the light was on. Code meant cylinder 2 and 4 failing. Took it back to the dealer and they told me that they had to clean the fuel injectors on both of those cylinder that it was due to the gas and that it wasn't cover under the warranty which I told them again check all the receipts in the glove compartment for the type of gas that I have been putting in. Then he asked me if I drive it in the expressway which I said sometimes on the weekends and to take…
I started up the car and multiple dash warnings then went off. The epc light, check engine light and the head lamps warnings all turned on. I then popped the hood and opened up the fuse box to make sure the fuses were seated correctly. Upon checking the fuses I noticed the box itself was melted and scorched meaning there had been fire at some point under the hood. I then took my volkswagen to the closest vw dealership service station. It cost $400 (michigan) to replace the fuse box, also leaving me questioning if this will happen again. After some investigation online I found that this is not rare. The vw dealership that did the repair stated that this was the 8th one he himself has done. Hopefully this does not happen again. Lights randomly going out is a safety hazard,and could lead to car accidents, injurys, and fatalities. *tr
Also reported on the 2010 Volkswagen Tiguan
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure
Headlight failure or clouding
Water pump failure
Other electrical problem
Other lighting problem
Stalling while driving
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 10 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other engine problem happen on the 2010 Volkswagen Tiguan?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 40,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 75,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2010 Volkswagen Tiguan?
10 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.8 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed