Sunroof failure or glass breakage on the 2013 Volkswagen Tiguan
Only 3 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When sunroof failure or glass breakage gets reported
There are 6 reports of sunroof failure or glass breakage on the 2013 Volkswagen Tiguan, 3 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 78,000 miles. It is the 11th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 23,000 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
Putting it right typically runs $700–$4,500 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 12 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2022, at a median of 600 miles, and latest on the 2009 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 2020 carries the most reports, with 21; the 2013 has 6. 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.
On april 3, 2017 I noticed a smell in my car, and subsequently found that the passenger side flooring was very wet. I made an appointment at ray brandt volkswagen new orleans for the following day, although my car was outside of its warranty period. On april 5, 2017 I arrived at the ray brandt volkswagen dealership to have my car looked at. The leak was diagnosed as a clogged sunroof drain, with the cost of $150 to clear the drain. I asked the service technician whether there was any maintenance that could have been done to prevent the significant water damage to the interior of my vehicle. He informed me that the there was recommended maintenance that should be done at the 4 year - 40,000 mile check (which my vehicle does not yet qualify for). I believe this issue is a defect within the design of the vehicle and clear instructions regarding this unusual maintenance issue should have been provided. It is unclear what caused this issue with the drain, but it is clear that vw was fully aware of this problem and has failed to communicate to new owners the problem with its sunroof design and the steps needed to prevent problems, and…
Vehicle flooded with standing water after a heavy rain. On monday april 30, 2018 the volkswagen dealership reported that the 2 drain lines from the sunroof had "disconnected themselves" and allowed rain water into the vehicle cabin. In 2007 a class action lawsuit was filed against volkswagen of america for this very issue citing poor design to be at fault. In 2012 the appellate court approved a $69 million dollar settlement by volkswagen, but apparently did not make any drain design changes that would prevent the occurrences from taking place in the future. Please see https://www.law360.com/articles/402373, https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2014/volkswagen-settles-lawsuit-leaking-sunroofs.shtml, and http://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/103618p.pdf. When I asked volkswagen of mandeville, la if there was any outside condition that would cause a drain failure, they said it was a bad design and that they were "very familiar" with the problem. Volkswagen have made no voluntary recalls or issued service bulletins to address the problem. My 2013 tiguan has approximately 10,500 miles so wear & tear is not a contributing factor here. My…
Also reported on the 2013 Volkswagen Tiguan
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Steering column or shaft failure
Other engine problem
Other electrical problem
Other fuel system problem
Other steering problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 6 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 6 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 sunroof failure or glass breakage happen on the 2013 Volkswagen Tiguan?
Across 3 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 25,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is sunroof failure or glass breakage on the 2013 Volkswagen Tiguan?
6 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.5 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