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Volkswagen · NHTSA safety record

2023 Volkswagen Taos

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

101

Complaints

2

Crashes

0

Fires

1

Injuries

0

Deaths

Owners of the 2023 Volkswagen Taos have filed 101 safety complaints with NHTSA between January 2023 and July 2026. The most complained-about system is the engine, named in 41 of them (41%). The typical failure was reported at 10,093 miles, the median across the 6 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

No recall campaign was matched to this year, make and model. That is not the same as a clean vehicle: recalls are issued against production ranges, and the only reliable check is your own VIN.

What owners report

Complaints naming each system. One complaint can name several, so these add up to more than 101.

ENGINE 41 41%
SERVICE BRAKES 32 32%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 21 21%
POWER TRAIN 12 12%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 10 10%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 10 10%
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 8 8%
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 8 8%
LANE DEPARTURE 3 3%
WHEELS 3 3%
AIR BAGS 2 2%
BACK OVER PREVENTION 2 2%

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2025 at 32.

2023 2025 2026
2023 to 2026, the last of them a part year

In owners' own words

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

AIR BAGS

1 injured · crash

Air bags did not deploy after a direct driver side hit, and I was injured because of the accident. Car was declared a total loss by the insurance. The car is being held by State Farm if inspection needs to happen. I was hurt because of the car accident, and I fear for my life or my child’s life if they would have been in the car. I want to prevent any future injuries. I was driving 50 MPH on route 60 when I was hit on my side. There was no warning light on prior to the failure.

NHTSA complaint 11738648. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL

crash · towed

Pulling into a parking spot, vehicle had a sudden burst of acceleration, as it was still on the road, resulting in an accident. Vehicle drove over a parking curb, hitting a small tree and a sign. Vehicle felt like there was a lag in response timing of the throttle to acceleration response. No one was injured, including myself the driver. Vehicle at this moment is at the VW dealership getting repaired. Insurance was notified at time of accident. No warning lights occurred at time of accident.

NHTSA complaint 11514855. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE
head gasket well known issue with no campaign or warranty coverage Volkswagen issued an official TSB 15-23-01 (Head Gasket Leakage) acknowledging that the original factory head gasket design on early Taos models allows coolant to leak. The production line was eventually updated with a redesigned gasket. They denied coverage or even partial reduction in labor.

NHTSA complaint 11752754. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
I purchased a 2023 VW Taos SE about a year ago (May 2025) as CPO less than 7k miles. It is still under the warranty; however, I already had to bring this Taos to the VW dealership for 3x. First was A/C was not cool enough. They found a leak. In June 2026, I had to bring due to the engine light being on. They found out EVAP fuel leak detection pump being faulty. And less than 1 month later (July 2026), once again the engine light came on. This time apparently EVAP canister is the problem and needs to be replaced . My Taos is currently at the dealership. I am reporting this, in case other Taos owners have similar experiences. Thank you.

NHTSA complaint 11749355. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

SERVICE BRAKES
am reporting a recurring rear brake issue with my vehicle. The rear brake pads and rotors have required replacement approximately every 20,000 miles, which appears abnormal given that the front brake pads have never required replacement and are still measuring approximately 8 mm. The rear brakes have worn prematurely and unevenly compared with the front brakes despite normal driving conditions. I am concerned this may indicate a defect involving the rear braking system, electronic parking brake, brake bias, calipers, or related components. The recurring premature rear brake wear has created repeated repair costs and raises concern that the braking system may not be functioning as designed.

NHTSA complaint 11748314, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

SERVICE BRAKES
The brakes have prematurely worn to 1mm at 20,000 miles. Volkswagen is aware and has issued a TSB regarding the premature wear, however they failed to notify us during the first 2 service appointments that the wear on the brakes were due to be replaced. I feel this was intentional as they did not want to replace under the TSB and they waited until the wear was too severe and past the TSB date. Volkswagen waited to tell my 17 year old daughter that the brakes were worn and needed replacement at that point. Volkswagen is aware of the premature wear on the brakes and has put people at risk like my 17 year old daughter by not extending the warranty for longer than 2yr/24k miles or whichever

NHTSA complaint 11745599, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS
Only when lighter weight adults are in the front seat - if they move around at all the airbag sensor goes off. Meaning the airbags won’t deploy if we get into an accident. Seems like a major flaw! Even if while they are moving around an alarm went off why would it not reset once the person stopped moving around? It stays off for sometime afterward and beeps constantly. This has happened repeatedly and was told to keep cell phones off the seats. Believe me, we make sure the phones NEVER touch the seats any longer but it still happens and for a bit I just gave up reporting it to service but it happened again when I picked up my daughter from jfk on Tuesday

NHTSA complaint 11745367. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN
My 2023 VW Taos Se has been diagnosed with head gasket failure. Denied “goodwill assistance.” I did state that VW has issued a TSB (TSB 15-23-01. I currently have 80,380 miles on the vehicle. Known engineering failure, not wear and tear.

NHTSA complaint 11744610. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Volkswagen Taos

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2025 9 2 —
2024 50 0 —
2022 306 6 —

Other 2023 Volkswagen models

ID.4 449 Atlas 123 Tiguan 60 Jetta 42 Atlas Cross Sport 18 Arteon 13

Every Volkswagen on this site — 152 vehicles, 256 recall campaigns and 2 open investigation s.

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. What each state asks for , read from the statutes.

Where these numbers come from

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

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Independent developer and analyst