14 of the 163 complaints about the 2023 Volkswagen Taos are about the driver-assist systems — 9% of everything reported for this model year.
14
Complaints
1
Crashes
0
Fires
0
Injuries
Filed with NHTSA, in their own words.
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
In two separate instances the Autonomous Emergency Brake system was activated. Luckily there i didn't cause an accident. There was no one in front of me either times. Thats the worst of all the issues the vehicle has.
NHTSA complaint #11738657 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
On 12/20/25, the "lane assist not available" and the "EPC" warning indicators lit up. I was in the car with my 11 year old, we pulled over and looked in the manual to understand EPC, and the manual said it "is possible to continue driving," so we continued. As we entered the freeway the car went into limp mode and would not accelerate. I put the gas pedal to the floor, put on my hazard lights, and got off at the next exit, but we did were not able to drive > 40 mph on a crowded, rainy freeway with big-rigs ahead, behind, and to the left of us. We got off at the next exit, drove to a parking lot and let the car rest for 10-15 minutes. When we turned it back on, the "Exhaust System Malfunction" light and "Central Warning Light" indicators were on. The lane assist not available indicator had lit up a day prior, as well. My safety and the safety of my child were at risk on the freeway. I called the dealership from which I had purchased the car 2 years earlier and which has ~11,280 miles. I was told by their service department to drive the car home, but not to drive it after that. However, they also told me to drive the car from my home to their shop (10 miles), but to avoid the freeway, in order to have it serviced. This suggestion also put me at risk, as it would have been unsafe to drive the car between my home and their shop. I did call back to say that I didn't feel safe driving it, at which point they looked up my car and saw that it is under warranty, which includes roadside assistance coverage. The car will be towed to their shop on the morning of 12/22/25.
NHTSA complaint #11706418 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
I had my brakes inspected by VW at 20k miles and everything was fine. Then I took a long road trip using the Active Cruise Control (ACC) system extensively and during my next service at 25k my rear brakes and rotors needed replacement. Looking at numerous forms and owner experience, there is a problem with the VW Taos, likely with the ACC system or other control systems excessively braking the rear brakes, resulting in early failure. VW has not addressed this issue.
NHTSA complaint #11680387 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Car only has 16,000 miles on it. Started smelling antifreeze when the car was started. Took to dealer- faulty, failing head gasket. Bad since manufactured. Also, brakes had sounded loud since purchased. Told this was just the type of brakes. Upon inspection of the vehicle for the head gasket it was noted that the rear brake pads need replaced!! Again, this car only has 16,000 miles on it. From research it appears the head gasket and rear brakes are an issue for the 2023 Taos. Dealer/shop has had the car for 6 days and I was told if I needed a loaner it would now cost me $ out of pocket....for a manufactured failure.
NHTSA complaint #11657460 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
We purchased our 2023 Taos in Jan of 2024. The vehicle had approximately 24,500 miles when a grinding noise began terminating from the rear wheels. At the time of appointment at Ontario VW vehicle had 25147 miles. we were told that the rear brakes were bad, at 0%, and the rotors were damaged as well. 1. Brakes on cars do not wear rear wheels first. The dealer admitted not that is not normal wear, but adamantly stated the car is in "normal operational mode". However no one will answer why the brakes failed prematurely or who is responsible (except the customer) 2. there is a warranty extension for this problem. This was not discussed at the dealership at any time. I found the extension and called to speak with a manager 3 days later. When asked Dominic Alessi the service manager stated "We don't market "warranty extensions". He self-admitted that his dealership withholds information to customers and engages in deceptive practices to a customer. He further went on and stated, "We are here to sell and fix cars". I had to ask if there was a customer service aspect. In addition he spoke down to the customer and attempted to employ tactics that are considered unethical, dishonest, and eluding to information that was inapplicable (single side failure of the brake system) 3. I contacted VW corporate. I have an email that clearly states that the vehicle will not be fixed, covered, addressed, or any other service. that I need not contact anyone further. in closing I have a VW Taos bought off the lot, brand new. the rear brakes failed without warning until they were grinding. Brakes on a vehicle that are not designed to wear the rear first. There are supposed to be wear indications (squeaking). Despite design the brakes failed 1147 miles at the dealership after a known problem had a warranty extension. No one will address the failed brakes, the poor interactions with a manager, and unwillingness to do the right thing by a corporation.
NHTSA complaint #11645058 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
BACK OVER PREVENTION: REARVIEW SYSTEM BRAKING
I have brought the Taos back to Volkswagen dealership repeatedly for failure of the infotainment screen this screen displays the back up camera when the car is put into reverse The dates :12/14/23 , 2/21/24 , 8/27/24 ,9/5/24 , 10/23/24 , 11/13/24. Each time inspections , repairs, updates have been made and through 11/5/24 the infotainment screen has continued to fail without warning leaving us without access to the back up camera ( along with other information). In discussing these issues with Taylor B, from Volkswagen customer service she states this is a known issue with the Taos but can not offer any solution to the problem Mileage and date of incident indicate the start of issue
NHTSA complaint #11625350 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
Purchased 12/1/202312/2/2023- Tire flat next day (paid 200.00) 12/7/2023- 2/1/2024-EPC 2/2/2024- EPC again 4/9/2024- 1-squeak breaks - no resolve 2-Red circle warning in the middle of the cluster-no resolve3-wireless phone and gps turns off -no resolve 6/1/2041-Brakes squeak (2x)- 2 new brake pads 2-Radio (2x) screen will turn off and reset-maps- software was updated 3- wipers sporadically stop and turn on no reason- nothing found 4-Electrical- Yellow warning lights with forward and/or side collision came on and shut off. - no resolve.
NHTSA complaint #11594855 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
When I was driving on I-66 West yesterday on the Toll lanes with my family I had my cruise control on at 65 mph. Then suddenly the vehicle braked on it own without any warning messages. The braking was sudden and fortunately before coming to a complete stop in the middle of the interstate, I manually applied the brakes, briefly, to turn off the cruise control and then accelerate which seemed to resolve the issue. Hardly 2 minutes later, when I was not on cruise control and driving at around 65mph (the cruise button was on but not set at this time), the vehicle issued an Emergency Braking warning and started to brake very rapidly. This was very scary because braking or accelerating did not resolve the issue and vehicles behind me had to avoid hitting me from the rear. The only thing that worked was turning the cruise control off completely. Rest of the journey I decided to not activate cruise control button and the problem was not noticed. This is the first such incident (and hopefully the last) experienced on my barely a year old leased vehicle. Also as an FYI: (a) I have driven hundreds of times before using its cruise control without an issue. (b) I was West facing around 6:00 pm against the setting sun and I was about to go under a bridge when both the braking issues occurred.
NHTSA complaint #11592338 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
When I was driving on I-66 West yesterday on the Toll lanes with my family I had my cruise control on at 65 mph. Then suddenly the vehicle braked on it own without any warning messages. The braking was sudden and fortunately before coming to a complete stop in the middle of the interstate, I manually applied the brakes, briefly, to turn off the cruise control and then accelerate which seemed to resolve the issue. Hardly 2 minutes later, when I was not on cruise control and driving at around 65mph (the cruise button was on but not set at this time), the vehicle issued an Emergency Braking warning and started to brake very rapidly. This was very scary because braking or accelerating did not resolve the issue and vehicles behind me had to avoid hitting me from the rear. The only thing that worked was turning the cruise control off completely. Rest of the journey I decided to not activate cruise control button and the problem was not noticed. This is the first such incident (and hopefully the last) experienced on my barely a year old leased vehicle. Also as an FYI: (a) I have driven hundreds of times before using its cruise control without an issue. (b) I was West facing around 6:00 pm against the setting sun and I was about to go under a bridge when both the braking issues occurred.
NHTSA complaint #11592338 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
I purchased the 2023 Taos SE at the beginning of may. When accelerating on the highway, the ACC light and engine light came on and the car started rapidly decelerating. Lane assist, cruise control and ACC were not able to be used. I managed to pull to the side of the road, and was towed to a VW dealership in Rochester. The computer came back saying it was bad fuel. They drained the fuel, and charged us due to user error/using the wrong fuel. I have confirmation from the gas station this is incorrect. The next day, the same incident happened when accelerating on the highway. My hometown dealer also ran a report and it came back as bad fuel. They drained the fuel, but kept the car to test drive. I refused to take it back until a different solution was found. They finally were able to recreate the situation, and said there was an issue with a fuel injector module. I picked up my car yesterday, and did not even get home before the car powered down on the highway.
NHTSA complaint #11526084 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
LANE DEPARTURE: BLIND SPOT DETECTION
The blind spot warning and rear cross traffic warning features are listed on the VIN for my vehicle which I purchased new. However, they are not on the vehicle, I was not told they were not on the vehicle, and I didn't sign anything saying they were not on the vehicle. How can the ADAS (adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning) work without these key features? I don't trust VW to tell me if these other features work and I'm concerned for my safety to try these out.
NHTSA complaint #11522771 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
BACK OVER PREVENTION: REARVIEW SYSTEM BRAKING
The blind spot warning and rear cross traffic warning features are listed on the VIN for my vehicle which I purchased new. However, they are not on the vehicle, I was not told they were not on the vehicle, and I didn't sign anything saying they were not on the vehicle. How can the ADAS (adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning) work without these key features? I don't trust VW to tell me if these other features work and I'm concerned for my safety to try these out.
NHTSA complaint #11522771 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
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 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
Within the first 24 hours of picking up this new car warnings for 3000rpm max appeared, engine overheating and potential damage to engine components appears and engine functioning was decreased, exhaust control malfaction message, and electronic engine control message with associated symbol for lane assist warning message. When the electronic engine control message with checklight appeared, acceleration was impaired and it was difficult to speed up on the road. There was the potential for fire and gasoline explosion and risk to drivers and passengers due to possible collision accidents. I have brought the car to the dealership and was turned away the first time due to being told it was low voltage. While drive home the EEC message, electronic engine control malfunction with warning light appeared again and I called and said I was going to drive back to the Volkswagen dealership and this time they took the car. This was a worrisome experience for me. .
NHTSA complaint #11501733 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.