NHTSA Complaint #10935512 — 2015 VOLKSWAGEN TIGUAN

I WANT TO REFERENCE NHTSA COMPLAINT ID # 10883887, FILED ON 7/11/2016 BY ANOTHER CONSUMER, BECAUSE I HAVE EXPERIENCED EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM THAT THEY DESCRIBED WITH THE BRAKES ON MY 2015 VW TIGUAN. AS THEY SAID, THE PROBLEM OCCURS RANDOMLY, TYPICALLY WHEN THE BRAKES ARE APPLIED AT LOW SPEEDS, AND IN MY CASE, SOMETIMES (BUT NOT ALWAYS) IT SEEMS TO BE LINKED WITH APPLYING THE BRAKES ON A ROUGH ROAD THAT HAS POTHOLES OR AN UNEVEN SURFACE. THE VEHICLE LOSES BRAKING EFFECTIVENESS AND IT FEELS AS IF THE BRAKES ARE GRINDING METAL-ON-METAL (CONSISTENT WITH THE OTHER CONSUMER'S DESCRIPTION OF A LOUD GRINDING NOISE). WHEN IT HAPPENS, I HAVE TO RELEASE THE PEDAL AND THEN SLOWLY REAPPLY THE BRAKES - AND THIS DELAY IN EFFECTIVELY STOPPING THE VEHICLE COULD EASILY CAUSE AN ACCIDENT. ALSO, I WANT TO NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS THE RAPID "PUMPING" OF THE BRAKES THAT OCCURS AUTOMATICALLY DURING HARD BRAKING WITH ANTILOCK BRAKES - THIS "BRAKE GRINDING" PROBLEM IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM THAT, AND ALMOST CERTAINLY NOT NORMAL. IT HAS BEEN AN ISSUE FOR THE ENTIRE LIFE OF THE VEHICLE, AND I HAVE DISCUSSED IT TWICE WITH MY VW DEALER'S SERVICE DEPARTMENT AT MY ROUTINE MAINTENANCE CHECKS. BOTH TIMES THEY HAVE DISMISSED IT, ATTRIBUTING IT TO DUST OR DIRT ACCUMULATING ON THE BRAKES, OR JUST SAYING THAT VW BRAKES OFTEN HAVE "LOUD SQUEALS," WHICH IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE GRINDING SOUND THAT I AM REPORTING. NOW THAT I SEE THAT ANOTHER CONSUMER HAS REPORTED EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM, I THINK IT MERITS AN INVESTIGATION TO DETERMINE WHETHER THERE IS SOME UNDERLYING DEFECT IN THE BRAKES THAT WOULD WARRANT A RECALL.