NHTSA Complaint #11062507 — 2012 VOLKSWAGEN TIGUAN

IN JAN 2018 WITH LESS THEN 58K MILES ON IT MY 2012 TIGUAN STARTED LOSING COOLANT. I WAS DRIVING AND THE THERMOSTAT SENSOR WENT OFF, I PULLED OVER AND FOUND THE COOLANT LEVEL WAS VERY LOW. THE PROBLEM WAS DIAGNOSED AS A LEAKING WATER PUMP WHICH HAD TO BE REPLACED, AT THE SAME TIME THE SERPENTINE BELT AND TENSIONER ALSO NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. I CALLED VW AND THEY SAID BECAUSE MY CAR WAS ACTUALLY BOUGHT IN 2011 THAT THE 5 YEAR / 60K POWERTRAIN WARRANTY WHICH WOULD HAVE COVERED THIS NO LONGER APPLIED (E.G. BECAUSE IT WAS AFTER 5 YEARS FROM SALE) AND THERE WAS NOTHING THEY WOULD DO FOR ME (E.G. I WAS ON MY OWN TO FIX IT). THE REPAIR WAS ~$1300 WHICH IS VERY FRUSTRATING ON A CAR WITH LOW MILES THAT IS DRIVEN CAREFULLY AND WELL CARED FOR. THE MORE FRUSTRATING THING IS THAT VW HAD THE EXACT SAME ISSUE ON THEIR GTI MODELS FROM THESE EXACT SAME YEARS AND ISSUED A RECALL ON THESE WATER PUMPS ( SEE: HTTPS://HUMBLEMECHANIC.COM/WATER-PUMP-RECALL-MK6-GTI-PODCAST-EPISODE-88/ ) BUT WERE UNWILLING TO DO ANYTHING FOR ME WHEN I HAD THE SAME PROBLEM WITH THE TIGUAN.