NHTSA Complaint #11097685 — 2012 VOLKSWAGEN TIGUAN

CLOCK SPRING IN STEERING COLUMN BROKE WHEN TURNING STEERING WHEEL. AS A RESULT, AIRBAG LIGHT HAS ILLUMINATED, INDICATING AN AIRBAG FAULT. AIRBAG ERROR ALSO INDICATED ON THE DASHBOARD INFORMATION SCREEN. IN ADDITION, ALL STEERING WHEEL BUTTONS HAVE STOPPED WORKING. UPON RESEARCHING, THIS HAS BEEN A KNOWN ISSUE, AND ALSO A RECALL ITEM. IN CALLING THE LOCAL DEALER, I WAS REFERRED TO VW OF AMERICA FOR ASSISTANCE. THEY LOOKED INTO MY VIN, SND INFORMED ME THAT MY VEHICLE HAD ALREADY BEEN IN UNDER RECALL TO HAVE THE CLOCK SPRING REPLACED (2016), AND THAT THEY WOULD NOT COVER ANY FURTHER WORK RELATED TO THIS ISSUE ON MY VEHICLE. IT IS MY OPINION THAT VOLKSWAGEN, UNDER THE ORIGINAL RECALL, REPLACED THE CLOCK SPRING WITH THE SAME, OR EVEN A MORE INFERIOR QUALITY PART. THUS LEADING TO AN UNSAFE CONDITION, IN AN AIRBAG SYSTEM FAULT. THIS RECALL SHOULD BE EXPANDED TO RECTIFY ANY 'SUPPOSED" PRIOR FIXES THE VW HAD DONE, AS SO MANY ARE HAVING ISSUES AFTER HAVING THE RECALL WORK DONE.