Volkswagen Halts Sales On Taos 4Motion Because Its Engine May Stop Unexpectedly: Report
Volkswagen pumps the brakes on some of its new crossovers, for now.
Volkswagen's new Taos small crossover is encountering a bump in the road. The marque is ordering a stop-sale on all-wheel-drive models as their engines may shut down unexpectedly while coming to a stop.
The Volkswagen Taos packs what crossover drivers crave into a compact, inexpensive package. Buyers looking for their Taos in 4Motion AWD flavor will have to wait a bit. Volkswagen is instructing dealerships to stop selling the crossovers until it addresses concerns with the engine shutting down, reports Automotive news.
Some Taos buyers and owners on forums were initially confused as dealerships are refusing to sell Taos SUVs with 4Motion AWD. But there may be an issue with some of these cars and Volkswagen wants to get to the bottom of it.
According to the letters being distributed to dealerships, customers of some Taos with 4Motion AWD are reporting that their engines are shutting down unexpectedly when coming to a stop.
Thankfully, while this issue sounds annoying, there doesn't appear to have been any injuries because of it, from Automotive News:
Dealers in the U.S. were informed of the unidentified problem Monday, Mark Gillies, a spokesman for VW confirmed, adding that the German company "is now following the required NHTSA reporting time frame." He said he was unaware of any injuries related to the unexpected shutdowns.
Meanwhile, SUVs and crossovers are turning out to be quite lucrative for Volkswagen. The marque moved 211,000 cars in the first half of this year in part thanks to crossovers and SUVs. Those are Volkswagen's best numbers since 1973. The Taos is responsible for about 4,939 of those sales, which isn't bad considering that the chip shortage has impacted the factory building the crossover.
The stop-sale impacts only 4Motion-equipped vehicles and the front-wheel-drive models of the Taos remain on sale.