Red Steering Wheel Light in VW Tiguan – What's This and How to Fix?

The red steering wheel light in your Volkswagen Tiguan is not that good to see whenever you drive your car. Any warning light may be stressful, especially for those drivers who perfectly know how much it costs now to repair a car. But is the steering system warning that serious? Is it going to cost you a fortune to cope with?

Steering wheel light highlights

• Common reasons:power steering problem, software glitch, low battery
• How to fix:read the codes, disconnect the battery for some time
• Possible consequences:power steering may be reduced or disabled
• Priority level:High
• Can you drive?Not recommended
• DIY repair:Impossible
• Repair price range:$250-$1,500

Is the power steering hydraulic or electric in the Tiguan?

So, the majority of Tiguan models had the combined electric-hydraulic power steering. Only the latest generation has a completely electric system, as far as I know. If you own a used Tiguan, this is most likely that nasty combined system that has the electrically powered pump and the sealed hydraulic system.

What does that mean? It means you will not have the fluid reservoir to top up the fluid but there is still some fluid in the system. Also, there is no big advantage of electric power steering - the pump is still there and it may fail.

Also, I would outline several so-so features of the Tiguan combined power steering system:

• it's overall less durable than the purely electric system and it may cause several problems;
• if something happens with this system, there is nothing much one can do - the unit is not serviceable;
• in many cases, when something happened under warranty, dealers just replaced the entire rack with the power steering system;
• the price of this system is super-high, so this is yet another important disadvantage of the combined power steering;
• it's pretty hard to diagnose the system and to understand what happened if it eventually failed.

This system is adjustable, so when you maneuver in a parking lot, it will make the steering lighter but when the Tiguan is on the highway, the steering wheel will get harder to turn. This is disputable whether the feature is good. I drove a Tiguan and it seemed to be pretty hard to steer in a parking lot, so I disagree with Volkswagen, in this case.

However, people tend to be happy with the Tiguan's steering system and how it works. The only negative part of the forum opens when there are problems with this power steering. Fortunately, this is not one of the common problems with Volkswagen cars, so not many Tiguan owners will be affected.

What does it mean when the red steering wheel is on your dash?

The red steering wheel warning light is an indication of the problems that were detected with the power steering. When it goes on in your Tiguan, it's not recommended to keep driving. After some time, you may completely lose the power steering function and the steering wheel is going to become super heavy.

Here are some of the possible reasons for this light to illuminate:

1) The pump is broken

The sensors in the system might have registered the low pressure of the fluid. This will most likely mean that the pump is not in good condition. It may turn off completely or just lose its efficiency. Anyway, you will immediately feel that on your steering wheel that will become heavy.

2) Sensors are malfunctioning

It's not uncommon for some sensors to throw bad readings to the ECU. When the ECU registers this, it may immediately illuminate the red steering wheel light. This may mean that some sensor is broken, disconnected, or just glitchy. In some cases, you may solve this problem on your own by following the advice given below in this article.

3) Fluid leak in the system

Although the power steering in your Tiguan is controlled by the electric equipment, it still has fluid in it. If the fluid leaks and its quantity goes down, the system will not be able to work properly. It will deteriorate step by step till it becomes impossible to turn the steering wheel. Unfortunately, there is no reservoir where you can top up hydraulic fluid and happily drive further.

4) Electronic units' issues

The electric-hydraulic power steering in the Tiguan has several electronic blocks in the car that it communicates with. Once something is wrong in one of these electronic blocks, you may see the red steering wheel light on the dash. It may be just a glitch or something serious. The red light may come on continuously or randomly. Interestingly, the steering wheel parameters won't change and you will still be able to turn the wheel without any problems.

Can you do something on your own?

When it comes to repair, there is nothing you can do without special equipment and a lot of experience. But you can try several tricks to hopefully get rid of the light. This will not help you if there is an actual problem with the pump or fluid. But this may help you if there is a glitch. Maybe, you will even need to pay zero dollars for repairs.

So, there are two things you may try doing:

1) Turn the car off and then on again

Let your car rest for at least a minute. This may help the electronic control units to test the situation once again when you start the car. In some cases, this may help you get rid of the problem without even visiting the shop. But, it will only help in some cases.

2) Disconnecting the battery

If simply turning the car off and on again didn't help, you may try resetting the electronic control units by disconnecting the battery for 3-5 minutes. For this, locate the battery under the hood of your Tiguan. Then disconnect the black cable, disconnect the red cable, make sure they don't touch the battery terminals, and wait for five minutes. After that, reconnect the red cable, reconnect the black cable, and start the car to see if the problem is gone.

When will you need professional help?

If the red steering wheel light isn't gone after you disconnect the battery, you will need some help to diagnose the vehicle. In many cases, this won't be easy and will require some special equipment and knowledge. Just plugging in some ELM scanners won't help you because the code will most likely be pretty generic and won't give you any further information.

In a VW dealership or in a good repair shop, the mechanic will have the proper scanner and software to dig deeper. Also, they will be able to check the steering rack and the power steering modules after lifting the car and physically looking at these units.

Of course, if some issue is found, you will need professional help to solve the problem and find the best way to repair your car. Unfortunately, the repair is most likely not going to be really easy and cheap.

How much is it to solve the problem?

Well, it surely depends on what went wrong in your vehicle. But if you need to have the rack with the power steering system replaced, you are going to be surprised by the price for such a procedure. Unless the car is under warranty, you should avoid going to a VW dealership because your wallet will get depressed. Independent shops are not going to repair the Tiguan at a cheap price, but at least their prices are lower.

The steering rack will cost you about $2,000 (unless bought from a dealer) and labor will get another $1000 or so.

Can you drive with the red power steering warning light?

I wouldn't say it's a good idea to drive when you see the red steering wheel warning light. It's possible that after several seconds you may lose the ability to turn the steering wheel when needed. The steering may become super heavy and you may easily get into trouble.

So, the best thing you can do is to stop your car when it's still safe and try doing the tricks I've told you about above in this article. If nothing helps, you should find the nearest dealer or shop and have the vehicle inspected. After a good inspection, you will certainly know what to do and if it's safe to drive the car.