What happened A regular Friday on one of China’s busiest expressways. A guy in his mid-30s is doing a steady 120 km/h in his 2018 Tiguan L 2.0T (80,000 km on the clock) when there’s a massive BANG from under the hood. The dashcam catches everything: the SUV jerks hard right, kisses the guardrail, and somehow ends up on the shoulder without flipping. “I honestly thought I’d blown a tire,” the owner told reporters the next day. “The wheel went light and the whole engine felt like it was trying to climb out.”
The roadside mechanic didn’t need long to find the problem: the left front engine mount in the Chassis System is completely broken into two pieces. The 2.0T block had shifted almost 15 cm, the driveshaft was grinding on the firewall, coolant hoses were pinched, and the hood was barely holding shut. Pure luck no one got hurt. Traffic was backed up for hours.
Why it broke The bracket of the Chassis System (Volkswagen part number 5Q0 199 261) is simply rubber bonded to metal. After 60-80,000 km of heat, oil spray, and potholes, the rubber turns brittle. Add a slow valve-cover oil leak – super common on these 2.0T engines – and the aluminum bracket starts rusting away. Eighteen months of that and it’s game over. The base MQB cars don’t even get hydraulic mounts; they run plain rubber to save a few bucks. Fine for smooth German roads, not so great when you’re loaded up on Chinese highways.
Last year complaints about the same thing shot up 30 % on the big Chinese car forums.
The fight with VW The owner has lawyered up and is asking for 1 million RMB – wrecked car, medical bills, trauma, the works. He says an engine mount is a safety part and VW should treat it like one. VW China keeps calling it “an isolated incident” and says they’re looking into it. Word from inside is they’re quietly getting nervous about a recall on every 2017-2020 Tiguan and similar models – half a million cars at least. Court date is early 2025.
· Once a month, foot on brake, shifter in Drive, give it a couple of revs. If the engine rocks more than about two inches, get it looked at tomorrow.
· Replace all brackets when driving 80,000-100,000 kilometers. If oil stains are found on them, they should be replaced as soon as possible. It is recommended to replace with VDI Engine Mount 7P6199131.
· If you’ve got an MQB-platform VW/Audi/Skoda, spending the extra on hydraulic mounts is cheap insurance.
· One guy on a popular Chinese forum put it best: “I ignored a little knock at 70k km. At 110 km/h on the highway I nearly died. A couple hundred bucks on new mounts saved my life.”
Bottom line A part that costs less than a tank of premium fuel almost killed someone. Check yours this weekend. VDI Premium Engine Mount 7P6199131 meets OEM quality standards, priced at only half of the dealer's price, and available in stock—click "Add to Cart".
