Fog Light Switch problems of the 2010 Volkswagen Tiguan

Upon starting my car one morning, I was greeted with many alerts having to do with the right front headlight, fog light, blinker, brake light, rear parking light and license plate lights, all of which did not work. The alerts continued to cycle through during the entire trip (20 minutes from home to work) and the status did not change when I restarted my car to go home that night. As I was driving home that night (10 minutes into the drive) my right headlight suddenly turned on and all of the alerts went away. The next morning, the alerts were back on and none of the right exterior lights were working. I had the car checked and it turns out the 30 amp fuse in the back of the fuse box was melted along with part of the fuse box that sits around the fuse. It is going to cost me over $600 to fix this problem and this is clearly not caused by normal wear and tear. I've done some research online and it seems that a lot of other drivers are posting about having the same issue with their Tiguans. This is a safety issue since it is imperative to have both headlights and brake lights while driving at night and the melting of the fuse box and fuse indicates there was a small fire under the hood. This needs to be addressed by Volkswagen and the safety hazard needs to be fixed.

I started my car and the right side exterior lights were completely out. The dash display said to check 11 different lights (fog light, side light, low beam, high beam, license plate light, etc. ). I opened the fuse box and found a melted cap to a 30a fuse in socket 16.

Upon starting my 2010 Volkswagen Tiguan, the dash indicator will begin cycling through the exterior lights, (e. G. , right front low beam, right front fog light) noting that each is not working. This issue initially happened about 6 months ago and has occurred intermittently since then. Each time, the lights that have been noted as not operational on the dash have, in fact, not been working. Until recently, the problem would self correct, typically after re-starting the car. However, as of yesterday (11/3/2013), the lights that the dash is now indicating are nonfunctional have not started working again. This includes the right head light, third brake light, license plate light, and all turn signals. When I called my local Volkswagen dealership, a mechanic told me that I needed to bring it in so that a mechanic who specializes in electrical could look at it. When I asked if this was a problem they had seen with other Tiguans, he let me know that similar issues had been reported and that the culprit was often a melted fuse box under the hood. He also indicated that my separate complaint regarding the intermittent failure of the remote for unlocking (but not locking) the car may be a related electrical issue. I have not taken the car in yet, but I will need to do so given the safety issues presented by failing and unreliable exterior lights.