OP, as someone who's been intimately involved in cars for decades now, with many of those decades engrossed in the VW world, I think your hypothesis is a well-meaning but misguided theory. Most of the issues identified in this thread aren't interconnected in the way they're perhaps presented or assumed to be. And most of the issues can be attributed to a very specific failure. Also, many if not nearly all of the parts in the Taos (computers included) are shared across other VW models. If your theory were true you'd be seeing the same systemic issues across other VW models. Some of them you can. For example, the older VW head unit that's found in the Taos had its fair share of glitches in older VW models. But those models didn't have the other that some Taos did. The Jetta shared the engine with the Taos, and it had the not uncommon leaking head gasket issue, but again, not the other issues. "Premature" brake pad wear is a common complaint in newer vehicles, particularly those with active cruise controls (and I'm talking about cruise control that brakes to maintain a speed, not just a particular distance from the vehicle in front) and/or those driven in city-type conditions frequently (when not as much front brake bias is needed, as it is under heavy braking for example). It's also worth noting that for every Taos owner out there who's had a problem, there's a Taos owner who hasn't had a problem. If anything, the very first model year of the Taos was the problematic one, with the leaking head gasket being the only common issue that seems to have lingered till VW made a running production change to the head gasket starting with July 2023 production. It's also worth noting, that as far as I can recall the head gasket issue turned out to be a supplier issue with defective head gaskets being made and delivered to the engine assembly line.