Pulled up to very busy intersection in downtown Chicago, and the auto stop/start shut down the engine. Then when light turned green it wouldn't start back up. The battery was basically dead, an alert saying 12V battery low, drive car to charge came on. But there was not enough energy in the battery to start the car. Had to wait an hour and a half in the middle of the street (blocking a ton of traffic at rush hour) to get towed to the dealership. They said it looked like a faulty battery, and replaced it.

I was not charged anything as this was covered under warranty, and the dealership covered rides to work for my wife and I. And the service team I worked with in Downtown Chicago were very nice, and had the car back to us same day. But they didn't really seem to be that alarmed that a <1 year old car broke down on the street. Especially a vehicle they just launched. Then I google, "VW Atlas electrical problems" and find this site with a number of people with the exact same experience. Not a great sign for the future of the model.

I have had this vehicle for about 18 months and the past couple weeks, wife reported to me once that it was slow to start up and had an error message running lights left on. I thought this was weird and I checked to make sure the lights were on AUTO. Today wife was running errands with 1 and 3 year old kids and parked on a very busy street. Upon return to car, it wouldn't start. VW roadside assistance came about an hour later and jumped her. She dropped it off at the dealership and they replaced it with "an upgraded battery" I hope doesn't continue to be a problem. The start/stop feature has always seemed to be wonky and not consistent. I want this feature to be permanently turned off as I feel this might have contributed to the problem.

I leased this 2018 VW Atlas 11/2017. Like many others, I was out actively driving the SUV when the vehicle did not start. It was not like it was my first attempt at starting the vehicle for the day. I had already dropped the kids off at school, and some other errands right before the battery just died. Upon attempting the press button start, the center panel alert light said to drive the car to recharge the battery, but I was not able to start the car. I called VW roadside assistance. The roadside guy said the battery was so dead, he had to fully charge his jumper machine in order to jump it. Fortunately, it started after about 4 attempts.

This is the second time in two months that I have had to contact VW Roadside for a jump. Once again, without warning and after I successfully started the vehicle for the day and made 1 stop prior. The same man gave me a jump and recognized me. He also found it troubling that my new vehicle was already giving me problems. He also found it odd that I had no trouble starting my vehicle first thing in the morning, but would not start shortly after. I really do not know what to do at this point, but I am not very satisfied with this lack of reliability. I have contacted my dealer regarding this issue...

After having no issues with our brand new Atlas, the vehicle suddenly wouldn't start one day. After calling a tow truck to take it to the dealership, they determined it was a dead battery. The dead battery is said to be caused by some faulty wiring possibly; however it is still being investigated and worked on, so I can't say for sure as of yet what the true cause is.

Update from Apr 3, 2018: No known cause was found. Charged the battery and the dealership said it was reading perfectly. Kept the vehicle for 4 days and could find nothing out of the ordinary, as if it never happened.

They have been very helpful, however, and stated to call them directly if the issue were to occur again so that they can personally work on finding a solution.