10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 0 / 0
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 2 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 8,662 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
« Read the previous 20 complaints
My 2018 VW Atlas came from the factory with the A/C condensation drain tube twisted. This is a known issue with almost 9700 2018 VW atlas vehicles. A safety recall was issued to replace the drain hose and the air bag module. Somehow my car was missed and the dealer and Volkswagen does not want to acknowledge the issue and replace the air bag module. The manufacture recall number is 87F9 the NHTSA recall number is 18V-537. The recall states that if the drain tube is twisted it and the module are to be replaced. I am trying to find out why my atlas was not listed in the recall. It appears to be in the VIN range listed on the recall.
- Acworth, GA, USA
Vehicle goes into emergency mode for 4th time. Happened twice in 2 days. A total of 4 times in 5 months. With no warning, multiple warning lights come on and the car applies emergency braking until the car is brought to a stop. There is no opportunity to choose a safe place to bring it to a stop. Driver is unable to accelerate until car is parked and restarted. The 4th time this happened, was on an interstate traveling at 75 to 80mph with vehicles around traveling at same speeds or in excess of that speed. Luckily there was an opening on the shoulder that I was able to quickly pull the car into and the car behind me didn't rear end me. This is the 4th time it's happened and could have caused bodily harm. VW does not care. A software update was performed in February that was supposed to fix the problem. Because it didn't, VW wanted to replace my entire ECM because they thought it was faulty. After threat of buyback did they finally start digging into the car. Techs found a faulty relay switch. They replaced it and said problem couldn't be recreated so it was fixed 'as far as anyone could tell' and didn't need a new ECM.
- Columbus, IN, USA
This has happened 3 times now. When driving, all emergency notification lights come on without warning and the car applies emergency braking. The driver is unable to accelerate and must come to a stop immediately or the car does it for them. The only way to then drive again, is to park it, turn the car off, and turn it back on. When that is done, almost all warning lights disappear and the car behaves as though nothing ever happened. The only error that the vehicle shows is an error with the start/stop system and says that the engine is on due to system failure. If you manually turn off start/stop, then all warnings are gone. Usually, when the car is turned off and driven a second time after that, no warnings (not even start/stop) appear. This has happened at 65mph on cruise control, at 10mph in a parking lot, and at 50mph. The first time it happened, a stored code for multiple passive MINIfaults appeared, but dealer could not recreate problem and I was told to drive it and call if it happens again. 3 months later, it happened again with completely different variables in driving prior to it happening. When brought in to the dealer, the same code was thrown in addition to a code about low battery output. VW warranty engineers determined it needed a software update. After software update was performed, the new code of the battery output level went away. 2 months later, the same thing happened again at a different rate of speed. No check engine light was ever on, nor is it presently on. There is no warning that this is going to happen. The driver has no choice but to stop the car immediately in its tracks and turn it off. The driver is unable to determine a safe place to pull the car over to until they have turned it off and back on and virtually all warning lights have disappeared.
- Columbus, IN, USA
The sunroof is leaking in my 2018 cpo VW Atlas sel. This is the 4th week since delivered. The vehicle is leaking water into the cabin, my visor lights are not working on the driver side, there is water leaking through the headline and a moldy odor is beginning to permeate the vehicle. It was noticed after 1 trip after being parked all night in steady rain fall.
- Coram, NY, USA
I have a 2018 VW Atlas SE noticed this car does not have the ability to open the trunk or backdoor from within the car. This has to be done from the outside at all times. I called the manufacture VW customer care 1-800-822-8987 and I was informed I need to upgrade to the next trim to get the ability to do so. I thought this was a standard feature in all cars? this is a safety issue should a third row passenger need to use the door for emergency purposes. Upgrading to a lift gate which comes with the next trim is no excuse for VW not to have a basic manual opener.
- Pflugerville, TX, USA
Car was parked in driveway, turned car on and lights indicated low voltage and turned car off. Turned car back on so car could charge battery but A/C wasn't working and power steering wasn't working so put in reverse to see if it was a fault and start driving and everything died instantly and car had to be towed from spot.
- Orlando, FL, USA
Rear passenger window when rolling down would stop halfway down inconsistently then would just fall if you tried to roll it down. Took it into the dealership after diagnostics it is an issue with the pin.
- Fort Lupton, CO, USA
March 5, 2020. 2018 VW Atlas, 2017 mid-year delivery. There have been multiple occasions of emergency braking being performed by the car without driving condition needing the safety intervention. There have been five occurrences to date with the vehicle: 1. driving I-75 in to atlanta --while driving next to an 18 wheeler (18-w) [tanker], the car slammed on the brakes while at a speed around 75 until the car was behind the rear of the trailer. There was no condition for need this reaction (the 18-w and I maintained lane control.) 2. some random months later, the car performed a emergency braking while on I-20 while driving between two 18-ws [ 2 tanker]. the car speed were interstate speeds and no conditions that needed the intervention. 3. while driving in traffic closed to I-20 on a four lane secondary road, the vehicle slammed on the brake due to traffic backup at a stop light. It cased my cargo to slide forward to all the seat backs. 4. this was another braking action occurred with an 18W [flatbead]. 5. March 3, 2020, the latest was a similar emergency braking with no warning lights. The braking action was not as hard and released after clearing the rear trailer of the 18-w. since the cars do not generate an error code the common diagnostic tools are not able to find a fault. The safety systems should be modified to generate incident code when emergency braking occurs since the conditions are performed in a robotic function (non-driver condition). I generally talk to the VW service tech about this finding every time I am in VW service area to see if the condition is present in other vehicles.
- Harvest, AL, USA
I forgot to add in my original complaint that when the faulty booster warning came on so did my emergency brake and I was haulted while driving and this really freaked me out as I have 4 children and the reason I purchased the car was for all the safety features and now I feel the exact opposite!
- Santa Maria, CA, USA
The faulty brake boost warning continues to come on while driving even after being "fixed" by the dealership. The cars brakes locked up on me when I was reversing into a parking spot" then the car turned completely off?? I had to turn the car back on and continue to park?" there was also an auto start/ stop error warning that came on while driving!!
- Santa Maria, CA, USA
There is a strong gas smell inside and outside my vehicle while driving and stationary. VW replaced the upper and lower fuel rails and the high pressure fuel pump on the first service visit. I could still smell the gas outside the vehicle, not inside, when I left the service bay. I returned it and they said they couldn't recreate the gas smell so they cleaned the vents and put a strong potpourri in the vents. ? outside gas smell persisted in the front and the rear of the car that was very strong so I took it for a 3rd time. A week later VW corporate let lindsay VW service know to remove the intake and check the injectors. All seals were severely damaged and they replaced them. I picked it up a few days ago and now the gas smell is so bad inside (again) and outside the vehicle. While driving it is so strong that I opened the window to help air it out until I got home, but the gas smell outside made it even worse. The car is unsafe. There have been countless recalls, it's wept rain water several inches deep into the front seat foot wells, they didn't replace the carpet when they did the repair and I worry about mold. But this gas situation has been going on since October and it's very concerning. I don't feel safe in this car and I want VW to take it back.
- Herndon, VA, USA
My VW Atlas sel 2018 is shutting off while I'm driving. So far this has happened 3 times. Once while I was in reverse at slow speed, second time while I was in traffic and the most recent while I was driving in my neighborhood. It is very scary because I have to put in park, press the brake pedal and start the car again, while in the highway. The screen displays an error in the start-stop, and also en engine error that says: Engine on due to system error and one time the check engine light turned on. The unit has spent weeks in the VW dealership and still they can't find what is wrong with it, they return the car and it happens again. I do not feel safe driving this car, I have a son and I need a car I feel safe driving.
- San Juan, PR, USA
Purchased the Atlas brand new. 2000 miles in started to hear loud rattling noise coming from the front of the car like the struts were going bad, took to dealership they stated my dust boot cover was stuck and just needed to be greased. 1000-2000 more miles later same noise came back took it to the dealership they couldn't duplicate the noise it is especially loud when going over bumps. I made shop manager ride with me and he heard the noise. He replaced a strut mount and dust cover. 2500 more miles later and the noise is back. Boot cover is stuck again. Dealership fixed it again car is back in the shop for the noise again. Problem has been reported to VW no response yet. This is the 4th rental car I have had due to this problem. On the third go around they told me they fixed the problem and I didn't even get out of the parking lot and heard the noise. Turned right around and took it back. They gave my rental car back and had my car for a week.
- Mechanicsville, MD, USA
Battery died out of nowhere. Now car radio is turning on by itself when car is off. Happens repeatedly after about one minute.
- Arlington, VA, USA
The anti-collision braking system engages when the car is driving out of driveways or stores with a dip in the road. The system identifies the road as a car or obstacle in the way and hard brakes the vehicle leaving is standing unable to move. Extremely dangerous!
- Los Angeles, CA, USA
On 11/20/2018 my low coolant light came on. I took it to a local dealership in town & they topped off the coolant. The tech advised me to take it to my registered dealership for inspection. On 11/21/2018 I took it to my dealership & stated the issue and noted the warning light. They inspected the vehicle, found the fluid was low (again only 24 hours after being topped off). Ran a pressure test & inspected for leaks. The tech said the fluid was low & they don't know why/where. They said this is normal. This is not normal on a 1 year old vehicle with < 10K miles purchased brand new. This is a pressurized system so either it's a bad head gasket & the system will burst, it's leaking & they didn't look very hard, or it's leaking into my engine cylinders & mixing with oil which will seize the vehicle. This complaint comes in addition to another complaint I filed with NHTSA where my vehicle died while in motion on 02/10/2019. This Atlas is not safe to drive & has obvious manufacture defects/poor engineering.
- Mequon, WI, USA
The forward collision avoidance and object detection were not working when I picked up the new lease vehicle from the dealer on June 19, 2018. Upon starting the vehicle a message appears on the console that the front assist is "not available". automatic braking, collision avoidance is affected. Acc (assisted cruise control) is also not operational without the front assist functioning. The dealer has made several attempts to fix the problem. There have been five separate attempts by VW service to fix this problem. Each time they corrected the problem it stops working within 1-5 days. I have taken the SUV in for repair for this problem on 7/12/18, 7/24/18, 10/8/18, 2/12/19, 2/26/19.
- Brooklyn, NY, USA
My Atlas died in the drive thru while running (stationary but about to move when it died) without any warning. The vehicle has less than 25,000 miles and had just been serviced less than one month prior. When it died, the car dash was blinking different messages but one said, 'drive to charge 12V'. I couldn't turn the engine over; the windows would not go up; and I was stuck in the drive thru for almost an hour before someone was able to jump my car to get it to the dealer. Dealer said they had changed 4-5 batteries out of the same type of car that week. That was three weeks ago. No eta on when a battery will be available. I went nearly 10 ten days without a car and now I have a loaner. No information on cause of problem or whether a new battery will fix the problem. Neither the dealer nor VW have given me any information or guidance on whether the vehicle will be safe to drive after battery replacement'I repeatedly explained that my vehicle died while running 'thankfully not in an intersection or red light'but still no information on the issue. I also am not getting any information as to why it could take over a month to even get a battery.
- Bloomfield Hills, MI, USA
2/20/2019 at 16:19 pst - I was driving on a cloudy afternoon, approaching a railroad crossing, about 100 ft away. My Atlas' radar was tripped by something and the car slammed the brakes to avoid a crash. Except there was nothing on the road. I am glad there were no cars around me otherwise I would have been involved in a crash.
- Riverside, CA, USA
- Highland Park, IL, USA