5.4

fairly significant
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
16,782 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2018 Volkswagen Atlas electrical problems

electrical problem

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2018 Volkswagen Atlas Owner Comments (Page 2 of 5)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #74

Jan 302023

Atlas

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Car automatically brakes driving down road and all the dash lights come on.

- Ludington , MI, USA

problem #73

Nov 272021

Atlas

  • miles
My trucks breaks has given out multiple times almost causing accidents in the middle of driving with no warning. Message on dash says faulty breaks, break failure before it quickly goes away. The abs break light comes on and the car stalls almost causing me to get rear ended. I purchased the car Oct 12,2021 car start having issues December 2021. It is extremely dangerous to drive. I took it to car max in forth myers fl when I almost hit a tractor trailer WITH MY CHILDREN IN THE CAR ! Carmax refused to look at my vehicle or give me a rental for it being unsafe. This has happened on multiple occasions. I shouldn-??t have to pay for something like this to get fixed when I was sold a faulty car from the start. I have spoke with a few Lawyers over this matter about CarMax and Voltswagon. I only have one photo I don-??t have a chance to take other photos when it happens because Im to busy trying not to get hurt.

- Flowery Branch , GA, USA

problem #72

Mar 112020

Atlas

  • miles
Emergency brakes occurred without anyone or anything in front of the car. Braking malfunction warning also came on.

- Seattle, WA, USA

problem #71

Jun 012019

Atlas

  • 20,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2018 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked in the garage, an abnormal odor was detected. The coolant warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer on several occasions and diagnosed with a faulty water pump and head gasket. The dealer was unable to identify where the coolant was traveling to. The dealer refilled the coolant and replaced the timing belt, head gasket, and water pump three separate times however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 20,000.

- Midlothian, VA, USA

problem #70

Jul 122017

Atlas

  • miles
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

problem #69

Apr 112021

Atlas

  • 55,400 miles
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

problem #68

Apr 092021

Atlas

  • 55,500 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

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

problem #67

Apr 052021

Atlas

  • miles
Battery keeps dying. Seems to be a rampant problem with VW Atlas. Https://www.cargurus.com/cars/discussion-T73111_ds837472

- Fort Wayne, IN, USA

problem #66

Mar 012021

Atlas

  • 30,000 miles
When the vehicle is in motion, specifically when accelerating but at a low speed (when the doors would normally auto lock) the locks attempt to 'unlock' repeatedly. There is also a light in the cargo area that doesn't turn on consistently and sometimes flickers when the car is running, in park, and the rear gate is open.

- Springville, UT, USA

problem #65

Mar 142021

Atlas

  • 0 miles
Two weeks ago, our 2018 Atlas displayed faulty steering lock. Vehicle was disabled and towed to dealership. After $1,300 in repairs with new steering module, the vehicle displays this again, and won't move. Vehicle is at dealership again and is dangerous because if this happens when driving, the vehicle won't steer and is going inoperable.

- Albuquerque, NM, USA

problem #64

Feb 252021

Atlas

  • 80,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Our electrical systems seem to have weird mishaps. Sometimes our lights stay on even if we close all doors and lock the car our check engine light comes on and off often. Sometimes the quick starter/electric start won't work. This all happens randomly and the engine light will be on when we start the car or while we're driving.

- Grand Rapids, MI, USA

problem #63

Feb 272021

Atlas

  • 30,000 miles
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

problem #62

Jan 022021

Atlas

  • 30,000 miles
Atlas is on its 3rd battery in 30,000 miles. When the battery fails it will die in an intersection during auto start stop. After boosting electronic steering, brakes, adaptive lighting, regular lighting, blinkers all fail and often limits to 15 mph

- Springvale, ME, USA

problem #61

Dec 032020

Atlas

  • miles
Car randomly puts transmission into emergency mode

- Washington, DC, USA

problem #60

Sep 242020

Atlas

  • 38,000 miles
Blind spot awareness sometimes does not alert tp cars on the drivers side of the vehicle. The blind spot light remains on after a turn signal is activated and comes on while on some roadways for no apparent reason. The vehicle is moving during these problems. Ongoing problem for over a year

- Spring, TX, USA

problem #59

Jul 152020

Atlas

  • 30,000 miles
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

problem #58

May 072018

Atlas

  • miles
2018 Volkswagen Atlas. Consumer writes in regards to vehicle being unresponsive. Consumer states that vehicle has had several issues since purchasing it. On 05/07/18, while driving 55 mph, vehicle became unresponsive. Vehicle was towed to dealership. Vehicle was repaired. On 02/21/19 the vehicle's remote start stopped working and the coolant light came on. Vehicle was taken to dealer and the cylinder head and catalyst were replaced. On 05/30/19 the A/C unit would not blow out cold air and vibrated when turned on. The A/C blower motor was replaced. On 07/02/19 a light came on the dash and a rattling sound came from vents. Debris was found in the vents and traces of metal were found in oil. The oil was changed and parts were replaced. On 12/2719 the coolant light came on. Metal shavings were found in the oil. Vehicle received a new engine. On 02/17/20 a noise is heard when driving vehicle. Manufacturer has been notified of failures. Manufacturer offered to pay remaining balance on vehicle, so that consumer could trade-in vehicle. Consumer declined offer.

- Indianapolis, IN, USA

problem #57

Jan 202020

Atlas

  • 20,000 miles
I own a VW Atlas which is 2 months old. Battery died all of a sudden 2 months back. Had to jump start the vehicle. Couple of days back battery was complete down again. I used the car everyday before battery went cold in my garage.

- Austin, TX, USA

problem #56

Dec 132019

Atlas 6-cyl

  • 41,000 miles
Car was purchased new 2/15/2018. Has 41000 miles and dealer maintained. My wife was at an intersection with a 1 year old and 4 year old in the car when auto shutoff occurred. Vehicle would not restart in a busy intersection. My wife had to be pushed to the edge of the road with the kids in the car and be jump started. Dealer says it is all due to a bad battery. Upon research this is a frequent and hazardous issue. Consumer replaced the battery.

- Martinsville, IL, USA

problem #55

Nov 112019

Atlas

  • 27,600 miles
Start/stop system or other electrical "feature" drains the battery to the point the engine won't start. Worse than that, the start/stop system doesn't deactivate itself even when the battery is too low to restart the motor. We were just stranded in a parking lot in a blizzard thanks to the car not starting back up.

- Crown Point, IN, USA

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