5.7

fairly significant
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
15,315 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 3 of 6)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #63

Feb 272021

Atlas

  • 30,000 miles

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

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

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

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

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

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

problem #54

Aug 212019

Atlas

  • 17,000 miles
The contact owns a 2018 Volkswagen Atlas. While driving various speeds, the battery warning indicator illuminated and the vehicle seized. The vehicle was taken to three rivers Volkswagen (3694 Washington rd, mcmurray, pa 15317, (724) 941-6100) where it was diagnosed that the battery needed to be replaced. The battery was replaced, but the failure recurred eleven months later. The vehicle was taken back to the same dealer where it was diagnosed that the rear usb drive caused the failure because it drained the battery. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failures. The failure mileage was approximately 17,000.

- Beverfalls, PA, USA

problem #53

Oct 072019

Atlas

  • miles

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

Electrical issue causes the transmission to fail. As you press on the gas this issue does not allow the car to move forward. Has stopped on me now twice in 3 months. First repair took 20 days. Was very dangerous and scary because it happened on freeway the first time and on a hill the 2nd so the car began to roll backwards.

- Dublin, CA, USA

problem #52

Sep 252019

Atlas

  • 26,000 miles
Battery died right after I bought car and it appears this is quite a frequent issue with this car

- Virginia Beach, VA, USA

problem #51

Jun 072019

Atlas

  • 11,000 miles
While sitting at a red light for about a minute the car turns off due to the cars on/off feature. When the light turned green the car would not start back up. I had to put the Atlas in park and rest set to turn it on. It will not turn back on until after a few tries. This has happened to me about 5 different times now. I now drive with that feature turned off until VW can fix this glitch. Very unsafe while sitting traffic and car is stalled in the middle of the road.

- Chula Vista, CA, USA

problem #50

May 132019

Atlas

  • 23,000 miles
I was driving on a busy highway and came to a stop in traffic. The auto start-stop activated, and the engine turned off while I was stopped. Traffic started moving again so I took my foot off the brake, which is typically when the engine restarts, but the engine was completely silent and the car was dead. I tried restarting it to no avail. I had this same issue two months ago, and Volkswagen replaced the battery. After the car died, I got an error message saying the battery was low and I should drive to recharge it, however at that point the battery was too dead to drive. I really wish this error message would have shown up before the car died. Why did the auto start-stop activate if the battery didn't have enough juice to activate the engine?? two different batteries, same issue.

- Sterrett, AL, USA

problem #49

Apr 162019

Atlas

  • 10,000 miles
Battery dies with short idle. Waited less than 10 minutes for my husband and warning came on to drive the car to charge the battery. I was in a parking lot with air conditioning on. Engine had manually shut off so I went to restart and battery would not turn on. This has happened before.

- Greensboro, NC, USA

problem #48

Mar 232019

Atlas

  • 31,000 miles
I was stopped at a busy intersection when the battery died. This was the second time in 2 weeks that the battery died. Traffic had to be rerouted around me as I sat waiting for a jump start. I took it to the dealer and they say the batter is on back order which makes me think that this is a systemic problem affecting this vehicle.

- Broomfield, CO, USA

problem #47

Mar 052019

Atlas

  • 30,000 miles
Was driving down my driveway and the electronic brake all of a sudden malfunctioned and turned on, and locked up all movement. The system was screaming electronic brake malfunction, do not drive, brake is activated. I was able to eventually put it back up near my house in the parking portion of the driveway. This is not the first time that the brake has malfunctioned however it is the first time that it has done it while I was driving, normally I can turn off the car wait about 5 minutes or so and then it'll stop malfunctioning however this time the brakes locked up and the car would not move. I could not get the brake to turn off. Had the car towed to the dealership (still showing a malfunction after vehicle was off all day). At the dealer for several days, they said they could not replicate the incident and the car does not keep a log of malfunctions internally so there was nothing to be done. I have a long list of problems with sensors, camera systems, and other electronic failures going back through August 2018

- Lebanon, MO, USA

problem #46

Mar 052019

Atlas

  • miles
The battery has gone dead 3 times, , once at a stop light while driving and once after driving 45 minutes, turning car off for gas, then dead at gas station... just drove to dealership today and it happened again while in the waiting bay in the service department, jennings Volkswagen had to jump car to move it... was sitting off for 5 minutes after driving for 1 hour

- Long Grove, IL, USA

problem #45

Feb 252019

Atlas

  • 21,000 miles
I pulled up to a red light at a busy intersection and the auto start/stop activated stopping the engine. When the light turned green, the engine would not restart and a warning popped up stating the battery was almost dead and I should drive to charge the battery. It was a little too late for that! I did not receive any type of warning prior to the battery dying, and why on earth would the start/stop allow the engine to stop if the battery didn't have enough juice to restart the vehicle?? I received a lot of angry honking from people stuck behind me in the intersection, but thankfully a cop nearby saw what was going on and stopped all traffic to assist with pushing my vehicle off the road. My car is barely a year old, this should not have happened. I was three miles from a huge international airport and on my way to catch a flight, but instead I had to wait on roadside assistance to come help my stranded vehicle.

- Sterrett, AL, USA

problem #44

Jan 052019

Atlas

  • 45,000 miles
When riding in the passenger seat the air bag would disengage and engage as the person moved in the seat with the movement of the car. Moved the seat back and it went off, dealership mechanic could find nothing wrong. Last happened this morning, started after a few seconds of grinding, then went 12 mph, shut down, then started fine. Had the vehicle for 14 months the battery went dead, when pushing the start button it would catch and continue to try starting even when the finger was removed. When it started epc would come up and the vehicle would move at about 12 mph. Shut the vehicle down and start again, it would run ok. Have had it into repairs twice and nothing is found, yet it continues to start or not start and run slow. Warning comes up check running light, check right headlight, check left headlight. Replaced the battery two months ago, have already had to charge because it has gone dead. It is like the computer panel is not turning off. The vehicle has always been stopped - parked when it will not start, sometimes for a few minutes some times over night after having to use the fog lights. I have all the recalls fixed, but this started after having those fixed. My battery was replaced after 45,000 miles.

- Saint Jo, TX, USA

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