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.
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!!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Takata, oil was low upon purchase, had to replace oil within the first 100 miles and second time at 5,000 miles along with the coolant! coolant was completely gone at 5000 miles. Air vents are horrible- smell of oil/coolant seeping into the vents when the vehicle is on. Outdoor smells come into the car along with exhaust from other cars. Shifter jumps and is stiff while going out of park to neutral, from park to drive etc. Very toxic this vehicle is, not safe when idling...when in neutral the vehicle as I would be in a drive thru perse and then brake to go from neutral to drive, the trans will "jump" grind into gear!
Twice I have been stranded because the auto start stop is not providing enough power to the battery and therefor the vehicle will not start sometimes without being jumped. I have been stranded twice because the auto shut off has turned the vehicle off at a light and then the vehicle would not restarte.
1/28/19 car starts fine, drive 15 min, run 3 errands, then can't start car. Electronic display has all warning icons flashing. Battery test 50% power.jumpstart car, epc and engine icons stay lit. Charge battery at home. Car runs fine for 2 days.then car won't start again, epc icon lit, run car 20 minutes, then try to drive car but cannot exceed 13 mph. Call for tow; truck never arrives ( 3+ hours). Attempt to start car, starts fine, no warnings lit; drive to dealer. Dealer says battery "defective", replaces under warranty. Car has 26600 miles and I have owned for 18 months. Dealer says epc not lit while they looked at the car so they cannot address. Ridiculous. Car fine for 2 days, then epc light back on. I have spent probably 40 hours or more at VW dealership waiting for various repairs over the last 18 months. A google search reveals many VW Atlas have epc problems, and if you just google Volkswagen and epc you can find hundreds of postings for this issue with almost every VW model. I will be taking the car back in but am not confident I will get a satisfactory repair based on all the other online complaints about this issue
Front assist with autonomous emergency braking does nothing on my car. I am not receiving any audio/video alerts, nor it's trying to slow or stop vehicle. System not working as described in the manual and advertised in the official VW video. I can't rely on the system at this point, as I know it will not slow down or stop my car as it should.
My car battery has died twice now in 2 months on a car that is only about 1 year old. Without warning and it was very difficult to get it jumpstarted again. Taking it into the dealer to have it inspected but have seen several forums of others who own the same car that have also had this issue.
When attempting to start the vehicle, it barely started and then went into limp mode. Had to get it towed to the dealer. The dealer determined that the battery was defective and had an insufficient charge to power the computer. The battery was replaced under warranty.
I have had issues with the battery dying on my Atlas for the last several months. I have driven it, gone into a store for 5 minutes and coming back out and the battery is dead. Or the car won't start the next morning after sitting my heated garage overnight. In my instance the car has been stationary the entire time but I know others have had this happen while in motion. This has happened 7-8 times recently and its unacceptable for this to be happening on a car this new. I have not had the car not restart in an intersection yet like many others have had happen but regardless its still a significant safety concern and VW needs to address this issue. I have read many items that people have taken their cars into the dealer to get the battery replaced and the problem still occurs. VW needs to recall 2018 Atlas's for this problem and find a permanent fix for this problem. It is clearly an issue that they know about and need to take action on it now. I can't have my family in vehicle that that I don't know when it will or will not start.
The battery on my vehicle has died multiple times. It is only a year old but it has died while driving in the auto start/stop mode and after parked at work and in my garage. Today it was -25 degrees F and it completely died on me after being at work for 4 hours, which was incredibly dangerous. Also, more often than not, my auto start on my key fob doesn't work either.
The auto rake system on my Atlas sel is extremely dangerous. When exiting driveways/parking lots that are steep, the front sensors sense the road, start beeping and on several occasions stopped the car in the middle of the road before I could get completely on the street. This forces you to either turn off the system (that you are paying for), or exit very slowly hoping that the system won't brake all of a sudden. Volkswagen needs to address this issue before accidents happen
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Santa Maria, CA, USA