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.
Driver door wiring harness is faulty and needs replaced. At random times during driving all alerts will go off in car triggering the windows to roll down, the parking brake to engage while the vehicle is moving, turning off adaptive cruise, lane keep assist and many other safety features while using them. I fear for the safety of the passengers in my car and those around me as I am unable to know when the brake will engage. The dealer has confirmed the need for replacement but does not have the parts to replace. They will not provide a loaner and have no estimate of when parts will be available for repair. The issue is ongoing and random.
While i am driving my car start acting crazy first the windows go down following for some mesenges in the screen, Error: driver door contact switch Error: start/stop Fault:electronic parking brake The electric brake is activated wile i am driving that was the mos scare thing happened to my family and me.
The below are known issues dating back to at least 2020 Atlas models, but this first appeared in our vehicle mid-November 2021; we purchased the car new June 2021. The driver door contact switch has failed. There are annoyances - the widows randomly roll down, lots of dinging, warning lights, etc. - but the safety issue is that the emergency brake will come on sometimes when you brake. We have a child and cannot risk suddenly being stopped on a highway. Because of this, the car is undriveable. VW estimates the part will be available in 2023, so there are people driving around with this safety issue because they have no second car and people who are paying a loan on a car they cannot drive. These issues have been replicated by the dealer. The case has been escalated to VW and there is no sense of urgency. See here for reports of others with the same experiences: https://www.vwatlasforum.com/threads/error-driver-door-contact-switch.6359/
After 3 months of owning this brand new car, the parking system started to act up. My parking sensors would beep for no reason, windows would roll down and my parking brake would come on when I was driving. I took the car to the dealership and they did an electrical update. Two months later the same issue happened again, as well as my engine light came on because my coolant was low. Again I took it to the dealership where I was told a door harness sensor needed to be replaced and my head gasket needed to be replaced as well. My car has been in the shop for almost two months as the part is on back order. Now there is also a recall for the air conditioner. This is the worst experience with a new car I have ever had. I have initiated the process of trying to get Volkswagen to buy it back. When I spoke to the service manager he told me he has 9 other Atlas-??s in the shop for the same reason. Customer care has been no help. I will never buy another Volkswagen again.
Upon starting car warning is light comes on regarding faulty door sensor then several other random warnings. Rear passenger windows open a few inches automatically. The warning signal beeps continuously until car begins to move but when you come to a compete stop the parking brake engages automatically and beeping begins again. It is very random and unpredictable, not rhyme or reason as to what triggers it or not. I have been waiting ever since Dec 17 to take it in to dealership. I was informed by dealership that they would need the car for at least 1 week to diagnose the problem. I have been waiting since then for them to have an available loaner car since dealer told me it was safe to continue driving the car. PLEASE ISSUE RECALL ORDER FOR THIS VEHICLE!
- San Antonio, TX, USA
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Purchased the car in April 2021. After 230 miles of driving remote start stopped working. VW service center diagnosed faulty soldering on fuel pump and replaced it. In December 2021 both passenger side windows started opening on their own while in park and driving. Shortly started getting error message from proximity sensors, adaptive cruise control and finally brakes with service engine message. Brought to VW service center and got diagnosed with faulty door harness. Service technician informed me that they had 20+ cars with similar issue and shortage of parts. Ultimately I was told vehicle is not safe to drive, due to car identifying door as open and shutting off engine mid-driving. Harness replaced, not the trunk is opening in park and windows are still opening by themselves. Sent the vehicle to service center by tow truck, applied for lemon law replacement and VW corporate. This should be heading to recall to prevent driving accidents. VW corporate is very hard to contact and follow-up is very poor. Other vehicle issues: Low coolant level, faulty door lock on passenger door.
Check engine light came on, windows were going down 1/8 of the way on their own, parking brake goes on automatically while engine is on while driving and pressing on brake, cannot utilize any controls on driver door. Dealer checked and it is the door harness that is on backorder. I was told 41 customers ahead of me waiting for same part in Northeast USA. Car is not safe to drive due to parking brake automatically engaging. VW of America notified and my case was escalated and I have initiated the PA Lemon Law Arbitration process. Issues first appeared 11/8/21. I have been given a smaller loaner vehicle from dealer on 11/9/21 and am still using that.
The vehicle indicated the door sensor was not working. This cause all warning lights on my dashboard to come on. Additionally, the car would beep notifying me that the engine was running as if the door had been opened. The car would then apply the emergency brake anytime I would begin to slow down causing me to almost get into an accident.
Within seconds of starting the vehicle, error codes started appearing on the dashboard and beeping noise stating to park the car and not drive. The back window will roll down on its on and the parking break will engage if it wasn-??t engaged already. I would turn off the car and it would go away But after a few minutes the car would start beeping and all kinds of lights and error code started appearing again. After getting this error message and the constant beeping, the emergency brake turns on and the window from behind driver's door lowers like 5 inches from top. At this point, I cannot lower window and I cannot turn off emergency brake. The code started appearing about a week prior to December 8 which was the final straw. It got to a point that while driving, if I took the foot of the gas pedal, the emergency break will engage automatically as I was going 10-15 miles per hr. Everytime I slowed down and was coming to a stop the car will engage the emergency break. I had to turn off the car and back on in order to keep going. This almost caused me to be hit multiple times until I was able to get to a safe location and away from the main road. I-??ve read many others complaint similar and I think this should be a recall. It is a safety hazard when the emergency break engages once you slow down and foot is off the break. This particular car was fixed on Nov.5 for a recall related to coupling rods. I was told that the issue now is called a -??driver front door harness-?? fault which the wires think I-??m opening the door while driving so it engages the emergency break. Vehicle is currently at dealership and has been since Dec. 8 with no estimated time of repair due to waiting on parts.vehicle has been in my possession since Jan. 9, 2021.
Today, December 1, 2021 my Atlas completely shut off while driving twice. This has happened 2 times prior on separate occasions, bringing the total times to 4 to date. Today it happened first in the morning while I was exiting the school parking lot and attempting to enter the main road of traffic. It completely stopped, turned off, and asked me to put in park before I could turn the engine back on. It then happened again while driving in a parking lot. It completely shut off and would not move. In all of these instances I felt in danger and at risk of causing or being involved in a car accident due to this sudden engine failure. All 4 times have been within the past few weeks, but today was the worst in that it was twice in the same day.
Door Sensor causing car to throw various codes. Windows rolling down by themselves, parking brake engaging by itself. VW knows about the problem and should be a recall. Parts is on back order with time frame.
My 2021 Atlas turned itself off while I was going down the road at 70 MPH. I had over 1/2 tank of gas. I was able to get to the side of the road, put the car in park, and restart.
On Thursday, October 29th, I started my car after it had been parked outside for several days in the rain. After backing my car out of the driveway and then propelling forward, water (easily 1.5-2 cups) came out of the rear view mirror onto the paneling below. The water came out of the buttons as they were pushed on the panel. In addition, throughout the weekend, you could see the condensation in the buttons. As a result, the ac/heat paneling did not work correctly for several days. When I would turn on the car, the panel would light up and at times, I could not turn off some of the functions. This happened for at least 4 days. I called my VW dealership on Thursday, October 29th when I discovered this. However, VW could not fit me in to look at the car until Monday, November 2nd. Also to note, the engine light had come on and gone off several times throughout the weekend. I will also add the entire driver's side ceiling from the windshield to the sunroof was saturated with water. One push of the finger and water would come seeping out of the ceiling. After taking it to VW they could not find anything wrong with any sealing or any leak. I feel confident the sunroof was shut while my car was outside as it had been raining/sleeting for a week and I had no opportunity to use the sunroof.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Rising Fawn, GA, USA