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.
My 2021 Atlas, has started to shut off by itself when put in park. "MESSAGE- engine will shut off automatically to conserve battery" it randomly shut off when the car slows down stopped or on in reverse. This has occur while stopped on red light, reverse or even when driving slow.. This is a very dangerous problem and safety issue that can result in collisions / injuries or worse.
Vehicle is shutting off when coming to a stop light or sign or when placed in park.. throws a message on dash to restart manually. Has happened intermittently since purchase used in December 2023
Just purchased vehicle, light: SOS: EMERGENCY CALL FUNCTION, SERVICE VEHICLE is continuously turning on, you turn off car, it goes away. Start car and drive, turns right back on. Have been to dealer and was told module would need to be replaced car is 3 years old. It's a constant beeping/ distraction. The potential consequences of not addressing the issue are unclear. There exist numerous blogs and consumer reviews about this issue, indicating that consumers must constantly expend funds to rectify the issue, when it should ideally be managed by the manufacturer. This is unacceptable. Are we being sold lemons here in California?
The Infotainment/Navigation system has knows issues in these cars. After several visits to the dealer we were told that it is somewhat fixed, well on a small trip 5-6 miles it now told us to take a turn into the wrong direction or one way street. There was a blind corner in about 50 yards in and while we were looking stunned and standing still that it asked us to enter the street, 5 seconds later a vehicle came blasting around that corner, it would have been head on collision.
GPS Navigation that is built in constantly freezes and or is close to 8-9 miles off course. Will also guide you to the complete opposite direction as you need to travel. In the past 6 months, the vehicle has been back to the dealer 5-6 times for this issue, for the past two months is have been at the dealer for close to 5 weeks, they try to reprogram, replace modules still no fix. It is a serious issue, since you cannot securely navigate, the system will tell you to make a u turn on a freeway, to drive over a lake and or farmland. Seems a lot of people have issues with this and there need to be a safety recall. I do have plenty of movies that will show the lockup and or the completely erratic behavior but they are all over the size limit.
- Homestead, FL, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
Frequently when the vehicle drives very slowly in bumper to bumper, or when coming to a stop the engine will completely stop. Electronics stay on but a message telling me to turn the car appears on the dash. I then have to put the vehicle in park and then press the power on button, put the car back into drive. The car continues to state there is an error with the Automatic shut off feature. I have brought this to my VW dealership twice now for a fix. The first time they said it was an update which did nothing. The 2nd time they replaced a valve and that also did nothing. This has done this many times in bumper to bumper traffic and is very concerning/dangerous. It seemed to be less of a problem during cold weather and an increasing problem the warmer it gets.
2021 volkswagon Atlas, needed new oil pan after few months due to major oil leak. had to pay out of pocket for rental 1 week. Wipers came flying off on driver's side hitting side window scratching car. Dealership said nothing wrong (my dad tightened bolts they were loose) heater in back started making horrible noise, said nothing was wrong. Needed new breaks, rotors numerous times. When backing up makes horrible noise, to this day. 10/7/23 driving down road at 28 mph my car stalled out. Did this numerous times w/in 3 weeks, brought to dealership said they couldn't find anything wrong. Kept happening brought it back. They change emission module & oil. Car started sounding like a tractor. Brought it to different dealership. Going down road at 45 mph with 4 kids in car. Car stalls out. No steering no breaks. Super scary. Car keeps stalling out, going down road at 58mph car stalls out, no steering no breaks again everything locks up. 18 wheeler behind me, 3 kids in car. Brought to another dealership, they stated never heard of car stalling out before. They stated other dealership put wrong oil in, they did another oil change and said my car was safe to drive. Car still kept stalling out almost every time I slowed down or came to a stop, or even when starting it before leaving had to restart numerous times. Fast forward car been in shop since 2/1/24. Said metal shavings in oil filter now needs new motor & theres bearings missing. (they told me car was safe to drive) we asked about safety issue, they said what safety issue" Whycar keeps stalling" Said never heard of this issue with the cars before. they want 9k for a rebuilt motor w/ way more miles than my car has now, Ive been in rental for 3 weeks out of pocket pay. Dealership can't promise me this will fix car. Car is a death trap and I have precious cargo, I don't feel safe driving it. Research says lots of people having same issues. VW Rep says never heard of this. Called lawyers yup its a common lawsuit, lemon car.
I was driving my 2021 Volkswagen Atlas on a Friday evening that has under 55,000 miles and it stopped on me while I was driving. I have NEVER had any problems with this vehicle. This was a HUGE safety issue, as my vehicle stopped at a light while in motion at an intersection and it would not go forward. I attempted to turn my vehicle off and back on, then put the vehicle into park, drive, and reverse and it would not go into any gear and made this loud noise. I had to place my foot on the brakes so the vehicle would not roll until the tow company arrived all while in the middle of the intersection. My vehicle was towed to the Sutherlin Volkswagen of Lithia Springs Georgia on [XXX] and was told by an advisor on [XXX] that my Cv Axle Spline Malfunction causing Cv Axle to back out of the transmission housing, and to repair this will cost me $1355 since I'm now out of the warranty. I have been without a vehicle since 1-8-2024 so I reserved a rental for 1 week paying $255. The dealer states the parts will take a few days to come so I will be down another week and with no vehicle and I can't afford to pay for another and pay for repairs. I'm filing an official compliant because this was a safety hazard that could have ended multi car collision. My vehicle had no warning lights. I also took my vehicle to the dealer on the regular for the oil change and multi-point inspection as preventatives measures with received indication that my cv axle needed replacement. I have included the analysis estimate received from the dealer and rental bill I paid for. I look forward to hearing from you in regard to this matter. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
The gps in the vehicle navigation shows an inaccurate location of the vehicle, which causes problems for adaptive cruise, and vehicle safety notifications on the dash. Incorrect speed limit indicators occur as a result, and vehicle navigation is rendered useless. It looks ridiculous to all passengers as the vehicle will show on GPS somewhere it isn-??t, even driving through fields where there are now roads. Problem is intermittent and can last for days or minutes at a time. Known problem on the 2021 as well as more recent models of the vehicle.
This Atlas has been stalling the last 2 weeks. It happens when going very slow like 5 mph or less. The car turns off and says turn on manually. You have to throw it in park and start the car. I looked online and it is a known problem with this vehicle, many complaints stating the charcoal canister or n80 valve was the issue. I took my car to the dealer and they did a software update and said they couldn't get the car to stall after that. It has stalled again after the software update for me.
I told faulkner that my truck often feels like the auto on/off switch is activated when its deactivated. Meaning, if im in bumper to bumper traffic. Stop, go, slow down the suv acts as if uts going to stall. Which I have to push the gas peddle harder to give it momentum to go. Issue is if ur behind someone and you have to do this. You could hit them because it jolts forward pretty hard. The tech told me VW is aware of the issue and currently there isnt a fix. Had i known this was an issue upfront. I would have never purchased the vehicle.
The viechle appears to be having a very common issue of the Hood Latch being broken or snapping. I was left stranded with my car with a dead battery unable to access the battery to jump it.
1. steering making noise during turn/revervse/ forward/parking etc.. dealers triedd to fix it but not sucess. 2. error: Start / stop engine at certain situation and stalling while driving. Incident on various date
The ac on driver side went out. I seen online where a recall was in the process. I want to know if this is true before I have to pay all this money out of pocket. I don-??t understand how this can happen when the car is practically brand new not even two years old yet.
Atlas will just turned off while driving l at various speeds, you are forced to put in park and restart you Vehicle. If you do not get off to side of road and person behind you isn-??t paying attention we will be rear ended. Has happened 5 times in the last 2 weeks. Volkswagen clear lake had car for 3 days and claim that all test came back good and they could not recreate the problem. Although they only touched my car on day one and did nothing the last 2 days. They claim there will be a recall but are not willing to do anything right now because they can not Re-create the problem driving it around the block for 2 minutes. Please help car is under warranty and dealership is no help. Only thing that shows up on dash is to put in park and restart. They also have no loaner vehicles and have put me in a bind the 3 days they kept it for nothing to be done.
Vehicle-??s electronic emergency brake system engaged while driving at low speed, below 15mph. Loud scraping sound repetitively heard from driver side tire.
After installing a software update, we noticed an issue with our Atlas where the parking brake is engaging suddenly at very low speeds, maybe around 4 mph but definitely before the vehicle is completely stopped. It feels very odd and has even come close to getting us rear ended from behind. It is intermittent and happens on seemingly random days/times, and at the same time as when the parking brake comes on, a bunch of audible alarms and warning messages pop up, and the drivers side windows roll down on their own about 4-5 inches. One of the dash warnings is saying something about a faulty door sensor.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Los Fresnos, TX, USA