Consumer Safety Complaints

Incident date: Jan 20, 2022

Hello, I'm writing to share a safety concern regarding the 2021 VW Atlas. In January 2022, I was driving with my small children in the vehicle. The alarm went off for no reason when I first entered the car. Next, my passenger side windows went down on their own and would not go back up. All sorts of alarms/light went off in my car. Next, it started to throw my vehicle into emergency brake while dr... Read more

Incident date: Oct 28, 2021

Between mid-November and early December 2021, my 2021 Volkswagen Atlas started randomly braking while the vehicle was in motion. There were loud beeping sounds, multiple error notifications on the dash, and the rear driver's side window kept randomly going down. I recently read an article from an online publication called autoblog, which indicated to me that this problem is occurring in these vehi... Read more

Incident date: Oct 28, 2021

Between mid-November and early December 2021, my 2021 Volkswagen Atlas started randomly braking while the vehicle was in motion. There were loud beeping sounds, multiple error notifications on the dash, and the rear driver's side window kept randomly going down. I recently read an article from an online publication called autoblog, which indicated to me that this problem is occurring in these vehi... Read more

Incident date: Oct 28, 2021

Between mid-November and early December 2021, my 2021 Volkswagen Atlas started randomly braking while the vehicle was in motion. There were loud beeping sounds, multiple error notifications on the dash, and the rear driver's side window kept randomly going down. I recently read an article from an online publication called autoblog, which indicated to me that this problem is occurring in these vehi... Read more

Incident date: Dec 3, 2021

The contact owns a 2021 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH on the highway, the brakes applied without the brake pedal being depressed. The contact was able to pull over and made it home safely. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer and it was diagnosed as the wiring harness needing to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failur... Read more

Incident date: Dec 3, 2021

The contact owns a 2021 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH on the highway, the brakes applied without the brake pedal being depressed. The contact was able to pull over and made it home safely. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer and it was diagnosed as the wiring harness needing to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failur... Read more

Incident date: Mar 14, 2022

My airbag light randomly went on a few days after my 10k miles inspection at the Platinum VW dealership in Hicksville, NY. I brought it in and was told there is a safety issue due to a faulty sensor in the passenger side door which can both cause the airbag not to deploy (or to randomly deploy) and can also cause the parking break to automatically engage while the car is in motion. While the VW ... Read more

Incident date: Mar 14, 2022

My airbag light randomly went on a few days after my 10k miles inspection at the Platinum VW dealership in Hicksville, NY. I brought it in and was told there is a safety issue due to a faulty sensor in the passenger side door which can both cause the airbag not to deploy (or to randomly deploy) and can also cause the parking break to automatically engage while the car is in motion. While the VW ... Read more

Incident date: Mar 14, 2022

My airbag light randomly went on a few days after my 10k miles inspection at the Platinum VW dealership in Hicksville, NY. I brought it in and was told there is a safety issue due to a faulty sensor in the passenger side door which can both cause the airbag not to deploy (or to randomly deploy) and can also cause the parking break to automatically engage while the car is in motion. While the VW ... Read more

Incident date: Nov 5, 2021

Drivers side wire harness. All sorts of alarms going off, windows going up and down on their own, parking break engaging on its own while driving!!! Absolutely unsafe vehicle & VW was not helpful or cooperative.

Incident date: Nov 5, 2021

Drivers side wire harness. All sorts of alarms going off, windows going up and down on their own, parking break engaging on its own while driving!!! Absolutely unsafe vehicle & VW was not helpful or cooperative.

Incident date: Nov 5, 2021

Drivers side wire harness. All sorts of alarms going off, windows going up and down on their own, parking break engaging on its own while driving!!! Absolutely unsafe vehicle & VW was not helpful or cooperative.

Incident date: Jan 11, 2022

The contact owns 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport. The contact stated while driving approximately 40 MPH, the vehicle went into brake mode automatically. There was an unknown warning light that illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to a local dealer. The failure was diagnosed as a door harness failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 13,974. T... Read more

Incident date: Feb 14, 2022

on 2/2/22 Brought vehicle to nearest dealership.Upon inspection they ordered a HARNESS;TECH CHECKED AND FOUND LOST COMMUNICATION WITH DOOR CONTROL MODULE DRIVER SIDE DOOR MODULE FAULTY PART ON ORDER. My vehicle is available for inspection upon request keeping in mind underivable safety issues. on 2/02/2022 to start with ,drove into dealership because of windows on drivers side opening, dash board ... Read more

Incident date: Feb 14, 2022

on 2/2/22 Brought vehicle to nearest dealership.Upon inspection they ordered a HARNESS;TECH CHECKED AND FOUND LOST COMMUNICATION WITH DOOR CONTROL MODULE DRIVER SIDE DOOR MODULE FAULTY PART ON ORDER. My vehicle is available for inspection upon request keeping in mind underivable safety issues. on 2/02/2022 to start with ,drove into dealership because of windows on drivers side opening, dash board ... Read more

Incident date: Feb 14, 2022

on 2/2/22 Brought vehicle to nearest dealership.Upon inspection they ordered a HARNESS;TECH CHECKED AND FOUND LOST COMMUNICATION WITH DOOR CONTROL MODULE DRIVER SIDE DOOR MODULE FAULTY PART ON ORDER. My vehicle is available for inspection upon request keeping in mind underivable safety issues. on 2/02/2022 to start with ,drove into dealership because of windows on drivers side opening, dash board ... Read more

Incident date: Jan 24, 2022

Car started engaging emergency brake while driving. Started off in park and progressed. Windows would roll down and lights would come on. Took in to VW. They said door harness needs replaced. No ETA for part. They said they had a temporary fix that they did but It did not even make it out of the parking lot of service without the ebrake engaging again. Refused to drive it home and was given a loan... Read more

Incident date: Jan 24, 2022

Car started engaging emergency brake while driving. Started off in park and progressed. Windows would roll down and lights would come on. Took in to VW. They said door harness needs replaced. No ETA for part. They said they had a temporary fix that they did but It did not even make it out of the parking lot of service without the ebrake engaging again. Refused to drive it home and was given a loan... Read more

Incident date: Jan 24, 2022

Car started engaging emergency brake while driving. Started off in park and progressed. Windows would roll down and lights would come on. Took in to VW. They said door harness needs replaced. No ETA for part. They said they had a temporary fix that they did but It did not even make it out of the parking lot of service without the ebrake engaging again. Refused to drive it home and was given a loan... Read more

Incident date: Mar 17, 2022

Electronic Stability Control ESC activates briefly under certain conditions that are completely normal. Smooth dry pavement. It happens for me very predictably on a specific curve on a 2-lane road. Vehicle speed is about 30, the curve in the road is very gentle, nothing extreme. Drive through this curve and ESC activates (flashes). It also happens very predictably at a T intersection where I ... Read more

Incident date: Nov 1, 2021

Airbag and horn do not work and dealership said it needs a new clockspring. There was a recall on clocksprings for this model Tiguan and they replaced it in 2018. The clocksping broke again and they said its out of warrantee and there is no longer a recall. The charge is $700 and there has not been one available in over a year. The dealership told me there are 8000 customers waiting for the cl... Read more

Incident date: Mar 1, 2022

The recall listed on the previous page explains why visibility is so poor when low or high beams are on while driving, no matter what the weather conditions are. My safety, along with my family's safety, and oncoming traffic were put at risk due to such poor visibility. I don't have this problem with my other Volkswagen (2017 Jetta). The other problem I encountered is with my steering wheel. I wa... Read more

Incident date: Mar 14, 2022

ABSmodule is defective, Known problem for this car and volkswagon will not repair under warranty. after 2007 model year they will cove repair

Incident date: Mar 15, 2022

Car randomly shuts engine off completely when start/stop is activated and at a stop. I’ve had to put the car from gear into park and restart the car due to this issue. I consistently get fault warnings for the electronic parking brake and driver side control panel in which the drivers side and passenger window randomly roll down.

Incident date: Mar 9, 2022

Parking break engages while driving. Windows roll down door contact light flashes

Incident date: Mar 9, 2022

Parking break engages while driving. Windows roll down door contact light flashes

Incident date: Apr 2, 2021

My wife was driving our 5 day old Atlas along the interstate with cruise control set at 65mph. She was traveling up an incline that had a slight turn to the right along the interstate. There was not a car within 500+ yards of her car. All of a sudden she started hearing beeps and the car abruptly slammed on the brakes causing the Atlas to shift all of its weight to front and causing the rear tires... Read more

Crash

Incident date: Apr 2, 2021

My wife was driving our 5 day old Atlas along the interstate with cruise control set at 65mph. She was traveling up an incline that had a slight turn to the right along the interstate. There was not a car within 500+ yards of her car. All of a sudden she started hearing beeps and the car abruptly slammed on the brakes causing the Atlas to shift all of its weight to front and causing the rear tires... Read more

Crash

Incident date: Apr 2, 2021

My wife was driving our 5 day old Atlas along the interstate with cruise control set at 65mph. She was traveling up an incline that had a slight turn to the right along the interstate. There was not a car within 500+ yards of her car. All of a sudden she started hearing beeps and the car abruptly slammed on the brakes causing the Atlas to shift all of its weight to front and causing the rear tires... Read more

Crash

Incident date: Mar 2, 2022

While driving at highway speeds at random the vehicle would brake on its own engage the parking brake and roll windows down. We tried to have the vehicle looked at Boise Volkswagen and they refused to schedule and inspect the vehicle. We even advised the dealer of an open safety campaign/recall and they also still refused to service the vehicle. Unfortunately next closest dealership is 157 miles ... Read more

Incident date: Mar 2, 2022

While driving at highway speeds at random the vehicle would brake on its own engage the parking brake and roll windows down. We tried to have the vehicle looked at Boise Volkswagen and they refused to schedule and inspect the vehicle. We even advised the dealer of an open safety campaign/recall and they also still refused to service the vehicle. Unfortunately next closest dealership is 157 miles ... Read more

Incident date: Jan 12, 2022

Check engine came on. As the vehicle came to slow speed (under 5mph) the parking brake automatically engages causing the vehicle to come to an abrupt stop causing a dangerous situation. Car is currently at dealer for over a month. VW is unable to get part to fix problem.

Incident date: Jan 26, 2022

While traveling at approximately 45 mph, my vehicle suddenly stopped with no reason. My window on the driver side and left rear passenger window rolled down approximately 2-4 inches, my windows locked, driver side door kept locking and unlocking. My emergency brake suddenly engaged and multiple warning lights came on. I had to turn my car off for it to start responding normal again. It happened f... Read more

Incident date: Jan 26, 2022

While traveling at approximately 45 mph, my vehicle suddenly stopped with no reason. My window on the driver side and left rear passenger window rolled down approximately 2-4 inches, my windows locked, driver side door kept locking and unlocking. My emergency brake suddenly engaged and multiple warning lights came on. I had to turn my car off for it to start responding normal again. It happened f... Read more

Incident date: Jan 26, 2022

While traveling at approximately 45 mph, my vehicle suddenly stopped with no reason. My window on the driver side and left rear passenger window rolled down approximately 2-4 inches, my windows locked, driver side door kept locking and unlocking. My emergency brake suddenly engaged and multiple warning lights came on. I had to turn my car off for it to start responding normal again. It happened f... Read more

Incident date: Mar 13, 2022

We have 2021 Atlas purchased Nov. 2020 the AEB and parking collision sensors and system engage at random times while driving. The most recent incident was while parking the car 3/13/22 there were no cars in the parking lot and while turning into the lot and parking spot the AEB engaged and stopped the car completely this is not only unnecessary but while having kids in the car I was left to look a... Read more

Incident date: Mar 13, 2022

We have 2021 Atlas purchased Nov. 2020 the AEB and parking collision sensors and system engage at random times while driving. The most recent incident was while parking the car 3/13/22 there were no cars in the parking lot and while turning into the lot and parking spot the AEB engaged and stopped the car completely this is not only unnecessary but while having kids in the car I was left to look a... Read more

Incident date: Mar 13, 2022

We have 2021 Atlas purchased Nov. 2020 the AEB and parking collision sensors and system engage at random times while driving. The most recent incident was while parking the car 3/13/22 there were no cars in the parking lot and while turning into the lot and parking spot the AEB engaged and stopped the car completely this is not only unnecessary but while having kids in the car I was left to look a... Read more

Incident date: Dec 1, 2021

Started with not being able to enter the vehicle through drivers door, would not open from outside. Then windows started rolling down on their own. MANY different alarms and warnings would pop up while driving. This went on for about a month. I was coming up to a stop light one day and the car put itself into emergency parking brake mode. I was able to hit the gas and get out of it but this c... Read more

Incident date: Jan 18, 2022

The contact owns a 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport. The contact stated that while driving and depressing the brake pedal, the parking brake would erroneously activate. The vehicle had to be shifted into Park, turned off, and restarted; however, the failure would recur whenever the brake pedal was depressed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the contact was informed that the failure might b... Read more

Incident date: Mar 13, 2022

Unexpected emergency braking with no other vehicle nor object in driving lane/path. Such a scary experience and almost got rear-ended as we were traveling on expressway. No active recalls related to this issue, which apparently isn't unique to my personal experience with this particular year,make,model.

Incident date: Dec 10, 2021

The contact owns a 2019 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the vehicle made an abnormal squealing noise while accelerating from a stationary start. The contact indicated that the noise was present for approximately three seconds before ceasing. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who replaced an engine valve however, the failure continued. No further infor... Read more

Incident date: Dec 10, 2021

The contact owns a 2019 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the vehicle made an abnormal squealing noise while accelerating from a stationary start. The contact indicated that the noise was present for approximately three seconds before ceasing. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who replaced an engine valve however, the failure continued. No further infor... Read more

Incident date: Feb 18, 2022

My 2019 VW Atlas with approx 29k on the odometer randomly initiated the emergency braking system while I was Highway driving and the car forced itself to brake without warning. I was unable to control the car at that point. Only once the vehicle was turned off did the problem “reset”. Thankfully no accident occurred, but the problem continued and the vehicle was towed to the dealership. The fo... Read more

Incident date: Feb 18, 2022

My 2019 VW Atlas with approx 29k on the odometer randomly initiated the emergency braking system while I was Highway driving and the car forced itself to brake without warning. I was unable to control the car at that point. Only once the vehicle was turned off did the problem “reset”. Thankfully no accident occurred, but the problem continued and the vehicle was towed to the dealership. The fo... Read more

Incident date: Nov 1, 2021

I have a 2019 VW R line that has been in the dealer repair for 2 months. All the lights on the dash mysteriously come on. The parking brake engages by itself and the rear window goes down. While in the parking lot, I videotaped one occurrence and the car would not stop beeping until I shut the car off and had to restart several times. I was told by dealer that the car was still not repaired becau... Read more

Incident date: Nov 1, 2021

I have a 2019 VW R line that has been in the dealer repair for 2 months. All the lights on the dash mysteriously come on. The parking brake engages by itself and the rear window goes down. While in the parking lot, I videotaped one occurrence and the car would not stop beeping until I shut the car off and had to restart several times. I was told by dealer that the car was still not repaired becau... Read more

Incident date: Nov 1, 2021

I have a 2019 VW R line that has been in the dealer repair for 2 months. All the lights on the dash mysteriously come on. The parking brake engages by itself and the rear window goes down. While in the parking lot, I videotaped one occurrence and the car would not stop beeping until I shut the car off and had to restart several times. I was told by dealer that the car was still not repaired becau... Read more

Incident date: Mar 1, 2022

Vehicle's autonomous emergency braking system activates without any reasonable cause (nothing in front of the vehicle). Often the system doesn't apply the brakes, it will just alert (red logo in instrument cluster screen). However, sometimes the brakes will immediately apply. This occurs sporadically without warning on multiple streets, up to 20 miles per hour.

Incident date: Mar 1, 2022

Vehicle's autonomous emergency braking system activates without any reasonable cause (nothing in front of the vehicle). Often the system doesn't apply the brakes, it will just alert (red logo in instrument cluster screen). However, sometimes the brakes will immediately apply. This occurs sporadically without warning on multiple streets, up to 20 miles per hour.