general problems of the 2018 Volkswagen Atlas - part 2

Two weeks ago, our 2018 Atlas displayed faulty steering lock. Vehicle was disabled and towed to dealership. After $1,300 in repairs with new steering module, the vehicle displays this again, and won't move. Vehicle is at dealership again and is dangerous because if this happens when driving, the vehicle won't steer and is going inoperable.

When the vehicle is in motion, specifically when accelerating but at a low speed (when the doors would normally auto lock) the locks attempt to �unlock� repeatedly. There is also a light in the cargo area that doesn't turn on consistently and sometimes flickers when the car is running, in park, and the rear gate is open.

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.

Car randomly puts transmission into emergency mode.

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.

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.

Emergency brakes occurred without anyone or anything in front of the car. Braking malfunction warning also came on.

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.

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.

Tl-the contact owns a 2018 vw Atlas sel 3. 6 awd. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds the vehicle batteries warning light illuminated causing the vehicle to seized. The vehicle was taken into the dealer ( three rivers Volkswagen 3694 washington rd, mcmurray, PA 15317 (724) 941-6100 )where a diagnoses test was performed and determined that the batteries needed tro be replaced. The batteries was replaced. The contact mentioned that 11 months later the vehicle experienced the same failure. Which the vehicle was taken back to the dealer with the 2nd diagnoses performed. And informed the contact that rear usb drive was cause of the failure. Due to it draining the batteries. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximate 17,000. Ck.

The contact owns a 2018 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked in the garage, an abnormal odor was detected. The coolant warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer on several occasions and diagnosed with faulty water pump and head gasket. The dealer was unable to identify where the coolant was traveling to. The dealer refilled the coolant and replaced the timing belt, head gasket, and water pump three separate times however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 20,000.

The contact owns a 2018 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated that the air bag warning light was illuminated regarding the passenger’s side air bags. The steering wheel button functionality was inoperable. The contact stated that the steering wheel failure was repaired under an unknown recall campaign; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 120,000.

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.

Vehicle does not stay in eco mode. Digital display shuts down randomly (radio display) strut noise unidentified.

Vehicle battery stopped working within less than an year, dealership service is hard to work unless the car is completely dead and will inform customers that the battery was undersized on the vehicle. It will suddenly die when auto start/stop function is engaged, it can happen while stopped at a red light.

I was driving the car on a city street when it suddenly just shut off and would not come back on. This is the second time this has happened, and there is no warning and no way to get the car pulled to safety.

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.

Engine warning light and red exclamation caution warning lights on vehicle come on from time to time without warning. These warning lights come on during normal city driving conditions. These lights usually go off on their own or after turning vehicle off and back on.

The vehicles battery is dying.

Engine warning light as well as epc warning light came on during normal city driving. Power and pick up of the vehicle became greatly reduced making travel over 15-20 mph impossible. Upon arriving home and turning car off, vehicle was nearly impossible to restart. Car was towed from home to dealership were it was found that electrical mechanism in vehicles high powered fuel pump malfunctioned and quit working. High powered fuel pump had to be replaced.

Intermittent stalls, sometimes in traffic or at busy intersection during normal operation and caused by discharged battery and/or poor battery charging.

Car died in the middle lane of traffic and won't start. Tried jumping with our portable charge but that didn't work. Gives multiple errors from airbag to 12 volt battery to low beams.

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.

Car automatic start/stop function frequently fails to restart engine. This has happened over ten times with two of those almost ending in me being rear ended at high speed. Dealer says battery is defective and replaced the battery but issue is happening again. No way to permanently disabled start/stop function. This is a safety hazard.

Left fog lights sporadically blink on and off for no specific reason. This happens during normal driving conditions, and while stopped at red lights.

The vehicle was purchased in November of 2017 and the battery cannot maintain it's charge. We have experienced a drained battery five times in the first year of ownership. The most recent occurrence happened on 12/2/2018.

On oct 28 the car stopped at a red light on a busy intersection and the start-stop engine shut off, then when the traffic light turned green the battery didn't have enough power to crank the engine started again. I took car to the vw dealer where 7 recalls were serviced and I was told the problem should be corrected. 2 weeks later the same problem occurred. There seems to be a drain on the battery and the computer doesn't know to avoid start-stop braking when power is too low to start the car. I called the dealer again and they said they could look at it but they don't know of any other problem and couldn't recreate the issue when they had the car for 2 days. . Read more...

Vehicle stops suddenly and shuts off. Sloped driveways. Vehicle in motion approaching end of any driveway with certain angles will suddenly slam on the brakes and shut down, leaving stranded until restart. Possible to be rear ended or hit from any direction where traffic may be coming from. Sensors beep quickly right before this happens. The vehicle has plenty of ground clearance.

I have had this car two months and it has now been in service twice. As of today they have had it for two weeks. The autonomous break system is way too sensitive and the car stops going down steep inclines or going over pot holes while in motion. The car has stopped in the middle of driving at least 7 times. I take it to service, they say there is no record in the cars computer of the incident. The front sensors are always beeping. I pull up to a stop sign, the sensors go off. I do a u-turn and the sensors go off. Some days way too excessively, some days not at all. It scares me to death and I slam on my brakes because I am afraid I am going to hit something. I take it to service, they say there is no record of it in the cars computer. Front end collision alert, I was driving down the road and was the only one on the road and the front end collision alert went off. I of course slam on the brakes in the middle of the road with no traffic, thank god no one was behind me. I take it to service, they say there is no record in the cars computer of it. Service has been able to recreate the issue with the front sensors, but says there is no fix. The customer care rep for vw stated today on the phone that they recognize there is an issue with the sensitivity of the autonomous breaking but has no fix for it so I will have to deal with it. I live in houston, I will die if I hit a pot hole and stop. It's unacceptable and a huge safety hazard. I am reading all over the internet about this issue with the autonomous braking problems. It should not be allowed to continue. Someone is going to die. I was able to video the issue with the sensors and vw has the video and recognizes a problem but states that's just the way the car is going to work. States they see the issue there too, but there is no fix.

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.

The contact owns a 2018 Volkswagen Atlas. Within weeks of owning the vehicle, there was a failure with the strut mounted system. Furthermore, an abnormal rattling noise was heard on both sides of the front end of the vehicle. In addition, the front assist with autonomous emergency braking system engaged several times without warning. The failure caused the vehicle to seize while in motion with no other vehicle nearby. The dealer (danbury Volkswagen, 29 sugar hollow rd, danbury, CT 06810, (203) 744-5201) had the vehicle for over two months for servicing. The cause of the failures was not determined. The manufacturer was notified. The failure mileage was not available.

Brand new 2018 Atlas battery problem - battery drains completely in less than 3 days when car is switched off and parked in attached garage. Happened twice in two months. Service responded by saying there are several computers that drain battery even when car is shutdown. Suggested to drive for 30 mins every 2 days. The battery drained the second time inspite of following these instructions. Complete battery drain in less than 3 days even with car completely switched off in garage is unacceptable.

My 2018 vw Atlas came from the factory with the a/c condensation drain tube twisted. This is a known issue with almost 9700 2018 vw Atlas vehicles. A safety recall was issued to replace the drain hose and the air bag module. Somehow my car was missed and the dealer and Volkswagen does not want to acknowledge the issue and replace the air bag module. The manufacture recall number is 87f9 the NHTSA recall number is 18v-537. The recall states that if the drain tube is twisted it and the module are to be replaced. I am trying to find out why my Atlas was not listed in the recall. It appears to be in the VIN range listed on the recall.