general problems of the 2018 Volkswagen Atlas - part 2

The contact owns a 2018 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 mph, the vehicle stalled. The contact was able to stop and shift to park (p) and restart the vehicle. The contact stated that the check engine and another unknown warning light were illuminated. The contact stated that the failure had become a recurring failure. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer; however, the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 48,000. The VIN was not available.

I noticed about 6 months ago on a couple of occasions, while walking in front of my running 2018 vw Atlas. The sweet smell of antifreeze. I looked under my Atlas and did not see anything on the ground ( water, antifreeze ) and this happened just a few times. Then one 2/2/2023, I started up my Atlas to move it over and the low coolant warning signal came on my dash as soon as I started my vehicles. I did not have any of the specific coolant that the manufactured ask for it the time and after checking the reservoir tank the coolant level was down to the low mark on the reservoir tank. So I was able to put some distilled water in it which was about two cups 16 oz. Now after I have read all of the other issues that owners have had I am really worried that my vehicle will get worse. Then yesterday when I started my car in the morning I had a error message I shut the car off and restarted it and the message went away. I'm really worried that it is going to get worse and become more and more expensive. I am the second owner I bought it in April of 2020 it has a little over 28,000 miles on it yes 28,000 mi for a 2018. I don't go very many places I take care of my elderly mother. I have looked at the VIN number to see if it is part of any of the recalls and it is not. It was part of the drivetrain recalls and that was fixed last year.

The contact owns a 2018 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated that after turning the ignition to the off position, the engine remained running but then turned off after a short while. The check engine and several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the engine had misfired and the abs was faulty. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 41,000.

The contact owns a 2018 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated while driving at 30 mph with her children in the rear seats, the vehicle shut off inadvertently. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact was able to push the vehicle to the side of the road with the assistance of bystanders. The contact was able to jumpstart the vehicle and drove to her destination. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred on another occasion. The vehicle was pushed to the side of the road. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the cylinder head needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but did not provide any assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 86,000.

Engine stopped during on drive on highway and requiring to put in park to restart in the middle of the road. Dash board displaying “start- stop error “ with engine sign. So far car stopped three times while driving this time and a service is scheduled for June 17, with the dealership. Same thing happened and notified and serviced. At that time they have replaced the battery. I checked the battery in a auto shop and they told me the battery is good this time. Upon google search, noticed this is happening with other people as well.

Car has been automatically shutting off at slow speeds such as red lights and trying to park. Mainly happens at lights as you break. The car was taken first to tire plus, they ran a diagnostic where they received an error and instructed me to take the car to dealer. Took car to vw and provided them with the tire plus paperwork and they stated the car is fine and they do not see anything wrong. They asked me to take a video when it happens. My son who relies on this car just took a video at a stop light and it is now being sent to vw to see what next step is. Car is getting close to warrantee expiration. I believe I have about 6k more miles to go.

Water pump was replaced a few months ago after vw dealer discovering cracked pump housing during routine maintenance. A few days ago a "check coolant level" message was displayed. Immediate check underneath vehicle found no evidence of external coolant leak. However, reservoir coolant tank found to be almost empty. Visual inspection of engine compartment showed all coolant hoses to be intact, cap secure on ball style reservoir tank without evidence of leakage. No odor of coolant in or around vehicle. Research on this problem found hundreds of 2018-2019 vw Atlas owners with identical symptom description, most ended up finding evidence of coolant in engine oil (crankcase). A sample of crankcase engine oil has been sent to an independent laboratory for analysis. The general manager and service manager at vw dealer have been notified of the issue and that it is a known serious problem to vw Atlas owners despite not having risen to the level of a recall. Once vw has completed diagnosis and repair, the plan is to resubmit another sample for post-repair analysis. This vehicle was purchased new from vw and we are the first and only owners. With the exception of tire service and replacement of the battery, all other maintenance has been performed at vw. All recommended routine services have been completed on time, by vw per manufacturer recommendations. Let me be very clear on this point: we do not place any blame on the vw dealer(s) that have serviced this vehicle since we took delivery. We believe that this is a manufacturer issue that has yet to be addressed and just wanted to do our part in reporting for the greater good of all Atlas owners.

My 2018 Volkswagen Atlas has a defect that has impaired my ability to use the vehicle as intended. It is not only unsafe but I am in fear of driving freeways because I do not know when my car will cut off. Manufactures were fully aware of their defective products. I have read forums pertaining to the 2018 Volkswagen Atlas engine sputtering (causes and diagnosis). It states that the causes could be a bad fuel system, ignition system,maf sensor, or bad converter. I have owned my vehicle for over a year and a half. During this time my vehicle has repeatedly started sputtering, deccelerated and turned off. It has happened 3 times and I do not feel safe. Have taken to dealership only to be told nothing was wrong with car. On October 18, 2022 Volkswagen group of America recalled 74,067 SUV's due to engine failure that could result in stall, increasing risks of crash. Troublesome connecting rod bearings that potentially lead to oil leaks and fire. Volkswagen has recalled 2022-2023 Volkswagen Atlas and Atlas cross sport. This is a manufacturer's defect. The defect did not start in 2022-2023 models the problem occured in 2017 when the Volkswagen Atlas was launched as a one of the most innovative technical platforms in automotive industry. I understand that the federal law requires safety recalls repairs to be provided up to 15 years because safety recalls do not expire. Nhts I am requesting that safety recalls be performed on 2018 Volkswagen Atlas because the same problems exit. I am requesting that Volkswagen group of America stand behind their products, take ownership of the necessary repairs to keep consumers safe from harms way. I thought there was nothing more terrifying than being buried alive until I drove up and down the streets of san francisco in a 2018 Volkswagen Atlas. The fear of not knowing when your car will start sputtering and decelerating causing you to plunge to your death is the most terrifying experience that I have just indured in my life.

My trucks breaks has given out multiple times almost causing accidents in the middle of driving with no warning. Message on dash says faulty breaks , break failure before it quickly goes away. The abs break light comes on and the car stalls almost causing me to get rear ended. I purchased the car oct 12,2021 car start having issues December 2021. It is extremely dangerous to drive. I took it to car max in forth myers FL when I almost hit a tractor trailer with my children in the car ! carmax refused to look at my vehicle or give me a rental for it being unsafe. This has happened on multiple occasions. I shouldn’t have to pay for something like this to get fixed when I was sold a faulty car from the start. I have spoke with a few lawyers over this matter about carmax and voltswagon. I only have one photo I don’t have a chance to take other photos when it happens because im to busy trying not to get hurt.

My car displayed a warning that my engine was overheating and to pull over immediately. My temperature gauge was at max high and check engine light came on. Towed to dealer. Was told by vw that the secondary coolant pump had failed. It was replaced and then it happened again two days later. My car was towed back to dealer again who cleaned, drained and refilled coolant. Two days later it overheated again and my engine was making a crackling sound. I use this car to transport my three young children and I am afraid to drive it. The car is overheating after driving less than a half mile.

Continually leaks coolant.

Volkswagen dealership of lake charles, la attempted to repair a safety recall on catalytic converter. When I picked my car up for the safety recall on the catalytic converter my car smelled like fuel and was leaking fuel and would not stay running and stopped running while driving in traffic and at stop lights and intersections. The dealership has had my vehicle for 3 months and still not repaired my recall correctly and I just got it back today October 4th and the problem remains unresolved. I attempted to back out into traffic and my car stopped running and there was incoming traffic. Luckily me and my 2 daughters were not hurt however this car is not safe and request the dealership fixes the safety recall correctly.

2018 Atlas I bought less than a year ago I was on the freeway when the car completely stalled I pulled over to try and restart the car but the car never restarted it was towed to vw thousand oaks to find out that the engine went out I wasn’t under warranty because the warranty was up by miles I reached out to vw corporate to see if they were willing to fix the car because the car wasn’t that many miles over and the engine went out in three years the corporate did not agree to help with the repairs the engine failure happened at 77,000 miles….

The contact owns a 2018 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated while driving at low speeds downhill, the vehicle stalled. Additionally, the vehicle stalled randomly while near objects in the road when the collision avoidance feature engaged without warning. The contact called the local dealer where the collision avoidance feature was disabled remotely. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 28,000.

Vehicle goes into emergency mode for 4th time. Happened twice in 2 days. A total of 4 times in 5 months. With no warning, multiple warning lights come on and the car applies emergency braking until the car is brought to a stop. There is no opportunity to choose a safe place to bring it to a stop. Driver is unable to accelerate until car is parked and restarted. The 4th time this happened, was on an interstate traveling at 75 to 80mph with vehicles around traveling at same speeds or in excess of that speed. Luckily there was an opening on the shoulder that I was able to quickly pull the car into and the car behind me didn't rear end me. This is the 4th time it's happened and could have caused bodily harm. Vw does not care. A software update was performed in February that was supposed to fix the problem. Because it didn�t, vw wanted to replace my entire ecm because they thought it was faulty. After threat of buyback did they finally start digging into the car. Techs found a faulty relay switch. They replaced it and said problem couldn't be recreated so it was fixed �as far as anyone could tell� and didn't need a new ecm.

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.

Car randomly puts transmission into emergency mode.

On 2020, the engine was stopped while I was driving, and the engine no longer work. I couldn’t start my car. The mechanic engineer said that I needed to replace the engine. However, my car had same issues about engine this year again. The engine was repeatedly stopped, and I had the engine warning light again. At first, they said they had to replace the engine, and at this time, he found the issue that the left cylinder #4 valve lifter/roller rocker securing clip to be missing and has been consumed by the engine and metal debris has contaminated the engine requiring engine replacement. I was so concerned my safety because of these issues. The engine should be replaced with a new one again. I am worrying my safety seriously because the engine issues are fatal problems. I have owned the Atlas for about 40 months, and I have engine issues repeatedly. I am sure two replacement of the engine was not reasonable.

Driving on highway, engine and brakes stop working 2 times. Got the car in the vw shop , they said it was a loose fuse connector. They "fix it" and 2 days later we have the same problem. Car will be back on shop. Called vw each time, opened a case with them to.

I have had this vehicle since 2020. Two months after I bought it, the vehicle would turn off at random. I took it to vw and they change the carbon air canister. It stopped for a while but now it back. When stopping the car randomly shits off. Not auto energy saving off. Restart your engine in 5:30pm traffic type of restart your engine. Slowing down, shut off. Backing up, shut off. I have a 2019 Atlas as well and the same thing happens. This is extremely dangerous and unsafe. Vw claims either they dont know what the issue is because there is no service engine light and no code produced.

Battery has been dying and was dead this morning. 2 year old car in san diego temperate weather. 18k miles. From forums, it seems this car has faulty stock batteries that cannot sustain the start/stop strain on the batteries. Having to take to dealership for replacement. Uncertain they will properly cover it.

While driving down a canyon in heavy snow, the grill shutters iced shut. Once down, we drove about 20mins across town, then started a long climb up a freeway, about 20mins of constant uphill. On reaching the top I noticed that the engine oil temp, which is normally around 200deg, had reached 230deg, as the oil cooler is behind the grill shutters, and wasn't getting any air flow. There was no warning from the car that the shutters were stuck shut, or that the oil was getting hot.

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.

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.

Fuel distribution rail pressure pipe leaking fuel. Smelled fuel when walking past vehicle on 8 may 2019 when stationary and not running. Fuel was visible on top of engine below pipe. . Was returned by dealer on 17 may19 after they acknowledged leak and reset seals. On 9 Jun 2019, smell of fuel was detected when starting vehicle. Fuel visible on top of engine below pressure pipe. Vehicle was stationary and had again been sitting over night.

Battery dies with short idle. Waited less than 10 minutes for my husband and warning came on to drive the car to charge the battery. I was in a parking lot with air conditioning on. Engine had manually shut off so I went to restart and battery would not turn on. This has happened before.

Sitting at a red light and when it turned green, my start/stop function would not turn my car back on. The dash had all sorts of lights flashing and my car would not start. Said the 12v battery was drained. Had to push my car out of the way and get someone to jump my car.

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.

Battery will not turn on, car is only 12 months old, there were no issues for the reasoning for the battery to not work.

Vehicle hesitates excessively under acceleration at times, in both forward and reverse gears. Won't back up a mild grade (like a driveway) without excessive acceleration, causing the vehicle to lurch. Won't accelerate after slowing behind a turning vehicle without excessive acceleration, causing the vehicle to lurch.

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.

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.

I was stopped at a red light. When the light turned green the engine turned off and I had to manually turned the car on to proceed. Same thing happened when I was waiting to open my garage. The car turned itself off, I had to turn it back on manually.

After stopping at a red light at the traffic the car would not restart, the battery of engine died.

My vehicle battery died after refueling. And I had to call for roadside assistance for a jump. Vehicle infotainment system showed 2 messages: 1) 12 volt battery low and recharge while driving 2) error start/stop system.