general problems of the 2018 Volkswagen Atlas - part 1

While operating the vehicle felt a jerk and then the check engine, oil, and epc warning lights illuminated, and the vehicle decelerated and lost power on the highway, we were able to coast to the nearest parking lot. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer who diagnosed and determined that the high pressure fuel pump was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired but was said the 2018 Atlas had a known fuel tank issue which caused all the gas to rush to one side allowing air and pressure changes in the system could this is be what led to the fault of the high pressure fuel pump. The vehicle code was reproduced at the dealership. No prior warning signs.

I buckled my son in his car seat and set my purse in the passenger seat and walked around the vehicle and in about 10 seconds it locked itself with the keys inside. The engine was off and I live in TX so it was already very hot in the car. We used a pole through the cracked window to click the unlock button on the passenger door, we hit it twice and the car did not unlock, then I used a hanger to click the unlock button on the driver door. I clicked it and the car still did not unlock. We then tried breaking the windows and were unable to break the glass with a hammer, tire iron, rock, and even a high velocity pellet gun. We were able to pull the trim from around the window on the outside and bend the glass out just far enough to use the hanger to pull the handle and get into the car. The car should never have locked with the keys inside, the unlock buttons inside the car should have worked when pressed 3 times. Glass is great. Very strong but I was terrified when it would not break.

Ecm light came on, while going 60+ on expressway. Car lost ability to accelerate and began to sputter. Unable to adjust speed and had to pull over to shoulder in fast moving traffic.

We replaced a cracked windshield in our vw Atlas, and we now need to replace it again. This vehicle seems prone to windshield cracks, as we are not aware of a rock hitting it. This crack started at the very top edge of the windshield, and has grown to about 20 inches.

When the outdoor temperature gets low, below 20 degrees fahrenheit, the vehicle thinks the driver-side front door is open, when it is closed. Because of this, the vehicle does not want to allow itself to be driven and will put on the electric parking brake. Even if released, the parking brake will automatically re-engage any time the vehicle speed drops below a couple of miles-per-hour. In addition, other errors persist with the electrical system, including error messages regarding the hill descent control, parking assist, passenger side airbag detection, internal lighting, etc. Based upon research, it seems this issue is identical to a recall issued for the same make & model, but for the years 2019-2022.

In October 2024, my air conditioning was blowing hot when I had just had it recharged in June 2024. I took it to vw in pasadena, CA. They noted that there was an oil leak being caused by the breather valve aka the pcv valve which was making oil leak into the ac components. It took a few visits to get this resolved as a smell was in my car that was making me feel sick afterward. Eventually it was fixed and my car seemed to be okay. Until a month ago when my husband got into an accident and once we got my car back from the body repairs within 24 hours, my oil light came on. At first I thought it was because of the accident but it turned out it wasn't. It was due to the breather valve again. This was confirmed by vw covina. This is unsafe because it can cause oil to leak into other components of the vehicle and cause them to fail. Your head gasket and oil pan can also be affected and maybe more, I'm not sure what else as I am not a mechanic. But I know this is an issue with many Atlases from a simple google search, there are thousands of people experiencing the same. I do not have the documentation for the current repair as they are working on my car right now so I dont have the paperwork yet. If you all contact me in a few days, I'm sure I should have it by then and would be happy to provide it.

Bought this vehicle new from dealer. Have had all maintenance done at the suggested intervals by vw. Have had ongoing issues with “check coolant” alerts. Coolant has been low on multiple occasions but dealer assures there is no leak. I’m am now out of warranty and car has lost coolant again, well below the minimum level required. Please help with ongoing issues that now dealer will not cover. Being inspected now for water pump failure, radiator core, etc. I feel as though this coolant level problem is being hidden and pushed along until customers are out of warranty. Please help.

Front pillar near roof and windshield is leaking significant water creating a driver safety hazard during hard rains.

The vehicle slammed on brakes, electronic stabilization control light came on, transmission went into emergency mode, check engine light came on, and many other lights. I had to jerk the car to avoid the ditch since I was in a curve on a highway. Brakes continued to kick back and would not allow me to pull to side of road even in neutral. Battery message came on and said it was not charging. I was stuck in the lane and several people had to swerve or brake hard to miss me.

Volkswagen north America (vw na) manufactured this vehicle with an incorrect hvac refrigerant (r134a) low pressure service port. It does have the correct r1234yf high pressure service port. Besides this configuration being against federal emissions laws, it poses a public safety threat in that the incorrect system could be connected to the car and possibly ignite the flammable r1234yf refrigerant. Vw na has refused to correct this problem, even though the vehicle was brought into service under warranty, as the vehicle is currently a couple months out of warranty. A complaint with the epa will also be filed as this vehicle was manufactured in violation of federal law.

I have a moonroof that leaks whenever it rains. It comes on the sides of the car and also in the middle near my rearview mirror which leaks on my electronics. I am at risk because it brings water into my car when I am driving. It can cause mold and mildew as well. I've taking this to my local vw dealership without any resolution. They just said its a well know issue. The attempted to 'clean' the drains but it still leaks.

I was driving the vehicle was in drive moving on the road and literally turned off. Completely disabled in the road. I purchased a new battery in September 2022, got the battery tested again and there’s no issue with it. Mechanics can’t find an issue. I had the engine stop feature off (the light is on when it’s off) and it turned itself off prior to the car shutting off completely. I was unable to restart and someone had to assist in pushing my vehicle out of the road then jumpstart my car. Again I had everything thoroughly checked and there are no active issues.

Recall requested on vw Atlas 2017 with statement not to use front seat, but we only have 1 car. How are we to proceed as a family? recall remedy stated as not being available. Manufacturer recall number69fb NHTSA recall number23v215.

In June and early July of 2023 the vehicle’s engine shut off while driving at least 4 times. Shut off occurred while driving at low speeds while in a parking lot, coming out of an intersection, and when approaching a stop sign. When the car shuts off you lose control of steering and braking is difficult. You have to shift the vehicle into park and restart the engine. We took the vehicle to vw dealership who inspected and replaced the charcoal canister and n80 purge valve. Vehicle operated normally for 10 months until late April 2024. In the past month the vehicle has shut off a dozen times while in operation. Similar to before it occurs at low speeds while starting, stopping, turning, and even while driving in reverse. The vehicle is currently back at the dealership to address this. Their initial response was that they couldn’t reproduce this condition, and the check engine light doesn’t come on for this issue, so there’s nothing mechanically that they need to fix. I’m escalating this issue with vw service. This issue has not caused an accident yet, but very likely will if not addressed. Some basic research online indicates that this is a somewhat common issue with vw Atlas models. Someone needs to look into this situation before someone is killed.

My vehicle keeps giving me the message that “park pilot is not working” and the backup camera does not work.

First time-driving on road at 45 mph when my car started flashing red for a forward collision and my cars automatic emergency brake stopped me immediately with nothing in front of me on a clear road. The stop was so forceful we thought we were hit from behind with no one around us. The force causing both my teenage son and I to have strained necks with the force of us stopping immediately. I was forced so far forward my head hit the windshield. Second time-driving in a parking lot at 10 mph when my cars emergency red flashed in dashboard then immediately stopping my car with no car or speed bumps ahead of me. The car behind me nearly hitting me. We got out of car to ensure they had not hit us because again with the force of the immediate stop, all in the car were forced forward in a jerking position. Took into manufacture and they said nothing was showing up and they have no idea what I’m talking about.

Car hesitating and sounding as if it would shut down while lunging while idle. While braking downhill, car shakes violently, when either braking or coasting to a stop car begins lunging back and forth, while stopped or parked, car shakes back and forth from engine area. Fuel pump replaced, spark plugs and coils replaced. Did not fix the issues. Within 600 miles same issues started to come back. Check engine light started flashing again today and is now steady. Car seems to be extremely unsafe and of course all warranties expired. I started contacting the dealership before it expired and they did not return any of my messages. I was never able to talk to a person when calling the dealership.

Water pump failure.

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.

Took my 2018 Volkswagen Atlas which I bought around 9/1/18 to my dealership for a failing battery. My car has 17,347 miles and I routinely take my car for the appropriate service. The test report on the battery states it is "worn out". Normally Volkswagen warranties this battery for 36 months and I was over this time frame for about 4 1/2 months. I feel that based on my driving and use for this car, that the battery is defective. I just want to make your agency aware of this particular part, as it is expensive to replace. $243. 00 for the battery and $132. 00 labor. Total $378. 24 with tax. Perhaps other people have experienced this repair for a low mileage car and in my opinion not a very old vehicle. Thank you. [xxx] [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

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.

Rear backup camera and overhead camera malfunctioning. Backup camera does not activate when car is in reverse. Overhead camera does not activate when button is pressed. Makes parking very difficult especially when reversing in parking lots. Problem appeared infrequently initially, but overtime it is now malfunctioning the majority of the drives.

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 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.

March 5, 2020. 2018 vw Atlas, 2017 mid-year delivery. There have been multiple occasions of emergency braking being performed by the car without driving condition needing the safety intervention. There have been five occurrences to date with the vehicle: 1. Driving I-75 in to atlanta --while driving next to an 18 wheeler (18-w) [tanker] , the car slammed on the brakes while at a speed around 75 until the car was behind the rear of the trailer. There was no condition for need this reaction (the 18-w and I maintained lane control. ) 2. Some random months later, the car performed a emergency braking while on I-20 while driving between two 18-ws [ 2 tanker]. The car speed were interstate speeds and no conditions that needed the intervention. 3. While driving in traffic closed to I-20 on a four lane secondary road, the vehicle slammed on the brake due to traffic backup at a stop light. It cased my cargo to slide forward to all the seat backs. 4. This was another braking action occurred with an 18w [flatbead]. 5. March 3, 2020, the latest was a similar emergency braking with no warning lights. The braking action was not as hard and released after clearing the rear trailer of the 18-w. Since the cars do not generate an error code the common diagnostic tools are not able to find a fault. The safety systems should be modified to generate incident code when emergency braking occurs since the conditions are performed in a robotic function (non-driver condition). I generally talk to the vw service tech about this finding every time I am in vw service area to see if the condition is present in other vehicles.

The faulty brake boost warning continues to come on while driving even after being "fixed" by the dealership. The cars brakes locked up on me when I was reversing into a parking spot? then the car turned completely off?? I had to turn the car back on and continue to park?? there was also an auto start/ stop error warning that came on while driving!!.

I forgot to add in my original complaint that when the faulty booster warning came on so did my emergency brake and I was haulted while driving and this really freaked me out as I have 4 children and the reason I purchased the car was for all the safety features and now I feel the exact opposite!.

Rear passenger window when rolling down would stop halfway down inconsistently then would just fall if you tried to roll it down. Took it into the dealership after diagnostics it is an issue with the pin.

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.

My vw Atlas sel 2018 is shutting off while I'm driving. So far this has happened 3 times. Once while I was in reverse at slow speed, second time while I was in traffic and the most recent while I was driving in my neighborhood. It is very scary because I have to put in park, press the brake pedal and start the car again, while in the highway. The screen displays an error in the start-stop, and also en engine error that says: engine on due to system error and one time the check engine light turned on. The unit has spent weeks in the vw dealership and still they can't find what is wrong with it, they return the car and it happens again. I do not feel safe driving this car, I have a son and I need a car I feel safe driving.

The anti-collision braking system engages when the car is driving out of driveways or stores with a dip in the road. The system identifies the road as a car or obstacle in the way and hard brakes the vehicle leaving is standing unable to move. Extremely dangerous!.

2/20/2019 at 16:19 pst - I was driving on a cloudy afternoon, approaching a railroad crossing, about 100 ft away. My Atlas' radar was tripped by something and the car slammed the brakes to avoid a crash. Except there was nothing on the road. I am glad there were no cars around me otherwise I would have been involved in a crash.

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.

Twice I have been stranded because the auto start stop is not providing enough power to the battery and therefor the vehicle will not start sometimes without being jumped. I have been stranded twice because the auto shut off has turned the vehicle off at a light and then the vehicle would not restarte.