general problems of the 2018 Volkswagen Atlas - part 2

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!!.

On many occasions, the automatic braking system and blind spot detection systems have engaged at inappropriate times. Most recently, the automatic braking system engaged when safely merging with proper signaling from the right lane, which was ending, to the next to the left lane when the only vehicle in the vicinity was fully in the left turn lane. There was enough space between our vehicle and the vehicle behind to avoid a rear end collision but the hard braking was unnecessary and could have caused damage or more serious injuries than those sustained by the driver and passenger caused by the seatbelt locking on the collarbone and chest because of the sudden application of brakes. Another recent incident was on the freeway when safely changing lanes with proper signaling from the far left lane to the center lane and the blind spot detection system prevented changing lanes when the closest to the right vehicle was in the far right lane, one lane further than attempting to change into. If this had occurred while changing lanes to avoid a collision with debris or another vehicle, it could have caused damage or injuries.

I've had scary problems with brake assist and lane assist. With lane assist the vehicle has made sudden violent turns to stay in a lane. Sometimes if there's a gap in the road lines (such as a turn lane) lane assist can be unpredictable. Adaptive cruise control works fine but I've had several instances when traffic ahead stopped abruptly where it wouldn't have stopped in time to avoid a collision.

I was driving on interstate 95 and the car in front of me suddenly braked hard. I also applied the brake and felt confident that it would have stopped on time. The Atlas automatic braking system took over and put my car to a complete stop on the highway and I was unable to apply the gas to keep going until I put car in park, shut off car and restart, put back in drive and got out of there as quickly as possible hoping that no cars behind me would crash into me with 3 children in the back of the vehicle. This is unacceptable and extremely dangerous. I have since turned off the front assist mechanism. However, every time I start the car I must remember to do this because it defaults back to front assist.

Rotars are warped after reporting problems with the brakes to the dealer on oct 6,2017 current mileage is 27,000.

Hi my wife drives a 2018 Atlas as our family car. We have had several incidents where the automatic braking has suddenly engaged when there were no cars near the vehicle. This has happened while parking on flat surfaces in an empty lot, parking in empty lot on a very slightly incline, and while cruising within a highway lane without a car immediately in front or behind us. Unpredictable uncontrolled sudden braking is dangerous and can actually cause collisions. The Atlas is a vehicle which is commonly used to transport families and their children. I hope a NHTSA recall can be issued to address this problem.

The car stops on its own while driving, all lights on dash illuminate, and car starts again as if nothing happened. Twice going up the driveway and three times while on back roads. No one was in front of or behind us for two of the times. One of the times, it was during traffic so the speed was slow enough not to have an impact. One other time it stopped about half a car length away from the curb when parking the car. While on the highway, going 70, with the blinker on to get over to the center lane, the car jerked me back to the right. . I was in the right lane, a car in front of me, a car behind me, no cars in the middle lane, and two in the far left lane coming up. Absolutely no reason for the car to think there was a car to the left of me. The two cars in my original lane and the two cars in the far left lane remained in those lanes. I have taken the car to two different dealerships, a total of three times and they could not recreate the problem, so they are unable to fix the issues. My case was escalated to the se regional case manager, who put the case in for review to buy back the vehicle and was notified today, 10/18/2019, that they are not going to buy it back but they will continue to service the vehicle under the warranty. How can they service the vehicle if they can't find anything wrong with the vehicle. I can't believe they expect to drive this unsafe vehicle until someone dies! I paid extra to buy this vehicle for the safety features, which is what is causing this to be unsafe. It would be unethical to sale the car, but too unsafe for me to drive and put my family at risk of getting in a vehicle accident and dying. Please have a recall issued to address the issues before someone dies and telling consumers to disable these functions is not the right answer either. I have had issues from the beginning, but thought it was hiccups. Date is approximate.

As I was going straight through a busy intersection the car automatic braking turned on and caused the car to stop in the middle of the intersection. I was almost t-boned by another car. There are nothing in front of me. Clear day. 85 degrees. 9 am.

Pulling out of parking lots where there is slight dip crash avoidance system will kick in while turn into traffic and will stop the vehicle almost middle of the road, almost got t bone few time, I have brought up to vw attention, dealer keeps saying nothing wrong with vehicle . To me it is safety concern, definitely for vw, thank you.

On Monday 6/10/2019 at 18:10, I was driving west on California highway 91 in riverside California. I was on the phone with my wife, the car was on cruise control, going 65 mph. There were no cars in front of me, I was driving in the second lane from the right. My car approached an 18 wheeler truck and it was passing the truck. The truck was on the right lane, my car approached on the next lane to the left. The car was still on cruise control and I was still on the phone with my wife. As the car was passing the truck, the vw Atlas executes an emergency brake as if something was in my way. The car gave no warnings before applying the brakes hard.

As I'm driving and tap my breaks, my steering wheel shakes. I took it in for repair and the dealer tells me my front rotors are warped. I've only driven 20,000 miles and I've got to replace the rotors? they tell me I've got to pay and it's not under warranty, I call the manufacturer and they refuse to help me. Its a low mileage SUV with rotor issues, that tells me vw uses low quality products and won't stand by their product.

Even though my vehicle was not covered by previous recalls I have just had a problem with the brakes. The brake petal went all the way to the floor, and the vehicle did not stop. The vehicle was moving less than 5 mph. Active start stop system (fuel efficiency) was engaged but I do not know if it was active. Vehicle was in stop and go traffic headed downhill. I was exiting a parking garage on a city street.

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.

The automatic emergency braking system keeps activating without reason, slamming on the brakes, when there are no obstacles in front of the vehicle. This happens even when �front assist� and �lane assist� are switched off. During our trip from texas to arizona and back, this has happened more than 10 times. It always occurs when the cruise control is switched on, while in the left lane, passing a semi truck. Each time, the Atlas was clearly in our lane and the truck was definitely in its lane, not wandering over the lane divider. It has happened when on a straight away and also when passing a truck on a left curve. This is a significant safety hazard. If any vehicle had been close behind us when it activated, it would have slammed into the back of us.

Transmission/motor is making a whispping sound when you accelorate on the gas. Have reported multiple times and I am not the only one who has experienced this. It is a terrible sound. Car is less than 20,000 miles.

2018 Volkswagen Atlas sel has a safety system called maneuver braking. The function of the braking is �maneuver braking protects the driver from a collision. It prevents unpleasant damage to the bumper, and to any objects near the vehicle,� says developer lynn brennecke. I was exiting a parking lot making a left hand turn across 4 lanes of traffic. It was nighttime, my headlights were on, clear weather, around 70 degrees. The area was a residential/industrial mix. The parking lot exit had a slight slope. When the traffic was clear I accelerated to enter the travel lanes and the Atlas activated the "maneuver braking" therefore bringing the car to a complete stop and the engine turned off. I was well into the second travel lane when this occurred. There were no obstacles such as other vehicles, traffic cones, animals, branches etc. This could have been a deadly, what if the break in traffic was not large enough for the vehicle to stop completely and restart before traffic arrived. I have no idea when the Atlas will suddenly decide it is time for a "maneuver braking" episode. This is a huge safety issue.

The vehicle was purchased 10/31/18 and on 11/4/18 we arrived at a relative's home in westchester. This area has no sidewalks or parking lane. We pulled onto the shoulder of the street to park. The street is a slight hill and the shoulder was very uneven. The front of the car was uphill. My husband had cut the wheels to th e road when pulling in. Once in park and the car off, he exited and walked behind the car to come round and help me get out on the rough shoulder. Before he made it to the front passenger door, the car started rolling backwards downhill into the street. I instictively went for the shift. The shift was already in the park position but the car was moving! because it was not a very steep hill, the elevation change at the transition from the dirt shoulder to the asphalt road stopped the car when the rear passenger wheel met the asphalt edge. This road is narrow and winding. We were fortunate noone was coming round the bend. The car came to a stop 30-40% into the car lane with no driver behind the wheel. In its simplest state it appears that the transmission park gear did not engage, yet it was definitely in the park position. This car does not have a manuel parking brake. To be honest, the hill would not have seemed to warrant the need for a parking brake if the parking gear were engaging properly. We have just contacted the dealer who claimed ignorance of any such problems ever existing. He suggested we make a service appointment & have the auto checked out. I suspect so they can formally tell us it is our imagination. After reading the complaints on file, I am sorry we did not look here before we purchased the vehicle. It doesn't seem that vw or any other car manufacturer seems anxious to correct design flaws until there are sufficient deaths.

When vehicle travel down an incline like a driveway, the emergency breaking feature will unexpectedly engaged, causing the vehicle to come to a complete and sudden stop. When this occurs, I have no control over the continued movement of the vehicle. I am required to change gears and/or restart the vehicle in order to move the vehicle again. This poses a extreme safety issue as the vehicle will shut down when you are attempting to pull out of a private drive and on to a active roadway, increasing the risk of a side on vehicle collision. Issue was reported to vw service department. Service manager was able to duplicate the issue. Service manager also tested another vw Atlas on the sale lot with the same feature. Service manager reported that the same issue occurred with the other Atlas as well. Service department was unable to correct the issue, reporting the vehicle is "operating as designed. " this issue poses a major safety issue no only to the driver and occupants of the vehicle, but to other motorists on the road. Volkswagen has been given notice of the issue and refuses to acknowledge of take action.

The vehicle failed to stop on a city street after full application of brakes causing collision and damage to front bumper . I have not received any notification from walks wagon that ceramic coating on the brakes needs to be fixed and was not aware of any brake issues prior to the collision . The vehicle has approximately 4100 miles and currently at the collision centre .

I'm contacting you with an issue that needs immediate attention. There is a serious defect with the vw Atlas we leased 2 months ago. The automatic braking system deploys at unexpected and inappropriate times producing a life threatening situation. The automatic braking system has activated, dangerously and inappropriately, several times, usually when pulling out of a driveway and attempting to enter a lane. Although there is no obstruction or risk of collision, the car senses the insignifcant change in slope from driveway to road and slams on the brakes causing the driver to lose all control. The car is then stalled in the middle of oncoming traffic. Recently, my wife and two children pulled out of the driveway of our local supermarket and made a left turn. The automatic breaking system was activated and she was left stalled in the middle of oncoming traffic. Another driver barely avoided colliding into our rear side door where our 3 year old son's car seat is located. We have taken this issue to our local dealership, and they checked the system, and told us �it is performing as the manufacture intended it to�. This is a serious design issue and its only a matter of time before it results in a major accident and I can only pray that my young children aren't maimed or killed. The vw service people have shown us a complicated way to turn off the automatic braking system in the car, however this needs to be done every time you start the car. I feel its inevitable that a busy mother doing chores with two toddlers will forget to turn off the system at some point. This matter needs to be resolved before disability or loss of life occurs. There needs to be a way to fix the system or permanently disable it. We asked vw to permanently disable the system but they declined. We look forward to your prompt reply thank you. Gurpreet mundi, MD.

On multiple occasions our 2018 vw Atlas has had its emergency braking feature engage in an unexpected and dangerous way. Specifically, during urban driving when having to traverse the normal dip from driveway to street, across a gutter or other low point, the emergency braking system abruptly halts the vehicle and disables movement. When this occurs it is extremely jarring and shuts down normal operation, requiring some sort of gear change or restart. It occurs more frequently when accelerating faster over the dip resulting in a more bumpy movement. It is a major problem when you're attempting to turn into moving traffic quickly. It leaves the vehicle and passengers especially vulnerable as we're perpendicular to oncoming traffic. As a mother of 3 small children in car seats, I am extremely concerned.

2018 Atlas sel, equipped with autonomous breaking to "prevent" collisions. When vehicles travel down an incline like a driveway, the emergency breaking feature will unexpectedly engaged, causing the vehicle to come to a complete and sudden stop. When this occurs, I have no control over the continued movement of the vehicle. I am required to change gears and/or restart the vehicle in order to move the vehicle again. This poses a extreme safety issue as the vehicle will shut down when you are attempting to pull out of a private drive and on to a active roadway, increasing the risk of a side on vehicle collision. Issue was reported to vw service department. Service manager was able to duplicate the issue. Service manager also tested another vw Atlas on the sale lot with the same feature. Strive manager reported that the same issue occurred with the other Atlas as well. Service department was unable to correct the issue, reporting the vehicle is "operating as designed. " issue was reported to Volkswagen. After a three week period, Volkswagen reported that they were declining to take further action on the issue, stating the vehicle was 'operating as designed. " this issue poses a major safety issue no only to the driver and occupants of the vehicle, but to other motorists on the road. Volkswagen has been given notice of the issue and refuses to acknowledge of take action.

I was turning left on a busy road out of a parking lot and had all three of my kids in the car with me. My emergency brake turned on without any warning and stopped my car heading east/west in traffic heading north/south. My foot was on the gas trying to get out of the way and suddenly the emergency brake turned off and my car sped forward into the traffic. I was able to swerve to the side and get out of the way of other cars before any accidents were caused. This is extremely dangerous and could have killed myself and all three of my children.

There have been seven recalls on the 2018 Atlas launch edition. Cook vw in fallston has refused to repair at least 5 recalls. It's been months and they haven't repaired anything. We took faith in these people and they could care less for my family's safety. Today we got a recall letter about the ignition. That makes 6 recalls they will not fix. Multiple occasions. Don't have dates but they should be in the database at this dealership. They all happened in 2018.

I came to a full stop as I was about to exit a driveway. Since there were no vehicles approaching from either direction and there were no obstacles in front of me, I stated to pull out of the driveway when the autonomous emergency braking system suddenly and abruptly stopped my vehicle with no justification. This type of system failure can result in injury.