Automatic Emergency Braking problems of the 2019 Volkswagen Atlas - part 1

While driving 25 mph with no traffic or people around the car came to an extreme sudden stop and without warning. The dashboard lit up red with warning lights and warning alarms sounded followed by complete shutdown of cars systems. No skidding or tire screach - just an instant forceful stop, as if engine cutoff and breaks forcefully seized simultaneously. We were able to restart car and immediately drove to dealership a couple miles away to report an extreme safety concern. Because there was no traffic or people around we feel it has something to do with a sensor and the automatic breaking system. The car was dropped at local dealership (lowcountry Volkswagen - mount pleasant SC) for inspection. This was a dramatic event and safety for driver and others was put at risk due to such a forceful stop. We have serious concerns driving vehicle. What would. Happen of system failed driving at higher speeds or if traffic was around? vehicle has been at dealership for 1 day and problem has not been duplicated. Vehicle has not been inspected by manufacturer, police, or insurance but can be made available. Dashboard lit up with red warning lights at time of incident. There were no warning lights or messages prior to incident.

On January 20th 2025, we were driving on an open street with moving traffic. The automatic braking system kicked in for no apparent reason and the car slammed on the brakes on its own resulting in us almost being rear ended. Our safety and the safety of others was put at risk due to the car braking with no warning and for no reason, causing the person behind us to almost hit us. In the past, the car has randomly loudly beeped at me and given me the forward collision warning for no reason, but it has never auto braked like that for no reason. It was scary and makes me concerned about the safety of the vehicle for my family.

While approaching an intersection at about 20 mph, vehicle suddenly applied the front collision braking and almost caused an accident from the vehicle behind me. There were no vehicles in front of me or any other obstacles. Other 2019 models have been recalled with he same issue for a harness wiring or software update. This is dangerous and risks my family's life.

The abs or aes malfunctioned while driving. The brakes were automatically applied, without warning, with a medium amount of traffic and vehicles behind me. This poses a significant safety issue to myself and others when the brakes get applied without warning. A vehicle behind me had to swerve to avoid rear-ending me and others had to go around me on an onramp to the highway. I am taking my vehicle to Volkswagen of waco today to have this issue looked at. I am also looking into a dashcam to see if I can get the issue on camera in case the dealership isn't able to duplicate the issue. This issue has occurred other times, this has not been an isolated incident. I do get a faulty brake booster light while the vehicle is braking so there is no warning before it happens, just me flying into my steering wheel.

I was driving between 35 and 40 mph on a 252/providence road at wallingford Ave in nether providence twp, PA 19086 last night at approximately 8:30p. It was dark, about 65 degrees and not raining. Road conditions were dry. The pavement is under repair with a temporarily patched utility trench for new water or gas lines in the drive lane. Just before the stated intersection, there are 2 large temporary steel plates on the road, which are somewhat raised (not flush). I was lightly applying the brakes to reduce speed. As my front tires made contact with plates, the collision warning flashed on the dash screen, no audible warning, and the brakes automatically and suddenly applied. The vehicle wheels locked and there was tire screeching heard. The vehicle came to a complete stop. There were no other vehicles in-front, behind, or on-coming. The vehicle stayed straight and there was no collision or damage. I am guessing the vehicle collision system sensed a shadow, 'saw' the light reflecting off the plates, or indicated a slippery surface due to the steel plate. The anti-lock brake system apparently didn't work as the wheels locked. The vehicle just stopped! I was the only occupant and for the record, in no way impaired. I'm pretty attuned to how my vehicle drives and reacts. Occasionally I'll get a false audible and visual alarm indicating a forward vehicle detection when there is nothing there. I've noticed this on dark, winding roads where I figure the glare from my headlights caused a false indication. This is the first time I experienced automatic, emergency braking.

My '19' Atlas had given me several issues after 2 years. The engine light has illuminated several times. Im not sure if is just being reset or if the problem is actually being fixed. At any rate, I have continuously complained about smelling coolant since Feb 21. Only to bring vehicle in, have the coolant topped off, and hear it's nothing's wrong. It has been checked and inspected and yet there has been no headway of the originating of the issue. The dealer has changed the canister & head gasket a few times (even speculated water pump issues). It was said the problem had been fixed. That statement couldn't be more inaccurate a few weeks ago I was told I needed a new head/spark plugs and the block was warp and I would not be able to drive it until it was repaired (a $5k job). My vehicle is 4 years old it is well kept and is always in for scheduled/routine maintenance. I was told this is a known issue. Had I been told this before buying, I would of reconsidered my purchase. Why isn't this a manufacturers recall? or the buyer isn't informed. The manufacturer should be mandated to use reliable materials for this vehicle. For a vehicle to fail at 70k is insane. I am utterly disgusted. In addition, the collision display randomly comes on while driving and vehicle often halts unexpectedly. Unsafe if driving on the road with other vehicles. I have brought it to the dealers attention several times unsure if it has been annotated but I am always told bring it back if it does it again. And no solution has been given. This has been a problem well over a year and a half. Again this should be a recall issue. I love this vehicle and want to keep it but these experiences will definitely detour me from future purchases of the vw brand.

Multiple incidents. Automatic emergency breaking - vehicle suddenly stops in the middle of the road while driving, when pulling out onto roads and when reversing, when there are no oncoming vehicles, objects or humans. Two recent incidences where I was almost in a collision, the automatic emergency breaking did not activate at all. Parking sensors - the sensors come on frequently when there are no objects in front of the vehicle. They intermittently stay on. The vehicle has been inspected multiple times for these issues by the volkswagon dealer. Problems began very soon after purchase. The dealer has not been able to reproduce the problem so they have continuously sent me home with the malfunctioning vehicle. They did replace on sensor and have done multiple updates over the years, but the issue continues. Safety is put at risk because the car suddenly stops in the middle of the road or in intersections. This could cause a t-bone or being rear ended. This most recently happened to my new driver (daughter) and it scared her and put her in the face of oncoming traffic because the stop occurred and before she could get going again, cars were coming. If it happened on the freeway it could be deadly. Same daughter, a few minutes after the previously described incident, almost hit a fence. We stopped within about 2 to 3 inches of it and the automatic/emergency breaking system did not activate at all. These two are just the most recent incidents. These have been occurring since I purchased the vehicle.

Vehicle emergency break activates, unable to release, or when teleased after multiple attempts the light continues flashing on the break button and warning alert on the dasboard. The first time it happened I arrived to destination and parked, when parked as I am waiting it activated when the door was opened. It has not been inspeacted yet, it fist started about 1 week ago. Its unpredictable when it will happen.

On two occasions, I started to back up and the emergency brake system engaged, slamming the car to a stop, as if someone were behind me but there clearly was not. I had a car full of 10 year old girls and they all screamed. Two days ago, I was traveling a city street at 35-40 mph and the emergency braking system engaged and slammed the car almost to a full stop, while in busy traffic. The cruise control isn't currently working either, it throws an error when you try to set your speed. I travel approximately 40 miles round trip to work 5+ days a week at highway speeds. If the emergency brake were to engage while I'm doing 65-70 mph in rush hour traffic and lock the brakes, it will cause an accident. What if it is raining? there is no way someone traveling a few car lengths behind me will be able to stop suddenly. I will injure myself or others and I'm honestly scared to drive my Atlas right now so it is at the local vw dealer for further inspection. I told them my worries and this needs to be recalled quickly. It is a known issue, they asked me if my windows were rolling down when this happens, which is reported in the vm forums.

While driving( multiple scenarios ranging from 10 mph, 70 mph, 30 mph and even while car was parked) alarm would go off and message displaying “brake booster faulty” while also illuminating the “brake” light on dashboard. Brake pedal then becomes stiff and/or spongy, while not working properly. Once car is turned off and back on, “abs” light is also illuminated. Could not brake my car today with 2 children in backseat. Very dangerous.

I have had the emergency brake suddenly deploy about a dozen times since purchasing this car. All have been at relatively low speeds, as in parking lots or when making a turn on street. There has been nothing in my path to cause the emergency brake system to deploy. I took it to the dealership and they said that the computer only registered one deployment and there was nothing that could be done.

On September 29th, my wife was driving approx 40 mph and her 2019 vw Atlas came to a screeching halt for no reason. The automatic emergency braking system engaged and caused the car to slam on the brakes and stop. Luckily there wasn't another vehicle directly behind her as this could have caused a very serious accident. We took the vehicle to local vw for service to diagnose and they could not make any repairs or determine anything at fault. There are numerous comments online from other vw Atlas drivers that are having these issues and for some year models, a faulty door wiring harness or electrical shorts in wiring could cause the issue. Vw has even issued recalls for some year models but not 2019. Please investigate immediately and contact me with a resolution.

Error airbag keeps coming on and dealership cant find issue and cant replicate problem but it happens every time we get in car and are driving. This is very dangerous if we get in a accident and airbags dont deploy. Also there has been some weird electrical issues with vehicle that cause lights to flicker and turn on and off inside car dash. Dealership cant figure it out due to not replicating issue. Last issue is with brakes. Something in the electrical system is causing brakes to fully engage slamming us into the dash board and windshield. Has happened 3 times since owing vehicle. Dealership again said they cant replicate issue. This is getting to be the worse car we have purchased. First time owning a Volkswagen and probably the last time.

On eight occasions this morning the faulty brake booster light has come on and the abs light and brake light are also on inside my vehicle. The brakes are squishy and almost don’t feel like they work to 50% capacity. They are jerky and click and does not seem like a simple antilock braking system problem. This is happened randomly over the last three years that I’ve owned this vehicle. But it has never happened this many times consecutively in the short period of time. I’m afraid for the safety of driving this vehicle.

The vehicle engaged the parking brake when there was nothing in front of me. This happened twice in one day. I currently have it at the vw dealership.

Front passenger side tire on vehicle ruptured after the driver struck a rock in the road during the morning commute. Driver stopped vehicle and changed damaged tire using the provided spare tire. The spare tire provided with the vehicle by Volkswagen is not a full-sized spare. Upon continuing the commute, the car began to malfunction. The electronic stability control featured engaged, braking the car to almost a stop. Driver was unable to accelerate. Each time acceleration was attempted the electronic stability control would engage causing the car to come to almost a complete stop. The tire air pressure sensors were also malfunctioning with the spare. In order to get the car safely to the destination, the driver had to manually turn off the electronic stability control feature and reset the air pressure sensors. This practice had to be completed each time the car was started. However, the driver discontinued using the car until the tire could be replaced. Once the tire was replaced, the car systems went back to driving normally. Volkswagen should recall these cars and provide a full-size spare tire as the vw Atlas is basically nonoperational on the small spare tire provided. It puts the driver of the vehicle in a very unsafe situation. ,.

The driver door wiring harness started lowering windows randomly. . It was replaced 3/1/22 and now it is bringing up two info driver door contact switch and electronic parking brake. . Online it is saying this is a safety issue.

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.

I currently lease a 2019 Atlas and have had multiple problems with the vehicle during my lease. The front-assist/collision or whatever it is that makes brakes slam has nearly caused accidents multiple times and makes it scary to drive the car. This happens even when there are no cars around and I am aware of the class action lawsuit investigation into these safety concerns. Additionally, the infotainment system has had several issues which are not resolved despite bringing it in for service multiple times. It shuts off suddenly, the appleplay has numerous problems. I have brought it to the dealer multiple times and they do nothing despite it being a known safety issue with Atlas. In the additional details section, I am not choosing a date because it has happened so many times.

My aes has been acting up. It has braked unnecessarily when nothing was in front of me worth braking for. I see this is an ongoing issue with vw Atlas. Mine is a 2019 (purchased used Nov 2021).

I originally filed a complaint regarding my vehicle wiring harness issue which has been recalled recently. It is stated "no fix is available" at this time. My Atlas has been at the dealer for 57 days as of today. Smith vw let me know that they have received a wiring harness to replace in my vehicle. . . . But why if the recall specifically states " no fix is available". Is another defective wiring harness being installed as a short term remedy?I told vw corporate I was contacting an attorney for assistance on Tuesday am, 24 hours later the part magically became available to install in my 2019 Atlas??.

9/2019just purchased and driving home from dealership, approximately 4 miles driven, stopped at traffic light. Light turned green. Car started going forward and then engine turned off completely. Sudden stop. Car was in drive, no warning lights, just the auto wasn’t operating. Stuck in traffic. Moved shift lever to park tried restarting. Car would not start. After numerous attempts car started. Immediately drove back to dealership. Told no codes displayed. Nothing to worry about. Salesman said they tightened battery cables. 1/2020stopped in stop/go traffic on interstate. Auto on/off disengaged. While starting to move forward car stopped completely and parking brake engaged stopping the car suddenly. Car turned off. All lights on dash lit, then went off. Took numerous attempts to restart. Electrical smell present 2/2020auto stop was was turned off. Stopped at elevated train crossing by lowered gates and passing train. Foot on brake whole time. After train passed accelerated but car was not running. Car actually started rolling backwards when foot taken off brake. No dash lights or warning of any kind. Had to put car into park. This time it re-started without any hesitation. Acrid electrical smell was noticed. Brought to dealer and no codes. 7/2020backing automobile out of garage. About 10 feet into backing procedure car turned off and parking brake engaged. Had to shift back to park, turn off parking brake. Restart car. Took a few attempts to restart. 3/2021was stopped at same elevated train crossing as prior event. Same issue. 4 more events January 2022. Dealer says not problem found.

My car often will apply automatic braking system when no one or thing is in front of me. Luckily I have not been rear ended yet but it is very startling. Going down steep hills the emergency brake will turn on automatically. Happened the first week I owned the car and I had no idea what was going on. These systems are way to inaccurate to be safe. They are a hazard.

Windows- the drivers side window and back passenger windows rolled down while I was driving down the highway. I was going approximately 75mph at the time. This happened on 2 separate occasions. My vehicle has braked extremely hard on numerous occasions. Two of those times I was traveling on interstate 40 going at approx 65mph. I have had taken my vehicle in for a "software update" on my cruise control and on my air bags. The unlock feature doesn't always work. This vehicle seems to have a lot of electrical issues.

I was driving the car about 30 mph when it abruptly came to a screeching halt. All warning lights on the dashboard lit up. There was no other cars in front of me or behind me. This could have caused a rear end collision had there been a car behind me. The engine did not die but the brake came off and I was able to start driving again. This threw me forward and I almost hit my chest against the steering wheel. I have taken the car to the ken garff vw dealership in orem, ut. They said this is a known problem by vw corporate, but the do not have a fix because it is a faulty cable harness manufactured in ukraine. They also said I was not eligible for a fix because they can not make it recreate the problem. They suggested that I call vw corporate which I did. Vw corporate called me back and said they would get back to me in 4 business days. I told them this was unacceptable. When called back the next day they informed me that ken garff vw had not been able to recreate the problem and could not find the error in the computer system so it must not have happened. This is a known problem and vw is refusing responsibility and said there is nothing they can do about it. I asked if they would buy the car at fair market value and they said that would be at the discretion of the dealer. I am scared to drive this vehicle with my kids in the car and I fear for anyone else driving or following behind a vw Atlas. This is an accident and possible death waiting to happen. I have shared the same fears with vw and they told me according to the computer it never happened. The lack of responsibility is disappointing.

Hello, I am the current owner of a 2019 vw Atlas with less than 13500 miles. In September 25, the front-assist technology alert icon turned on the dashboard all of a sudden without any cause to my knowledge. After attempting to uncheck and deactivate the option from the settings, it still does not save this option and the icon remains on as well as checked in the option selection. I am concerned this sensor malfunction will cause a sudden unnecessary brake while driving and put me and my family at risk for an accident. The alert was reported to the vw dealership on October 7, 2021 where I purchased the vehicle. Their assessment, findings and recommendations are to perform a wheel alignment and acc recalibration since this sensor failure is not under “warranty “ and is at cost to the owner which is over $350. Copy of service department description available to share. Cost not included in the description since I declined the services at this time to allow for additional research on this issue. The cost is not an issue and willing to pay if necessary but truly believe this issue should be escalated due to the high number of reported cases related to the front-assist sensor malfunction and the manufacturer not acknowledging this is a system failure rather than weather or road conditions induced. I appreciate any additional assistance in this matter.

The contact owns a 2019 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, several unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the forward collision avoidance emergency automatic braking engaged and the vehicle came to an abrupt stop. The dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that the mechanic mentioned an unknown wiring harness that might be the cause of the failure. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 72,000.

Vehicle applies emergency braking without warning when no objects are in front of it. This has happened on the highway and at lower speeds. Car will stop in the middle of the road and I have had a number of close calls with people nearly hitting me. I have taken it to my dealer that I leased it from and a dealer in south carolina while on vacation and spoken to vw customer service directly but they tell me there is no issue. To stop the warnings going off I have to put the car in custom off-road which disables the front sensors and turns off the front assist manually. But I worked this out myself and vw insist there is no problem. I should not be searching for a work around to ensure the safety of my family in my car. This has happened on numerous occasions when may wife was pregnant in 2021 with the belt buckle pulling tightly around her waist upon emergency braking but vw did not express any concern. While driving from NJ to SC in 2021 with my children and wife in the car we had to stop numerous times on the side of the highway, turn the car off and turn it on again as the sensors were warning of an impact with nothing in front of us. We contacted a lawyer on the side of the highway but at that point we did not file a claim as we were trying to get to our destination. Upon telling vw I would not drive it home they told us to go to the local vw garage in SC but they found nothing wrong with the car. The problem still persists today.

There have been two incidents where my wife was driving our Atlas and the automatic braking engaged for no reason as if it were trying to avoid a collision. I am upset that my VIN number was not included the the latest recall as this has happened twice to us, luckily with no cars behind to rear end us!.

The front assist system keeps stopping my car at random times. I had told Volkswagen where I bought the car about it and they did nothing. I assuming because they have seen it for themselves. It happened on the highway, on a bridge and going up a hill. No cars were in front of and thankfully no cars were behind as I was going 50-55 mph on the highway. The warning light came on that I was getting too close to a car but there were no cars near me then all of of a sudden the car suddenly stops. It’s very dangerous. I am going to take the vehicle back to the dealer ship again and see what they say. The car also stalls when I back up.

Purchased car from vw on 04/24/21. Noticed an issue the car breaking on its own at low speeds less then 5mph and then completely shutting off, about a month into owning it. 08/19/21 car was taken in for service to fix the automatic breaking issue/shutting off. Car was returned to me about a week later stating the "problem" was fixed. In December 2021, I started noticing the problem again, as this point I assume since the "problem" was fixed maybe this was just how the car was. Finally in March of 2022 while driving at a speed of about 30mph the car started breaking on its own and completed shut off in the middle of driving! at that point it called my local vw and told them they need to take the car in ASAP to have it looked at the fix this problem once and for all, as of now this is a major safety issue. Myself and my children could have been seriously injured from this incident!! after my local vw having the car for a few hours they called and said the issue was the newest recall with the door wiring harness and they will have my car for the "unforeseeable" future due to no repair in place at this time. Even if they claim to have "fixed" this issue again, I will never trust them as they claimed to have fixed it a previous time and they clearly did not!!.

The vehicle will sound the collision warning sound for no reason when no other vehicles are around. When slowly coming up to a red light with one car in front, after coming to a complete stop the vehicle beeped once and engaged the brakes. The second time this happened the vehicle was driving slowly in a school parking lot. There were cars all around but the sensors were beeping the whole time. When trying to drive forward the vehicle slammed the brakes on. Today the vehicle was stopped at an intersection, the rear camera came on, the beeping came on. The vehicle had to be shifted into park to stop the beeping and then put back into drive. This is a serious safety issue and should be a recall!.

Started with entertainment center reboot itself and dash navigation. Dealer did an software update . Then front collision warning would go off… no one around . No cars on road. Dealer did another software update to resolve issue. Then remote start stopped working acc light ecc on dash. Code cleared software update agin. Few months later. At a light car running car then turned off on incline . . Was in light snow. Didn’t know as auto start stop was on. Car began to slide backwards. Had to quickly put car in park and start manually. Went to dealer they found nothing wrong. Car seemed to be always turning off in park or right after remote start was used and car or when placed in park at incline. Dealer could never replicate car turning off. Few months later entertainment center began to reboot and so did dash navigation . Took it into dealer again and they did another software update again and also did and update for recall on emissions. This is when rear emergency braking began. It would would activate all the time. No one around says check your surroundings then the emergency braking will kick on locking up all 4wheels. Now front collision warning going off now again with no one around. Went back to dealer they once again could not reproduce emergency braking turning or check your rear surroundings warning. They said known issue with emergency braking activating but don’t have a fix yet.

Driver experienced two malfunctions of adas automatic braking system during a single highway trip. With no cars ahead, the vehicle flashed the braking warning. A few minutes later in the trip, the vehicle engaged the adas automatic braking, with no vehicles ahead, and initiated a hard stop while at highway speeds. Road conditions were clear and temperatures were ~50 .

Car has stopped abruptly in traffic on two occasion in what should have been innocuous circumstances. First was traveling in a straight line on a slight decline and no hazards, slow moving moderate traffic (about 25 - 30 mph), where the car was coasting (drive neither accelerating or braking) in perfect weather. Second was making a turn at a green left turn signal, probably at speed of 15 mph; again perfect weather. Dealer response was to indicate the system was sensitive and offered to deactivate it. Second response was to "recalibrate" it for $400. This vehicle has less than 12,000 very light miles on it.