Adaptive Cruise Control Problems of Volkswagen Atlas - part 1

The infotainment system, which controls most of the functions of driving safely, is down again for the 2nd time since I purchased my Atlas on 6/9/25. The first time it happened, the local vw dealer had me bring it in on 8/30 & they "fixed" it relatively quickly. They stated it was a local issue & had many Atlas screens that went down but they didn't know why. Now on 10/16 this occurred again, I called the local vw dealer & was told they can't get me in for over 2 weeks. I have a long trip planned before that & also I am heading back south for the winter prior to the date they can get me in. I was told I can drop off the vehicle for an unknown time frame - which leaves me no vehicle at all unless I rent a car for this unknown time frame. A second service advisor called me back to advised it is now a nationwide issue & as of now, there is no solution to fixing it. So why would I drop off my vehicle if there is no solution for this issue?.

All of the lights keep coming on for all of our systems. Collision avoidance, cruise control, automatic braking, blind spot. Radio screen goes black and cannot work anything on car including heat. Car will just randomly go into limp mode. Very unsafe for this to happen while driving on highway.

See all problems of the 2024 Volkswagen Atlas 🔎.

The car is in cruise control on the freeway, going 70-80mph and suddenly decelerates/brakes slam on, to slow down. The front collision will come on and the car will come to almost a complete stop when there is absolutely nothing in front of me. The vehicle will alert there is no driver, when I have both hands on the wheel, and start braking. These sudden stops and slow downs are going to get me or someone else killed. This is an ongoing issue.

I was driving on the sb 55fwy in light stop and go traffic and had my acc w/ traffic aware system engaged. My car was doing as it normally does, keeping a safe distance to the vehicle in front of me, automatically slowing, stopping and accelerating at a safe speed for the conditions. This feature I had been using on my car since I originally purchased it and paid for these safety features. When traffic was not stopped it was traveling between 15-20mph. All of the sudden my dashboard lit up with error messages, audible warnings, and check engine light, all flashing and beeping at me and before I quickly glanced at the dash to the alarming warnings, I had rear ended the car in front of me. This took me by complete shock as my car had always been overly cautious about applying emergency braking in close situations. This time it did nothing. The error message said adaptive cruise control sensor had failed and along with that it had disabled all of the safety features I had become accustomed to and paid extra for, including, the emergency braking and front end collision warning. This caused almost $14k in damage to my vehicle and more so potentially could have put my entire family in danger. The sensor failure caused the accident, the damage to the other car that I was traveling behind and any potential injuries from the driver of that car. I have given this same statement to my insurance company, however no one has reached out to investigate the cause of the failure, not even the dealership service center, where I had originally had my damaged car towed to so they could check and verify with their scan tools that I had a faulty sensor. Also my vehicle had just been serviced the month prior and all software was updated at norm reeves Volkswagen, irvine, CA.

See all problems of the 2019 Volkswagen Atlas 🔎.

I was driving on the freeway in the right lane and the lane assist forced my steering wheel to turn right causing me to collide into a concrete guard rail. Previous to that my car had been having electrical malfunctioning issues with the screen and radio.

On 5/24/25 I made another complaint with my car issues complaint number 11662972 the vw orlando south dealership replaced my transmission. I received my vehicle back on 06/05/25 and after a few hours once I did a u turn, the gears shifted by themselves again. I had to quickly pull over to safety. On the freeway going 70mph it also stalled out, again I had to quickly pull over to safety. The next morning, I informed the dealership the vehicle was having the same problems. I dropped the car off again to vw orlando south on 6/09 and the dealership still does not know what is wrong with the car.

My gears shift randomly while driving and every time I do a u turn. My air conditioning goes out for an hour randomly then comes back on side mirror signals do not tell you when a car is next to you or passing you as they should.

The infotainment system stops working and goes blurry. The dash where the speed is shown goes black. Blind sport monitoring on the passenger side does not work. I almost got into an accident today because of this.

Within a year of owning my vehicle, I began to notice a severe shudder on braking when descending from 7000 foot elevation (mammoth lakes, CA) to a 4400 foot elevation (bishop, CA) on the sherwin grade of us 395 upon braking. I have driven this route approximately 25 times in the past 1. 5 years. Normally, I would set the adaptive cruise control to 73-75 mph on this downhill grade to control speed, and let the adaptive cruise control do the work of controlling speed, while keeping my own foot off the break. However, if I did need to slow further due to traffic, I would experience a severe shudder upon manual breaking- see attached screenshot of a video taken at night. I brought this incident up to vw (see mechanic video) in 1/2025, and they blamed the problem on overheating of the front rotor (see technician video link below). Upon return trips to mammoth, I now realize that this overheating was caused by the adaptive cruise control itself attempting to control auto speed. Now, in order to make this less dangerous, I have to let the car get up to 80 mph and then pulse the breaks- because if I let the adaptive cruise control do the work as designed, it creates an unsafe driving condition because of a faulty design by vw- if heat is an issue, better dissipation is needed, or a temperature sensor is needed. Vw's solution was for me to spend $700 to replace brakes and rotors due to a vw design flaw, despite my car being under warranty, and I cannot afford this currently. I think this issue must be recalled immediately before I (or someone else) who drives on long hilly grades has a fatal car accident due to a design flaw in the vw Atlas adaptive cruise control. Vw technician report found here: https://app. Quik. Auto/main/job-client/d30e9618c58cc7cae45943f5cb69f9d6.

While performing a low speed left hand turn the vehicle’s adaptive cruise control system falsely detected an imminent crash triggering the auto braking system and subsequently malfunctioned to release the vehicle’s side curtain airbags on both the passenger and driver side. The police were called and responded but no police report was prepared as there was determined to be no motor vehicle accident or property damage done (other than to the vehicle itself). The vehicle was taken to a dealer and a diagnostic test was performed, results attached. The manufacturer has verbally responded that they determine the airbag release to be of outside influences and they deny malfunction. They will not provide their response in writing. At the time of the accident there were no warning lights indicating a problem; however, the vehicle diagnostic results indicate that there were brake system issues earlier in the day. The vehicle diagnostic results include multiple system malfunctions that contributed to this malfunction.

The contact owns a 2018 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the contact engaged the cruise control function, and the brakes would inadvertently engage. The contact was not able to verify the warning light that was illuminated during the failure. 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 61,000.

See all problems of the 2018 Volkswagen Atlas 🔎.

Upon starting car all adas functions did not work. Warning lights came on. Did not work for several days. Took to dealership and they found a sensor in tire to be faulty.

See all problems of the 2021 Volkswagen Atlas 🔎.

Front assist constantly goes off, parking sensors faulty, damaged by general driving. Lane departure warning light.

The rear driver side seat belt does not stay in place when the seat is lowered, therefore, leaving this seat without a seatbelt. The adaptive cruise control sometimes works and sometimes does not work. There is no specific reason for this. It works during the snow and does not work during the sunshine. When making a hard right or left turn, there is a grinding noise underneath, I am guessing it has something to do withthe wheels or what the wheels are attached to. . . I have brought each of these items up to the dealership service department and they look at me like I am crazy stating this is the way volkswagon works. I do not believe this is so.

Using adaptive cruise control with lane departure. Driving on a straight stretch of interstate with audio (music) at high level. Car suddenly braked and jerked wheel right risking a crash. Vehicle does not do well on straight stretches of road. Thinks driver is not steering, and will populate a msg on dash, followed by a red light and a signal tone. These aren't easily noticed when head is up and eyes on road with audio level high. Vw should change this to remove braking and instead it deactivates cruise and/or wheel vibrate only.

See all problems of the 2022 Volkswagen Atlas 🔎.

Driving down 4 lane state highway adaptive cruise on. Car in front of us pulled into left turn lane, was no longer in front of us. Dash lit up emergency notification and slammed us on breaks. Reported to vw told “likely a sensor issue tech just not there yet”. Happened again on state hwy. Traveling at 65 mph. No cars on hwy with us emergent message on dash and slammed on breaks. Recently happened when pulling off from stop light through 4 lanes of traffic. I was first car going between 5-8 mph. Dash lit up with emergency notification. Immediately braked and engine turned off. Car had already been taken into dealer for other electrical issues with infotainment and consistently told nothing wrong. Last time taken in for infotainment reported the braking issue. That is when they made statement about sensors. This could cause terrible car accident especially traveling at high speed or stopping in intersection where could be hit from behind or hit by oncoming traffic. Taken to vw multiple times. No problems ever identified. Only changes infotainment system after I brought video evidence of what was happening. Cannot provide them with evidence of this occurrence. Last time take. In had no loaner available car was not left and evaluated bc of disagreement with service.

See all problems of the 2023 Volkswagen Atlas 🔎.

Air bag system in passenger seat quit working. Has been inspected by dealer.

My wife and I bought a new vw Atlas 2. 0 sel on February 2, 2024. On the way home from auto imports in brainerd, mn, the adaptive cruise control (acc) shut off suddenly in the dark slowing the car until I disconnected the adaptive cruise control. My wife drove our autistic grand daughter to her therapy session in grand forks, n. D. Using as we customarily do interstate #29. It happened to her twice on the way home. We took the car to valley imports in fargo four times and were told each time many other Atlas's were experiencing the same and other problems. Acc disengaging, brakes stopping the cars etc. The navigation system had to be repaired it was off by 1 mile and the stop/start system has never worked. The dealer told me the start/stop system only works in perfect conditions, not to cold, not to hot etc. It has never worked. After the dealer tried to follow the vw recommendations 3 times it continued. I have experienced the acc defect dozens of times and on April 29, 2024 7 times on the interstate. We dropped the car at the dealer and after one week at the dealers on may 7, 2024 , and a new radar sensor was installed, it happened again twice on the way home on the interstate i29 crowded with semi-truck traffic connecting the us to canada. Most importantly on the return from the dealer or the third repair on March 27th, to walhalla on the I-29 interstate highway, the brakes suddenly slowed the car from 75 to 68 until I could disengage the acc. There were cars and semi-trucks following us creating a dangerous situation. All we need is for the acc to shut off or the brakes to suddenly slam on as described in front of distracted semi-truck driver heading north or south on the interstate behind us and we have a disaster. We will not drive the car again nor risk my wife, grand daughter's or my life. I found the case of sherrod v. Vw u. S. D. C. #2:22-cv-01537. Vw has known about these dangerous defects, has done nothing and concealed them. Risking our lives. .

The gps in the vehicle navigation shows an inaccurate location of the vehicle, which causes problems for adaptive cruise, and vehicle safety notifications on the dash. Incorrect speed limit indicators occur as a result, and vehicle navigation is rendered useless. It looks ridiculous to all passengers as the vehicle will show on gps somewhere it isn’t, even driving through fields where there are now roads. Problem is intermittent and can last for days or minutes at a time. Known problem on the 2021 as well as more recent models of the vehicle.

The contact owns a 2022 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated while driving 75 mph, the vehicle shut off inadvertently. The contact stated that while in the process of veering to the side of the road, the vehicle restarted independently. The contact continued driving; however, the lane assist, adaptive cruise control (acc), braking assist, driving assist, esc system, tpms warning lights, and other unknown warning lights illuminated. Additionally, the contact stated that the acc mode exceeded the set speed while driving. The contact stated that she deactivated the acc mode; however, while driving 60 mph, the vehicle abruptly decelerated to 20 mph upon releasing the accelerator pedal. The contact stated that the failure recurred while driving. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but was not yet diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The contact was awaiting a call back. The failure mileage was approximately 16,800.

Was driving on interstate 24 between nashville and chattanooga, Sunday sept 17th around 1 pm, temp was about 80 f, out of no where, there was a loud boom , like a gunshot, between my wife and I ( im driving ) I look over at her to see if she was ok, then looked up, I saw the first section of my sun roof glass had shattered into a spider web appearance, then suddenly a chunk of the glass, about 4 x 6 in, departed the roof panel over head while I was trying to slow down and pull over. I was going about 78- 80 mph. Once on the side shoulder, I retracted the sun shade cloth shield, it was fill with numerous shards, one which fell and hit my knee, causing a cut. Numerous shared were within the vehicle and our open top drinks. Since I was not comfortable drive at highway speeds, with potential shards coming into the cabin and impacting those behind, I drove several miles along the shoulder of the road to a gas station. There I bought gloves and removed what was left of the remaining panel and used duct tape to contain any remain glass. Im currently in contact with my vw dealer as to the status of its repair.

I was told by dealership that due to the boosters transmitting radio frequencies in rural areas that it interferes with the adaptive cruise control. I have gone on 3 trips where this causes the front assist and cruise control to disengage at highway speeds. Had someone been behind me they would have rear-ended my vehicle. In 6 months has happened three times but the dealership has not been able to reproduce due to our high population in our area. Dealership is aware but they don't know how to fix as manufacturer hasn't released any information. Car was purchased in 9/2023 and happened twice within 3 weeks. Third time was 2/17/24 on another trip through a rural area.

Vehicle 2 hrs after purchased start/stop failure notice came on. Vehicle died without emergency brakes or any brake system at all take place in middle of the road. Took to the dealer where it was purchased from immediately-4 days later “repaired” replaced a valve stating a flap wasn’t closing correctly. 3 weeks later out of state same thing happened 3 different times traveling 70 mph on the way back to our home, only this time we had cars swerving behind us to avoid hitting us as we were in middle lane, immediately I threw on the flashers while driver was attempting to place it in park when the gear shift stuck same error all 3 times start/stop fail only this time the check engine light came on as well as the start stop error light on the dash and permanently stayed on until we could get to the dealership where we purchased it- vehicle stalled again the same way only this time attempting to park vehicle to check in for inspection.

When starting the vehicle, the warning system will flash and display several errors, mainly "parking brake failure" and the light on the parking brake control will flash. Parking brake will disengage after several attempts and warning will go away. Problem started about 1 month ago and is becoming more persistant.

Passenger air bag recall.

Adaptive cruise control malfunctioning. Sometimes it does not turn-on , and shows an error message.

Atlas displays the same problems that others have also complained about. The vehicle will abruptly stop and engage the parking brake and set off all kinds of warning sensors. The driver's side door harness is the alleged problem and yet they have no fix. My VIN number is not associated with the recall but my Atlas displays the same problems as the recalled ones.

The acc and lane assist will not work. There is no obstruction of view from any sensor or camera. This is a known problem with vw and they haven’t done anything about this. This is a 2018 model. There is no reason for this to be happening.

Steering gear feeling loose & making noise going down the road. Steering wheel shake & vibration. No warning lights initially. Few hours later when steering vibration was at it worse, the front end collision warning light with cruise control light came on. Dealer said system needed recalibrated & steering gear needed to be replaced. Stated it is a common, complaint/diagnosis but no recall from vw. $3000 to repair! car definitely doesn’t feet safe at highway speeds.

See all problems of the 2020 Volkswagen Atlas 🔎.

My 2019 Atlas is showing many of the same symptoms of the current Atlas recall, but it isn’t listed on the site. My airbag light is flashing, the adaptive cruise control states that it isn’t available, and many other electrical systems have been failing. The problem began today.

Sometime in Dec 2021, I have started experiencing issues with the car where the driver side back window rolls down warning messages popup saying driver side door fault etc with the check engine light coming on. What is concerning is when the vehicle is going at slow speeds (<5mph), the electronic parking brake engages automatically making the vehicle come to a sudden stop with jerks. Weird thing is, the problem is present on some days and some days the vehicle is completely normal without any warnings, sounds etc. Took the vehicle in for an oil change and routine maintenance and was told this is a known issue and there is a recall on it, bit no fix available.

Hello. I have approx 12000 miles on my vehicle. Vehicle last week gave numerous warning lights and would not start. After leaving it a few hours I was able to start it but the engine light was on and warning that abs was not active. Took it to the dealership who said there is a recall with no fix for a door wiring harness. Today, while driving the car, it came to a compete stop on the roadway and would not allow me to turn it back on. I drove the car back home and it would continuously stop and I would have to restart. I almost got into two accidents. There needs to be a more serious recall as someone is going to get hurt. Dealership says there is still no fix.

While driving on March 12, 2022, multiple alarms beeping and warning indicators appeared on the dashboard and the emergency brake suddenly engaged immediately halting the car to a complete stop. This happened multiple times during a short drive. On March 16, 2022, while this vehicle was parked with the engine running, more warning indicators appeared. The first was " fault: electronic parking brake" and the second was "caustion: engine is running". Right after that, two windows partially rolled down on their own. About 5 minutes later, as I was pulling into my driveway, the same two warning indicators came back on - this time the vehicle was in motion. This vehicle is scheduled for routine maintenance on March 22, 2022 and this was mentioned to the service department at the time the appointment was made. The vehicle has not yet been inspected. There is no warning when these issues are going to happen making it unsettling to drive this vehicle not knowing when or if it will abruptly stop on the road or highway. This is definitely a safety issue. Photos of the March 16, 2022 indicent are attached to this.

When the car is turned on the adaptive cruise control is not available, the error code fault is "driver door contact switch", fault code "electronic parking brake" appears, the rear drivers side window rolls down about 6 inches, the car beeps and alerts "the engine is running". When at a complete stop, the beeping and alert with "the engine is running" appears and the parking brake appears to turn back on as well. My car had this issue in Feb 2021 and a part was replaced, but now the problem is back again. This has been confirmed by the dealership and vw customer care that is a very known issue with Atlas. Unfortunately electronical issues are a huge concern because everything is connected. This is the primary car for me and my children. I have huge concerns of safety with my children riding in the car when it has such serious electrical issue.

Purchased the car in April 2021. After 230 miles of driving remote start stopped working. Vw service center diagnosed faulty soldering on fuel pump and replaced it. In December 2021 both passenger side windows started opening on their own while in park and driving. Shortly started getting error message from proximity sensors, adaptive cruise control and finally brakes with service engine message. Brought to vw service center and got diagnosed with faulty door harness. Service technician informed me that they had 20+ cars with similar issue and shortage of parts. Ultimately I was told vehicle is not safe to drive, due to car identifying door as open and shutting off engine mid-driving. Harness replaced, not the trunk is opening in park and windows are still opening by themselves. Sent the vehicle to service center by tow truck, applied for lemon law replacement and vw corporate. This should be heading to recall to prevent driving accidents. Vw corporate is very hard to contact and follow-up is very poor. Other vehicle issues: low coolant level, faulty door lock on passenger door.