Body Problems of Volkswagen Atlas - part 1

The hood release latch cable on my 2021 vw Atlas snapped, making it impossible to access the engine compartment. This happened as I was at the store to change the battery in my vehicle. I had to jump start the vehicle twice earlier that day, as the battery was wearing out. Because the hood would not open, I was unable to change the battery. Luckily, the vehicle started, so I could drive it home, but otherwise I would have been stranded with no way to start the vehicle as I would not have been able to open the hood and access the engine or battery. This is a serious safety concern. It should never happen on any vehicle, but certainly not on a vehicle that is only a few years old.

See all problems of the 2021 Volkswagen Atlas 🔎.

I was casually checking my fluid levels when I opened the hood and there was a loud pop upon pulling the hood release lever. Numerous complaints online led me to believe that this was the hood release cable coming undone which now means I have no access to my battery and all components of the vehicle under the hood.

The hood release latch cable snapped, which makes it impossible to open the hood for an emergency or maintenance. The cable is a poor design that is prone to breaking, and from looking online is an extremely common occurrence for the Atlas. It also costs $500-$800 to repair for each occurrence and the vehicle is a safety concern until repaired due to the risk of not being able to open the hood in the event of an emergency.

The hood latch release mechanism inside the vehicle cab broke when I was trying to open the hood to add coolant. I cannot open the hood at this point without a repair persons assistance. When I investigated this online I discovered that there are thousands of people experiencing the same issue with the car. It can become dangerous for a person if there is a failed battery and the person cannot access the engine compartment. It is also preventing me from adding the needed coolant and could be a concern for a person who needs routine maintenance on the car. This is clearly a factory defect that can have significant impacts on consumers.

The hood latch cable snapped preventing the hood from being opened in the event of an engine fire. The dealer stated this is a common issue with this make and model vehicle.

On different occasion the driver side door hinge will lock and not allow the door to close completely. I have been driving and the door will open and I have to hold it "closed" while driving. Currently my drivers side door will not open when I unlock the doors I have to climb through the passengers side or the back seat in order to open my drivers side door. This has happened on three separate occasions- my door not closing all the way. It is a hazard when driving and suddenly my vehicle does a drastic stop asking I put the vehicle in park because it assumes I opened the door manually.

The temperature was about 1 degree this morning at my home. My vehicle was parked outside. The driver's side door will not latch closed. The visible part of the latch mechanism is not frozen. I have not not gotten the vehicle to a dealer yet because I do not know how to get it there with a door that won't latch closed. I am hoping that when it warms up the door will start working properly again but this is not acceptable or safe.

See all problems of the 2024 Volkswagen Atlas 🔎.

I own a 2021 vw Atlas. My daughter owns a 2020 vw Atlas. Both vehicles have had a nonfunctioning hood latch. What this means is you cannot under any circumstances open your hood. So, if you need to do any of the multitude of under hood services you cannot. I had to wait weeks for my vw dealer to get it in to make the repair. After speaking with my service advisor at my vw dealership, it turns out this is a frequent problem for vw Atlas owners. A casual search online shows many incidents of the hood latch system failures. This should most certainly be a recall, fully covered by vw. This occurrence does not appear to be random or unusual, so it is clearly a (part or component) design flaw.

I bought a 2024 Atlas in March 2024. It now has 16k miles on it and it has been meticulously maintained and cared for in that time. In may 2024, my husband and I were driving down the interstate and out of nowhere, the passenger side front door popped open by itself! we took it immediately to the dealership, where they looked at it and said they couldn't recreate the problem or identify what had caused it. We chalked it up to a fluke and moved on. Today (February 21, 2025) it happened again! it was the exact same door, and the exact same scenario occurred: there was a beep, then I could hear air coming in through the door, and it was ajar. This is a huge safety issue and I am terrified to continue driving this car, as I have two children and I refuse to put them in danger because of this car malfunctioning. Additionally, in the 11 months I've had this car, this will be the fifth time it is in the shop. It had to go just two weeks ago because it was leaking oil, and now it's also telling me it's low on coolant so I'm afraid that's leaking too. I am at a loss. My main concern is that the door is opening, while the vehicle is in motion, traveling at a high rate of speed, and that poses a huge safety risk not only to the individuals in my car, but all of the other cars near mine as well.

The vehicle was giving a false alert about my driver's door being opened. The door was infact closed properly. During this time when I was driving when I came to a slowed or complete stop the car put the emgergency/parking brake on. This happened twice in seven days. I took the car to the dealership to look at it and it appears to be a known defect that the door latch can freeze and cause this malfunction. The car has not been in an accident and is less than 5 years old. The repair is $1000. This abrupt braking was hazardous as it cause the car to stop short, my family could have been rear-ended.

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I had just completed filling my car with gas and was still parked at the gas pump. The gas cap had been replaced and I got back into the car and started it. I thought that the engine had fully started, but when I shifted into drive, the engine sputtered a little. I put it back in park, and attempted to start the car again. There was a huge bang under the hood and a puff of smoke. Upon opening the hood, the cover over the intake manifold had exploded into pieces. There was enough force that one of the shards of plastic dented the hood from the underside. Luckily nothing caught fire, but I fear that it could have. I had the car towed to a repair shop, and they confirmed that at minimum, the intake manifold needs replacing, but really couldn't guess as to the cause of the failure at this point. They are the only people who have had an official look at the vehicle. It would be available for inspection by someone else. My engine had been running fine with no warning signs in sound or performance. I am someone who keeps up with regular car maintenance. I did have a check engine light on back in late spring that indicated (I'm looking around to see if I still have the print out) a minor issue with the gas cap seal, but the light cleared itself before my appointment at the dealership to have them investigate it and the technician told me that in the absence of other issues (noise or performance) it should be fine to drive. I read a few other accounts online of owners having the same issue with their vw vehicles.

See all problems of the 2019 Volkswagen Atlas 🔎.

Frontal detection sensors randomly go off usually while sitting stationary at traffic lights or stop signs, when there are no cars around the vicinity of my vehicle. Screen displays false detections and alerts with annoying beeps making you think something is going to collide with you. Dealership says there's an internal TSB on this problem, but they don't know how to fix it.

See all problems of the 2022 Volkswagen Atlas 🔎.

Driver side rear quartet panel window cracking and disintegrating from inside the vehicle after 400 miles since new. No impact or other damage prior to crack formation.

- rear driver side door opened while driving, and could not be shut. It took multiple attempts to once again shut and lock the door. The latch would not catch. - this put a toddler (in a carseat) at risk, as the door issue occurred in the rear of the car. - luckily, there was an adult passenger who was able to manually hold the door shut to get the car to a safe location. -it has not yet been replicated or reviewed by the dealer, but an inspection is scheduled for next week. - no warnings appeared, and the car did not indicate that any doors were open, even when the door was fully ajar. - the car was purchased 62 days ago, as a new vehicle. And there have been no accidents.

The hood release broke, and we can no longer open the hood of the vehicle. There is no tension in the release mechanism, and it appears the release cable has broken/become loose. Without the ability to open the hood, I can’t check my oil, refill engine coolant, refill wiper fluid, etc. , let alone investigate an issue. Generally unsafe to drive. There were no warnings on the dash (the lever was simply dangling). We took the car to the dealer, and they confirmed the hood release was broken, and likely a bad cable (as anticipated). Online research confirmed this is a common issue among vws, especially the Atlas.

Peeling clear coat at 47,000 miles. Dealership said paint warranty ended at 36,000 miles.

Faulty driver door lock actuator / micro switch. Below freezing drivers door (only) freezes. Only way to open door is from inside. Once door open, door latch does not re-engage resulting in you manually having to hold your door close while driving. This has happened multiple times over the years and this past January occurred 4 mornings in a row. No other doors ever impacted other than drivers door. Dealership aware of the issue but cannot replicate as the car warms up in their shop. Vw corporate will not authorize any repair unless a fault code active. Despite calling the dealership while the problem is occurring they can not get repair approved since the car was not present at the time the issue was occurring. It is a severe safety issue having to manually hold your door closed while driving.

The contact owns a 2018 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated that while driving at mph, the contact heard an abnormal noise and the rear of the car jumped. The contact had got out and noticed that the rear spring coil had broken off. No warning light was illuminated the vehicle was taken to a dealer to be diagnosed. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and determined that the VIN was not included in a recall. The contact referred to the NHTSA campaign number: 18v904000 (suspension) the failure mileage was approximately 74,000.

See all problems of the 2018 Volkswagen Atlas 🔎.

I opened my hood while parked in my driveway to use the fuse puller tool in the engine fuse compartment as my infotainment screen was out and I wanted to check the fuse under the dash. There is a slight incline in my driveway but not much. I left my hood up while I used the tool and switched a fuse under the dash to check my infotainment screen. When I went back to put the fuse tool in the engine compartment and closed my hood I heard a low clang. I didn't think much of it and went back to close the fuse box under the dash. Then I noticed the hood release latch was not sitting flush to the vehicle and was pointing at a 90 angle up. I tried to push back into position but there is no hold and now my hood is locked. There is no way to open the hood with the under dash latch broken. My car has about 56,000 miles on it and I am scared to drive my vehicle not knowing if the hood will fly up at any moment. I called the dealer and because my car is out of warranty at 50k miles they refuse to fix the hood latching mechanism unless I pay out of pocket. I am scared to drive my 2 yr old vehicle because of all the little issues coming up right outside my warranty. No warnings or messages came up before the issue happened and I am not sure what will happen if I need to get into my engine compartment. This seems like a big safety issue and I am going to be left with correcting on my own before driving the vehicle again.

The viechle appears to be having a very common issue of the hood latch being broken or snapping. I was left stranded with my car with a dead battery unable to access the battery to jump it.

Battery died, needed to jump battery. Hood latch cable snapped when pulling hood lever.

I was hit from behind and slammed into the car in front of me while stopped at a light. The collision totaled my Atlas at 95% the air bags did not deploy nor did their give a warning for the collision. The damage was so severe that the inner frame of the vehicle is beyond repair. Recent warranty repairs were done to this vehicle prior to the accident one set to the dash electronics in the . Ast 4 months. This car remains at the body shop awaiting ins settlement for the car.

I was driving my car and the moonroof exploded and shattered. Nothing his my car there were no cars in front of me, side of me, or behind me. There is no debris or any type of object. It is all over the internet about sunroofs and moonroofs exploding. The incident happened 09/16/2022.

Thos vehicle has opened the rear hatch on two separate occasions, which was confirmed as an issue by both the local dealer, mclarty Volkswagen in north little rock, and Volkswagen corporate. The airbag light is constantly on, and the parking brake may engage randomly. Volkswagen corporate told us to "drive it as long as you feel comfortable with it, or just park it, but there isn't a plan and new parts can take 4-6 months to be ready. " they also said no loaner vehicles are available due to the large amount of issues they are having. This is unacceptable as my wife and children ride in this vehicle daily and put their lives on the line with these issues.

Upon starting vehicle, dash screen indicated that there was an issue with the driver door contact switch, and back driver's window lowered automatically. This automatically triggers the emergency brake to engage. If you disengage the emergency brake, the vehicle beeps, acting like a door is open, even with all doors closed. There were other incidents where this did not happen until driving on the road, in which the vehicle would engage the emergency brake as it was stopping. The brake would have to be manually disengaged in order to keep driving down the street. This may have been a safety hazard to others around if the vehicle all of a sudden turned on the emergency brake. This problem is not new to the local Volkswagen dealer, where my vehicle has been for the last month. Eight other vehicles are there with the same issue. They said that a door harness replacement is needed, but this part is backordered for the foreseeable future.

In Jan 2022, the air bag system error light lit up at start-up and remained lit. A first-available dealer appointment was made for 1/28, two weeks away. During those two weeks, the car started to issue a burst of random alerts during cold startup - driver door contact switch failure, cruise control (acc) failure, start/stop system failure, and the rear driver side window would roll down several inches. Shutting off and restarting the car solved these alerts. The car was inspected on Jan 28; the dealer confirmed a faulty wiring harness in the driver side door. They also confirmed the random alerts were the same cause. The dealer stated that the driver side air bag was nonfunctional, but the rest of the air bag system was ok. A replacement part was ordered with an estimated delivery of 2-3 weeks. As such, we chose to keep driving the car. Over the ensuing weeks, the random alert sequence got more frequent and started to show an electronic parking brake alert and engage the parking brake at startup. It then began happening on later starts when the car was fully warmed and would resume after the car was shut off and restarted. Finally, the alerts started to happen while moving, and instead of just a single burst, became a continuing sequence. The alerts are a rapid-fire volley of warning dings/dongs and accompanying messages in front of the driver. At the same time, the rear driver-side window is moving and the door contact switch is clicking randomly in the driver's left ear. It is a startling volley, which combined with the other weird sounds, is a disorienting and panic-inducing 360-degree assault on the senses. After no word from the dealer. I called on Mar 4 and was told the part was on a nationwide backorde, with no eta. I did some research and found numerous reports of the problem getting worse over time and the parking brake engaging while moving. As our experience matches the trend, I feel the car is no longer safe and have parked it until it is repaired.

The sunroof exploded while driving with no external object impacts. The retracted roof exploded sounded like a gunshot. I was driving about 75mph on hwy 70 from colorado to utah. There were no vehicles around us.

The plastic trim on the doors failed and became lodged between the seam of the fender and the front doors. The adhesive on the trim/badges failed and allowed it to partly peel off the door. I became trapped in the vehicle and was unable to open either door because pieces were jammed in the doors range of motion. I had to physically slam my body against the door from the inside of the car to break the jammed piece and open the door. My safety was at risk as I was not able to get out of my car and it was urgent. I would not have been able to get out of my car in the case of an accident or if my car became submerged in water such as a flood. I frequently transport my 70 year old father to medical appointments and I was unable to open the door to get him out of the car due to this issue. I reported this problem in April when I first noticed the trim badges coming loose, but vw failed to fix it properly. They took a metal putty knife and attempted to bend the fender and trim back into place in the parking lot. They did not take this issue seriously and pushed off repairs for months until I finally had this event and demanded they make this car safe. This car would not have passed the state inspection and should have never left the dealers lot. I had another mechanic assess my car and he confirmed that this was extremely unsafe and the delay in repair could have been catastrophic. I have several pictures from April until present that show how severe the defect is on my car. There are several other reports of this problem in the vw forums where the badges on the doors have become jammed in the fender seam and prevented range of motion of the front doors.

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.

On Thursday, October 29th, I started my car after it had been parked outside for several days in the rain. After backing my car out of the driveway and then propelling forward, water (easily 1. 5-2 cups) came out of the rear view mirror onto the paneling below. The water came out of the buttons as they were pushed on the panel. In addition, throughout the weekend, you could see the condensation in the buttons. As a result, the ac/heat paneling did not work correctly for several days. When I would turn on the car, the panel would light up and at times, I could not turn off some of the functions. This happened for at least 4 days. I called my vw dealership on Thursday, October 29th when I discovered this. However, vw could not fit me in to look at the car until Monday, November 2nd. Also to note, the engine light had come on and gone off several times throughout the weekend. I will also add the entire driver's side ceiling from the windshield to the sunroof was saturated with water. One push of the finger and water would come seeping out of the ceiling. After taking it to vw they could not find anything wrong with any sealing or any leak. I feel confident the sunroof was shut while my car was outside as it had been raining/sleeting for a week and I had no opportunity to use the sunroof.

There are small spots of rust all around the car, lower half.

My SUV has developed rust all around. Back door, side panels on both side, closer to bottom half.

Panoramic sunroof popped and shattered while driving on the highway. No evidence of any rocks or debris hitting it prior to it exploding. Glass showed outward depression, not inward, after cracking.

I purchased this vehicle 5 months ago and it has less than 6k miles on it. Yesterday, while driving in the rain, I noticed the storage nook under the radio compartment was wet. I looked up and saw water dripping from the ceiling on passenger side console. I did take video of dripping. It dropped water while moving and at a complete stop, so long as it was raining. I've looked online and see this is a very common complaint on forums. I brought my vehicle to vw dealer today at 8am and it is still there at 3:32 am. I called to get a status and the return call said that I need a new drainhose and that it needs to be ordered. They said it will be in 2 days and they will call to schedule repair. I asked what happens if subsequent damage is caused by this issue and was told "we usually just have to replace carpet". This tells me that they're well aware of this defect. This dealership does not give loaner vehicles. I'm nervous after reading numerous complaints about this and reading of people who've had their vehicle in the shop repeatedly for this problem. I'm filing a complaint on my first go round because of all I've read and the response I got from the dealership.

The sunroof is leaking a lot of water. The vw dealership says it is because the drain tube gets clogged, the cleaned it and wanted to charge me $80 for something I have no control over. Finally they honored the warranty and I didn't pay. This complaint is to help other people if this happens to them.