Power Train Problems of Volkswagen Atlas - part 1

This problem was noticed shortly after vehicle was purchased and it could potentially be dangerous; although there has been no accidents yet. After waiting at a light or waiting to make a turn when clear, there is an unusually long or slow response to acceleration. Acceleration pedal would be pressed and car does not move. This is particularly dangerous when making a left turn with oncoming cars. Typical response is to step on pedal more to get vehicle to move, but once the car does respond, it would shoot forward. Only happens when car is starting to go from a stop but does not happen everytime. Vehicle is currently about 1000 miles but this has been after shortly after purchase. Vehicle was purchased new with 5 miles on odometer.

I’ve consistently had a coolant leak with my engine water pump. Constantly have to refill the coolant. The reason I’m making this complaint is because yesterday October 1, 2025 I filled up my coolant and I drove a few miles to the grocery store and my coolant was empty and I got a coolant, low warning light and the coolant pump was completely empty. This is becoming very expensive and should not happen on a certified preowned vehicle with only 75,000 miles.

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Ehicle safety defect — instrument cluster failure & transmission/shifter failure my 2025 Volkswagen Atlas has two serious, ongoing safety defects that Volkswagen and the dealership have failed to repair. The digital speedometer/instrument cluster blacks out while driving, leaving no speed visibility. This has occurred multiple times with my four young children in the car. The vehicle often will not go into drive unless I shift 3 or more times. This is an intermittent shifter/transmission malfunction. The dealership’s repair order states “no repairs performed for this concern. ” for the blackout issue, they only disabled hd radio as a temporary workaround. A vw technician told me on video that no permanent fix exists. The same admission was made over the phone by another vw technician. For the transmission issue, the dealer wrote “unable to duplicate,” did no diagnostics, performed no repair, and documented no second inspection despite verbally claiming one occurred. I have now been without a safe vehicle for 32+ days. Volkswagen denied me a loaner multiple times. Vw corporate has not responded to my requests for buyback, and the defects remain uncorrected. These are unresolved safety defects affecting visibility of speed, drivability, and transmission engagement.

The car engine shuts off while driving at slow speeds . . . Many times while parked at a red light. The instrument cluster displays 'please restart the engine'. The shutoff happens while the vehicle is in drive mode. It is very dangerous and the vw dealership is not acknowledging the issue in spite of several online reports of it. . Read more...

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Vehicle often stalls at stops, been doing a lot of research and a lot of people have the same issue all over forums with the vw Atlas across all years, its a safety issue that needs to be addressed. Most of the forums and vw techs say its the vapor canister going bad but with a newer car we shouldn't have to get it replaced every 10k miles. You don't want your car stalling at a intersection with traffic with your kids and family in the car, its dangerous and vw needs to fix this issue.

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The car does not downshift into second gear from third, the downshift occurs when triggered by the first gear. This can result in starting acceleration initiating below 1000 rpm around 5 mph in gear 3 to get back up to speed. This can be best observed during stop and go traffic where the car does not reach mark to trigger downshift to first gear. This creates unpredictability and potentially hazardous situations.

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At about 8,200 miles I got the low oil warning light. I had to add a quart of oil and get it to the dealership. The dealership confirmed there was an issue with 6 cam bridge bolts and clean the engine of all the leaked oil.

I was driving about 50-55 miles per hours. I had been driving for about 45 minutes when I heard a loud pop in the rear portion of the vehicle. Warning lights came on the dash at this time. The message said to "apply the park brake because of roll potential" and some other messages that I cannot remember. The vehicle stopped moving/pulling (the engine was still running) and the vehicle put itself in neutral. The wheels locked up. A bystander tried to push it out of the lane of traffic, but it would not move, and the tow truck had to drag it on the flat bed. The dealership (checkered flag Volkswagen - virginia beach, virginia) said there was a fault for the shifter mechanism. They replaced it. Safety - I was instantly stuck in the middle of traffic and could not even coast off to the shoulder to get out of the lane of traffic.

While going through an automated car wash, I experienced a critical malfunction at the end of the belt. When it came time to shift my vehicle from neutral into drive, the car would not respond. Every time I attempted to shift into drive, the emergency brake would automatically engage, preventing the vehicle from moving forward. As a result, I was stuck at the end of the car wash belt. The car behind me, unable to stop due to the forward momentum of the belt, was pushed into my vehicle. Their vehicle sustained damage from hitting my trailer hitch, although my car did not appear to be physically damaged. This incident created a clear safety hazard, not only putting me at risk but also directly causing a rear-end collision. I believe the failure was related to either the automatic emergency braking (aeb) system or the shifting mechanism. However, I am not a mechanic, and this is my best assessment. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request. This malfunction created an immediate safety risk by leaving my car immobilized in a narrow, automated space, with another vehicle in motion behind me. The inability to shift into drive and the automatic engagement of the emergency brake contributed to the collision. The issue has not yet been reproduced or confirmed, but the Volkswagen dealership has been contacted and is scheduled to perform diagnostics next week. The other vehicle involved in the collision was inspected by longmont auto body & glass, who provided a repair estimate of $1,495. 39. My own vehicle has not yet been physically inspected by the manufacturer. Warning signs or symptoms prior to failure: during the car wash, proximity alarms were sounding, indicating that I was close to or might hit an object (likely the wash brushes), but I received no specific dashboard warning messages related to the shifting or emergency brake system before the failure occurred.

The car began revving at lights when I was in drive and stopped at red lights. The normal at rest rev is 0. 75 however I have seen it as high as 1. 5 and had to put the car into park to reset the acceleration. This had been consistently happening over the past month. The first visit to the dealer, I needed a new battery. . . That didn't fix the issue. The tech said that after the battery was replaced that the scan showed no error codes. The only codes before the battery replacement were low voltage indicators throughout the car. The next day the same issue happened again. The second scam showed no faults however I asked them to clean the throttle body (which they never suggested) and they did. They said that they recalibrated the new clean throttle body measurement to the computer. For the following 10 days, when I stopped at a light, the tachometer was perfectly stable at 0. 75 and there was no "jumping" around like before. Until this day, the acceleration happened at a "stop". However on day 11 after the throttle cleaning, I was slowing down to approach a red light and the tachometer revved to 3. 0 and I needed to stop immediately and throw it into park. This is so dangerous. I may cause an accident by either lurching forward or needing to hit the breaks to stop the acceleration. There are no error or warning lights that show on the dashboard!!! after the battery was changed, the dealership said they had someone drive it for 10 miles to recreate the issue but found none yet it started up the next day. Grok has been helpful. It suggested first the throttle cleaning which did help, and three other repairs. I'm planning to pay a shop that deals with german cars specifically to scan and evaluate. The car has 43,000 miles on it. This is a testament to german engineering? no longer. I have never seen this in any other of my vehicles. All three uploads failed even though I got them to the most minimum of info.

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.

Was operating vehicle when all of a sudden it stop in the middle of the highway. Engine turned iff. Was able to crank back up but vehicle would not shift into drive, reverse or any motion gear. Vehicle stopped in the morgue of an active roadway which created an absolute critical safety issue due to oncoming traffic. Was able to push vehicle from the roadway in neutral but transmission will not otherwise engage. Very high probability that this issue could have resulted in serious car accident if vehicle had became disabled at a high speed.

There is an error with the start-stop feature and it causes my car to stall while driving it. This is very dangerous considering it tells me to put it in park and start the car manually. It's almost caused me multiple accidents.

Driving at constant speed on highway, vehicle either loses acceleration and / or applies brake for short moment. Tapping the accelerator appears allow the vehicle to resume to initial intended speed. Automatic braking, not intended by the driver is a safety risk for both this and adjacent drivers. The problem has been reproduced by a dealer service center. No other agencies have inspected the vehicle's problem. No warning lamps, messages or other symptoms evident. Dealer has had the vehicle to two weeks and has not provided a viable resolution.

The epc light will come on at anytime. Meaning while driving on a street highway or freeway. Which is a safety issue. The veichle will lose power and start to shake. The light will go off once turned off and turned back on. There most be some electrical issue. Not sure why there has not been a recall on the 2018. They have many complaints and issues. This has been an issue for months.

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The contact owns a 2020 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the transmission unexpectedly downshifted with the passenger occupant detection system (pods) and electronic power control (epc) warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was restarted; however, the failure recurred. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 116,000.

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The contact owns a 2024 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated while at a stop sign and attempting to make a left turn, while depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to respond as needed; however, approximately five seconds later the vehicle responded as intended. The contact stated that the transmission had shifted into neutral and then first gear after several minutes. The contact stated that a dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the failure had occurred on several occasions. The vehicle was not taken to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but offered no assistance. The contact was referred to NHTSA hotline to report the failure. The failure mileage was 3,997.

Error: transmission displayed on monitor and vehicle will not go into drive. Stranded with 3 little kids and need to call tow truck to take vehicle into dealership. It says you can continue driving but can’t get vehicle out of park. After researching this online it sounds like it is a common problem and could be related to the gear selector switch. I hear no electrical motors or any noise when trying to put it into gear like there is no power going to gear selector motor. Dead in the water and absolutely irritated especially with a car full of toddlers.

Brakes grind and vibrate and have for the past 7,000 miles, dealer continues to say this is normal for Volkswagen, this problem has been reported numerous times to vw and doing an internet search I am not the only one with this problem. Numerous other individuals with these vehicles also have this issue. The other issue is the transfer case continues to leak, this has been replaced once already, and now less than 4,000 miles later it is leaking again. Vw continues to say everything is normal and it is normal to feel the vibration and grinding in the brake pedal and vw continues to say it is safe and normal for these sounds. However, this grinding feeling, not squeaking, but grinding and vibration in the brake pedal cannot be safe. This is a serious safety concern for myself and my family. They say brake pads are normal and not worn, so this isn’t a brake pad issue, but a deeper issue. The third issue is the infotainment system at times in start up will just be black, and will not come on, so you are unable to adjust climate control, radio, use backup camera, etc. The only way this will fix itself is if you turn the car off and back on, the dealer has updated they system, and it still continues to do this.

I have had issue after issue with this car ever since I got it. Within the first year of my lease, my car was at the dealership for 4 to 5 months. Most of it in one long stint. The vehicle was consistently having problems. All the while, I’m paying for a car I wasn’t even able to drive for a huge chunk of year 1. One time, the car completely shut down and stopped in the middle of the freeway with my three young children in the car with me. The brakes on this car have been an issue since I bought it as well. Not only have the brakes squeaked the entire time I’ve owned the car, vw has since come out and said that the brakes are defective but they’re unwilling to offer any solution. There have been factory issues with this vehicle many many times that have caused real safety issues. Rarely did volkswagon actually offer any sort of fix or realistic timeline for when I can expect things to be addressed. Even in some cases, they just completely ignored me as if I’m just a number and not an actual customer who drives his children in this car. This was my third Volkswagen. I have always sang the praises of vw. But this experience has quite literally made me never want to buy another volkswagon product again. I have about nine payments remaining on my lease and I am anxious to move on to a better safer vehicle with a brand that does right by the consumer. Volkswagon told me that even with all of what I’ve been through with volkswagon, which is on the record by the way in the form of repair orders, as well as cost to customer service, I did not qualify for a buyback on my vehicle. Nor would they let me just return my lease. The dealership has basically said that their hands are tied. And corporate has repeatedly done nothing, and turned me away. I asked that you guys step in not only for me in particular, but for all the other volkswagon owners who are unhappy. And there are many. Especially those who drive the same make, and model is me, the Atlas. Thank you.

The vehicle was driven into the garage, driver pressed park then engine stop. Driver and passenger exited vehicle, opened both rear doors and retrieved items from the rear seats. Closed rear doors. No warning sounds or lights came on when exiting the vehicle. When returning to the vehicle in about an hour it had rolled out of the garage and crashed into another garage. When the driver's door was opened the shift lever indicated park. The incident was reported to the dealer and taken in as soon as possible. The dealer has been unable to recreate the problem and is still researching. Very concerned about the possibility of the vehicle moving in park and hitting someone or something.

On occasion, maybe 20% of the time when slowing down at an intersection or leaving a stop sign the car will stay in 3rd gear, I have verfied it is in 3rd gear by putting the transmission into sport mode so it will display the gear indicator, when this happens the car is very slow to respond unexpecting this to happen we have to put the car to the floor but by the time the vehicle reacts 5 to 10 seconds have gone by and the car continues to stay in 3rd regardless of the amount of throttle applied most of the time. We have had 2 very close incidents where this has happened and if the other driver had not slowed down we would have been hit. We have taken the car to Volkswagen of desmoines and attempted to have them fix it at 10,000 miles but they said they could not replicate the issue. We took a 5 hour trip a few days ago and had this happen to us about 8 times.

Driving on 55mph multi lane road in a heavy load of traffic. While driving at a steady rate of speed the engine, with the gas pedal depressed, suddenly increases in rpm's and is no longer keeping speed. Pressing the gas further only increases the rpm's but does not propel the vehicle. Very unsafe trying to navigate the vehicle to a safe stop withing traffic flow. Error drive system message on dash. Previous to this even the same symptoms occur when accelerating out of a u-turn but did not show drive system error. Vehicle is unpredictable in normal driving conditions in regard to acceleration and engine response. It is a hazard on the road to both the occupants of the vehicle as well as the other vehicles on the road. Vehicle has been dropped off with the dealership for determination.

The Atlas has been in the dealer on several occasions due to shifting and acceleration. On a couple occasions when starting the Atlas the rpm's will redline with nothing touching the pedal and wont stop until we shut off the car. On several occasions the throttle has little to no response when pushing the pedal (not safe when trying to merge or change lanes. ) almost once or twice a week the Atlas won't shift or will shift too soon. The infotainment screen has been replaced twice and needs another screen due to it not coming on or lines going through it. It has been to the dealer five times and nothing has been done to this Atlas about the throttle issue. The dealer is focused on the "infotainment screen" because it controls every part of the Atlas.

In may I brought the vehicle to the dealership because the vehicle was turning off at low speeds (exiting a parking lot) or switching from drive to reverse. This was in conjunction with the check engine light coming on. The dealership diagnosed it as a fuel sensor failure, which they told me was safe to drive, and they'd order the part. I went back the next week when the sensor had been received and the repair was made. Last week, the low fuel alert flashed when I knew the vehicle was not low on fuel. The alert was not stable for a few days (it turned on and then turned back off, and then on again), and the vehicle started to have the same issue of stopping at low speeds. I had it towed to the dealership because I was too worried to drive it. The dealership diagnosed it with a 'swollen and leaky gas tank'. They sent photos upon request and the gas tank appears to have a tear. It is not due to any accident or road debris. The vw dealership has recommended a complete gas tank replacement, and let me know the gas tanks are on back order and did not have a date it would be available. This is extremely dangerous situation because 1. It was leaking gas and 2. It was coming to a stop. I drive around children (my own and others) and I can't imagine if something had happened while I was in driving around a car of kids. I read on different sites (reddit and other car sites) and it seems the stopping problem with the Atlas is somewhat common, unfortunately. I am curious if it's due to a bad gas tank or if it is a separate malfunction with the vehicle. I called the Volkswagen care line and was told that they were sorry, but my vehicle was no longer under warranty, so they were unable to give me any information or guidance.

Engine nearly stalls at low speeds in either toward or reverse - such as in parking lots or when backing up a driveway. The car will also surge at moderate speeds (30-40 mph). Car hasn't actually stalled yet but feels like it's about to until I press on the brake. The problem occurs randomly and would be very difficult to reproduce. The transmission will also shift violently randomly during the 30 - 40 mph range.

Car stalls in reverse and random stalls driving at low speeds. They deemed carbon canister and n80 valve. Replaced twice and only at 41k miles.

At approximately 8500 miles the car started randomly stalling, maybe once or twice a week. Now at 9600 miles it stalls every time we drive the car. This is not the start/stop system as we deactivate that when we get in the car. Typically, the car is warm, the ac is on, we have idled with the car in park then place the car in gear to drive and it dies. The dealer claims they cannot duplicate the problem. Also, the throttle is very non-linear. One time you push the throttle a little and the car takes off slamming you back in the seat. The next time you can push the throttle halfway down before the car responds then it just slowly accelerates. This problem has not been brought to the attention of the dealer yet but will upon the next appointment. This is very dangerous as other drivers are expecting you to move but you have to put the car in park and restart it. This could get someone killed.

The steering vibrates during all driving activities, including accelerating, braking, and turning. At certain speeds, the vibration extends to the entire vehicle, making it feel unstable. There were no warning lights or prior indicators before the issue first appeared in mid-2024. This steering malfunction poses a significant safety risk to me and others on the road. The problem has been reproduced and confirmed by a dealer, but it has not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, or insurance representatives. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request.

Currently there are 17500 miles on the vehicle and at times the extreme harsch downshift is back. The car will shake so strong that it seems that someone hit us in the back. No hills, smooth and flat streets, no potholes. Not sure what is going on.

My vehicle has stalled out before for no reason and the dealership is unable to help in diagnosing the issue without a fault code. This issue has been ongoing since I purchased my vehicle in 2021. Three years later as I was making a sharp left turn going very slow my car stalled out, engine light came on and I received a start/stop error along with a message stating to restart the engine manually. Again this has been happing since I purchased brand new from dealership. Every turn I make going uphill, my vehicle stutters and rpms revved up which is very unsafe and has me on constant alert. Now that an engine code appeared, I am out of warranty and dealership still refuses to help with the issue. Code fault I received from engine light is p0496.

Both backing up and at slow speeds, the engine stalls out and requires you to put it in park and restart the engine. We brought it into the vw dealership who provided a "fix" for a evap canister and charcoal filter 3qf201797a but the issue continues to occur.

On [xxx], I was driving that vehicle on [xxx] in the vicinity of port charlotte and punta gorda, florida, with three persons inside when the vehicle experienced substantial vibration, a loud knocking noise and major loss of power while in the high speed lane. This occurred somewhere around 8:45 am. Traffic was heavy thereby increasing the risk of an accident resulting from the loss of power and vibration. I was able to keep the vehicle running and slowly make my way to a suitable place to safely park the car. When this occurred there were several warning lights that appeared. The vehicle has been serviced by a vw dealer in port charlotte, FL. Vw subsequently replaced the "longblock and turbocharger", reassembled the engine and transmission assembly and reinstalled that into the vehicle. They apparently had certain issues with the thermostat housing gasket after the engine was replaced. I am aware that there is an existing recall issued by vw (safety recall code 13i6). I further understand that recall covers 2,018 vehicles built before 5/12/23. My vehicle was built somewhere around [xxx] suggesting that the scope of this recall may have been grossly underestimated. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Since I purchased this vehicle for my wife, she has repeatedly called me in tears regarding the vehicle turning itself off in school parking lots, stop lights, stopping at stop signs, and in drive through lanes. The car will show error messages such as "start engine manually" or "auto start/stop failure. " this has nearly caused a number of accidents when the car is turned off in the middle of the street. The only option to get the car restarted is to put it into park, then turn the car off and back on again - which at a busy intersection can put you into a panic. I have taken the car to the dealer a few times and told each time that they find nothing wrong since there are no error codes at the time. I spoke with the dealer on 10/10/23 since it was in the shop in early October - I was told that they are experiencing this issue with numerous vw Atlas, it is a known issue, however there is no fix. I was told to reach out to vw north America. I spoke with nick from vw na today who told me that my best option is to try a different vw dealer. This has been an ongoing issue with the vehicle since we purchased, but it is happening more frequently - upwards of numerous times per week. There are no signs that the car is going to turn itself off with issue - it has done it even when the auto start/stop system is disabled (this needs to be manually disabled each time the car starts). My wife is at the point that she does not want to drive the vehicle anymore as she is afraid of the safety of the kids.