Warnings Problems of Volkswagen Atlas

On April 20, 2026, my 2025 Volkswagen Atlas (approx. 31,000 miles) experienced a sudden malfunction where the vehicle became stuck in neutral and would not shift into drive or reverse, despite starting normally. This occurred without warning and rendered the vehicle inoperable, requiring it to be towed to a dealership. Prior to this incident, I experienced intermittent issues with the remote start function through the mobile app, as well as repeated warning messages related to the front/parking sensor system. These warnings had been occurring in the days leading up to the failure. At the time of the incident, the vehicle could not be moved or driven, which created a safety concern due to unexpected immobilization. This type of failure could potentially leave a driver stranded in unsafe conditions or locations. A tow technician was eventually able to shift the vehicle upon arrival; however, due to the seriousness and unpredictability of the issue, the vehicle was still transported to the dealership for inspection. As of this report, the issue has not yet been diagnosed. Dealership personnel indicated verbally that the issue may be related to a recall, although no official confirmation has been provided. If this is accurate, this raises additional safety concerns. The vehicle is currently at the dealership and available for inspection.

See all problems of the 2025 Volkswagen Atlas 🔎.

Current mileage: 55,000 miles, and the warranty expired at 50,000 miles. Shortly after the expiration, a bunch of warning alerts started to pop up, along with a solid yellow check engine light. I had the error codes read, and it came back as, “p2402 sae: evap system leak detection pump control circuit: high. " in order for any work to be performed, vw demands a $212 diagnostic fee in order to even determine what is wrong with the vehicle. If the evap pump is found to be bad as the code suggests, it would cost anywhere between $700-900 to fix. So, I took to google to figure out what is going on. There are pages and pages of documentation from other vw drivers who have the exact same issue. So, why has it not been listed as a safety recall yet? that's what I want to know. Many vw drivers reported that they were given a warranty extension for this known issue, so I thought. . . That's all it would take for me to be happy. So, I called the same dealership back and was told that my vehicle is ineligible for the warranty extension even though I am experiencing the exact same issue of the people who were given the warranty extension. Many other vw customers have reported this known issue as well because vw is aware of the issue but is not doing anything about it. As far as I know, the car runs fine, but the alerts and check engine light are there every time I start up the car and never go away. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request. My safety and the safety of others is put at risk every time I drive. When I get into my car, several alerts go off. Very distracting and dangerous. When I go to back out of my driveway, the backup camera works for a few seconds and then blacks out and goes back to the main screen and starts beeping new alerts. Very dangerous. As I am driving, all of the alerts are going off again, thus distracting me behind the wheel. With the codes present, it will not allow me to use remote start on either my key fob or in the app.

See all problems of the 2023 Volkswagen Atlas 🔎.

Volkswagen has a bad software patch that has impacted vw Atlas' nationwide. Infotainment systems including the front and rear safety cameras as well as car controls are not accessible because the infotainment system is completely off. This is impacting the entire nation and dealerships are unable to provide updates. This is a huge safety concern. People will get hurt because of this outage.

See all problems of the 2024 Volkswagen Atlas 🔎.

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

In the adas system, the front camera doesn't turn on when the vehicle is pulled in to a parking space and only the beep sensors are turning on. However, once you put the car in reverse then it gets turned on. It poses a safety concern for pedestrians and other vehicles as well. The problem was reported immediately to the dealer and I was told this is the same across the vw Atlas 2025 line-up. The issue was there from the first day I bought the car (brand new) 2nd issue is the control panel under the display is not backlit and can distract the driver from the road when trying to find a switch at night time and it is too dark to see anything.

I recently purchased a certified pre-owned 2021 vw Atlas r-line SUV. It came with a warranty of up to 50,000 miles or through 2027. Shortly after I purchased the car (a few weeks in) the side passenger collision sensor would alert me from time to time (not consistently). I brought it in and the vw dealer shared that due to the minnesota winters and road salt, keeping a clean exterior of the car would help with the sensor issue. I have been washing my car weekly to avoid the noise and frustration of the false alert. It did not resolve the problem. Now (3 months since purchase) the front and side collision sensors are falsely detecting and alerting that something is present. When brought back to my local certified vw dealer, they "claim" it is due to a rock or "external influence" hitting and damaging the sensors. First, tell me how a side sensor gets hit by a rock. Second, the sensors should not have been made if small debris from regular road travel will cause damage within three years. Third, I only travel on highways. I do not need to take gravel/dirt roads, etc. For my personal and professional travel needs. I am the sole driver of the vehicle. I searched online and found several vw forums indicating the same issue on models since 2018 and for several different models within the vw make (including video evidence which I also have but cannot upload to this form submission). Here is one forum with similar video footage: [xxx] please review and investigate as a third party. Vw and dealers are outrageously charging over $1,000 for a sensor that should not have been approved in the build of the model if failing this quickly. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

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The collision alert system is activated when we brake and a terrible grinding noise occurs. It seems that the brake issues makes the collision system think the car is not being stopped by the brakes. The dealer refuses to do anything about the issues because there is no NHTSA recall. They claim the issue is humidity.

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My vehicle warning sensors continue to fail despite having them replaced and now their is an unrepairable recall that my cause my passenger airbag to not deploy during head on collision. I feel these are critical safety features are main reasons for purchasing my vehicle. I do not feel safe driving my vehicle with failing and/or potentially failing safety features. I was widowed 18 months ago. If my vehicle causes me to inadvertently harm my passenger due to a safety feature failure I will not be able to live with that. I am very disappointed in vw for the suggestion to turn off the warning features as a solution and the fact that they have yet to come up with a fix for the recall. My vehicle is only 2 years old and I do not feel safe in it. In addition, I am having to have a second fuel injector replaced due to it failing. I believe I was sold a lemon.

I was driving on the freeway on 10/13/2023, it was raining and I was startled by an alarm and a flashing warning on my dash stating brake booster failure, the abs light went on and I was concerned because I recently had by brakes done at the Volkswagen dealership in brooklyn center minnesota on 10/4/2023. I was afraid of not being able to brake and I pulled over and put my car in park and I received a park assist failure warning on my dash as well as the park assist light turned on by the shifter. I shut my car off and called Volkswagen in brooklyn center. I was assured that my brakes wouldn’t stop working and the service tech was unaware why the red light near my shifter for the park assist would turn on by itself. The dealership was about to close and I was told that I could maybe be squeezed in on that following Monday and eventually was scheduled. I restarted my car and received another error for the electronic stabilization control. I called back the dealership and was able to catch the tech before he left and I was concerned about driving it. I was told, you are basically driving a 1985 Volkswagen, be aware you don’t have the safety features. My car was reviewed on 10/24/2023, I was provided with a rental car and was told the problem was the abs electronic braking module that this is known to go out at my mileage. I do see that others have had this issue and there was a recall, but I was told my VIN number was not included. Prior to this I did report driving in a mall parking lot and I had an alarm go off for a collision warning and my car suddenly braked on it’s own and no vehicle was around me. I have also been in slow traffic and periodically had the collision warning go off and the vehicle was a good distance in front of me. I was told that that can happen with the sensors. I’ve also been driving in the winter and I’ve gotten the warning look that it’s safe to move alarm alot when I’m stopped in traffic, I’m guessing that it’s due to ice near the sensor.

See all problems of the 2019 Volkswagen Atlas 🔎.

I have owned my Atlas for seven months. During this time my 2019 vw Atlas sel will slam on the brakes without any need to. This has happened five times. There is not an object or person around, but the brakes engage and all the sensors start beeping. I will need to put my car in park and restart my engine to drive again. I consider myself lucky that the incidents have happened in parking lots or while entering the roadway with no other cars have around. One month ago my car was taken in to an auto body shop for a repair due to a back bumper collision. The repair seems to have made the problem worse since these braking incidents have happened since the collision/repair. The auto body shop says the manufacturer "codes" are reading as "o" so the car is clear and ready to drive, but the braking/sensor system is still not working properly. I hope vw will reevaluate the safety of this sensor/braking system.

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.

(part 2) vehicle service records available upon request. The only problem confirmed by the dealership is infotainment system issues on multiple occasions. All aforementioned issues in complaint 1 are legitimate safety issues. If a vehicle is in motion, or needs to be in motion on a public road/highway/crossing railroad & transit tracks, etc. And shuts down, sputters, or lunges, it could be fatal for not only myself and occupants of my vehicle, but could be a danger to others on the road or walkways as well. Further scenarios noted, but not limited to the following: 07/10/23, vehicle lunged forward as if I hit the gas while my foot was firmly pressed on the brake, while waiting to turn onto a busy state road. This is a huge safety issue. I could have rear-ended someone if they were in front of me, or hit into oncoming traffic if anyone was passing by at that moment. 6/25/23, while driving my vw dealership loaner vehicle, a '23 Atlas, engine jumped as if the gas peddle was pressed while at a complete stop in city-setting traffic and moved forward. I reported both incidents to vw dealership. I was told the f5 module was to blame for most issues, due to them being "covid" era computer chips, and once they became available they would replace. 07/31/23, I was told a new module would not help, that instead a software update to the infotainment system should fix any problems, and the update was performed. To date, three software updates have been performed on this vehicle, including a new f1 module on 10/6/23. All problems still randomly persist, without rhyme or reason. These are not the only problems with this vehicle, per guidelines, I am keeping to immediate safety issues. 09/03/23 vw engaged brakes while backing up onto a brand new driveway with no vehicles, plants, people around. Back-up assist will not shut down while towing cargo carrier unless aftermarket part is purchased, making the vehicle brake as if avoiding crash and jarring occupants.

Vehicle would indicate normal assistance features were no longer available. Then after sitting for the evening and trying to start in the morning the car would not turn over. Could recharge the battery and turn over no issues. Again after sitting for a little while the car battery would be dead again and not want to turn over.

See all problems of the 2018 Volkswagen Atlas 🔎.

The start/stop system will activate and shut the vehicle down totally (at random times), even when in drive, and at times prematurely before even coming to a complete stop. When you move the steering wheel or take your foot off of the brake, the vehicle should automatically start back up, but the vehicle totally shuts off, asking: "did you forget anything? everyone out of the vehicle?" [xxx], first occurrence of this completely shutting down in the city of pittsburgh, PA, on a busy bridge after the vehicle was idling for about 45-60 seconds in traffic. I hadn't experienced this problem in any vehicle before, so it took quick thinking to figure out that I had to put the vehicle back into park before it would start back up. If I had to move quickly, I was not able to do so. [xxx] while pulling out from a stop, nothing in front of us at all, the vehicle started to shut down while pressing the gas and at the same time the front collision system was beeping even though there was nothing at all in front of us. [xxx] infotainment screen blacked out for the vw technician while it was in for service due to multiple issues. The reason I am stating that in this complaint: multiple vw technicians and service personnel have stated that the infotainment system is the brain for the vehicle, if it is acting up, can cause problems with almost anything in the vehicle. [xxx], in the middle of a quick 3-point turn at the end of my street, the engine shut down totally while shifting from drive to reverse, asked if I forgot anything/anyone in the backseat, then, when shifting to park (to start the vehicle back up a. S. A. P. ), it started itself back up without me touching the start/stop ignition button. [xxx] while accelerating up a hill in pittsburgh, the vehicle started sputtering as if it was stalling out, engine misfiring. [xxx] vehicle in drive, stopped for approx. 20 seconds, again shut completely down, shift to p to restart. (con't) information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(.

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.

We have 2021 Atlas purchased Nov. 2020 the aeb and parking collision sensors and system engage at random times while driving. The most recent incident was while parking the car 3/13/22 there were no cars in the parking lot and while turning into the lot and parking spot the aeb engaged and stopped the car completely this is not only unnecessary but while having kids in the car I was left to look around and be like what just happened. Finally parking the car the car was not near the curb on the front nor the side. This happens while driving and I would hate for it to happen on a freeway in rush hour traffic. Because of this feature defaulting like it has for the past months I know take surface streets on the way home from work. When taking the vehicle to the dealership they are dumbfounded have ran test and state there is nothing they can do- they are aware of the issue but its one of those things that "you had to be there" to experience what I am talking about. When I run the car net app - there are no recalls or updates or known issues with my vehicle. Yes the car is available for inspection. I would say in the past year this has happened 7-10 times. This feature is great when you need it or when it is supposed to work but at times when it is not needed puts our safety at risk.

On numerous occasions our 2019 vw Atlas sel premium has engaged the brakes even when there are no obstacles to avoid creating a dangerous, scary and unpredictable senecio for our family and other drivers around us. The problems with the automated braking have been attributed by service advisors as software issues with �front assist, maneuver braking, and/or remote start".