Volkswagen Atlas 2020

The contact owns a 2020 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering wheel was difficult to turn, and the hazard indicator warning light illuminated. In addition, the steering wheel seized. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed with rack and pinion failure. The contact was informed that the rack and pinion needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 78,000.

I was driving today and an Airbag Error Message popped up with the Airbag Warning Lamp and will not turn off. I called the dealership I purchased it from and was told it is a faulty Airbag Sensor but my car is not part of the open recall Volkswagen has open. They set up an appointment for 8/20 to replace the sensor. I was told by the dealership that this issue could cause my airbag not to deploy if I were to get in a wreck. This information makes me very nervous to drive my vehicle but since this is my only vehicle I have no other choice.

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.

Driver door harness malfunction causing many errors to display on dash. It also causes emergency brake to engage before coming to a complete stop basically slamming on the brake. Doors will randomly try to lock while driving even though they are locked and back windows will roll down. The driver window and door controls will not work to roll up/down window or unlock/lock doors. This all started in August 2021 with just the windows rolling down. Then weeks passed and a little more started happening. Then the brakes happened. It was a random occurrence but became an everyday issue and very unsafe especially when the weather became icy.

Hello. I have a 2020 Vw Atlas V6 SE R-Line. The truck shots off when idleling, on speeds of 5 mph to 10 mph and even on the highway. This is a serious problem and extremely dangerous to my family and myself as well as other owners that have the same issue wile driving on highways. It can easily cause a serious accident. This has happened multiple times and I even took it to the dealership to get it diagnosed and repair. They replaced the vapor charcoal canister and the issue was gone for about a year and it came right back. This does not bring any codes on the vehicle so it's very had do diagnosed. But it does gives you an error malfunction warning after it shots off when doing highway speeds. I did some research and found the multiple people have the same exact issue with this vehicles.

We had issues in March 2022 (electronic parking brake engaging while car is moving and driver's window rolling down when attempting to roll it up) that led to the defective door wiring harness diagnosis that was the subject of the national recall. We were without the vehicle for 2 months until late May 2022 when the redesigned replacement wiring harness was installed. We are now having the same problems again (electronic parking brake engaging while car is in motion; driver's window rolling down when trying to roll it up) in addition to the blindside warning lights staying on and flashing with no cars in the vicinity to trigger that. We suspect there are issues with the newly engineered replacement wire harness. The dealership has been slow to respond as well making the issue more frustrating.

When turning my vehicle to the left or right at slow speeds, the steering wheel rattles and wants to auto correct to a straight position. This has caused my wife and I to almost collide with other parked vehicles. The GPS in my vehicle has recently started to go haywire and fail to give any correct guidance. I plugged in my iPhone to use my CarPlay Map and the issue transfers over to the gps on my phone as well. The moment I unplug the phone, the issue resolves on my phone but resumes on my vehicles gps. My heater won’t take affect until I reached approx 80 degrees. I begin to raise the temp and the rear vents begin to blow hot air at the high 70’s while the front of the vehicle remains at AC. Once i hit 80 degrees the heater turns on at the front of the vehicle. The issues all started when I had a module replaced in my vehicle. Approximately time issues began was first week of March 2024. I have videos showing the rattling steering, the haywire gps and the HVAC issues.

We own a 2020 VW Atlas SE W/Technology. This vehicle has grossly failed to meet reliability expectations. Of most concern is the repeated failure of the vehicle's electric power steering rack. This component has been replaced 3 times on my vehicle. Each failure has been accompanied by a creak in the front suspension and a clunk in the steering movement. I have asked VW of America to extend the warranty on my vehicle as this failure and it's the history of failures lead me to believe I will encounter this issue again very soon. VWOA has denied my request so far stating that my warranty had already expired. I reminded them that they had already extended my warranty for a separate mechanical issue that I experienced with both this vehicle and my previous vehicle, a 2018 VW Atlas involving the cylinder head. Between the steering rack failure and their handling of a dangerous issue with faulty door harness wiring that caused the vehicle's autonomous emergency braking to engage in traffic, I sincerely believe that NHTSA needs to get involved to mandate additional recall campaigns or warranty extensions on these vehicles to protect consumers.

In the beginning of Novemeber 2021 with 7680 miles an alarm stating Error: Driver door contact switch Fault: Electronic parking brake Attention: Engine is running. Error: Start Stop The check engine light/EPC lights were on. Windows do not open or open about an inch by themselves. This issue occurs most times when starting the vehicle. VW was made aware and checked the vehicle stating the driver side door harness needs to be replaced but there is shipping delays. Over the next few months when operating the vehicle under speeds of approximatley 10 to 5 miles an hour the emergenancy parking break activates and slows or completley stops the vehicle while driving. This is a safety issue as a vehicle that suddenly stops while in traffic regardless of speed can be rear ended or cause an accident. VW has claimed that the door harness is at fault and that the parking break activating is because of a faulty door harness. It has been over 2 months and the door harness has still not been replaced. I have spoke to mechanics regarding this issue and they stated a parking break activating while the car is in motion is not related to a faulty door harness. I wish to have this complaint investigated and to have my car issue recalled so VW is forced to fix this issue. I have 3 small children who regularly ride in this vehicle. A emergency parking break activiating while the vehicle is in motion is unacceptable. Thank you.

We've had our Atlas since 5/2020. Since then, we've had multiple issues similar to what I have seen reported on VW's upcoming recall. I am not sure how VW intends to identify which VIN's are an issue, but ours should probably be included. Here's a list of issues... 1) Emergency braking goes off when backing up, even though there is no risk. 2) Emergency braking goes off at the end of a decline when the road is transitioning from angled to flat. Since you're pointed down, it thinks the upcoming road is another vehicle. 3) Using the remote start feature results in both the radio and cruise control not working. 4) Window buttons on driver's side sometimes don't respond or act erratically (ex: pressing up and the window goes down) 5) GPS is inaccurate. We actually had a part replaced in 2020 that fixed the problem, but we've noticed over the past few months it has started to get lost again. 6) All safety systems (lane assist, emergency braking, etc) need to be disabled when driving in the snow. Otherwise, the vehicle goes crazy with random beeps, warning, and occasionally will hit the brakes. Note that these are an aggregate of problems over the course of owning this vehicle. I provided a date, but the issues aren't limited to just that one date. Fortunately we have had no crashes or injuries related to this problem, but my wife had one very close call when driving in the snow and the brakes engaged while she was on the highway.

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.

My 2020 Volkswagen Atlas has been in and out of the shop. We purchased this vehicle in April 2020 with great hopes...we've been loyal VW customers and have owned 2 other VW vehicles prior. Issues began mid-aug 2020, the check engine light turned on and we began hearing a rattling noise coming from the steering wheel when turning the wheel and began smelling a burnt odor coming from the engine. At this time, the VW shop did the following: the electro-mechanical steering was replaced and the acf valve was removed & replaced. Issue persisted. Went back in late Aug 2020 for the exact same issues as before; VW shop removed and reinstalled the acf filter once more. Rattling wasn't addressed. Taken again to the shop Oct 2020 for rattling in undercarriage, and this time we were told the sway bars were causing the rattling noise. Those were replaced and the rattling noise subsided. Forward to beginning of Nov 2020, and the airbag light turns on; shop keeps the vehicle for 13 days, removes and reinstalls airbag sensor. Two days after we receive our vehicle, the airbag light turns on again. Shop keeps our vehicle for 63 days, removes and installs the door wiring harness. By end of Feb 2021, airbag light is on again; shop updates the airbag control module. We have not had airbag light come on after this most recent repair, but we are now experiencing brake sensor issues: we have had a 'apply the brakes' alert come on while driving on the highway, as well as a 'front collision warning' come on while there are no other vehicles remotely close to us at the time. Obviously, we are concerned for our safety while driving this vehicle.