With 10k miles and barely over a year, my atlas cross sport needs new brakes and rotors! Brought to dealership and opened a case with VW corporate but they won’t cover it because I’ve owned it more than a year. The dealership service manager even said they have had seen this issue with other atlas cross sports.
2021 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport complaints
Owner reports filed with NHTSA about this vehicle, newest first and reproduced as filed. They are unverified accounts: one proves nothing, and a pattern across many is the thing worth reading. Back to the full 2021 record →
Brakes are squeaking at 15k , airbag light on, cracking noise when turning corners
My adaptive cruise control AND airbags FAILED when traffic ahead of me suddenly stopped. (There was NO airbag deployment.) I crashed into the person in front of me who then hit the person in front of them. The vehicle is available for inspection. I told the dealership at my 10k scheduled maintenance it was not braking or recognizing vehicles in front until it was so late I had to manually brake. I had a bunch of stuff in the front seat to where the passenger airbag light was on. It also DID not deploy. If someone had been there without a seatbelt there would have been severe injuries. Also I already had a "fuel sensor" that was bad that caused my vehicle to quit upon certain accelerations. My vechicle "quit" suddenly on multiple occasions almost causing a crash on the freeway and several other times on the highway. The EPA light always appeared when this happened and once the engine block light also came on. I could have been killed. I told them at my 10k service and that is when they said it was a fuel sensor and they would call me when it was available to be replaced. It was NOT replaced at the time of the crash.
Error message “driver door contact switch” occurs, drive door and driver side passenger windows roll down, locks disengage, alarms ding and causes a sensor to engage the emergency parking break which occured both while stationary or while moving.
The contact owns a 2021 Volkswagen Atlas Sport. The contact stated that upon depression of the brake pedal, an abnormal grinding noise would emit from the brakes. She stated that the failure was intermittent and that no warning lights had appeared on the instrument panel. The contact had called and taken the vehicle to several dealers; Fiesta Volkswagen (8201 Lomas Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110); University Volkswagen Mazda (5150 Ellison St NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109); Garcia Volkswagen of Santa Fe (2560 Camino Edward Ortiz, Santa Fe, NM 87507) and each confirmed that they are aware of the failure; however, there was no remedy. The brakes had been inspected by each dealer and none were able to diagnose the failure. The manufacturer was then notified of the failure and was informed that the grinding noise was normal. No further assistance was provided. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 16,000.
My brand new 2021 cross sport (12,600 miles) suddenly started displaying multiple (5) error messages while I was driving. One of the errors was “driver door contact switch”. The check engine light came on and WHILE driving my car spontaneously began activating emergency braking maneuvers even though there was no potential for a collision. This happened numerous times and I was nearly rear ended with my son in the car. The car-net app indicated I need to take the car in for service but did NOT indicate the red “stop driving” icon. I took the car in as soon as possible (the dealership was non-urgent despite my description of the problem. They initially offered me an appt 4 days into the future. Upon my instance about the safety concern they begrudgingly agreed to look at it the next day. They diagnosed a wire harness failure. The manager of the repair dept indicated this is a problem these cars have been having a described that his own VW had the same problem and shared an anecdote about his own dangerous encounter with spontaneous emergency braking resulting. I contacted VW directly. They also did not seem concerned about this known problem. They turned my case over to the regional manager and that person also did not make this a priority or validate the extremely dangerous nature of the problem. It is shocking to me that this is a known problem (that I discovered only after googling the specific diagnosis) and VW sent no safety warnings to consumers AND their app suggested th
I was in a front end collision, no airbags were deployed.
There is a wiring harness that is faulty and it causes the car to think the door is open which causes the car to put the emergency brake on while coming to a stop.
The contact owns a 2021 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and diagnosed with the driver control module failure. However, the driver control module was on backorder. The vehicle was not repaired. After receiving the vehicle back from the dealer, the driver’s side front window would not roll-up. Additionally, while coming to a complete stop, the vehicle would inadvertently shut off or engage the emergency parking brake. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 11,344.
Within my vehicle, fuel injectors are leaking fuel near engine compartment components that operate at high temperatures. A fuel leak, fuel odor and multiple illuminated malfunction indicator light (MIL) alerted me to the condition described above. Additionally, fuel was spewing from the engine component. All of the above incidents occurred on 2 separate occasions with new vehicle (2.5 months old) with 2300 miles on it, and vehicle is currently inoperable due to the above. This is the 2nd time the vehicle has been checked in for service to repair this issue, with the Service Department initially returning the vehicle to me claiming the issue was fixed. Within 24 hours of receiving vehicle in possession, vehicle had to be towed to Dealership due to strong fuel odor, fuel leak, illuminated MIL alerts, and because the vehicle would no longer start. Fuel leaking in the engine compartment has a higher potential risk of fire as the components are operating at higher temperatures compared to other areas of the vehicle. My safety and the safety of others were put at risk due to the risk of fire occurring, and because the vehicle stopped operating normally without any warning (MIL alert) that the issue was occurring while driving on a busy street. The illuminated malfunction indicator light (MIL) alerts did not proactively identify this problem prior to it occurring. MIL's occurred after the problem almost caused multiple accidents. The problem has been confirmed by the dealer's Servic
After getting a car wash the screen blacked out for around 24 hours. During that the backup camera did not work, the charging ports in the middle did not work, and I was unable to listen to the radio. Also, fluid keeps leaking in moderate puddles even when the air is not on.
About two weeks after purchasing my brand new VW Atlas Cross Sport 2021 (purchased March of 2021) the dash board warning systems have not properly worked. The screen constantly freezes and occasionally a warning appears for vehicle collision assistance when nothing is in front of me. The tire pressure light randomly comes on but the tires are always at the proper PSI. The auto start/stop will malfunction, the car will stop running to save power automatically at a red light but occasionally it gets confused and starts/stops over and over or will not start back up at all when I put pressure on the gas pedal like it should. Yesterday, 9/6/2021, the vehicle overheated after driving it for 2 hours. The odometer was at 4,001 miles. Pulled over and opened the hood and the engine was completely out of oil and antifreeze. No check engine light or low oil pressure light ever came on. The low coolant light came on but only after the vehicle began to overheat. A mechanic who pulled over to help us stated that it was so low that it's a miracle the vehicle did not catch on fire. He stated the fluids must of come low from the dealership but that the operating syatem is supposed to warn me well ahead of time but it did not. The manual recommends 7,000 to 10,000 miles for an oil change, the vehicle just hit 4,000 miles. No warning or check engine light warning until after the emergency occurs is NOT OKAY!
Since purchased new on January 29, 2021, I have encountered the same issue. When stopped and about to accelerate, the vehicle will hesitate. This happens with the start/stop engaged and disengaged. As I press the accelerator, nothing happens, then suddenly the car will take off. This happened when I test drove the car (I chalked it up to the start/stop mode), sitting at a light making a U turn to the left.. Since purchase this has happened multiple times, usually when the vehicle wheels are turned to left or right but this past week-end, it happened as I finally was able to accelerate after hesitation and traveling in a straight line. Dangerous to say the least! Dealer says they cannot replicate and they basically do nothing other than suggest I put a few more miles on it. Currently around 6000 miles.
On May 14, 2021, driving at approximately 65 mph, the check engine warning light appeared flashing for the first time since purchase (purchase date April 30, 2021 - two weeks from vehicle purchase date), vehicle lost acceleration and shook aggressively on a major interstate highway. Owner pulled vehicle over to a safe location after driving approximately .25 miles after vehicle's check engine light initially illuminated. Owner had towing company transport the vehicle to the Volkswagen dealer in northern California where service indicated a faulty fuel injector. To-date, the vehicle remains in the possession of the dealership for 1 week awaiting parts. Failure mileage was approximately 1,000. Dealer has confirmed the issue of a faulty fuel injector - dealer has not confirmed whether any other issues at the moment. Vehicle has not been inspected by police insurance representatives. No warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure.
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2021 VOLKSWAGEN ATLAS CROSS SPORT. THE CONTACT STATED WHILE DRIVING AT AN UNDISCLOSED SPEED, THE CHECK ENGINE WARNING LIGHT ILLUMINATED. THE CONTACT HAD TAKEN THE VEHICLE TO STOHLMAN VOLKSWAGEN (8433 LEESBURG PIKE, TYSONS, VA 22182) WHERE THE MECHANIC REPLACED THE ENGINE PURGE VALVE AND RETURNED THE VEHICLE TO THE CONTACT. SOON AFTER THE REPAIR, THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE CHECK ENGINE WARNING LIGHT REAPPEARED. THE CONTACT ALERTED THE DEALER OF THE FAILURE AND THE CONTACT WAS ASKED TO RETURN THE VEHICLE FOR FURTHER INSPECTION. THE DEALER REPLACED THE LEAK SENSOR PUMP AND THE VAPOR CANISTER. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE VEHICLE REMAINED IN THE POSSESSION OF THE DEALER. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 1,000.
Reading these
NHTSA publishes every complaint as the owner wrote it and investigates only a fraction. Spelling, capitalisation and judgement are the filer’s own. What carries weight is repetition: the same component failing the same way across many filings, and whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.
Full record for the 2021 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport → · Every Atlas Cross Sport year → · How the figures are calculated →