2021 Volkswagen Atlas complaints

I was at a stop sign when I went to pull out from the stop sign the car stalled. I had to put the car in park press the start engine button again in order for the car to restart. This has happened at least 10 times since purchasing the car.

Upon starting the car All of the above warning lights came on the dashboard and did not function. Power steering,l and all adas did not function. Took to dealer and sensor was replaced.

Upon starting car All ADAS functions did not work. Warning lights came on. Did not work for several days. Took to dealership and they found a sensor in tire to be faulty

When starting the car and backing out of our driveway, the car stalls it has to be put in park and then the ignition start button has to be pushed. This has happened several times.

On many occasions over the past few months have had our car start to die while driving along the road. We have taken to shop, replaced battery, and no one could replicate issue. Just today my family (3 kids and my wife) were driving 35mph when the RPM started to drop randomly. We lost acceleration and while we were turning across traffic the car died. Luckily we rolled across in time to not be t boned. We turn off “auto start stop” each time we get in the car as we were told by mechanic that could be issue After it persisted randomly, we found maybe the battery was the reason, so we replaced that. Now we are one month on a new battery and keep “auto start stop” off, and it happened again today! VW forums point to a vapor canister being the culprit, and now VW has extended the warranty for this issue supposedly. I didn’t know about this at all. Very worried to have my wife and kids in that car I wish this was a recall,

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.

What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? The base to my baby’s car seat. We have the Maxi-Cosí Peri 180 Rotating Car Seat. My husband and I were placing the car seat to clip in to the base. When doing so it span around and would not stay locked I place. Once we clipped the car seat in and turned it to lock it kept spinning even when the lock button symbol showed it was locked. I took my baby out of the car seat and my husband tried to see if maybe the car seat needed to be reinstalled or fixed. But that did not resolve the issue. The car seat kept spinning around and not locking still. I do have doctor appts and many school events for my daughter at school this week. I cannot afford to purchase another car seat right now. I am going to have to use the seat belt to keep the car seat from spinning on its own. I am at all costs trying to my hardest to have to leave home. As it’s is honestly frightening. How was the child’s safety put at risk? My Child’s life was put as risk by the base not staying secure and spinning. As well as not staying locked to keep him safe. Also, this happened to us while we were at a store so we had not choice but to put him back in the car seat and my daughter and I held the car seat in place while my husband drove back home. As we did not want to get into and accident and the car seat not keep our baby safe. This was scary as I’m wondering now how low he this base been this way. So glad I caugh

After starting vehicle the steering wheel locked up. It would allow you to drive forward and reverse but would not allow the steering wheel to turn. Prior to failure my wife and I noticed sometimes while driving down the interstate or highway it was difficult to turn steering wheel. Although random it was concerning checked power steering fluid and belts all looked good. Yesterday had to have vehicle towed due to faulty steering wheel.

Engine shut down 4 times in one day. I'd have to put it in park, in the middle of the road, and restart the engine. It seemed to happen at very low speeds. engine light came on. Took it to a local mechanic who noted the error had to do with a sensor in the grill that allows airflow into the radiator - the sensor was blocked based on the code, but it was not. The thought was perhaps something had been blocking the sensor but whatever was blocking the sensor had naturally fallen off since the mechanic found nothing actually blocking the sensor. Drove around for a few days, no issues. Heading out on vacation - about 4 hours into the drive on the highway, it stalled again, again at lower speeds in traffic. Turned around to go home (no vacation), stalled again 3 more times, all in heavy traffic. It is now at a VW dealership. There is a new code having to do with the charcoal canister but they do not believe this is the issue causing it stall. I've been reading other threads on the Atlas and this issue has been ongoing for years with no real confirmed fix or recall as far as I can tell. How is this not a safety issue; on the highway, stalling out and you have to come to a complete stop, park, restart for the engine to kick back on. Over and over again.

DLR lights on passenger side failed at 62k miles. Common problem with VW atlas lights.

Engine shutting off in the middle of the road 3 times, no indicator showing any faults on the dash, the auto shutoff engine was disabled, has to put the car in park then restart the car.

Vehicle idles and dies, dashboard error shows manual restart necessary. This happens at red lights, in carpool, on the interstate if traffic has slowed, potentially a huge hazard for being rear ended. You have to put the car in park and manually restart the vehicle. VW is inspecting today but has not been able to recreate the issue. VW forum online has many car owners with the same issue and concerns. Check engine light and auto start/stop errors are almost continuous now. Check engine light came on/off about 4 months ago and would clear and then reappear. I assumed maybe bad gas that needed to burn off, the auto start/stop also had intermittent errors.

The airbag error light has come on my car multiple times since I have bought it new in 2021 at VW dealership. I have brought it many times to VW service center. Last week I had a coolant leak which they did repair, I paid $1400 for it already. But at the same time, I was told there is a recall on my vehicle. I told advisor that I thought it was taken care of already but was told it is not. So they worked on the recall. But THE NEX DAY, the airbag light came on again. I am worried for the safety of my family in this car. I was quoted $872.72 to have this fixed. This airbag error directly resulted after the recall work was performed on it. not 24 hours after I picked up the car, the light came on again. I spoke to manager Ryan and was told the price can be decreased to $400. I am apaled that I need to pay for this and to have the airbag light come on yet again. please see my transcript to VW and some of the service repairs done on this vehicle in regards to the "airbag error" I have a family and am worried for our safety in this car Please review

The LED day time running lights have started to go out. They are completely out in the passenger side and one of the two out on the drivers side. Unsafe once all are out. These lights can not be replaced as the whole housing for 2k each side. So 4k to fix a safety issue of daytime running lights.

Daytime running light strip (LED) on the passenger side stopped working at about 70,000 miles. The main daytime running light also does not work on that side. ONLINE FORUMS ARE FULL OF THIS VERY SAME COMPLAINT, most failing at about 50-60k miles. The LED strip is housed within the entire headlight assembly, so the repair is around $2,000. The part alone is $995 from VW. There is no option to simply replace the LED strip. This malfunction does not affect the main headlight at night, only during daytime operation. THIS PROBLEM SHOULD REQUIRE A RECALL, AS IT AFFECTS VISIBILITY BY OTHER DRIVERS. I welcome inspection, as this appears to be a very common issue. No other warning messages, etc. were given.

Brakes with difficulty and makes noise time to time and braking is very uncomfortable. It seems like a struggle to break at each stop. Bought vehicle from Dublin VM, mentioned this after 1 day of purchase. Service dept stated its normal so I had Bigotires check brakes too n they said brakes look okay. I'm a Mom w a child so our safety is a concern when driving this vehicle!

The hood release cable of our 2021 VW Atlas broke at about 61,000 miles (so just out of warranty) and this appears to be a common issue with this year of Atlases. VW claims this is a known issue but there is no recall on this part. They want to charge me out of pocket to diagnose and repair this even though it is a faulty part. Especially considering the age of the car and how infrequently the hood release cable gets used.

Seatbelt light stays on and dings at me while driving, even though I am buckled. I’ve tried turning the car on and off to reset the seatbelt sensor and it doesn’t work.

Rattling or metal grinding sound coming from the right rear tire/wheel. I’ve had it checked out by two different dealerships and neither of them found a problem. The metal rattling noise occurs mostly while I’m doing in town driving (30-40 mph) but recently started doing it on the freeway as well. I don’t feel safe driving this car at all.

If you have the driver or passenger window down and try to roll it back up, it will roll all the way down before being able to roll back up. Stereo screen blacks out often while driving and won’t turn back on until you turn off and restart the car. Apple CarPlay won’t let the music selection display on the screen. I could go on and on and on. I hate this car and am almost 100% sure I got a lemon.

The start/stop system keep giving error and shut down the car and give a message " start stop error start manually " this can be dangerous as it happens in traffic or at stop signs and stop lights.

The contact owns a 2021 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated that while her husband was driving at an undisclosed speed, there was a loud explosion before shards of glass fell from the moon roof onto the rear center seat. There was no impact to the moonroof to have caused the moon roof glass to explode. There were no injuries sustained. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000. The VIN was unavailable.

Manufacturer still does not have a remedy for open recall that was announced June 2024. Since this regards passenger detection and air bag deployment in the event of an accident, 9 months and still no remedy is unacceptable

Car displaying an error air bag message. Other 2021 VW Atlases are showing as recalled for sensor mat and wiring harness but my VIN is not showing.

SOS light is not working with active subscription, showing error light. Seems to be a problem as multiple Volkswagen owner are having the same issue.

3 weeks ago, the warning light of the front airbag turned on. The airbag system has a malfunction and is available for inspection I did research and found a Safety Recall on my car (VW Atlas SUV FWD 2021) with the Code: 69PZ I have not received any notice from my car dealer or manufacturer I am worried that the faulty airbag system could deploy in the middle of a drive or not deploy in case of an accident.

For steering: There is a grinding noise that happens each time I turn my wheel when turning into a parking spot or making a non wide turn. It happens every single time that I do it. For Automatic Emergency Braking: It turns on while I am in the middle of driving constantly.

When I start my car, the infotainment center does not turn on, which means that I lose not just the luxury features that come along with it, but also the safety features, like the back-up camera and road sign recognition. Issues started in January 2025 as intermittent and are now an everyday, even multi-day occurrence. I suspect that it's due to the cold weather, as it didn't start happening until the temps got colder (snowy part of USA).. This is a safety issue, and makes me pretty concerned. I've tried to work with my local dealer, however they haven't been much help since the car's warranty expired in early January 2025. I was told that I have a faulty "5F module Product ID: 3G5-035-842-B". My concern is that we don't have access to the backup camera given the size of this vehicle. This youtuber posted a video of exactly the same issue that i have: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xac32juMW-k

The contact owns a 2021 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was an abnormally loud grinding and squeaking sound coming from the vehicle. There was an abnormal sound of rushing water underneath the floorboard. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, who was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was unknown.

Brakes make a grinding noise like they are grinding metal on metal, thinking maybe the car I had gotten needed a break change prior to me getting went ahead and changed the breaks- still metal and metal sound. The brake pedal will go all the way in as if there is no brakes. The car does not stop right away I have had a car in the shop twice already and both times they tell me they cannot determine on how to correct the issues.

Several times while driving the Atlas, the cars engine turn off unexpectedly while in drive. This has also happened while the car was in propulsion. Essentially, the engine kicks off thinking it is in idle. Clearly there is a “start/stop” button issue.

Vehicle stopped in the middle of a busy road after backing out of lot while changing from reverse to drive. It was a very dangerous situation as cars were swerving out of the way to avoid collision. No warning indicators, sounds or lights before nor after incident. Vehicle was inoperable and pushed into an auto shop. They concluded catastrophic engine failure due to lack of compression in cylinders with no observable cause. Had vehicle towed to authorized VW dealer which produced same findings. All services including oil changes were done in accordance with the VW manual schedule.

My passenger side LED daytime running light failed. We just crossed over 50k miles. This is a 1300 part. After reading online it seems this is a major issue with these vehicles and around this mileage. This appears to be something that needs to be investigated and the manufacturer should have to cover under recall. It’s likely not a coincidence there are this many people reporting the same issue on the same vehicle models/years.

My car (2021 VW Atlas SE) has 63 xxx miles, and the left side running light just went out. I took it to the dealer, who informed me this wasn't covered by any warranty and that replacing the running light would cost $1400. This is ridiculous, and so after doing more research, I found that I am among hundreds of other owners of this vehicle type who are having the same issue around the 60k mile mark. This cannot be a coincidence. Other owners suggested that I submit my claim in the hope that you will get VW to do a recall to fix this issue.

The headlight LED strip failed at around 50,000 miles. If replaced, it is likely to fail again. VW dealers have had to replace the entire headlight assembly since the LED strip is integrated into it. The cost for this repair is approximately $2,000.

My daytime running light is inoperative and no longer works. This one small LED strip on the passenger side light requires a $2,300 full headlight replacement, which is unreasonable for any consumer given the scope of the issue. My vehicle is only four years old, and several other customers are experiencing this same issue.

Display screen goes blank and restarts after a few seconds

This is regarding the passenger side airbag/sensor that needs recall in my 2021 VW Atlas. Is there still no planned fix for this? If so, why not? We are getting close to 6 months from the first notice and it is inconvenient to not have passengers be able to ride safely.

The contact owns a 2021 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V464000 (Air Bags); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

Hood release cable malfunctioned. Hood will not release. This is a known problem and recall on other VW models and should also be done on the atlas since multiple people, including myself, are having this issue.

The contact owns a 2021 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, and while accelerating from a stop light, the vehicle occasionally lost motive power and stalled. The contact stated that the vehicle was restarted and operated as normal; however, recently the failure reoccurred, and the battery had to be jumpstarted. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who was unable to determine the cause of the failure. There was no service performed. The manufacturer has not yet contacted. The failure mileage was 48,000.

After the vehicle has sat for a couple of hours, when I get in to drive and come to a complete stop, there’s a gurgling/swooshing water sound coming from the front brakes. I confirmed my pads and rotors are fine, but the functionality of the brakes appear to act up when the noise happens. I’ve seen this reported on numerous forums and this is a huge safety issue. The dealership says there’s nothing they can do and the brakes are operating as they should, but this noise is not normal.

The vapor canister (charcoal canister) and related parts have failed on 3 different occasions over the past 1.5-2 years. This caused the car to stall while operating without any warning from the vehicle. The cars has to be put into park and the engine restarted before it can be operational again. The dealer has inspected and replace parts of the system each time it has happened, and has explained that this is a known problem for the vehicle. No final solution has come from VW corporate to solve the problem, so they have been instructed to keep replacing the components as necessary.

The contact owns a 2021 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated while driving approximately 2 MPH, the "Air Bag Error" message was displayed on the instrument panel. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken back to the residence. A dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed. The contact researched online and was made aware of the NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V464000 (Air Bags); however, the VIN was not included. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 58,000.

The contact owns a 2021 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V464000 (Air Bags); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

Vehicle shuts off when coming to a stop with auto on off disabled. Driver gets message to “put vehicle in drive and start manually” . Have taken to VW for an inspection and they are unable to duplicate concern. Has happened multiple times at random and is a safety concern.

On multiple occasions while driving the car engine will shut off - this has happened on the highway as well. I have taken the car to the dealer 4 different times and its the same thing every time - they tell me the charcoal canister has to be replaced. When they replace it the car is fine for a few months and then it happens again. If my family is in the car on the highway and the engine shuts off while in traffic this can be catastrophic. All they do is change the canister and send me on my way with no real fix.

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 r

Brought car in for a noise 12k miles ago and dealer said all was well. I then brought the car back and they heard the sound, wanted to explore and take apart the engine and found I have a collapsed lifter on the exhaust cam which if a defect, should be completely covered by the manufacturer not just a portion of the repair. Also, this could cause further issues and damage with the car which is concerning since it had been going on for some time. I am just looking to see what further resolution can be made in regard to this. My car is still in the shop since last week. The dealership has been great in allowing me to have a loaner vehicle but I just want to make sure I don’t have more major issues form this not being taken care of as soon as it should have been.

Brakes had to be replaced at only 19,500 miles and now the car has 38,000 miles and they sound horrible again. The entire time I’ve had this car the brakes have made squealing and grinding noises. The VW dealer couldn’t access VW brakes last year due to shortage so put after market rotors on my car without my permission. I had a loaner and they called and told me my car was “ready” out of the blue. Horrible experiences. Will never buy a VW again.