Complaint volume
465 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
Complaint records
2019 Volkswagen Atlas Complaints
465 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2019 Volkswagen Atlas, grouped by component category.
465 Total complaints
7 Crash reports
0 Fire reports
9 Injury reports
Complaint data reflects consumer-submitted reports. A complaint is not proof
of a defect, recall, or manufacturer fault. Enriched severity fields come
from official bulk records when the complaint can be matched by ODI number.
Buyer interpretation
How to use these complaints before buying
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
Pattern to inspect
The most common categories are air bags, forward collision avoidance, unknown or other. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 7 crash reports, 0 fire reports, 9 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 137 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 20,914 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to air bags, forward collision avoidance, unknown or other?
- Can I see recent maintenance and repair records?
- Has the vehicle ever been towed, involved in a crash, or repaired for the same issue twice?
- Can we also check the recall record for this 2019 Volkswagen Atlas?
Used-car checklist
Use these complaints before the test drive.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
2019 Volkswagen Atlas
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2019 Volkswagen Atlas complaints?
7 Crash
0 Fire
9 Injury
0 Fatality
7 Towed
4 Medical attention
What are the most common 2019 Volkswagen Atlas complaint categories?
AIR BAGS 111
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 36
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 28
SERVICE BRAKES 26
STEERING 21
ENGINE 19
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 12
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES 12
POWER TRAIN 12
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 8
465 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Vehicle applies emergency braking without warning when no objects are in front of it. This has happened on the highway and at lower speeds. Car will stop in the middle of the road and i have had a number of close calls with people nearly hitting me. I have taken it to my dealer that i leased it from and a dealer in South Carolina while on vacation and spoken to VW customer service directly but they tell me there is no issue. To stop the warnings going off i have to put the car in custom off-road which disables the front sensors and turns off the front assist manually. But i worked this out myself and VW insist there is no problem. I should not be searching for a work around to ensure the safety of my family in my car. This has happened on numerous occasions when may wife was pregnant in 2021 with the belt buckle pulling tightly around her waist upon emergency braking but VW did not express any concern. While driving from NJ to SC in 2021 with my children and wife in the car we had to stop numerous times on the side of the highway, turn the car off and turn it on again as the sensors were warning of an impact with nothing in front of us. We contacted a lawyer on the side of the highway but at that point we did not file a claim as we were trying to get to our destination. Upon telling VW i would not drive it home they told us to go to the local VW garage in SC but they found nothing wrong with the car. The problem still persists today. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | The vehicle has had issues with the torque converter, head, head gasket, electrical system, gas cap door, seat belt. VW has not been able to fix the issues | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES | While stopped at a stop light the parking brake will come on without being in park and without any notification. The warning lights on the dash will all light up at random times. One day while driving the locks all started locking and unlocking on all four doors on their own while I was driving. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2019 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH, the vehicle jerked and then stalled. The contact stated that the START/STOP, ABS, and check engine warning lights were illuminated. Additionally, the passenger’s and driver’s side rear windows would roll down independently. The door locks would also lock and unlock without driver input. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer and was diagnosed with door wiring harness failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 29,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 29,000 |
| Mar 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES | My 2019 VW Atlas with approx 23,000 miles on the odometer randomly initiated the emergency braking system while I was driving and the car forced itself to brake without warning. Only once the vehicle was turned off did the problem “reset”, releasing the emergency brake. Only for this problem to continue to happen on multiple occasions any time I slowed down or came to a stop. The tried to tell me the car was safe to drive. Thankfully no accident occurred. The following warnings were displayed: driver door contact switch, electronic parking brake failure, engine is running while idling. The front and back driver side windows were automatically rolling themselves half way down while the car was beeping that the door was open while I was driving, which the door was not. I have been told by the dealership that this is a known issue and the part to fix the problem is backordered and has no ETA. Meanwhile I am paying a lease payment on a vehicle I cannot drive that is sitting at Volkswagen with 11 other vehicles awaiting this part. I have filed a complaint with VW Corporate and have currently been without my Atlas for 52 days and counting. WHY is this not a recall yet.... definitely a safety issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SEAT BELTS,SERVICE BRAKES | I have a 2019 VW R line that has been in the dealer repair for 2 months. All the lights on the dash mysteriously come on. The parking brake engages by itself and the rear window goes down. While in the parking lot, I videotaped one occurrence and the car would not stop beeping until I shut the car off and had to restart several times. I was told by dealer that the car was still not repaired because they are waiting for a part but still no part 2 months later. I was told it could not be driven because the car could suddenly brake whe driving and cause an accident or worse. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Vehicle's autonomous emergency braking system activates without any reasonable cause (nothing in front of the vehicle). Often the system doesn't apply the brakes, it will just alert (red logo in instrument cluster screen). However, sometimes the brakes will immediately apply. This occurs sporadically without warning on multiple streets, up to 20 miles per hour. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES | My 2019 VW Atlas with approx 29k on the odometer randomly initiated the emergency braking system while I was Highway driving and the car forced itself to brake without warning. I was unable to control the car at that point. Only once the vehicle was turned off did the problem “reset”. Thankfully no accident occurred, but the problem continued and the vehicle was towed to the dealership. The following warnings were displayed: driver door contact switch, electronic parking brake failure, park pilot error, engine is running while idling. The back windows were automatically rolling themselves half way down. I have been told by the dealership that this is a known issue and the part to fix the problem has no ETA. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | POWER TRAIN,ENGINE | The contact owns a 2019 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the vehicle made an abnormal squealing noise while accelerating from a stationary start. The contact indicated that the noise was present for approximately three seconds before ceasing. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who replaced an engine valve however, the failure continued. No further information was available. The manufacturer was also notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 13,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 13,000 |
| Mar 2022 | SEATS | Captain seat became unlatched when braking quickly, causing the 40lb child sitting in forward facing booster seat to slam head first into back of passenger seat. Seat was then difficult to re-set and lock back into proper position from driver's seat while pulling off highway to a safe location, resulting in child being trapped between captain seat and front passenger seat until vehicle was stopped. Latch appears to be working as expected and has not released unexpectedly otherwise. | Crash: No Fire: No Injuries: 1 Medical attention | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Windshield wiper failure for the 5th time after repairs at VW dealership. The wiper timing on the drivers side continues to fall out of sync. The wiper sensor does not detect wiper failure. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES | Last Saturday, several warning lights appeared on the dashboard, including "ACC Not Available", "Error: Driver Door Contact Switch", and "Fault: Electronic Parking Brake". While in traffic I slowed to around 15 mph and the emergency brake activated, stopping the car abruptly. This same scenario of slowing and the emergency brake activating happened twice more while driving home. Vehicle was taken to the dealership who advised we were the 16th Atlas that has experienced these problems. We were told it would be 3-4 months before the parts to fix the vehicle were available. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The driver door wiring harness started lowering windows randomly..it was replaced 3/1/22 and now it is bringing up two info driver door contact switch and electronic parking brake..online it is saying this is a safety issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS,STRUCTURE | In Jan 2022, the air bag system error light lit up at start-up and remained lit. A first-available dealer appointment was made for 1/28, two weeks away. During those two weeks, the car started to issue a burst of random alerts during cold startup - driver door contact switch failure, cruise control (ACC) failure, start/stop system failure, and the rear driver side window would roll down several inches. Shutting off and restarting the car solved these alerts. The car was inspected on Jan 28; the dealer confirmed a faulty wiring harness in the driver side door. They also confirmed the random alerts were the same cause. The dealer stated that the driver side air bag was nonfunctional, but the rest of the air bag system was OK. A replacement part was ordered with an estimated delivery of 2-3 weeks. As such, we chose to keep driving the car. Over the ensuing weeks, the random alert sequence got more frequent and started to show an electronic parking brake alert and engage the parking brake at startup. It then began happening on later starts when the car was fully warmed and would resume after the car was shut off and restarted. Finally, the alerts started to happen while moving, and instead of just a single burst, became a continuing sequence. The alerts are a rapid-fire volley of warning dings/dongs and accompanying messages in front of the driver. At the same time, the rear driver-side window is moving and the door contact switch is clicking randomly in the driver's left ear. It is a startling volley, which combined with the other weird sounds, is a disorienting and panic-inducing 360-degree assault on the senses. After no word from the dealer. I called on Mar 4 and was told the part was on a nationwide backorde, with no ETA. I did some research and found numerous reports of the problem getting worse over time and the parking brake engaging while moving. As our experience matches the trend, I feel the car is no longer safe and have parked it until it is repaired. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | ENGINE | Coolant cap repeatedly came loose after 15,000 miles triggering low Coolant warning to come on. Appears to be a cap or reservoir issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When the car is turned on the Adaptive cruise control is not available, the error code fault is "driver door contact switch", fault code "electronic parking brake" appears, the rear drivers side window rolls down about 6 inches, the car beeps and alerts "the engine is running". When at a complete stop, the beeping and alert with "the engine is running" appears and the parking brake appears to turn back on as well. My car had this issue in Feb 2021 and a part was replaced, but now the problem is back again. This has been confirmed by the dealership and VW customer care that is a very known issue with Atlas. Unfortunately electronical issues are a huge concern because everything is connected. This is the primary car for me and my children. I have huge concerns of safety with my children riding in the car when it has such serious electrical issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I currently lease a 2019 Atlas and have had multiple problems with the vehicle during my lease. The front-assist/collision or whatever it is that makes brakes slam has nearly caused accidents multiple times and makes it scary to drive the car. This happens even when there are no cars around and I am aware of the class action lawsuit investigation into these safety concerns. Additionally, the infotainment system has had several issues which are not resolved despite bringing it in for service multiple times. It shuts off suddenly, the ApplePlay has numerous problems. I have brought it to the dealer multiple times and they do nothing despite it being a known safety issue with Atlas. In the additional details section, I am not choosing a date because it has happened so many times. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My AES has been acting up. It has braked unnecessarily when nothing was in front of me worth braking for. I see this is an ongoing issue with VW Atlas. Mine is a 2019 (purchased used Nov 2021). | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | AIR BAGS | When I returned to my parked car at the grocery store on Tuesday Jan 4th at 10:51am, the curtain and passenger side airbags had deployed. There was no impact or crash observed. The VW service department and USAA diagnostic download had reported an impact to the rear axel on Monday Jan 3rd at 8:51pm. Their sensors show that the airbags deployed at 8:51pm Monday. Not only was there no impact or crash, but the airbags in fact deployed while the car was parked the following day. Monday evening I was driving with 3 others (two children) in the car. There was ice and snow on the road, but no impact or no airbag deployment. The faulty sensor could cause the airbags to be delayed in a serious crash, or deploy for no reason. There is a serious mechanical issue with this car. Volkswagen has reviewed the download and feels that the diagnosis from the download is correct and there is no further investigation required | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES | On Jan. 12th 2022 my wife and I were riding in our 2019 Volks Wagon Atlas in route to a doctors appointment and was slowing for a red light when a warning sounded the drivers side back door window lowered, multiple warning light came on and the most dangerous part was the electric e brake activated causing the vehicle to come to an immediate stop. We were lucky there wasn't any traffic behind us. The vehicle was taken to the Volks Wagon of Reading Pennsylvania, and the service tech stated the vehicle was not safe to drive, and that that they have multiple vehicles with the same problem. We were further informed that the drivers door wiring harness failed and the part is backed ordered. I have been to the volks wagon atlas message board and found this problem is through out the United States if not world wide. Most of the complaints are how scared everyone was when the car stopped in traffic without warning. Volks Wagon is aware of this problem but have not taken the initiative to inform Atlas owners that this problem exist. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 9/2019Just purchased and driving home from dealership, approximately 4 miles driven, stopped at traffic light. Light turned green. Car started going forward and then engine turned off completely. Sudden stop. Car was in drive, no warning lights, just the auto wasn’t operating. Stuck in traffic. Moved shift lever to Park tried restarting. Car would not start. After numerous attempts car started. Immediately drove back to dealership. Told no codes displayed. Nothing to worry about. Salesman said they tightened battery cables. 1/2020Stopped in stop/go traffic on interstate. Auto on/off disengaged. While starting to move forward car stopped completely and parking brake engaged stopping the car suddenly. Car turned off. All lights on dash lit, then went off. Took numerous attempts to restart. Electrical smell present 2/2020Auto stop was was turned off. Stopped at elevated train crossing by lowered gates and passing train. Foot on brake whole time. After train passed accelerated but car was not running. Car actually started rolling backwards when foot taken off brake.No dash lights or warning of any kind. Had to put car into park. This time it re-started without any hesitation. Acrid electrical smell was noticed. Brought to dealer and no codes. 7/2020Backing automobile out of garage. About 10 feet into backing procedure car turned off and parking brake engaged. Had to shift back to park, turn off parking brake. Restart car. Took a few attempts to restart. 3/2021Was stopped at same elevated train crossing as prior event. Same issue. 4 more events january 2022. Dealer says not problem found | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | The windshield wipers stop functioning after cold freezing snow and rain. I have had the wipers repaired 4 times, but the issues continue to happen. The wipers fall out of timing, the wiper motor fails, and the fastening design strips out preventing the wiper to correct itself. The most serious failure happened while driving on the highway. The vehicle is under warranty and has been serviced 4 times. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | AIR BAGS | My car had an airbag alert show up on Thursday, January 27th. It said Error: Airbag. I contacted the dealership was able to get my car into Glenwood Springs Volkswagen service center on Friday, January 28th. At 4:30 pm I was told there was an issue with the airbag system. According to the Volkswagen employee, this is a known issue and they are surprised Volkswagen has not opened a recall. The service report states: Connected scan tool and found fault B101715 crash sensor for side air bag, drivers side open circuit/short circuit to B+ (passive). They recommended to replace drivers door harness. I was informed the necessary replacement parts were back ordered and would not be replaced for at least 1 month. I believe the earliest date to expect the fix is March 5th. The local service center has 2 loaner cars that are currently loaned out due to this issue. They cannot provide me a loaner car. I called VW care and they are unable to escalate this issue until Thursday, February 3rd. They informed me it was not an active recall and not part of my warranty for them to have to provide me a safe car to drive. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | TIRES | 255/50 R20 105 KUMHO 7 CRUGEN PREMIU 23186 MILES FRONT TIRES ARE COMPLETELY WORN OUT. CAR ONLY HAS 28,000 MILES. IT CAUSES CAR TO LOSE TRACTION AND SKID. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY/WIPER | The Panoramic sunroof continues to leak water. This is a safety risk by water obstructing the driver's vision. Also, the water mixing with electrical wires in the A frame, driver-side electronics, and leaking on and through the center dash area is a major concern. The vehicle has been serviced twice within the same month and has not been fixed. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |