Complaint volume
456 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
456 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2019 Volkswagen Atlas, grouped by component category.
456 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, service brakes. 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 135 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 20,040 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, service brakes?
- 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 110
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 36
SERVICE BRAKES 26
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 26
STEERING 21
ENGINE 19
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 12
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES 12
POWER TRAIN 12
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 8
456 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2025 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Water pump failure leading to replacemnet of of water pump and valve cover gasket on engine. 2019 Atlas vehicles have been covered in a recent settlement but my trim model did not qualify. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2025 | STEERING | The electronic steering gear is malfunctioning and making a clicking sound when the steering wheel is turned at 90-degree angles in either direction. The dealership (Bud Brown VW, Olathe, KS) advised me that they have had 3 VW Atlas vehicles with the same problem over the past month. I believe this is a manufacturer defect that could cause loss of steering and potential injury or loss of life. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2025 | POWER TRAIN,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | I’ve consistently had a coolant leak with my engine water pump. Constantly have to refill the coolant. The reason I’m making this complaint is because yesterday October 1, 2025 I filled up my coolant and I drove a few miles to the grocery store and my coolant was empty and I got a coolant, low warning light and the coolant pump was completely empty. This is becoming very expensive and should not happen on a certified preowned vehicle with only 75,000 miles. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2025 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Emergency brakes activated while driving normally with no obstructions in front of me. This could've caused an accident if there were other vehicles behind me. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2025 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The sensors will cause the car to automatic brake when nothing is in front of it. It highly dangerous and could potential lead to a accident. this has happend multiple times since I purchased the car sind MArch 2021. I would say it happen at least once a month. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2025 | SUSPENSION | Rear coil spring broke under normal driving conditions. This vin # was not part of the original recall. And dealer refuses to help. This is an obvious issue that is the same as the original recall and this vin should be added and covered. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2025 | FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE | The contact owns a 2019 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated that while driving approximately 65 MPH, the Central Warning Light illuminated. The contact arrived at the destination and turned off and restarted the vehicle, and the warning light was no longer illuminated. The contact stated that the same warning light illuminated several weeks later and remained illuminated even after turning off and restarting the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the fuel tank had experienced a minor collapse due to a malfunctioning valve and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 101,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 101,000 |
| Aug 2025 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | With auto stop/start disengaged, vehicles stalls at slow speed (approaching a stop sign) or while idling at a stop light. displays "start car manually" when this happens. Now error code displays "Error Stop-start" The stalling has happened 5 times this week. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2025 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | My water pump is going bad with only 64,505 miles on it. My VIN number wasn’t included in the federal emissions warranty of 80,000 miles or 8 years. I believe this is an oversight. Please review why my vehicle was excluded from the extended warranty. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2025 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was driving on the SB 55fwy in light stop and go traffic and had my ACC w/ traffic aware system engaged. My car was doing as it normally does, keeping a safe distance to the vehicle in front of me, automatically slowing, stopping and accelerating at a safe speed for the conditions. This feature I had been using on my car since I originally purchased it and paid for these safety features. When traffic was not stopped it was traveling between 15-20mph. All of the sudden my dashboard lit up with error messages, audible warnings, and check engine light, all flashing and beeping at me and before I quickly glanced at the dash to the alarming warnings, I had rear ended the car in front of me. This took me by complete shock as my car had always been overly cautious about applying emergency braking in close situations. This time it did nothing. The error message said Adaptive Cruise Control sensor had failed and along with that it had disabled all of the safety features I had become accustomed to and paid extra for, including, the emergency braking and front end collision warning. This caused almost $14k in damage to my vehicle and more so potentially could have put my entire family in danger. The sensor failure caused the accident, the damage to the other car that I was traveling behind and any potential injuries from the driver of that car. I have given this same statement to my insurance company, however no one has reached out to investigate the cause of the failure, not even the dealership service center, where I had originally had my damaged car towed to so they could check and verify with their scan tools that I had a faulty sensor. Also my vehicle had just been serviced the month prior and all software was updated at Norm Reeves Volkswagen, Irvine, CA. | Crash: Yes Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2025 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | Car will randomly stop when using the auto start/stop feature. It can do this at slow speeds or when slowing down. Huge risk. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2025 | AIR BAGS | PODS system recall from 2023 was replaced, but now the same error message for the airbag not working for the front passenger air bag is now coming on again. VW dealership will not replace a second time, they are aware of the problem and have refused to help in any way. No passenger can be in the front passenger seat because the airbag does not turn on when the seat is occupied. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2025 | ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | The vehicle experienced sudden loss of engine power accompanied by the illumination of the EPC (Electronic Power Control) warning light. The exact cause is fuel injection, but the issue appears related to the know EVAP problem on this car model. The problem may still be reproducible. The vehicle stalled multiple times while driving on a state highway (steady low load) and when approaching traffic. In each case, I had to come to a complete stop and restart the engine. This posed a serious risk of rear-end collisions or being struck by cross traffic, especially when power was lost during deceleration or merging. The EPC light appeared each time the issue occurred, immediately after the engine lost power. No other warning lights or messages were observed prior to/after the failure. The problem began occurring intermittently and without prior symptoms. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2025 | STEERING | Driving at highway speeds when the vehicle hit certain bumps the front end would wobble and cause significant vibration and loss of control steering (death wobble). This was reproduced by both and independent shop as well as mechanics at West End Volkswagen in Henrico Virginia. They replaced the entire steering rack to resolve the problem. They stated while I was there that this was the second steering rack on an Atlas this week they had replaced. The problem started around [XXX] and was fixed on 7/9/25. I don't currently have the original part and I don't know whether the Volkswagen dealership kept it. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2025 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving 25 mph with no traffic or people around the car came to an extreme sudden stop and without warning. The dashboard lit up red with warning lights and warning alarms sounded followed by complete shutdown of cars systems. No skidding or tire screach - just an instant forceful stop, as if engine cutoff and breaks forcefully seized simultaneously. We were able to restart car and immediately drove to dealership a couple miles away to report an extreme safety concern. Because there was no traffic or people around we feel it has something to do with a sensor and the automatic breaking system. The car was dropped at local dealership (LowCountry Volkswagen - Mount Pleasant SC) for inspection. This was a dramatic event and safety for driver and others was put at risk due to such a forceful stop. We have serious concerns driving vehicle. What would.happen of system failed driving at higher speeds or if traffic was around? Vehicle has been at dealership for 1 day and problem has not been duplicated. Vehicle has not been inspected by manufacturer, police, or insurance but can be made available. Dashboard lit up with red warning lights at time of incident. There were no warning lights or messages prior to incident. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2025 | SERVICE BRAKES | Brake booster faulty, alert continuously came on and off while driving at different speeds created drastic changes in cars braking ability that were potentially hazardous if driver did not pull over. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2025 | STEERING,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | ●Vehicle tries to pull me into a completely different lanes I have no intentions of trying to go into while on the highway ●Vehicle completely shut off WHILE DRIVING. Electrical panel flashed with all the lights then said to start Vehicle manually. ●Vehicle's gas saving feature when stopped, works intermittently and RANDOMLY, even with same applied brake pressure. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2025 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The contact owns a 2019 Volkswagen Atlas. While the contact's wife was driving at an undisclosed speed, the automatic braking system independently activated. No warning light was illuminated. In addition, the contact stated that the instrument cluster displayed two vehicles crashing. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or the dealer. The contact stated that the failure had previously occurred twice. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 62,192. | Crash: No Fire: No | 62,192 |
| Jun 2025 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | When coming to stop car will turn off at random. Car will still be in drive and alert comes up that says to restart the engine. Requires me to quickly put car in park and restart car in order to drive. This has happened numerous times for no apparent reason. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2025 | SUSPENSION | Rear coil spring failed under normal driving conditions. Previous recall on select 2019 Atlas models however my car was not included in the recall. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2025 | AIR BAGS | The contact owns a 2019 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V215000 (Air Bags). The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to a dealer for the recall repair; however, the contact was informed that parts were not yet available to repair the vehicle. 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. Parts distribution disconnect. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2025 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My adaptive cruise control constantly gives an error, and as a result the cruise control does not work. VW is not fixing it, even under warranty as they state its a calibration issue. Upon further research, this appears to be a known issue. A quick search of "VW Atlas ACC" pull up all the forums. Here are two such links: [XXX] [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2025 | STEERING | My steering wheel and front wheels shake uncontrollably make it dangerous to drive . A complete rack and pinion needed to be replace . The atlas only has 85000 miles . This happened at as slow as 10 miles an hour. Making the vehicle very unstable | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2025 | STEERING,SUSPENSION | I am filing this complaint due to a serious and unresolved safety issue with the steering system of my 2019 Volkswagen Atlas SEL 4Motion R-Line. The vehicle was diagnosed with a failed steering rack, which presents a significant safety hazard due to impaired steering response and potential loss of control. The part needed for the repair has been on national backorder for over a month, with no estimated time of availability. This delay has left me without a safe, operable vehicle and has created a major hardship for my family. I contacted Volkswagen Customer CARE to request assistance and escalation. Unfortunately, they were unable or unwilling to escalate the issue to a Regional Case Manager, and offered no support, solutions, or alternatives to address the safety or mobility concerns caused by this prolonged delay. In contrast, the dealership—Volkswagen of South Mississippi—has been extremely helpful and professional throughout the process. They confirmed the diagnosis and are ready to perform the repair, but are completely dependent on Volkswagen to supply the required part. Through online research and owner forums, I’ve learned that steering rack failures and backorder delays are common with the 2019 Atlas, which indicates this could be part of a larger systemic issue affecting many owners. I am concerned that this situation poses an ongoing public safety risk, particularly if drivers experience steering loss unexpectedly. I respectfully urge NHTSA to investigate this matter and determine whether it warrants a broader safety recall or regulatory action. The current lack of support from Volkswagen, combined with the unavailability of critical steering components, is unacceptable and may leave affected drivers at serious risk. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2025 | ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | While operating the vehicle, it will turn off randomly when coming to a stop. It happens at street lights, stop signs or slow moving traffic. This happens even while manually turning off the auto-stop feature. This is dangerous because in order to turn it on again, the car requires you to be at a complete stop with the vehicle in park. This can lead to an accident on the highway while in slow traffic, going uphill on a bridge, going over train tracks, etc. I have not sent it back to the dealer. This is a known issue with the VW Atlas though. No warning lamps or messages appear in the vehicle. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |