Complaint volume
170 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
2022 Volkswagen Atlas Complaints
170 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2022 Volkswagen Atlas, grouped by component category.
170 Total complaints
3 Crash reports
2 Fire reports
2 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 service brakes, engine, air bags. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 3 crash reports, 2 fire reports, 2 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 13 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 42,048 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to service brakes, engine, air bags?
- 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 2022 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.
2022 Volkswagen Atlas
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2022 Volkswagen Atlas complaints?
3 Crash
2 Fire
2 Injury
0 Fatality
2 Towed
1 Medical attention
What are the most common 2022 Volkswagen Atlas complaint categories?
SERVICE BRAKES 33
ENGINE 24
AIR BAGS 20
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 16
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 13
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 10
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 6
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING 3
SEATS 3
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 3
170 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2025 | ENGINE | I am reporting a recurring coolant system issue that raises safety concerns. My 2022 VW Atlas has triggered the coolant warning light several times since new. A dealership eventually replaced the head gasket under warranty, yet the warning returned again months later. At the most recent service visit, a pressure test showed no leak, and I was told the problem was likely "air bubbles" — the same explanation I received before the head gasket was replaced. VW has issued TSB 19-22-01, advising dealers to blame repeated warnings on trapped air and to avoid replacing parts unless a leak is confirmed. This contradicts VW’s own official dashboard warning guidance, which instructs drivers to “Stop! Engine coolant level too low, engine coolant temperature too high, or engine coolant system malfunction” and “Do not drive.” This creates a conflict: VW tells customers a coolant warning is urgent and dangerous, while internally telling dealers to do nothing unless symptoms worsen. Meanwhile, owners are left driving vehicles that could overheat, stall, or fail without proper diagnosis. I request NHTSA investigate whether this approach allows VW to underreport or delay addressing a possible defect. I am concerned about the safety and reliability of this vehicle and the potential for this issue to affect other Atlas owners. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2025 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My atlas forward collision system malfunctioned causing the automatic emergency braking to turn on when there was no one and nothing in front of me. I was then rear ended. Which ultimately totaled my vehicle. My car said airbag error as well. I called Volkswagen Perrysburg Ohio, to report the incident, was sent to the managers voicemail 7/16/2025. The manager never called me back. | Crash: Yes Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2025 | ENGINE | The engine shut-off while still driving between 10-15 mph when entering a gas station and turning uphill. Cannot say for certain, but the vehicle behaved similar to when the "start-stop" engine system activates. Electrical seemingly remained on, could not accelerate, and the dashboard requested something along the lines of needing to "restart." Similar scenario occurred the day prior but this time we were completely stopped. Came to a stop, attempted to accelerate, and the dashboard was referencing the same warning as above. This could clearly cause a major accident especially when it occurs while still moving at a respectable speed. VW offers a switch to turn off this system, but the system does not keep the setting once the vehicle is turned off. It automatically activates upon ignition. Ironically, the failure of unwanted & over-complicated engineering cannot be permanently switched off by the vehicle remembering the last setting unless you wish to spend $100 from a third-party. Hopefully my wife remembers to press the magic button every time she turns on the vehicle. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2025 | SERVICE BRAKES | Error: Airbag and the passenger airbag isn’t working. There is a recall for the atlas but my vin isn’t in there. No recall for the brakes but they are in a class action lawsuit and they are squeeling, vibrate and feel like they won’t stop. Dealership claims nothing wrong. But my car I traded in didn’t feel like this. Vw need to take action before accidents happen. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2025 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | UNKNOWN - bought vehicle last year. The right passenger headlight LED strip went out which ended up costing $1600. The drivers side headlight LED strip just went out, which is going to cost me another $1600. Looking online, it looks like many other VW Atlas owners are experiencing the same issues, all within 20-60k miles of having their vehicles. There needs to be a safety recall for these headlights. To have to pay $1600 to get this fixed is absolutely ridiculous. The only way to fix the LED strips is to replace the entire headlight which is why they're charging so much money to do so. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2025 | SEATS | The passenger air bag has a faulty sensor and the instrument cluster has an intermittent warning with audible chime. We are unable to use the vehicle for safe transportation and we are intermittently bombarded with the chime while driving. The dealership cannot repair until July 3 and does not offer any alternative transportation in the mean time or any loaner during repair. We have contacted VW Customer Care and they refuse to do anything about it. They have directed us to the dealership. We are unable to get around as a family currently due to this issue. There is an active recall for this issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2025 | SERVICE BRAKES | Loud metallic grinding sound when braking is present all the time. The dealer indicated that this is normal for the VW Atlas. However, the issue is that the driver will never know when the brake is functioning properly compared to the sound that often indicates worn-out brake pads (where the metal backing plate is scraping against the rotor). This could cause a collision if not properly fixed. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2025 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | our anti-theft alert kept being triiggered. doors on vehicle would not lock. normally while driving vehicle at around 10 mph the doors of the vehicle would automatically lock but now they will not lock. i tried to manually lock by pushing the lock button but no luck. Driving down the highway at the posted speed limit of 75 mph you could open the driver door ,front passenger door and both backseat doors. I took it to the VW dealership and the Asst service manager said it was a software issue and corrected it. Vehicle worked for about 6 weeks then we got the anti-theft alert and doors would not lock and going down the highway you could open. took back to VW dealership and they said it was a front door latch ,part number 5K1-837-015-J, was failing internally and was replaced and erased the faults. at the first incident vehicle had just over 52K miles and the repair it had 59245 miles. my biggest complaint it would allow you to open the vehicle while driving and if in a wreck all doors could potentially come open on impact | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2025 | ENGINE | When the vehicle is at a stop or slowing maybe to park the engine shuts down. I get a start/stop error and it indicates I must restart the car manually. I then have to put the car in park and restart the vehicle. This has happened while the vehicle was in motion and in major city traffic. The vehicle displays a check engine light now. It is currently at the dealership being serviced. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2025 | SERVICE BRAKES | Since the car was purchased brand new, I have had severe brake grinding noises, brake grabbing, and inconsistent braking at both slow and high speeds. I've taken to the dealership many times to have the brakes checked and told each time the noise is a common complaint. I have requested the brakes be further inspected and one time the brakes were measured and was told it was within normal wear when the car had less than 15,000 miles. The noises and inconsistency of brakes makes it unsafe to operate. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2025 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES | Error start/stop, vehicle has been stalling while moving at a slow speed or while idle, sitting in a drivethru ordering food,pulling into parking spot or turning off of the road at the light. The vehicle stalls out you have to put it in park to restart . Very dangerous especially while in the road. Just purchased vehicle February 3rd 2025, have had other issues very same night ,check left taillight kept coming on, but taillight not out, took to dealership ery next morning, they stated could not duplicate, nothing they can do, it is still doing it. Brakes when backing out started making a noise now too. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2025 | ENGINE | Vehicle randomly sputters and stalls out coming to a stop. Dash displays Please Manually Restart Engine. Auto start stop is deactivated.No CEL. Freeze frame data shows multiple misfires and a P050700 freeze frame data code. Car was just serviced for 30k including a top end treatment. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2025 | STEERING,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,ENGINE | Steering gear failed twice i have the first one make my car shake so bad and second it makes horrible noise every time i moved the steering wheel . Both front head light led failed for the day running light. Car has misfiring problems with spark plugs and injectors making driving unpredictable and engine start shaking out of nowhere and epc (electronic power control )light comes on | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2025 | AIR BAGS | Volkswagen doesn’t have a repair for the front passenger airbag not going off due to a sensor failure. Customers such as myself were made aware in June of the issue and there is STILL no fix!!! | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2025 | FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | Vehicle stalling at intersections and is very dangerous. Took vehicle to VW dealership and even though they know and told me the problem was the carbon canister they are unable to repair due to no check engine light or the ability to replicate during there 5 minute test drive. This vehicle need repaired before it causes my family to be involved in an accident and they are refusing even though they know the problem. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2025 | FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | Vehicle stalls at Idle or close to Idle. It's very dangerous as this could happen in an intersection leading to a collision. When I contacted VW they are completely aware of the issue, Know the part to fix and have even given the part an extended warranty. However, this will still not help if it causes an accident or injury to my family! According to VW of America, and the Dealership it's the Carbon Canister that is causing this problem. If this has not been a factor in an accident yet it certainly will be . Please address this issue immediately. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2025 | SERVICE BRAKES | significant brake noise issues (grinding, squeaking, and gurgling sounds). it does feel inconsistent braking. This issue is a constant driving problem every day. I requested a car inspection at Kearny Mesa Volkswagen (8040 Balboa Ave, San Diego, CA 92111). They stated this was normal for this car (Atlas), and I just needed to brake harder. This is not normal to be driving with this issues and brings family safety concerns and an ultimate high repair in the future for lacking of customer services from Volkswagen | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2025 | ENGINE | The first issue at 26k miles when the coolant light turned on. It was a broken head gasket which required the replacement of the full motor on the vehicle. After the motor was replaced, the vehicle had to be taken back to the dealership that completed the work on 3 different occasions for installation concerns including a loose bolt and low coolant levels. The second issue at 33k miles was the failure of the charcoal canister which ruined the fuel tank lining, resulting a replacement of the fuel tank. This issue caused the car to stall anytime it was idle (if I was in traffic and not able to accellerate or in a parking lot going slowly, it would stall requiring it to be put into park and restarted. This issue was a huge safety concern since my car would shut down in traffic. No indicator lights came on during this issue. Next, at 37k miles, I smelled terrible gas fumes each time the car idled. At one point, when blowing my nose, I had black soot residue, so I can't imagine what I was breathing or the risk of the vehicle catching fire with such strong fumes. I had to take the car in twice before they took me seriously. The car had broken O rings from the engine replacement. No indicator lights came on for this issue either. Last week, we received the car back after 33 days in the shop for ANOTHER broken head gasket. Within a day of getting the car back, it misfired and the check engine light was on again. The car does not accellerate correctly which poses a safety risk when trying to pull out into moving traffic or cross oncoming traffic. Volkswagen corporate office is well aware of all the issues but declined the buy-back process because we don't fall under our state's lemon laws. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2025 | STEERING,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE | 1. Noise from the Front End - Shortly after purchasing the vehicle, I noticed a persistent noise coming from the front end while driving. I reported this issue to the dealership within the first 30 days of ownership, but they were unable to identify or resolve the problem on multiple occasions. Eventually, I took the vehicle to Dublin Volkswagen, where the issue was diagnosed, but I had to pay $80 out-of-pocket for the diagnostic fee. 2. Stalling Issue - The vehicle has been sporadically stalling, which initially led me to believe it was related to the auto stop/start feature. However, I later discovered that this is a recurring issue reported by other Volkswagen Atlas owners [XXX] ). This stalling issue has occurred multiple times, even to my brother during his visit from Canada. Given that this vehicle is used to transport children and other passengers, this is a serious safety concern and liability risk. Picture of message that pops up when the issue occurs. 3. Brake Performance Problems - The brakes have been squealing and exhibit shaking and grinding during use after sitting for different periods of time. Despite contacting the dealership (Dorito Brothers Volkswagen) numerous times about this issue, I have been repeatedly dismissed by their service advisors, technicians and manager. Their lack of attention to detail and unwillingness to address my concerns has eroded my confidence in their ability to service the vehicle properly. I was also informed that Volkswagen would be dealing with the brakes issues by the end of the fourth quarter in 2024 but to-date nothing has been heard nor done. They are recommending brake pads and rotors but why are those needing to be replaced after less than a year of owning it. There's more going on than they are disclosing. Attached is a copy of a report from a different dealer than the car was purchased from. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2024 | ENGINE | The engine stalled and I was given the “please start engine manually”. The button for it to turn off at stopping was off. Completely stalled and I have to put in park and restart the vehicle. This has happened on 2 different occasions. Once at an intersection and once in a parking garage | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2024 | AIR BAGS | We have encountered two recalls (one that we are still expecting a fix for) and multiple issues with our VW Atlas that we purchased new in June 2022 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The auto start function shuts my car off when I am stopped for a certain amount of time and will not turn back on. The first time it happened I was 10/7/2024 at a stop light in traffic and took it to the dealership to only be told it was a battery issue. I got the battery replaced and have since experienced the issue 3 more times. The night before Thanksgiving at midnight I was stopped on a hill where I could not shift my car in neutral. I had to sit on the road for 40 minutes before I could get my car back on. On the back country roads going to work(12/14), I again experienced the car shutting off at a stop light in the middle lane. I called the dealership to set up an appointment. They said they ran a diagnostic test on the car and only found the battery needed to be replaced. Nothing else. No matter where I am if I fail to manually turn off the auto start feature I risk my car randomly shutting off on me and not turning back on. I have maintained the maintenance on my car. There are no lights on until the auto start stops my car from turning on I will get an EPC light. Once the car sits for a while, I can start my car and the light doesn’t come back on. This is a major issue and I believe this is truly a manufacturing issue that should be resolved immediately. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2024 | AIR BAGS | The PODs system is still hasn't been repaired since the recall was announced in June. I was told a fix was coming in August, but to no avail. I haven't been able to have someone in the passenger seat of the car since the recall. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2024 | STRUCTURE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Frontal detection sensors randomly go off usually while sitting stationary at traffic lights or stop signs, when there are no cars around the vicinity of my vehicle. Screen displays false detections and alerts with annoying beeps making you think something is going to collide with you. Dealership says there's an internal TSB on this problem, but they don't know how to fix it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2024 | SERVICE BRAKES | I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with the recurring brake issues I have experienced with my 2022 Volkswagen Atlas. On December 23, 2023, I took my vehicle to the Alexandria VW dealership in Virginia due to a water-gargling sound that turned out to be related to the brakes. The dealer recommended replacing the brake pads, which I agreed to, at a cost of $700. However, in October 2024, less than a year later, the same issue reoccurred. The same dealership is now recommending that I replace the brake pads again. When I questioned the short lifespan of the brake pads, I was told that modern brake pads typically last less than a year due to California brake laws. This explanation does not seem reasonable, as brake pads should generally last much longer under normal conditions. Furthermore, I believe there may be an underlying issue with the brake system that has not been adequately addressed, leading to this premature wear. I am very disappointed with the quality of service and the lack of a permanent solution to this issue. I kindly request: A thorough investigation into the cause of the recurring brake problem. A permanent fix for the issue, or guidance on how to proceed if the vehicle cannot be repaired to meet reasonable standards. Reimbursement or compensation for the repeated cost of brake pad replacement, if applicable. I need your assistance for this matter. Thank you! | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |