2024 Volkswagen Atlas Powertrain & Transmission Problems

Repeated concerns involving the reliable response to pressing the gas pedal. Directly after purchase notified dealership the vehicle felt unsafe to drive. That pressing the gas pedal did not guarantee the vehicle would predictably move forward. Response ranges from high rpm with no forward propulsion, delayed response with eventual slow or regular movement, high rpm with no forward movement when taking tight turn, feeling of incorrect gear. Most important when passing and accelerating or moving into traffic from stop you do not know how the vehicle will respond. Two Volkswagen dealers have inspected and state there is nothing wrong. Vehicle has recently had vacuum seals replaced which gave a temporary improvement of response feel but has degraded and left vehicle with a rough idle at stopping. Dealership has replaced based on check engine light: Faulty Breather Valve EVAP Solenoid Vavle Upper Timing Cover Safety is put at risk when car presents an unpredictable response in entering traffic or initiating a maneuver requiring acceleration. Check engine light has appeared only on the most recent repair.

The car does not downshift into second gear from third, the downshift occurs when triggered by the first gear. This can result in starting acceleration initiating below 1000 rpm around 5 MPH in gear 3 to get back up to speed. This can be best observed during stop and go traffic where the car does not reach mark to trigger downshift to first gear. This creates unpredictability and potentially hazardous situations.

At about 8,200 miles I got the low oil warning light. I had to add a quart of oil and get it to the dealership. The dealership confirmed there was an issue with 6 cam bridge bolts and clean the engine of all the leaked oil.

I was driving about 50-55 miles per hours. I had been driving for about 45 minutes when I heard a loud pop in the rear portion of the vehicle. Warning lights came on the dash at this time. The message said to "apply the park brake because of roll potential" and some other messages that I cannot remember. The vehicle stopped moving/pulling (the engine was still running) and the vehicle put itself in Neutral. The wheels locked up. A bystander tried to push it out of the lane of traffic, but it would not move, and the tow truck had to drag it on the flat bed. The dealership (Checkered Flag Volkswagen - Virginia Beach, Virginia) said there was a fault for the shifter mechanism. They replaced it. Safety - I was instantly stuck in the middle of traffic and could not even coast off to the shoulder to get out of the lane of traffic.

While going through an automated car wash, I experienced a critical malfunction at the end of the belt. When it came time to shift my vehicle from Neutral into Drive, the car would not respond. Every time I attempted to shift into Drive, the emergency brake would automatically engage, preventing the vehicle from moving forward. As a result, I was stuck at the end of the car wash belt. The car behind me, unable to stop due to the forward momentum of the belt, was pushed into my vehicle. Their vehicle sustained damage from hitting my trailer hitch, although my car did not appear to be physically damaged. This incident created a clear safety hazard, not only putting me at risk but also directly causing a rear-end collision. I believe the failure was related to either the Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) system or the shifting mechanism. However, I am not a mechanic, and this is my best assessment. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request. This malfunction created an immediate safety risk by leaving my car immobilized in a narrow, automated space, with another vehicle in motion behind me. The inability to shift into Drive and the automatic engagement of the emergency brake contributed to the collision. The issue has not yet been reproduced or confirmed, but the Volkswagen dealership has been contacted and is scheduled to perform diagnostics next week. The other vehicle involved in the collision was inspected by Longmont Auto Body & Glass, who provided a repair estimate of $1,495.39. My own vehicle has not yet been physically inspected by the manufacturer. Warning Signs or Symptoms Prior to Failure: During the car wash, proximity alarms were sounding, indicating that I was close to or might hit an object (likely the wash brushes), but I received no specific dashboard warning messages related to the shifting or emergency brake system before the failure occurred.

On 5/24/25 I made another complaint with my car issues complaint number 11662972 The VW Orlando South dealership replaced my transmission. I received my vehicle back on 06/05/25 and after a few hours once I did a u turn, the gears shifted by themselves again. I had to quickly pull over to safety. On the freeway going 70mph it also stalled out, again I had to quickly pull over to safety. The next morning, I informed the dealership the vehicle was having the same problems. I dropped the car off again to VW Orlando South on 6/09 and the dealership still does not know what is wrong with the car

My gears shift randomly while driving and every time I do a U turn. My air conditioning goes out for an hour randomly then comes back on Side mirror signals do not tell you when a car is next to you or passing you as they should

The contact owns a 2024 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated that while at a stop sign and attempting to make a left turn, while depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to respond as needed; however, approximately five seconds later, the vehicle responded as intended. The contact stated that the transmission had shifted into neutral and then first gear after several minutes. The contact stated that a dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the failure had occurred on several occasions. The vehicle was not taken to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but offered no assistance. The contact was referred to the NHTSA Hotline to report the failure. The failure mileage was 3,997.

Error: Transmission displayed on monitor and vehicle will not go into drive. Stranded with 3 little kids and need to call tow truck to take vehicle into dealership. It says you can continue driving but can’t get vehicle out of park. After researching this online it sounds like it is a common problem and could be related to the gear selector switch. I hear no electrical motors or any noise when trying to put it into gear like there is no power going to gear selector motor. Dead in the water and absolutely irritated especially with a car full of toddlers.

Brakes grind and vibrate and have for the past 7,000 miles, dealer continues to say this is normal for Volkswagen, this problem has been reported numerous times to VW and doing an internet search I am not the only one with this problem. Numerous other individuals with these vehicles also have this issue. The other issue is the transfer case continues to leak, this has been replaced once already, and now less than 4,000 miles later it is leaking again. VW continues to say everything is normal and it is normal to feel the vibration and grinding in the brake pedal and VW continues to say it is safe and normal for these sounds. However, this grinding feeling, not squeaking, but grinding and vibration in the brake pedal cannot be safe. This is a serious safety concern for myself and my family. They say brake pads are normal and not worn, so this isn’t a brake pad issue, but a deeper issue. The third issue is the infotainment system at times in start up will just be black, and will not come on, so you are unable to adjust climate control, radio, use backup camera, etc. the only way this will fix itself is if you turn the car off and back on, the dealer has updated they system, and it still continues to do this.

The vehicle was driven into the garage, driver pressed park then engine stop. Driver and passenger exited vehicle, opened both rear doors and retrieved items from the rear seats. Closed rear doors. No warning sounds or lights came on when exiting the vehicle. When returning to the vehicle in about an hour it had rolled out of the garage and crashed into another garage. When the driver's door was opened the shift lever indicated PARK. The incident was reported to the dealer and taken in as soon as possible. The dealer has been unable to recreate the problem and is still researching. Very concerned about the possibility of the vehicle moving in PARK and hitting someone or something.

Driving on 55MPH multi lane road in a heavy load of traffic. While driving at a steady rate of speed the engine, with the gas pedal depressed, suddenly increases in RPM's and is no longer keeping speed. Pressing the gas further only increases the RPM's but does not propel the vehicle. Very unsafe trying to navigate the vehicle to a safe stop withing traffic flow. Error Drive System message on dash. Previous to this even the same symptoms occur when accelerating out of a u-turn but did not show Drive System Error. Vehicle is unpredictable in normal driving conditions in regard to acceleration and engine response. It is a hazard on the road to both the occupants of the vehicle as well as the other vehicles on the road. Vehicle has been dropped off with the dealership for determination.

On occasion, maybe 20% of the time when slowing down at an intersection or leaving a stop sign the car will stay in 3rd gear, I have verfied it is in 3rd gear by putting the transmission into sport mode so it will display the gear indicator, when this happens the car is very slow to respond unexpecting this to happen we have to put the car to the floor but by the time the vehicle reacts 5 to 10 seconds have gone by and the car continues to stay in 3rd regardless of the amount of throttle applied most of the time.we have had 2 very close incidents where this has happened and if the other driver had not slowed down we would have been hit. We have taken the car to Volkswagen of Desmoines and attempted to have them fix it at 10,000 miles but they said they could not replicate the issue. We took a 5 hour trip a few days ago and had this happen to us about 8 times.

The Atlas has been in the dealer on several occasions due to shifting and acceleration. On a couple occasions when starting the Atlas the RPM's will redline with nothing touching the pedal and wont stop until we shut off the car. On several occasions the throttle has little to no response when pushing the pedal (Not safe when trying to merge or change lanes.) Almost once or twice a week the Atlas won't shift or will shift too soon. The infotainment screen has been replaced twice and needs another screen due to it not coming on or lines going through it. It has been to the dealer five times and nothing has been done to this Atlas about the throttle issue. The dealer is focused on the "infotainment screen" because it controls every part of the Atlas.

On [XXX], I was driving that vehicle on [XXX] in the vicinity of Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda, Florida, with three persons inside when the vehicle experienced substantial vibration, a loud knocking noise and major loss of power while in the high speed lane. This occurred somewhere around 8:45 AM. Traffic was heavy thereby increasing the risk of an accident resulting from the loss of power and vibration. I was able to keep the vehicle running and slowly make my way to a suitable place to safely park the car. When this occurred there were several warning lights that appeared. The vehicle has been serviced by a VW dealer in Port Charlotte, FL. VW subsequently replaced the "Longblock and Turbocharger", reassembled the Engine and Transmission assembly and reinstalled that into the vehicle. They apparently had certain issues with the thermostat housing gasket after the engine was replaced. I am aware that there is an existing recall issued by VW (Safety Recall Code 13i6). I further understand that recall covers 2,018 vehicles built before 5/12/23. My vehicle was built somewhere around [XXX] suggesting that the scope of this recall may have been grossly underestimated. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)