Volkswagen / Atlas / 2021
2021 Volkswagen Atlas problems
Owners have filed 744 complaints about the 2021 Volkswagen Atlas with NHTSA. Electrical system accounts for 19.5% of them — the clear leader, ahead of service brakes at 12.5%.
Complaints744
Crashes13
Fires1
Injuries13
Deaths0
What owners report breaking
Electrical system 19.5% · 145
Service brakes 12.5% · 93
Engine 11.0% · 82
Forward collision avoidance 10.6% · 79
Unknown or other 9.8% · 73
Air bags 8.5% · 63
Exterior lighting 8.2% · 61
Fuel/propulsion system 5.2% · 39
Severity
Of those complaints, 13 describe a crash, 1 describe a fire and 13 report an injury.
Reading the numbers
Across the 6 model years of the Volkswagen Atlas in this data, 2021 draws the most complaints of any of them.
Filing volume has held steady, 345 in the last three years against 391 in the three before.
The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 12,000 miles.
In owners' own words
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 wonât turn back on until you turn off and restart the car. Apple CarPlay wonât 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. Electrical system
pulling into a parking, backing out of my driveway on to the road, rolling with my foot off the gas preparing to brake the car shut off in gear. it is very dangerous happening when we back out of the driveway on to the road having to shift to park and manually restart the car. it happens with the auto shut off both on and off. this is a big issue that needs resolved before someone gets seriously hurt. Electrical system
LED daytime running lights went out a few weeks ago at the same time, then yesterday both headlights went out at the same time as well. There have been no damages or wrecks in my vehicle and I am the only owner. There are no warning lights and according to the MyVW app, everything is fine. I cannot see well while driving at night anymore and this will cost me $2,000 to replace at only 60,000 miles. Electrical system
Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.
Safety recalls
Checking NHTSA for open recalls…