I pulled to the top of my driveway and stopped. i turned the car off with the button but it was still in drive and it did not advise me that the vehicle was not in park. the car proceeded to roll back into a tree. every other car i own whether it has a key or keyless start alerts you that your car is not in park if you turn it off in another gear other than park.
When the vehicle comes to a stop and the auto start/stop activates, the vehicle will sometimes not auto restart and will display, "please manually restart the engine". in order to follow the prompts and start the vehicle again, you have to put the vehicle in park and push the ignition button. i was able to recreate this issue 100% of the time by coming to a stop, having the ignition auto stop and then removing my seat belt (like you often do in a drive-thru to get your wallet out of your back pocket). i've also found that even though the vehicle will display, "please manually restart" if you reconnect your seat belt and push the gas pedal, the car will take off in drive. i"ve had this happen unexpectedly on four different occasions now and some incidents have occurred in the street and occurred even when the seat belt was attached. this is a major safety issue that could result in a crash with serious injury or death. the vehicle has been to vw twice now over the issue and the dealer tries to claim that's how the vehicle is designed to operate. i showed them page 173 in the owner's manual which states that all three of the following conditions must be met for the vehicle not to auto restart: no pedal is depressed, the driver's seat belt is removed, and the driver's door is opened. the word all is in bold and capitalized in the owners manual. my vehicle is currently back at the dealership and i've also contacted vw corporate in reference to the issue. the loaner atlas the dealer gave me performs in the same defective manner. i believe there's a computer programming issue and all atlas' need recalled to correct the issue because they're not performing per the owner's manual; which could lead to serious injury or death. there is video of the issue and the dealer was able to recreate the problem as well even though they are fighting me to correct the issue.
We bought this new vehicle on november 8, 2019. an extremely strong odor protruded from this vehicle inside the cabin when the vehicle was idling and when turned off. it smelled like burning paint or an engine burning smell. it was nauseating and made my six year old son very sick. this was our primary and most important, vital concern and worry.
1) radar auto-brake: when parallel parking and backing ( going in reverse ) parallel to the curb, at maybe 2 mph and 10 inches from curb, i got yellow stop, stop !!!!!!! message followed by sensation of hitting an object and being thrown into the seat. only there was no object. ran out of a car, nothing and nobody there, at least for 50 yards. an auto-brake engaged. that is really broken. interference caused it to do that ? overheated computer in 90 degree sun ? 2) transmission logic: unrelated to above, when going in slow traffic 2-10 mph, pressing gas shifts transmission into higher gear instead of lower, resulting in hit-like engagement and actual inability to rev the engine and accelerate. slow and deep pedal movement does downshift and accelerate but too much. all cars are like that and i test drove several. 3) transmission logic: related to (2) above, paradoxically in sport driving mode, when trying to accelerate and merge highway from 10 mph, transmission shifted up several gears, not allowing to rev the engine, and resulted in rpm decay /power loss -- very scary. that launch was timely aborted, and driver later merged the road in manual "tiptronic" mode. 4) improper gas pedal calibration: compared to other german, japanese and american cars, vw atlas has abnormal and unsafe gas pedal calibration. from a stop, only lightly feathering the pedal results in civilized controlled motion. normal gas pedal pressure results in a car rocketing forward uncontrollably. vw has to talk to some other manufacturers and get their gas calibration consistent with other cars, so it can be driven steady and safely at slow speeds when necessary.
You hear wosshing sound when you start slow acceleration from almost stop, not completely stop, like 5mph. it happens every single time. the issue is that vehicle does not shift to 2nd gear, stays in 3rd when it's around 5mph. this load is causing torque converter and pump to work harder to get vehicle rolling. i believe it is a transmission issue since it only happens in 3rd gear around 1500 to 2000 rpms. for me, i hear it the most when i am accelerating after coming to a "stop". once i hear the noise, i flip the car into manual mode and it is always in 3rd gear. although you feel like you are almost stopped, the car is still in 3rd gear. do the same "stop" while in manual mode and downshift to 2nd, and there isn't a noise. mechanic at dealership tried other new atlas' on the lot and found same issues. there are a lot of people out there having same problem. honestly, my noise seems to be getting worse and louder each day.
When moving and under a load at lower rpms the transmission makes a screeching noise like something is grinding. have brought this in to the dealer only to be told that it is "normal" for vw atlas vehicles. i feel that this cannot be normal and do not trust this answer from vw especially after we were lied to about the diesel emissions problem. i am worried that these transmissions are faulty and may give out unexpectedly. i was told that if i were to be stranded the roadside assistance would help me but this is unacceptable and being stranded could be a huge safety hazard.
One week after vehicle was purchased new, it began to make a grinding noise during the following scenarios: accelerating from low speed / taking off from a stop / after vehicle turned off. vehicle was taken to dealer but they were unable to duplicate sound on first attempt. vehicle has again been dropped off at dealer as grinding noise continues and gets louder at times. have searched in different forums and some state that it is related to the vehicle not being properly programmed to shift from 3rd to 2nd when slowing down. instead it skips 2nd gear (not a professional opinion as i am just quoting what i've read). some have stated it could be the torque converter. still no solution.
Bought my atlas on 3/24/19, a few days after i got the low coolant warning light while driving. took it in to the dealer and they topped it off and said, "oh they come to the dealer sometimes a little low." not sure why they don't check when prepping the car for delivery. on 4/3, light came on again while driving. took it back to the dealer 4/4, no visible leak underneath or by the tank. a possible leak was found behind the engine near the firewall, i can see some pink pooling on something silver (engine or trans whatever it is). they determined that the coolant hose has failed and claim to have never seen that issue before. they ordered the wrong parts and couldn't fit. they are ordering more parts and it could be a few weeks before i get it back. i have also engaged vw of america. this should not happen on a new car yet alone the dealer take so long to fix it. the car has only 400 miles on it. please investigate. thanks.