2021 Volkswagen Arteon Owner Complaints

Date: March 9, 2026 FORMAL COMPLAINT: Safety Concern Regarding Unintended Acceleration** Vehicle Information: Year/Make/Model: 2021 Volkswagen Arteon VIN: [XXX] Purchased From: Clay Cooley Volkswagen (October 2024) To Whom It May Concern, I am writing to formally report a series of escalating electrical and mechanical failures regarding my 2021 Volkswagen Arteon. While the vehicle initially presented minor electrical glitches, the situation has recently devolved into a severe safety hazard that puts my life, and the lives of others, at risk. Timeline of Issues: Since my purchase in October 2024, I have experienced the following: * Infotainment Failure: The radio display frequently fails to render images or remains unresponsive. * Key Recognition Issues: The vehicle intermittently fails to recognize the key fob is present, leading to ignition delays. * Unintended Acceleration: Most critically, as of today, [XXX], the vehicle has spontaneously accelerated three times immediately upon being shifted from Park into Drive, without any input on the accelerator pedal. Urgent Safety Request The sudden, unexpected acceleration is a catastrophic failure of the vehicle's drive system. I no longer feel safe operating this vehicle, nor do I feel comfortable allowing my family to use it. This is a critical liability that must be addressed before an accident results in property damage, injury, or loss of life. I am requesting an immediate investigation into these malfunctions. I expect a prompt response regarding: 1. A safe method for transporting the vehicle to a certified technician (towing). 2. A comprehensive diagnostic review of the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) and throttle assembly. 3. The provision of a safe loaner vehicle while these life-threatening defects are remediat INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11723077

Incident

Mar 2, 2026

Several of the tires showing delamination according to the dealership. Extremely hazardous to drive on tires as is. Manufacturer (Continental) advised me on 9/25/2025 they would replace 5 tires (car purchased new, came with full size spare). Continental representative give me their contact information and stated that they would have to deal directly with the dealership in order to complete the process. Dealership is stating to me at this point I will have to purchase the tires, the manufacturer will reimburse used them and they in turn will reimburse me. The dealer is in possession of my vehicle since Friday, 9/26/25 because they told me Ithe vehicle had to be on their premises before they could initiate the work order. Additionally on the evening of 9/26/25, the dealership personnel left the sunroof of my car fully open, there was a downpour of rain for several hours, causing water to enter the car (what the damages are as a result has not been relayed to me nor has the dealership order the tires to replace the defective ones.

NHTSA ID

11690832

Incident

Sep 25, 2025

TRAVEL ASSIST ALERT KEEPS GOING OFF FOR NO REASON. IT IS VERY ANNOYING

NHTSA ID

11653933

Incident

Jan 6, 2025

The contact owns a 2021 Volkswagen Arteon. The contact stated that while driving approximately 18 to 23 MPH, there was a loud clanking noise coming from the engine. The air bag warning light illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer but was not yet diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and a case was opened. The failure mileage was approximately 6,000.

NHTSA ID

11580634

Incident

Apr 2, 2024

Mileage

6,000 mi

This defect causes multiple, non-periodic, but repeated, "Travel assist unavailable" audible and visual alarms at seemingly unrelated and unpredictable times while driving. My favorite times are when you start making a turn after coming to a full stop and it alarms, asking you to take your eyes off the road and look at the dash. There is no way to turn the alarm off. It occurs even if you have the feature it is alarming about disabled or turned off. When the alarm triggers, the display has multiple yellow icons and frequently a large text/graphic in the middle of the digital cockpit. It can be extremely distracting. Apparently the fix is to replace the steering wheel. The steering wheel is on backorder for over four months now.

NHTSA ID

11573717

Incident

Sep 1, 2023

After the vehicle has been sitting for some time, it will repeatedly beep and display “travel assist not available” with a warning triangle. It seems to be steering wheel related. It does not do it sitting still, only while moving. This happens every morning for the first few minutes of driving - often for several miles, and is getting worse. Today, it happened over 10 times within a 1 mile drive. Started as rare and sporadic happenings about two months ago, now is nearly every time I start up and drive the car.

NHTSA ID

11572319

Incident

Feb 16, 2024

In differing lighting conditions, the forward-looking sensor that controls my frontal assist becomes disabled. The system automatically retests itself occasionally, and sometimes straightens itself out but on other occasions, it just makes a bell sound, and reminds me that my frontal assist is not available at this time. I have brought this to the attention of my Volkswagen dealer in Kalispell Montana on multiple occasions and they have yet to fix the issue. The front glass or windscreen has been replaced two times and neither time were they able to correct the issue.

NHTSA ID

11538398

Incident

Apr 1, 2023

The infotainment system begins to lag after being connect for >30 minutes. The touch screen stops responding to immediate inputs and takes up to 15 seconds to respond. Soon after, the screen will go black and not display any information when connected to CarPlay. Controls become very slow to respond and the map colors and images becomes scrambled making the driver spend a much longer period of time trying to navigate safely. To correct the issue, the vehicle must be turned off.

NHTSA ID

11506738

Incident

Jan 1, 2023

Travel Assist blends the functions of Adaptive Cruise Control and Lane Assist to ensure that your Volkswagen maintains a safe distance from the vehicle ahead and keeps you centered in the lane. Constant travel assistance issue warning light during driving, and randomly turning on/off or turning the wheel, going over bumps. This issue was address at the dealership where they replace the wheel buttons that controls the cruise controls and volumes. This did not fix the issue. This sometimes seems to turn on/off sensors where the sensors sometimes it seems it does not want to judge distance. Also it seems to be related to sensors inside the steering wheel, certain places where you touch the steering wheel seems to turn the alert on.

NHTSA ID

11506562

Incident

Jan 10, 2023

Auto ran into a slow moving car at the top of a hill. Minor damage to other car. Fire started on the arteon and then totalled the car. This could have caused death. Car was inspected by insurance company and they determined the car to be a total loss. No other analysis has been completed. No warning lamps or message or symptoms of problems existed before.

NHTSA ID

11473544

Incident

Jun 30, 2022

Front passenger side has bubble detected inside the tire sidewall at around 7600 miles.

NHTSA ID

11456511

Incident

Mar 13, 2022

Bubbles on sidewall of all tires, some multiple bubbles. Rotated on schedule, freeway driving.

NHTSA ID

11449780

Incident

Feb 1, 2022

Continental 245 35 20 tires. Experienced six (6) sidewall failures in 10 months from relatively average pothole or road bumps. Only one of the six failures occurred at a speed above 35 mph. Incident occurred between February 2021 and October 2021

NHTSA ID

11447864

Incident

Oct 23, 2021

I bought this car month and a half ago and at night I have people flashing me almost all the time, thinking I am driving with high beams on. When I drive with my normal lights on they will light all the traffic signs on and I can see on the highway dividers that reflection of the light is slightly going upwards. When I switch from normal to high beam I can barely see any difference on the road itself. The most of my high beams go up in tree branches. I have talked to VW dealership couple of times about it and took my car in there and they are refusing to lower my lights. They argue that LEDs are brighter than regular lights ( which I understand that) but they are ignoring the issues I am telling them what is going on with my lights. They are saying the lights are in VW specs and that they compared it to same model against the wall and it is the same level. I doubt they did properly measurement of my beams but just did quick comperasmant to another same make and model instead. The car is obviously under the factory warranty but they are refusing to touch it because according to them it is in specs. I know VW had issues with headlight adjustment couple years back on some other models and I think this model is also faulty with adjustment. I hate blinding people at night. I dont know what to do because I really dont want to pay out of my pocket for the adjustment when the car is under factory warranty.

NHTSA ID

11423351

Incident

Jul 3, 2021