Owner-reported complaints naming the driver-assistance system, filed with NHTSA
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Reports naming forward-collision avoidance, lane keeping, back-over prevention, cruise control and related electronic driver-assistance systems. Every record below is an owner-reported complaint about the 2025 Volkswagen Atlas submitted to NHTSA — not a confirmed defect, not a recall and not a manufacturer bulletin. 11 reports on file name it.
Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.
Shown in the owner’s own words, exactly as filed
Sensors keep failing. Constant on and off warnings. Radio is also only working at times. Reboots often on its own. Total distraction and very dangerous. Dealership already updated software twice. They can’t seem to fix it either.
Unknown cause and effect. Driving 25-30 MPH per the stated speed limit when suddenly the car braked, going from the estimated speed to 0 in the middle of the road nearly causing a rear end collision. I had to restart the car, put it back in drive and release the parking brake to avoid impeding traffic any further. There were no dash indicators or indication noises. Just a sudden and abrupt braking.
On April 20, 2026, my 2025 Volkswagen Atlas (approx. 31,000 miles) experienced a sudden malfunction where the vehicle became stuck in neutral and would not shift into drive or reverse, despite starting normally. This occurred without warning and rendered the vehicle inoperable, requiring it to be towed to a dealership. Prior to this incident, I experienced intermittent issues with the remote start function through the mobile app, as well as repeated warning messages related to the front/parking sensor system. These warnings had been occurring in the days leading up to the failure. At the time of the incident, the vehicle could not be moved or driven, which created a safety concern due to unexpected immobilization. This type of failure could potentially leave a driver stranded in unsafe conditions or locations. A tow technician was eventually able to shift the vehicle upon arrival; however, due to the seriousness and unpredictability of the issue, the vehicle was still transported to the dealership for inspection. As of this report, the issue has not yet been diagnosed. Dealership personnel indicated verbally that the issue may be related to a recall, although no official confirmation has been provided. If this is accurate, this raises additional safety concerns. The vehicle is currently at the dealership and available for inspection.
In December all of the cameras and front assist sensors stopped working. When I called to get into a Volkswagen dealer they first told me to get a car wash and that should solve it. When that didn’t work they weren’t able to get my car in for about 1 month. I’m that time we collided with deer on the highway and none of the collision assists worked. Now my car repaired and it’s still not working. My car was new in July 2025.
The vehicle has a speed limit sign feature where it displays the speed limit of the road you are on in the windshield. However, this is displaying inaccurate speeds limits which is very dangerous. I have contacted Volkswagen about the issue and they advised that there is nothing they can do. If someone where to use my car and trust the information that Volkswagen it could be very dangerous.
The contact owns a 2025 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated while operating the vehicle, the infotainment display unit was inoperable. During the failure, the back over prevention camera display was inoperable along with the front and rear window defrosters, and blind spot monitoring system being inoperable. The local dealer and manufacturer were notified of the failure and the contact was informed that a satellite system issue had caused the failure on several different model vehicles. No further information was available. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was 5,500.
The infotainment system, which controls most of the functions of driving safely, is down again for the 2nd time since I purchased my Atlas on 6/9/25. The first time it happened, the local VW dealer had me bring it in on 8/30 & they "fixed" it relatively quickly. They stated it was a local issue & had many Atlas screens that went down but they didn't know why. Now on 10/16 this occurred again, I called the local VW dealer & was told they can't get me in for over 2 weeks. I have a long trip planned before that & also I am heading back south for the winter prior to the date they can get me in. I was told I can drop off the vehicle for an unknown time frame - which leaves me no vehicle at all unless I rent a car for this unknown time frame. A second service advisor called me back to advised it is now a nationwide issue & as of now, there is no solution to fixing it. So why would I drop off my vehicle if there is no solution for this issue?
The car is in cruise control on the freeway, going 70-80mph and suddenly decelerates/brakes slam on, to slow down. The front collision will come on and the car will come to almost a complete stop when there is absolutely NOTHING in front of me. The vehicle will alert there is no driver, when I have both hands on the wheel, and start braking. These sudden stops and slow downs are going to get me or someone else killed. This is an ongoing issue.
The autonomous braking activates out of no where while driving. Violently hard and nothing around. A message appears on the dash board saying it can not sense hands on steering wheel. Also while backing up it will activate and no one is near the car or it even activates in an empty parking lot. The car jolted so hard when this happens and everyone went flying forward. No ..the dealer has had the car for 8 days and says they can not replicate the problem. He asked me for permission to drive it to Land O Lakes and I said no the car is very dangerous and that is a huge liability . I gave them permission to drive it around local only. No the vehicle has only been inspected by the dealer. He said since they can not replicate it he can not have a mechanic from Volkswagen assigned to it. No nothing appeared only after. Also, the brakes squeak and sound like it’s grinding on metal like a very old car. Also the front assist beeps loud when nothing is in front of the car. Also, when I go to start the car at times, it will not detect the key. I will bring the second key and it will not detect the second key also. Also the radio screen constantly disconnects everything and it will turn black and then display 0000 with a date of April 6 2025. Also while driving the app will say the door is open. The trunk is open the windows open when everything is closed. That also happens at 2 AM or 3 AM. It will say the trunk is open. The door is open and everything is closed.
When driving on a road with lane markings after the vehicle has been sitting in direct sunlight for about an hour the Lane Keep Assist system will fail due to over temperature warning in the windshield camera module. The dashboard will display the message “Lane Assist is currently not available. Please see owner's manual.” and any driver assist system that utilizes the lane assist system will become unavailable for about 15 minutes. After about 15 minutes of driving the errors will go away as the system reboots itself with no notification that the system functionality has returned. The “over temperature” error was confirmed by my local VW dealership on June 10, 2025 but has occurred 3 separate times.
Was operating vehicle when all of a sudden it stop in the middle of the highway. Engine turned iff. Was able to crank back up but vehicle would not shift into drive, reverse or any motion gear. Vehicle stopped in the morgue of an active roadway which created an absolute critical safety issue due to oncoming traffic. Was able to push vehicle from the roadway in neutral but transmission will not otherwise engage. Very high probability that this issue could have resulted in serious car accident if vehicle had became disabled at a high speed.
Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.
Categories with enough reports to have a page of their own
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