2023 Volkswagen Atlas

Vehicle has issues with sputtering and stalling out when at idle and while reversing after warming up. The first time that the vehicle actually stalled while reversing, it had to be put into park and restarted. I took it to the dealership and they replaced the in tank fuel pump. When I got the car back it was still acting a little strange but I thought it was just the computer relearning process. Shortly afterward (approx 100-150 miles later) it started struggling at idle again. Yesterday the vehicle again died while reversing, which required being placed into park and restarting. The idle was struggling but I was able to reverse and continue driving. The idle remained in a state of struggle, sputtering and almost dying, as well as extremely slow acceleration until I was able to get onto the highway for a bit. However, it did struggle a bit during the bumper to bumper traffic that I came upon during the drive. At highway speeds the vehicle's acceleration is fine. I am able to use the Automatic Adaptive Cruise as well as drive without the cruise feature. The temperature of the vehicle is always normal and I ensure that the fuel gage does not drop below 1/4 of a tank and if it does it is during the trip to the gas station. I only use QT gas in my vehicle.

On July 13, I was driving on the I-75 Business Loop access ramp near Bloomfield Hills with my entire family in the vehicle when the EPC warning light came on. The vehicle went into limp mode and subsequently shut down. I was able to pull the vehicle onto the shoulder of the access ramp before it stopped completely. With my entire family in the vehicle, being stranded on the shoulder of I-75 created a very unsafe and concerning situation. After allowing the vehicle to rest for several minutes, I was able to restart it and drive it home. I then arranged for the vehicle to be towed from my home to Mike Savoie Volkswagen for diagnosis and repair. The vehicle had already experienced a similar EPC-related failure previously and had been repaired by Mike Savoie Volkswagen. Following this July 13 incident, the vehicle remained at the dealership for further repairs and was returned to me on July 24. A copy of the repair documentation is attached.

On July 7, I was driving the vehicle with my son in the car when the EPC warning light suddenly came on. The vehicle immediately went into limp mode and subsequently shut down. I was able to maneuver the vehicle off the main roadway and onto the grass; however, this left my son and me in an unsafe situation on the side of the road. After allowing the vehicle to sit for several minutes, I was able to restart it and drive it a short distance to a nearby parking lot. I then arranged for the vehicle to be towed to Mike Savoie Volkswagen for diagnosis and repair. The repairs were completed, and the vehicle was returned to me by Mike Savoie Volkswagen on July 13. A copy of the repair documentation is attached.

My car has started to stall out when I am stopped at a sign, light, reversing or a low idle. When I change to reverse from park, the car stalls. I have to put it back in park start and try to reverse again. Same thing happens when I go from reverse to drive. I have done a little research online, and a lot of these 2023 Volkswagen Atlas’s has this issue.

2023 Volkswagen Atlas R-Line. While driving (moving) on a congested road the vehicle signaled "Please start engine manually" the gas pedal became unresponsive. Power steering, radio, A/C, all still worked, but I had to come to a complete stop to restart engine. The same thing has happened multiple times now with the last one being in the middle of the road trying to complete a U-turn. This is incredibly dangerous for not only my family but others on the road not expecting a vehicle to stall. This has been identified by multiple other owners on-line. There is no warning or change in operation of the vehicle prior to the message coming up. This could lead to a crash, or worse a fatality.

Lost complete control of both the brake and the throttle while attempting to pull into a parking spot at low speed. Car started to roll backwards down a hill and I was unable to stop it. Had to cycle the car off and back on to fix it. Took it to a VW dealership service department and they reported no fault codes so there was nothing they could do. No check engine light or fault codes.

While driving, the vehicle stalls and shuts off completely without warning, creating an immediate safety hazard. This engine stalling occurs randomly at various speeds, including while actively operating the vehicle in traffic. There is no Check Engine Light (CEL), malfunction indicator, or dashboard warning prior to the stalling event, depriving the driver of any advanced notice to safely pull over.A subsequent inspection revealed that the evaporative emissions (EVAP) carbon canister is failing. The component failure allows unmetered fuel vapors or liquid fuel to flood the engine intake tract, rich-loading the engine and causing an immediate stall.

While driving on the highway at 65 miles per hour, my Atlas shut itself off. I had to put it into park and restart the ignition. It turned on after 2 attempts but just barely. It turned on and gave enough power to move forward very slowly but virtually no propulsion. It turned on briefly, I pressed the gas and then it shut off but had enough to cruise to get to the shoulder across the highway. There was no shoulder next to the lane I was in. Luckily the cars around me saw that I put my hazzard lights on immediately and did the same. Once at the shoulder, tho the system had shut down again... the Atlas suddenly engaged and sped up on its own. The control panel of the car was "resetting" itself still from the initial shutdown. The system appeared to reboot itself after putting into park and pushing the ignition button. And was still "processing" while I attempted to get it to the side of the road while it shutdown again. Once it was "rebooted" that's when the system appeared to "catch" and the car "sped up" by itself. Once all that happened, probably in the span of 5 minutes or so, I was able to drive 15 miles away safely to a gas station, turned off the car, got gas and it re-started like nothing had happened and drive fine home, about 2 miles further. The instrument panel including map and "driving screen" has shut down before while driving a few times, but never anything with the engine. While stopped at a light a few times, the car has previously "shut itself off" and restarted fine after being put into park and restarting ignition. This is by far the worst and most dangerous experience I've had that could have resulted in a fatal collision, had the cars around me not also been paying close attention and helped me out by slowing behind me and creating awareness for others approaching at 65-75 MPH as well.

Current mileage: 55,000 miles, and the warranty expired at 50,000 miles. Shortly after the expiration, a bunch of warning alerts started to pop up, along with a solid yellow check engine light. I had the error codes read, and it came back as, “P2402 SAE: EVAP System Leak Detection Pump Control Circuit: High." In order for any work to be performed, VW demands a $212 diagnostic fee in order to even determine what is wrong with the vehicle. If the EVAP pump is found to be bad as the code suggests, it would cost anywhere between $700-900 to fix. So, I took to Google to figure out what is going on. There are pages and pages of documentation from other VW drivers who have the exact same issue. So, why has it not been listed as a safety recall yet? That's what I want to know. Many VW drivers reported that they were given a warranty extension for this KNOWN issue, so I thought...that's all it would take for me to be happy. So, I called the same dealership back and was told that my vehicle is ineligible for the warranty extension even though I am experiencing the exact same issue of the people who were given the warranty extension. Many other VW customers have reported this known issue as well because VW is aware of the issue but is not doing anything about it. As far as I know, the car runs fine, but the alerts and check engine light are there every time I start up the car and never go away. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request. My safety and the safety of others is put at risk every time I drive. When I get into my car, several alerts go off. Very distracting and dangerous. When I go to back out of my driveway, the backup camera works for a few seconds and then blacks out and goes back to the main screen and starts beeping new alerts. Very dangerous. As I am driving, all of the alerts are going off again, thus distracting me behind the wheel. With the codes present, it will not allow me to use remote start on either my key FOB or in the app.