2019 Volkswagen Atlas Transmission and drivetrain Problems

“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.”

“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.”

“On several occasions, the vehicle has stalled completely while at red lights or stopped in traffic, both in the city and on major highways. (the date provided is the most recent, but the condition has happened since the purchase in august 2019). I've had to completely restart the car. This is dangerous because anxious drivers behind begin to move forward expecting that I should also, not to mention the horn honking and hand gestures that have occurred. I had a very near miss this past weekend in this exact scenario.”

“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). …”

“This is a consistent issue and I'm worried powertrain damage is occurring. When accelerating from stopped or at low speed there is a very loud screening / grinding sound coming from the powertrain / transmission - possibly the torque converter. It happens frequently and is is very noticeable, usually when the vehicle starts to accelerate or increases acceleration at low speed then it usually goes away. I described the to two vw dealership service departments and both said they hadn't heard of that one. …”