2024 Volkswagen Atlas
This year drew an ordinary 162 complaints for a Volkswagen Atlas — the model's median is 123. What they were about is the unusual part: 12.3% of them mention grinding, against 4.2% across the model's other years.
First year of a new generation. The Volkswagen Atlas was redesigned for 2024. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 162 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 123 |
| Involving a crash | 6 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 8 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 21.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- grinding — 12.3% of this year's complaints, against 4.2% across the model's other years (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: grinding, sounds.
- crack — 6.2% of this year's complaints, against 0.6% across the model's other years (10.1×). Owners wrote it as: crack, chip, vehicle months.
- radio — 6.8% of this year's complaints, against 0.9% across the model's other years (7.7×).
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
The brakes are extremely squeaky and it terrible grinding sound whenever I braked. It sounds like water going back and forth under the car. I have taken it to the dealership multiple times. I requested a test drive of the vehicle. Their response is yes, vehicl…
The windshield seems to be made of poor quality. Drives city roads , and the same roads and conditions that i drive my other teo cars but tgis 2024Atlas chipped in tow times alrrady in amonth and this time had a 7-8 icnh crack with a very small chip. This look…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 23V593000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 24V464000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 24V480000 BACK OVER PREVENTION Fixed free of charge.
- 24V723000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 25V100000 ENGINE Fixed free of charge.
- 25V334000 BACK OVER PREVENTION Fixed free of charge.
- 25V434000 SERVICE BRAKES Fixed free of charge.
- 26V473000 BACK OVER PREVENTION Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Volkswagen Atlas was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2024 Volkswagen Atlas? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…