2019 Volkswagen Atlas: brakes engage by themselves (phantom braking)

Filed Jan 20, 2025 · Driver assistance · FL

On January 20th 2025, we were driving on an open street with moving traffic. The automatic braking system kicked in for no apparent reason and the car slammed on the brakes on its own resulting in us almost being rear ended. Our safety and the safety of others was put at risk due to the car braking with no warning and for no reason, causing the person behind us to almost hit us. In the past, the car has randomly loudly beeped at me and given me the forward collision warning for no reason, but it has never auto braked like that for no reason. It was scary and makes me concerned about the safety of the vehicle for my family.

Filed Sep 21, 2023 · Brakes · PA

At random times, at random speeds, my instrument lights will illuminate with a beep and display the brake light. Sometimes just the brake icon, sometimes the brake and ABS, and sometimes both along with the engine light. At the same time my vehicle will violently brake on its own. When I depress the brake pedal to gain control the pedal is "jerky", rigid, and difficult to push in. Sometimes this lasts for a moment, sometimes longer. This is very dangerous and seems to occur more frequently. A 'Brake Booster Faulty' message appears on the dash.then dissappears

Filed Mar 17, 2023 · Driver assistance · MI

We have been having the same issue with the vehicle with the steering wheel shaking when making a close turn (ex. in a parking lot). The dealer made a repair on the clockspring and said that this would solve the issue and it did not. We have taken the vehicle several times to fix this issue and they have not been able to, it is getting worse. We now have been experiencing an issue where the car, usually after braking, will also brake on its own. This is especially concerning in icy conditions which could cause lose of control of the car. We took the vehicle in for this issue and they made a repair to the driver's door sensor and said that this would fix it, but it did not. Please let us know what further information you need.

Filed Mar 25, 2022 · Driver assistance · KY

There have been two incidents where my wife was driving our Atlas and the automatic braking engaged for no reason as if it were trying to avoid a collision. I am upset that my VIN number was not included the the latest recall as this has happened twice to us, luckily with no cars behind to rear end us!

Filed Mar 15, 2022 · Driver assistance · FL

Vehicle's autonomous emergency braking system activates without any reasonable cause (nothing in front of the vehicle). Often the system doesn't apply the brakes, it will just alert (red logo in instrument cluster screen). However, sometimes the brakes will immediately apply. This occurs sporadically without warning on multiple streets, up to 20 miles per hour.

Filed Sep 3, 2020 · Brakes, Electrical · 10,000 miles · MD

When going up or down a steep hill, and also 1 time pulling out of a parking lot my emergency brakes have engaged 5 times. No cars have been around (luckily) and I was not about to hit anything. My collision sensors also go off daily-the entire time I'm driving even while nothing is around. I can pull up to an empty intersection and they will do off. I have tried to change the sensitivity and this still happens. They are not consistent either- the same road can make it go off one day and not the next. But they are always going off while driving and I have to exit out of the screen

Filed Sep 2, 2020 · Brakes · 5,000 miles · NE

When driving the vehicle the brakes will automatically engage slamming the car into a stand still and potentially being hit. There are sensors that activate the brakes and they go off when there is nothing around to set them off. Took the car in. They could not duplicate the problem. They called the tech assist line and they acknowledge this is an issue that they have heard of but will do nothing about it. They say if the brakes slam on then the sensors are working. This was happening to my car daily and I honestly was afraid to drive the car. This is a total safety issue for your car to slam on the brakes for no reason in an unsafe location. I have turned the maneuver braking off but I paid a lot of money for that feature that does not work safely. I also get other random warning lights that go off for no reason. They plug it in to look for codes and nothing shows up so they do not feel there is a problem to address.

Filed Jun 30, 2020 · Acceleration, Electrical · 30,480 miles · FL

I have been having problems with the car slamming on brakes for no reason, no cars in front of us we were on the highway driving at about 70 MPH. The acc system works sporadically. We were told that when they did the recall repair it deprogrammed the acc which they say there is no software update. My daughter was parking the car and the car shut off on the middle of the road and told her to manually restart the car. There is a grinding noise when accelerating the dealership said this was 'normal and related to the torque converter. The cruise control also works sporadically since the recall repair. The car stalling and slamming on brakes are both very serious safety concerns.

Filed Aug 18, 2019 · Brakes · 375 miles · OH

I was driving down a road going 35 MPH and suddenly the automatic braking system engaged causing the vehicle to slam on its brakes almost completely stopping. There was no advance warning that this was going to occur (e.g. Sound or dashboard alert). Further there were no cars in front of me, no pedestrians, or anything else that could have caused the front collision automatic braking to engage. Thankfully there was no vehicle immediately behind me or they would have surely crashed into me.

Filed Apr 25, 2019 · Brakes · 700 miles · WA

Car brakes by itself thinking there is another vehicle in front of it. This has happened on 3 occasions took it into the dealer and they say everything is ok dont follow to close. They seem to not understand that there is no vehicle in front of our car. This could be a pretty bad situation if the vehicle desides to slam on the brakes with a semi truck behind you.