[tc1uscg]

be thankful that she leased it. these things are so problematic its infuriating! we had a 2019 and it was absolutely terrible and VW corp was worthless. they couldn't have cared less they sold us a lemon. with the negative equity we had, it cost me $14k to drive that POS for 14 months. Never again...

Do yourself a favor then. Don't buy a Honda or Nissan. My daughter has a Nissan so from her complaints (she's 25), she will never own another and I work with a couple people who have late model Hondas. They say it's their last one. For whatever reason, sometimes I think our expectations get the best of us and we find fault at the first sign of a problem (the shine wears off). The ONLY vehicles I own that doesn't disappoint is my 09 Jeep Liberty (which is lifted, big tires, and modded out as Jeeps go but sucks on MPG but it's a daily driver, never left me stranded and, it's just a plane, not fancy Jeep that I got new and has a life time warranty on eng, tranny and drive train) and my 2011 Town and Country (my 5th minivan since 1993). Though my Atlas is my 4th VW. The only disappointment I had was selling back my 2013 Passat TDi SEL P. Really miss the MPG but not the every other month recalls (so it seamed). If people had expectations for their husbands or wives like they do their cars, lawyers would be rich.

 

[Barry T]

This is not rocket science. I would go to a suspension shop. My son had the same problem with his Camaro. The Chevy dealer couldn't find anything wrong. He took it to a specialty shop that deals with 4-wheel drive trucks (customizing, lifting, etc.) The shop rebalanced the wheels and adjusted the alignment. $200, problem solved. No parts.

 

[D Self]

Short of it --

My 2018 Atlas SEL Premium pulls to the right. Drive straight in the middle of the lane on the freeway at 65 mph, let go of the wheel, 4 seconds later I'm on the right lane line.

Had the car aligned, still pulls. Test drove a 2019 Atlas (no 2018 available), it does the exact same thing.

Try it next time you're on the freeway. Does your's do it too?

Long of it --

Bought a 2018 Atlas SEL Premium demo model (the GM of the dealership drove it for 8 months putting 6k miles on it).

I live in Vegas, bought the car at Capitol VW in San Jose, CA for $39,500. Smokin deal, right? Or was it? The entire drive from SJ to Vegas I had to keep pressure on the wheel to keep it in the lane.

Called Capitol VW, they sent me to my local dealership to get it aligned. They where surprised the alignment was out to begin with got got it in spec. But it didn't solve the problem at all. Took it back, they aligned it again cuz it was out again, test drove it, and it was out again. They then loosened everything underneath down to the subframe, realigned it again and test drove it. They claimed it now only pulls right due to road crown. I asked what could possibly be the cause and they said if a vehicle is tied down too tight on a transport truck it can pull parts out of alignment and that's why loosening everything down to the subframe fixed it. While it is better, it definitely still pulls right.

I drive straight in the middle of a lane on the freeway at 65 mph, let go of the wheel and 4 seconds (literally) I'm on the right lane line. My friend drove it and he said it definitely pulls right and it's not normal.

Took a road trip (that I was going on anyway) back to SJ. Took it back to Capitol VW. I test drove a 2019 Atlas and it behaved exactly the same way. They inspected the alignment and said it's in spec.

Only thing I can think is that VW considers this a safety feature: if you fall asleep the car will veer right and not left into oncoming traffic. But really? So now under normal driving I have to steer left all the time to stay in the lane? (I asked the tech at Capitol if the electronic steering can be set to drive to the left by half a degree and he said that would cause all kinds of errors and the computer would freak out.)

Yes, I took road crown into account. Only if the road is sloped to the left at just the right angle will it stay straight. Even on a slightly left sloped road will it pull right.

Yes, I turned lane assist on and off. Makes no difference.

Next time you're on the freeway, go straight on a straight section of road, let go of the wheel, how long does it take to reach either lane line?

I am dealing with the same issue. I had bad, all over wear to my driver front tire and minimal to the passenger front. VW told me it was alignment and I worked to disagree as it wasn’t wear consistent with an alignment issue. Bought new tires and took to VW for alignment. Said it would take 1.5 hours and only took 35 minutes. When I said something, I was told it wasn’t that bad so replied with then the tires shouldn’t have been worn like they were. They just looked at me and shrugged their shoulder. Since I was originally told alignment was a problem, I lined my steering wheel up and it drove straight as a pin. Between that and being told the 2018 models that came out of Chattanooga had a hub issue, I pressed the issue since it didn’t start pulling until AFTER the alignment. It has now been aligned 6 times and still pulls. Apparently the wheels and tires along with the struts have been checked.

A friend of mine used to work VW service and gave me the nugget of information regarding the 2018’s out of Chattanooga. He said they had to replace the strut, rotors and motor. After driving it with the service manager yesterday and it pulling, they are opening a tech support ticket with VW. I am hoping they will fix or I will push for a buy back or tires for the life of the vehicle.

 

[Barry T]

My son’s Camaro used to pull to one side after I had the tires replaced. After taking it back to the tire shop a few times, After asking around, I took it to a garage that had expensive alignment equipment that looked like a missile control center.. They realigned the steering and rebalanced all the tires. They found a wheel rim that was bad. It drove true after that.
Not all alignment and balancing equipment are the same. Call a collision or a performance shop and see if they can help you find a shop with sophisticated equipment.