No, you’re not doing anything wrong. This is a “safety feature”, or so they’ve told me at VW. I don’t know who they thought would be buying the atlas, but I bet a fair number of people have owned mini vans prior( as I did ) and expect to be able to open AND close the rear hatch without having to stand 5 feet close to it. You can open the hatch via the key fob from father away; apparently that is not a safety issue. VW was “afraid” someone might be harmed by the closing of the hatch without a person next to the car. Silly because the hatch can beep to alert someone to get out of the way, same as upon opening. I have also found that the driver can open the hatch using the button inside the driver door, say when dropping someone off at the airport who needs to grab their bag from the back. That same button, nor the key fob, DO NOT allow the driver to close the hatch while inside the vehicle. If your passenger forgets to close the hatch, you’ll be required to exit the driver seat to point the fob at the hatch. Which is far more unsafe than a hatch button that both opens and closes. Super fun for the driver if it’s raining.