Need help with a 2019 VW Atlas

avbcon12

avbcon12

Club Member
It's my aunts vehicle and is displaying all sorts of odd issues. I could use some help, it was purchased off lease so it's not under any warranty to get it repaired for free.

Biggest issues:

Random parking brake engagement, everything from not moving or in gear to driving down the road and having the brakes engage.

Intermittent windows rolling down/trying to roll up even when all the way up

I spoke to a vw service department and they indicated it's the drivers door harness/switch BUT the parts are not available with no foreseeable eta. They also said to expect it to get worse and more issues to arise (battery drains etc).

So with zero help from VW, has anybody here run into this issue and have a temporary workaround (disabling the parking brake altogether)? The window issue sucks but wouldn't keep her from getting to work at 3am, the parking brake issue would.
 
avbcon12 said:
It's my aunts vehicle and is displaying all sorts of odd issues. I could use some help, it was purchased off lease so it's not under any warranty to get it repaired for free.

Biggest issues:

Random parking brake engagement, everything from not moving or in gear to driving down the road and having the brakes engage.

Intermittent windows rolling down/trying to roll up even when all the way up

I spoke to a vw service department and they indicated it's the drivers door harness/switch BUT the parts are not available with no foreseeable eta. They also said to expect it to get worse and more issues to arise (battery drains etc).

So with zero help from VW, has anybody here run into this issue and have a temporary workaround (disabling the parking brake altogether)? The window issue sucks but wouldn't keep her from getting to work at 3am, the parking brake issue would.
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Keep taking it in. I think after three times you can lemon law it. Ok nevermind, it's used. Edit again, I think you can lemon law if it is still under factory warranty.

Is it the harness or is there a module in the door? Might be able to get a boneyard part or something.

-Geoff
 
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I actually second selling it. I know this guy who was a regional service specialist for GM down in Southern Florida. He ends up working on all the buybacks, too. He had this Corvette that would just randomly throw a bunch of different codes all the time. The dealer kept replacing and repairing one of the harnesses under the hood. The problem never went away, though, and GM ended up buying the car back. He figure it out about a month later (don't ask me how, the guy is just flat out good) - there was a partially failed resistor in one of the 19 modules in the car, and was screwing up the CAN bus. He could actually get the car trouble free by putting a resistor across a couple pins in the ALDL plug. It was crazy.

It sounds like your VW has something like that.

-Geoff
 
I'd dump it if it was mine, believe me.

From the dealer, it sounds like it could be both the harness and module/switch. I asked about a junkyard one and he said it'll likely happen again with that one if it's not bad already. From the sound of it, the harness has a pinch-point where it thinks the door opens/is open and engages the parking brake and/or a bad solder joint in the module. Such a stupid design to engage the brake every damn time a door is open... it's downright dangerous when you're going 45mph and the brakes engage!
 
avbcon12 said:
I'd dump it if it was mine, believe me.

From the dealer, it sounds like it could be both the harness and module/switch. I asked about a junkyard one and he said it'll likely happen again with that one if it's not bad already. From the sound of it, the harness has a pinch-point where it thinks the door opens/is open and engages the parking brake and/or a bad solder joint in the module. Such a stupid design to engage the brake every damn time a door is open... it's downright dangerous when you're going 45mph and the brakes engage!
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it appears to be fairly common. It seems like a Bus failure in which predetermined failsafwa are set . Common things are wipers on, defrost on and many others . Parking brakes in case of loss of trans range would also be one.. with 40-60 modules on the Bus we see stuff like this all the time.
 
I found a harness on ebay that I guess I'll use to dissect and/or use to see if it helps. If so, I'll strongly recommend selling the car.
 
Good luck! I'd cut the parking brake cable if it was mine, or pull the pad out of it? Not sure exactly what you're working with..
 
If it was that simple it'd already be done. It's an overly complex system that uses electric servos to advance the pads...
 
CMYZ28 said:
This forum states that a recall is supposed to happen in January, may be worth looking into.

https://www.vwatlasforum.com/threads/error-driver-door-contact-switch.6359/
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Awesome find Nick! What a random thing to have a s a defect on multiple vehicles. If they do file it as a recall, they should provide a pretty thorough explanation too with NHTSA

Was thinking... If the car would run without the door module/harness installed at all, maybe you could put a break (like run the wire through a switch) in the power or ground wire to disable it while you are driving. Sounds like you are going to have the door panel off anyways. You could pull it out, then see if the vehicle drives without it all being in. You could put the switch on the parking break too, but then you might have to cut wires that you weren't going to replace like you are with the door harness.

-Geoff
 
It completely freaked me out when my Escalade was in for service, they gave me a loaner car(It was one of the XT4/5/6 I can't remember).. I was backing up in the driveway and opened the door so I could see the line between the grass/pavement since the mirrors weren't adjusted great. As soon as I did while the car was in reverse the parking brake activated which sounds like the same issue here. Completely freaked me out, no clue when car manufacturers started adding this feature lol
 
That became mandatory when the celeb ran over himself with a grand Cherokee. Make driving onto an alignment rack a real pain!!
 
Most door ajar sensors are built into the latch these days bur you can flip the latch and make it think it’s closed. Now forgetting to pull the release before slamming the door is my issue lol
 
1BADAIR said:
Most door ajar sensors are built into the latch these days bur you can flip the latch and make it think it’s closed. Now forgetting to pull the release before slamming the door is my issue lol
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If this is the case with the Atlas I'd be happy to paperclip bridge the harness connector inside the door but this one seems a bit more complicated than that. Once the ebay harness arrives I'll have a better look at it
 
avbcon12 said:
If this is the case with the Atlas I'd be happy to paperclip bridge the harness connector inside the door but this one seems a bit more complicated than that. Once the ebay harness arrives I'll have a better look at it
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On some level it is reading open circuit or voltage that is causing the brake to activate. If you can find the service manual it should have a little diagnostic tree showing the sensor output and what it means. The only thing that will get you is if there is some diagnostic test that checks the circuit on and off. Even then, it shouldn't just lock the brake, it should just pull a trouble light somewhere.

-Geoff
 
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