2021 VOLKSWAGEN ATLAS — Complaint #1881011
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:COOLING SYSTEM:FAN filed March 17, 2023
NHTSA complaint #1881011 (ODI reference 11512472) concerns a 2021 VOLKSWAGEN ATLAS and was filed on March 17, 2023. The owner reports the failure occurred on November 26, 2022. The vehicle had 30,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to California based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as engine and engine cooling:cooling system:fan, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: yes, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same VOLKSWAGEN ATLAS cohort independently describe similar engine and engine cooling:cooling system:fan failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2021 VOLKSWAGEN ATLAS shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owned a 2021 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated while driving at approximately 15 MPH, she had turned the air conditioner on and felt that hot air was blowing out. The contact stopped at a traffic signal turned the vehicle off and on again and noticed that the air conditioner was now blowing cool air. The contact had begun to smell a burning rubber smell and noticed that smoke was being emitted from under the hood on the driver's side. The contact stated that when she stopped at another traffic signal all of the dash alarms began to flash and she heard warning chimes sound as well. The contact pulled over into a parking lot and turned the vehicle off. The contact stepped out of the vehicle when she saw black and white smoke coming from under the hood, then flames burst out from under the hood. The contact stated that the entire front end of the vehicle was engulfed in flames. The fire department was called and extinguished the flames with water. The contact stated that th
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1881011 |
| ODI Number | 11512472 |
| Date Filed | March 17, 2023 |
| Failure Date | November 26, 2022 |
| VIN | 1V2FR2CA5MC |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.