Are you driving a 2018-2021 Atlas or 2020 Atlas Cross Sport? If so, don’t sit in the front passenger seat.
That’s the advice of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which issued a recall on 143,000 of those vehicles, or 3% of all Atlas and Atlas Cross Sports on the road today, for a possibly faulty occupant-detection system.
Faulty sensors led to the recall
To avoid children or smaller adults from being seriously hurt when an air bag deploys, automakers are required to incorporate sensors that disable front passenger air bags if they detect their presence.
Volkswagen refers to the detecting sensor as Body Sense, and it’s located inside the seat bottom of the passenger seat. Designed to turn on a sensor when someone sits in the seat, the sensor should actuate the airbag in the event of an accident. But if the sensor is not working, a dashboard airbag warning light activates and an error message warning “Passenger Airbag off” comes on.
The recall is due to a wiring issue in the passenger occupant-detection system that could cause the front passenger airbag to not activate even though the seat is occupied. This means that, in a collision, the airbag won’t deploy when it’s supposed to.
A solution isn’t available
That said, Volkswagen doesn’t have a solution. The company is working on a fix, and expects to have it ready later this year. VW Is not aware of any crashes or injuries related to the recall.
The automaker first became aware of the issue in 2019. By 2021, the company understood the issue was sporadic, and “the warning light is illuminating immediately upon failure,” according to NHTSA.
Once a solution is found, the vehicles will be fixed free of charge.
The latest recall comes one year after the company recalled 246,000 Atlases for faulty wiring harnesses that caused the SUVs to brake unpredictably. The recall came after 47 complaints to NHTSA about the problem, including some reports of almost being rear-ended as a result.
And some 2019-2021 Atlas and 2020-2021 Atlas Cross Sport SUVs were subject to a recall for faulty tire pressure monitoring systems that fail to detect low tire pressure in all four tires. The recall also affected 2019 Tiguan, Golf Sportswagen, Golf Alltrack, Golf R and Audi Q3 vehicles as well as 2019-2020 Jetta, Golf and Audi A3 models.
Further information
For the current recall, Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport owners can contact Volkswagen with any questions at 1-800-893-5298, and mention recall number 69FB. Owners can also contact NHTSA at 1-888-327-4236.
The Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport SUVs were designed for the American market and are built at the company’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
According to Automotive News, the company sold 416,787 cars and trucks in the U.S. last year, down 9.8% from the. 462,325 units sold stateside in 2021. The Atlas is the company’s second-most popular vehicle, outsold only by the smaller Tiguan SUV.
“Volkswagen doesn’t have a solution.” WTF???????????