VW Recalls 143,000 Atlas, Atlas Cross Sport SUVs for Potential Airbag Fault
By Patrick Masterson
April 4, 2023
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2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport | Cars.com photo by Christian Lantry
Volkswagen’s largest recall of 2023 thus far will be of great concern to owners of the automaker’s popular family-hauling nameplate, the Atlas. More than 143,000 Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport SUVs are being recalled over a wiring fault that may prevent the front passenger airbag from deploying. Until the issue has been resolved, owners of affected vehicles are advised not to use the front passenger seat.
Affected vehicles include model-year 2018-21 Atlas three-row and model-year 2020 Atlas Cross Sport two-row SUVs. The passenger occupant detection system may experience a fault in the wiring and deactivate the front passenger airbag when the seat is occupied, increasing the risk of injury during a crash.
While the remedy is in development, VW will send interim letters notifying owners of the risk May 26; a second letter will be sent once the remedy is available. In the meantime, owners can call the automaker at 800-893-5298 (VW’s number for this recall is 69FB) or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s vehicle-safety hotline at 888-327-4236, or visit its website to check their vehicle identification number and learn more.
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Chief Copy Editor
Patrick Masterson
Patrick Masterson is Chief Copy Editor at Cars.com. He joined the automotive industry in 2016 as a lifelong car enthusiast and has achieved the rare feat of applying his journalism and media arts degrees as a writer, fact-checker, proofreader and editor his entire professional career. He lives by an in-house version of the AP stylebook and knows where semicolons can go.