Model year record

2020 Volkswagen Atlas recalls & problems

The 2020 Volkswagen Atlas has 4 safety recalls and 27 owner complaints on file with NHTSA. The most-reported problem area is electrical system (11 complaints).

Recalls4safety recalls

Complaints27filed by owners

Crashes · fires0 · 0reported in complaints

NHTSA overall5 ★crash-test stars

2020 Volkswagen Atlas in an NHTSA crash test — NHTSA crash test

Safety recalls

Air bagsMar 29, 2023

Sensor › Occupant classification › Front passenger

Recall 23V215000143,053 vehicles

Problem: Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2018-2021 Atlas and 2020 Atlas Cross Sport vehicles. The passenger occupant detection system (PODS) may experience a fault in the wiring and deactivate the front passenger air bag when the seat is occupied.
Risk: A deactivated passenger air bag increases the risk of injury during a crash.
Fix: Dealers will replace the PODS sensor mat and wiring harness, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on March 22, 2024. Owners may contact Volkswagen's customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 69FB.

TiresOct 31, 2022

Pressure monitoring and regulating systems

Recall 22V815000296,044 vehicles

Problem: Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2019 Volkswagen Tiguan LWB, Golf Sportswagen A7, Golf Alltrack, Golf R GP, Audi Q3, Audi A3 Cabriolet, 2019-2020 Jetta NF, Jetta GLI, Golf GTI, Atlas, Golf A7, Audi A3, 2020-2021 Atlas Cross Sport, and 2021 Atlas FL vehicles. The tire pressure monitoring system may not detect an air pressure loss in adequate time when deflating occurs among all four tires simultaneously. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 138, "Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems."
Risk: An undetected sudden loss of pressure in all four tires increases the risk of a crash.
Fix: Dealers will update the TPMS software, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed November 18, 2022. Owners may contact Volkswagen's customer service at 1-800-893-5298 or AudiÂs customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Volkswagen's numbers for this recall are (Audi) 45J7, and (VW) 45J6 and 45J8.

Air bagsMar 28, 2022

Side/window

Recall 22V152000222,892 vehicles

Problem: Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2019-2020 Atlas, 2020-2023 Atlas Cross Sport, and 2021-2023 Atlas FL vehicles. The door wiring harness electrical contacts may corrode, disrupting the electrical connection and delaying the deployment of the driver or passenger front side air bag during a side impact crash.
Risk: A delayed air bag deployment can increase the risk of injury.
Fix: Dealers will secure and, as necessary, replace any the front door wiring harnesses showing a fault code, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed June 20, 2022. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 97GF.

EquipmentFeb 16, 2022

Other › Labels

Recall 22V0860003,648 vehicles

Problem: Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2018-2021 Atlas and 2020-2021 Atlas Cross Sport vehicles equipped with accessory side steps. The reduced Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) label, reflecting the additional weight of the side steps, was not installed. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 110, "Tire Selection and Rims."
Risk: Without the reduced GVWR label, the vehicle could be overloaded, leading to a loss of control and increasing the risk of a crash.
Fix: Dealers will install the reduced GVWR label, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 31, 2022. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 09D9.

Recall repairs are free at any authorised dealer. A recall listed here may already have been fixed on a particular car: enter its 17-character VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see open recalls.

Crash test ratings

2020 Volkswagen Atlas SUV AWD

Overall★★★★★

Frontal crash	★★★★★
Side crash	★★★★★
Rollover	★★★★★
Rollover risk	13.6%

Forward collision warning: Standard · Lane departure warning: Optional

2020 Volkswagen Atlas SUV FWD

Overall★★★★★

Frontal crash	★★★★★
Side crash	★★★★★
Rollover	★★★★★
Rollover risk	15.9%

Forward collision warning: Standard · Lane departure warning: Optional

2020 Volkswagen Atlas NHTSA side crash test — NHTSA side barrier crash test

2020 Volkswagen Atlas NHTSA side pole crash test — NHTSA side pole crash test

NHTSA 5-Star Safety Ratings (New Car Assessment Program). Ratings are comparable only between vehicles of similar size and weight, and ratings from 2011 on use tougher tests than earlier years. Photos: NHTSA.

Fuel economy

Atlas

22mpg combined

City / highway	20 / 24 mpg
Fuel	Regular Gasoline

2 L · 4 cyl · Automatic (S8) · Front-Wheel Drive · about $3,050/year to fuel

Atlas

19mpg combined

City / highway	17 / 23 mpg
Fuel	Regular Gasoline

3.6 L · 6 cyl · Automatic (S8) · Front-Wheel Drive · about $3,550/year to fuel

Atlas 4motion

19mpg combined

City / highway	16 / 22 mpg
Fuel	Regular Gasoline

3.6 L · 6 cyl · Automatic (S8) · All-Wheel Drive · about $3,550/year to fuel

EPA estimates from fueleconomy.gov for each engine and transmission sold. Annual cost is the EPA's estimate for 15,000 miles a year at its current fuel and electricity price assumptions. Your results will vary.

What owners report

Problem area	Complaints	Typical mileage*
Electrical system	11	—
Air bagsSensor › Occupant classification › Front passenger	8	—
Forward collision avoidanceAutomatic emergency braking; Warnings	7	—
Steering	5	—
Unknown or other	5	—
Service brakes	4	—
Engine	3	—
Power train	2	—
Fuel/propulsion system	2	—
Vehicle speed control	1	—
Lane departureBlind spot detection	1	—
Seats	1	—

*Median odometer reading when the problem happened, where owners gave one. One complaint can name several problem areas.

Recent owner complaints

Unknown or other
The car will shut down/stall while sitting at a red light. The START/Stop function is turned off, I turn it off while driving. So I am stalled at a red light and then have to place the car back into park and restart it. There are no messages or warning lights that appear on the dashboard. This is a risk because we are sitting in traffic with a stalled car that quickly needs to be restarted. This has happened several times.
Jul 23, 2026
Fuel/propulsion system
I received alerts while Iâm driving to tell me that the fuel pressure was low and to turn off the engine immediatelyâ¦ and then it would go away. there were several different times about 5 total separate incidents on separate days that my car would not move forward and lurch forward from a parked position and then died with a quick alert on the dash. Thankfully, I was in parking lots and neighborhood streets when this happened.
Jul 2, 2026
Air bags
The airbag occupancy detectors on the passenger side are faulty. I noticed that other similar models of the VW Atlas are having this issue and it has an active recall, but my particular model has not.
Oct 1, 2025
Electrical system
Two main issues... The automatic breaking will break in the most random spots. There is no car around but it reacts to certain ways the lines are painted on the road is my guess. It will do it to some cross walks as well as some round abouts. I've had to just turn it off so it doesn't kill me. Also, another issue is the battery. I just had the battery checked and it is good but when the the fuel gets below quarter taken the car will not crank. This has happened 3 times now.
Aug 13, 2025
Engine
Hello. I have a 2020 Vw Atlas V6 SE R-Line. The truck shots off when idleling, on speeds of 5 mph to 10 mph and even on the highway. This is a serious problem and extremely dangerous to my family and myself as well as other owners that have the same issue wile driving on highways. It can easily cause a serious accident. This has happened multiple times and I even took it to the dealership to get it diagnosed and repair. They replaced the vapor charcoal canister and the issue was gone for about a year and it came right back. This does not bring any codes on the vehicle so it's very had do diagnosed. But it does gives you an error malfunction warning after it shots off when doing highway…
May 9, 2025
Electrical system
The contact owns a 2020 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the transmission unexpectedly downshifted with the Passenger Occupant Detection System (PODS) and Electronic Power Control (EPC) warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was restarted; however, the failure recurred. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 116,000.
Feb 26, 2025 · 116,000 miles
Steering
The contact owns a 2020 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering wheel was difficult to turn, and the hazard indicator warning light illuminated. In addition, the steering wheel seized. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed with rack and pinion failure. The contact was informed that the rack and pinion needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 78,000.
Aug 5, 2024 · 78,000 miles
Unknown or other
I enrolled in the Volkswagen Car-Net Safe & Secure Trial for my 2020 VW Atlas, and shortly after, received a SOS error code disabling the Emergency Assistance available for the vehicle. I had no prior issues with the SOS error code/Emergency Assistance until I was enrolled in the trial. The dealership has confirmed that there is an internal failure with the Car-Net module in the vehicle.
May 31, 2024

Owner complaints are submitted to NHTSA by the public and are not verified. Shown as filed (NHTSA removes personal details); long reports are shortened.

NHTSA defect investigations

Inadvertent Automatic Emergency BrakingClosed
On September 28, 2023, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened a Preliminary Evaluation (PE23017) to assess reports of inadvertent activation of the Front Assist automatic emergency braking (AEB) system in model year (MY) 2018-2019 Volkswagen Atlas vehicles.The reports alleged that activation of the AEB system occurred while driving with no apparent obstruction in the vehicle's forward path, resulting in sudden vehicle deceleration. Volkswagen indicated that it is aware of a total of 292 reports that may relate to the alleged defect in MY 2018-2019 Volkswagen Atlas vehicles.Volkswagen stated that some customers possibly had an inadequate understanding of Front Assist and its limitations. Â However, many consumer complaints alleged that Volkswagen dealerships were unable to reproduce the condition or Volkswagen dealerships informed the consumers that this braking is considered…
PE23017 · opened Sep 28, 2023 · closed Dec 18, 2024
Fuel Injector LeakClosed
On March 29, 2021, the Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) opened PE21-008 to investigate instances of fuel injectors leaking in the engine compartment in model year (MY) 2018 through 2020 Volkswagen Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport SUVs. These vehicles are equipped with either a 3.6 or 2.0 liter engine. The subject investigation concerns vehicles equipped with 3.6L engines. Prior to opening the investigation, ODI also observed that warranty data for the fuel system from TREAD reporting was an outlier for the MY 2018 Atlas.The allegation involved fuel injectors leaking fuel near engine compartment components that operate at high temperatures. Consumers allege a fuel leak, fuel odor, and/or an illuminated check engine malfunction indicator light (MIL) on that alerts them to the condition. Fuel leaking in the engine compartment has a higher potential risk of fire as nearby components are…
PE21008 · opened Mar 29, 2021 · closed Oct 3, 2022