Volkswagen / Atlas Cross Sport / 2020
2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport problems
Owners have filed 161 complaints about the 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport with NHTSA. Electrical system accounts for 20.5% of them — the clear leader, ahead of air bags at 13%.
Complaints161
Crashes4
Fires1
Injuries1
Deaths0
What owners report breaking
Electrical system 20.5% · 33
Unknown or other 13.7% · 22
Air bags 13.0% · 21
Service brakes 11.2% · 18
Forward collision avoidance 9.9% · 16
Engine 5.6% · 9
Steering 4.3% · 7
Vehicle speed control 3.7% · 6
Severity
Of those complaints, 4 describe a crash, 1 describe a fire and 1 report an injury.
Reading the numbers
Across the 4 model years of the Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport in this data, 2020 ranks 3rd by complaint volume — 2021 draws the most.
Filing volume has held steady, 68 in the last three years against 78 in the three before.
The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 6,500 miles.
In owners' own words
Drivers door wiring harness and control module malfunction. When this happens multiple MIL on dash display, windows roll down and emergency braking system applies the brakes by itself under 15 mph resulting in drastic unexpected deceleration. Luckily the car behind me was able to stop in time. Dealership indicates vehicle is safe to drive, no loaners available and parts are at least 3 month out. Electrical system
Error: Driver door contact switch - Door harness issues - car sitting at VW shop a month and no ETA for the part. Fault: Electronic parking brake There seems to be a major safety issue with the Atlas and Cross sport due to a malfunctioning driver side door harness. This causes the parking brake to engage while in motion, driver side door not to lock and windows to roll down while randomly. Electrical system
While driving at approximately 10-15mph the engine shut off and was forced to come to a stop and restart the engine. The error read "Engine start/stop error, manually restart engine." I have been reading that this is a known issue by Volkswagon but they are not addressing. Luckily my car was just going onto an offramp when the engine shut off. Electrical system
Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.
Safety recalls
Checking NHTSA for open recalls…