2020 Volkswagen Atlas Problems, Complaints & Recalls
- Compared with other Atlas years
- Far fewer complaints than other years 8th of 9 for complaints
- Safety recalls
- 4 recalls: check your VIN
- NHTSA crash rating
- 5 out of 5 stars
Owners have filed 27 complaints with NHTSA about the 2020 Volkswagen Atlas. That ranks 8th out of 9 Atlas model years for complaints. The most reported problem area is electrical system (11 complaints, 41%), typically at around 66,525 miles. There are 4 safety recalls covering this model year. NHTSA has opened 2 defect investigations involving it.
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- 27owner complaints
- 4safety recalls
- 2NHTSA investigations
- 0complaints mentioning a crash
Complaints are unverified owner reports and are not adjusted for sales volume.
Most common 2020 Volkswagen Atlas problems
Complaints grouped by the part of the car owners reported, with the median mileage when the problem happened.
| Problem area | Complaints | Share | Median miles | Owners mention most | Typical repair cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical System | 11 | 41% | 66,525 | — | — |
| Air Bags | 8 | 30% | 90,000 | — | — |
| Forward Collision Avoidance | 7 | 26% | — | — | — |
| Steering | 5 | 19% | 78,000 | — | — |
| Unknown or Other | 5 | 19% | — | — | — |
| Service Brakes | 4 | 15% | — | — | — |
| Engine | 3 | 11% | — | — | — |
| Fuel/propulsion System | 2 | 7% | — | — | — |
| Power Train | 2 | 7% | 116,000 | — | — |
| Lane Departure | 1 | 4% | — | — | — |
| Seats | 1 | 4% | 64,000 | — | — |
| Structure | 1 | 4% | — | — | — |
| Vehicle Speed Control | 1 | 4% | — | — | — |
One complaint can list several problem areas, so shares can add up to more than 100%.
Complaints by year received
2020 Volkswagen Atlas recalls (4)
Tap a recall to see the problem, the risk and the fix.
Air bags:sensor:occupant classification:front passenger
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.
Tires:pressure monitoring and regulating systems
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 bags:side/window
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.
Equipment:other:labels
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.
To see whether a specific car still has an open recall, enter its VIN on NHTSA's official recall lookup. You can also decode a VIN here.
NHTSA defect investigations
- Inadvertent Automatic Emergency Braking (PE23017) — opened Sep 28, 2023, closed Dec 18, 2024.
- Fuel Injector Leak (PE21008) — opened Mar 29, 2021, closed Oct 3, 2022.
Recent owner reports
Short excerpts of the latest complaints filed with NHTSA, with personal details removed. Full reports can be searched on NHTSA.gov.
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…
I received alerts while Iâm driving to tell me that the fuel pressure was low and to turn off the engine immediately⦠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…
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.
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…
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…
Other Volkswagen Atlas years
| Year | Complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 Atlas | 11 | 2 |
| 2025 Atlas | 49 | 5 |
| 2024 Atlas | 174 | 8 |
| 2023 Atlas | 136 | 5 |
| 2022 Atlas | 184 | 7 |
| 2021 Atlas | 478 | 17 |
| 2020 | 27 | 4 |
| 2019 Atlas | 482 | 12 |
| 2018 Atlas | 466 | 17 |
See all Volkswagen Atlas problems by year, every Volkswagen model, or the Volkswagen VIN decoder.
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Frequently asked questions
What are the most common problems with the 2020 Volkswagen Atlas?
Owners most often report electrical system, air bags, forward collision avoidance problems. The top one, electrical system, accounts for 11 complaints.
Was there a recall on the 2020 Volkswagen Atlas?
Yes, 4 safety recalls. Enter your VIN at NHTSA.gov to check whether the repairs were done on your car.
Was the 2020 Volkswagen Atlas a good year?
Complaint data can't fully answer that, because counts aren't adjusted for sales. Compared with other Atlas model years, the 2020 has far fewer complaints than most years, and NHTSA rates it 5 out of 5 stars overall in crash tests. Always get a pre-purchase inspection and check the VIN for open recalls.