2018–2021 Volkswagen Atlas, 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport Recall: Passenger occupant detection system (PODS) may experience a fault in the…

NHTSA campaign 23V215000 · Air Bags · filed Mar 29, 2023 · verified Jul 30, 2026

Units reported

143K

Manufacturer

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.

Risk

Crash / injury

Owner letters

Mailing began Mar 22, 2024

The defect

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.

The risk

A deactivated passenger air bag increases the risk of injury during a crash.

Check whether your specific vehicle is affected

Recall campaigns often cover only certain VIN ranges. Enter your VIN on the official NHTSA site to confirm whether your vehicle is included and whether the repair is still open.

Check VIN on NHTSA →

The fix — what to do

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.

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.nhtsa.gov.

Affected vehicles

Make	Model	Model years
Volkswagen	Atlas	2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
Volkswagen	Atlas Cross Sport	2020

Related recalls

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All Volkswagen Atlas recalls → · All Volkswagen recalls →

Source: NHTSA recall database, campaign 23V215000 (manufacturer number 69FB). Data last verified Jul 30, 2026.