Owners of 143,000 recalled Volkswagen Atlas vehicles shouldn’t let people sit in front passenger seats until the occupant-detection systems in these vehicles have been fixed, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday.
The recall covers 2018-2021 model 12 months Atlas and 2020 model 12 months Atlas Cross Sport vehicles, and pertains to potential faulty occupant-detection systems in front passenger seats.
The passenger occupant-detection system may experience a fault within the wiring, which could deactivate the front passenger air bag even when the seat is occupied. A deactivated air bag is not going to deploy within the event of a crash, increasing the chance of injury to the front seat passenger, NHTSA said.
Volkswagen said it’s currently developing a treatment, which it expects to be ready likely in late 2023. VW in late 2020 introduced a recent cable to deal with potential issues with the system.
VW said it was not aware of any crashes or injuries related to the recall.
Volkswagen said it’s currently developing a treatment, which it expects to be ready likely in late 2023. REUTERS
Automakers are required to have sensors that deactivate front passenger air bags in the event that they sense the presence of youngsters or small-statured adults, to stop them from being seriously injured or killed when an air bag is deployed, an event that involves some force.
The German automaker began investigating the difficulty in August 2019. In a 2021 meeting, VW said “field data evaluation indicates that the failure is very sporadic and the warning light is illuminating immediately upon failure,” in line with a summary filed with NHTSA.
In February, the auto safety agency requested a gathering to debate the sphere performance of the Atlas Passenger Occupant Protection System, VW said. The automaker held a gathering with NHTSA on March 23 to debate its recall decision.
