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The latest vehicle airbag systems are much more complex than crash-response systems that activate on impact. Beyond the sensors that monitor for collisions on the exterior, there are sensors in the seats that determine if a passenger is present and if they are large enough for a blast from an airbag, but they don’t always work properly. Some Volkswagen Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport models may experience an issue with the seat sensors that could cause the airbags not to deploy, even when someone is sitting in the seat. The automaker recently recalled thousands of the SUVs and warned against having passengers riding shotgun.
The recall affects Atlas SUVs from between 2018 and 2021 and Atlas Cross Sports from 2020. A little more than 143,000 units are involved, and the problem stems from the passenger occupant detection system. The system is designed to prevent injuries that airbags can cause to children and can deactivate the airbag when the seat is empty.
The sensors in these vehicles are part of the seat heating system, which is connected to a control unit under the seat via a wire. If there’s a fault, the sensor may not accurately detect a passenger in the seat and could turn the airbag off. The good news is that when that happens, a warning light pops up in the gauge cluster.
Unsurprisingly, the NHTSA said that non-working or deactivated airbags increase the risk of injury to the front passenger in a crash. Volkswagen is not aware of any injuries related to the issue and began investigating in 2019 after receiving individual complaints from owners. Interestingly, the automaker said that it could not work out the technical root cause for the problem but decided to recall the vehicles out of an abundance of caution.
While many recalls come with a defined timeline for owner notification and repairs, Volkswagen is still working out the details for a fix. In the meantime, owners of affected Atlas models are advised not to have anyone ride in the passenger’s seat.
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