— Complaints about Volkswagen Atlas automatic emergency braking have led U.S. safety regulators to escalate an investigation launched in September 2023.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched an investigation into what Volkswagen says is an automatic emergency braking front assist feature that should help prevent collisions in the 2018-2019 Volkswagen Atlas SUV.
Volkswagen’s automatic emergency braking system is supposed to brake automatically if something is in the Atlas’s path but the driver fails to take action. But drivers complained that the system would cause the SUV to slow down suddenly when there was no object ahead on the road.
During the course of its investigation, NHTSA became aware of approximately 226 reports of inadvertent automatic emergency braking activation in 2019 Volkswagen Atlas vehicles. But VW said some customers may not have properly understood the front assist system’s capabilities and its limitations.
Many 2019 Atlas owners complained that Volkswagen dealers were unable to reproduce the problem, and some drivers said dealers told them that automatic braking was normal for the front assist feature.
According to NHTSA, evidence shows that the 2019 Volkswagen Atlas appears to be the problem child with sudden automatic emergency braking activation.
Safety regulators reviewed 187 reports submitted by Atlas owners in 2019 and found four reports claiming accidents causing injuries, including one involving a crash.
NHTSA has removed the 2018 Volkswagen Atlas from its automatic emergency braking investigation and upgraded the investigation to the 2019 Volkswagen Atlas SUV.
CarComplaints.com will update our website with the results of the investigation.
Volkswagen recently settled a class-action lawsuit over its Front Assist automatic emergency braking system installed in several models.
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