There are 3 owner-reported body & structure complaints for the 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sportin NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
February 2025, just outside the warranty period, the hood latch had become disconnected/broken under the hood. There is a point where the two piece cable is joined under the hood and the cable breaks at this point. There is an obvious defect in the hood latch system and puts drivers at risk as the hood cannot be opened if needed possibly stranding a driver on the road with a non-functioning vehicle and no way to assess or repair the issue. Think low oil, overheating engine, no wiper fluid, fuse blown, no way to assess the issue. This is a common problem as found in internet forums. Many complaints have been filed with the NHTSA see campaign numbers 11693537, 11691685, 11681799, 11648046, 11630017. The fix involves removing the left front tire, removing the wheel well trim and and under fender skirting (25+ torx head screws), locating and opening cable junction box in the engine compartment from under the wheel well and pulling the cable with pliers to open the hood. The broken cable has to be removed by removing two interior panels inside the car cabin and pulling cable and grommet out. Then fishing replacement cable back through firewall into channel and up to the cable junction box. This is a 2-3 hour process. Cost is in excess of $500-700 at most dealers. The replacement cable is of the same design, so likely to also fail at some point. There should not be so many failures of a part that is only used 3-5 times per year.
2020 Atlas Cross Sport- hood release cable snapped- known issue. Many complaints online. Needs a recall! Dangerous
August of 2023 the vehicle was taken to Charles Maund VW in Austin Texas due to the hood latch disconnecting/breaking under the hood. November of 2024, just outside the 1 yr warranty period, the hood latch again had become disconnected/broken under the hood. There is an obvious defect in the hood latch system and puts drivers at risk as the hood cannot be opened if needed possibly stranding a driver on the road with a non-functioning vehicle and no way to assess or repair the issue. Think low oil, overheating engine, no wiper fluid, fuse blown, no way to assess the issue.
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
Data synced from NHTSA on Apr 25, 2026