These help you judge whether this one is worth its price.
Costly problem zones ahead at your miles come with a Car Hunt Pass or Pro. See plans
Loading the EPA's yearly fuel cost
What about the price? Check the asking price on two listing sites. Buying from a dealer? Run its offer through the offer X ray.
Education, not financial or mechanical advice. Have any used car checked by a mechanic you trust before you buy.
The full record
Tap to open
What owners complain about
Loading owner complaints
Seller kit
Questions for the seller, test drive checks and price points
Car Hunt Pass or Pro
Walk up to the seller ready
Questions to ask the seller of a 2023 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport, built from this year's owner complaints and recalls. What to feel, hear and look at on the test drive, with boxes to tick at the car. Honest points to raise on price, from the records and never from guesses. Copy the questions to your phone in one tap.
Car Hunt Pass: $15 once for 30 days, a launch price. It never renews. Full refund if you ask within 7 days.
Write your offer
A ready to send offer for the seller, by text or email
Car Hunt Pass or Pro
Send the seller a fair offer
Type the asking price and your own offer for the 2023 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport, tick what you found, and get a polite message ready to text or email. Its reasons come from this year's owner complaints, recalls and crash ratings, and never from made up repair prices.
Car Hunt Pass: $15 once for 30 days, a launch price. It never renews. Full refund if you ask within 7 days.
When problems show up
Loading mileage at failure
Will it outlast the loan?
The month of your loan each problem zone lands in
Loading the problem zones
Recalls
Loading recalls
Crash ratings
NHTSA's stars out of five, for each version it tested. Front crash stars only compare cars of about the same size and weight.
Loading crash ratings
Fuel economy
The EPA's estimates for each engine and transmission, and its own yearly fuel cost. Yours depends on how you drive and the shape the car is in.
Loading fuel economy
True cost to own
The loan, fuel, insurance and upkeep, a month and over 5 years
Car Hunt Pass or Pro
What it really costs to own
What the 2023 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport costs a month and over 5 years: the loan and its interest, fuel worked out from the EPA's figures for the version you pick, and your own insurance, registration and upkeep. A cost a mile, a link that reopens your numbers, and the breakdown copied to your phone in one tap.
Car Hunt Pass: $15 once for 30 days, a launch price. It never renews. Full refund if you ask within 7 days.
Every year of the Atlas Cross Sport
Owner complaints for each model year, this one outlined. Tap a year to open it. The newest 2 are not judged yet. Bars are totals, so older years stand taller; the verdict compares every year at the same age.
Loading every year of this model
Before you buy this one
Built from this year's numbers. Whatever the data says, the car in front of you is the one that counts.
Not every car needs every fix. Run the VIN at NHTSA to see which are still open. Repairs are usually free at a dealer for the brand; ask before any work.
Brakes
Jun 30, 2025 · Recall 25V434000
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2023-2025 Atlas, Atlas Cross Sport and 2023-2024 ID.4 vehicles. Certain bolts on the chassis, brake system and/or suspension (such as bolts for certain cross member, engine mount, control arm, subframe, rear brake carrier, etc.) of affected vehicles may not have been correctly tightened during the manufacturing process.
What can happen
A loss of vehicle control increases the risk of a crash.
The fix
Dealers will replace the bolts as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed July 25, 2025. Owners may contact Audi customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 42HX.
Air bags
Jun 20, 2024 · Recall 24V464000
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2021-2024 Atlas and 2020-2024 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.
What can happen
A deactivated passenger air bag increases the risk of injury during a crash.
The fix
Dealers will replace the PODS sensor mat and wiring harness, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on September 30, 2024. Owner notification letters will be mailed in phases, on October 18, 2024, December 10, 2024, December 20, 2024, and January 17, 2025. Owners may contact Volkswagen's customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 69PZ.
Suspension
Oct 26, 2022 · Recall 22V807000
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2022 Volkswagen Atlas FL and 2022-2023 Atlas Cross Sport vehicles. The driver-side rear trailing arm bolts may not have been tightened properly, allowing them to loosen and fall out.
What can happen
Unsecured bolts may cause the trailing arm to fracture, resulting in a sudden loss of vehicle control and increasing the risk of a crash.
The fix
Dealers will replace the driver side rear trailing arm bolts, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed December 25, 2022. Owners may contact Volkswagen's customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 42M2.
Engine
Oct 7, 2022 · Recall 22V753000
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2021-2023 Audi Q5 Sportback, Q5, 2022-2023 Volkswagen Atlas FL, and Atlas Cross Sport vehicles. The engine connecting rod bearings may become damaged, which can result in engine failure.
What can happen
A damaged engine can result in engine failure and a stall, increasing the risk of a crash. If the engine failure causes an oil leak, it can increase the risk of a fire.
The fix
Dealers will inspect and, if necessary, replace an affected engine, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed December 6, 2022. Owners may contact Volkswagen's customer service at 1-800-893-5298 and Audi's customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Volkswagen's numbers for this recall are 13i4 (VW) and 13i5 (Audi).
Brakes
Sep 26, 2022 · Recall 22V718000
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2023 model year Atlas FL and Atlas Cross Sport vehicles. Certain brake lines may leak at the threaded connections.
What can happen
A brake fluid leak may increase the distance required to stop, increasing the risk of a crash.
The fix
Dealers will replace the affected brake lines, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed on November 23, 2022. Owners may contact Volkswagen's customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 47T2.
Air bags
Mar 28, 2022 · Recall 22V152000
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2019-2020 Atlas, 2020-2023 Atlas Cross Sport, and 2021-2023 Atlas FL vehicles. The door wiring harness electrical contacts may corrode, disrupting the electrical connection and delaying the deployment of the driver or passenger front side air bag during a side impact crash.
What can happen
A delayed air bag deployment can increase the risk of injury.
The fix
Dealers will secure and, as necessary, replace any the front door wiring harnesses showing a fault code, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed June 20, 2022. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 97GF.
Unverified reports, not adjusted for sales. One complaint can name several parts, so shares add up past 100%. Filed Mar 31, 2023 to Oct 28, 2026. 30% name a part that is usually costly to fix.
Owners reported 1 crash in these complaints.
Engine6 · 30%Usually costly to fix
Air bags5 · 25%
Other or unknown4 · 20%
What one owner wrote about the engine
After noticing an oil leak and blue smoke in my 23 VW atlas, I took it to my local dealership in Tupelo, MS. I realized there was an open recall for the PCV Valve / Oil separator under code 10LP. However, the bad PCV valve also caused the timing chain cover to go bad. The dealership called me back and said VW would not cover this issue. I then called VW to…
Filed Jul 20, 2026NHTSA complaint 117516391 of 18 owner quotes
Car Hunt Pass or Pro
6 more parts, and 18 owner quotes
Every part owners name for the 2023 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport, with their own words about what went wrong.
Not enough owner complaints for the 2023 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport mention a mileage to lay against a loan. Have a mechanic look it over all the same.
5 checks, with a close look at the engine
Too few complaints mention a mileage to show a pattern. 3 complaints of 20 gave one, and a part needs at least 15.
Run the VIN at NHTSA to confirm every recall was fixed.
This year has 6 recalls on file. Recall repairs are usually free at a dealer for the brand. Ask the dealer to confirm before any work is done. Look up a VIN at NHTSA.
Ask the seller for the service records.
Look closely for any work on the engine. It is the part owners complain about most for this year.
Have a mechanic you trust inspect it before you pay.
Ask them to look hard at the engine. It is usually costly to fix.
Look at a vehicle history report.
It can show reported crashes, flood or salvage titles, and mileage that does not add up.
On the test drive, pay attention to the engine.
Start it cold if you can. Listen for knocking or ticking, and watch for warning lights and smoke.
Fewer owner complaints than a typical year. Still get it inspected.
Confidence: Medium
The typical year comes from only 3 years.
NHTSA did not answer for 25 years, so this may change.
How the dial was counted
Year verdict: Typical year: 63 complaints, the median of 3 nearby years. Each counted over its first 4 years and 10 months from January 2022; this one had 20.
3 Worthy, 1 Maybe, 0 Pass, of 7 years on file
Our take: worth a look.Owners filed fewer complaints than in a typical year of this model.