Volkswagen Atlas, Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport, model year 2021. Filed by Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. and reported to NHTSA on 6 August 2021. 33 vehicles potentially affected.
What the notice says Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2021 Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport vehicles. Damaged relays may have been installed in the engine compartment fuse box, which could inadvertently activate the horn or engine starter.
Is your vehicle included? Check with your VIN at NHTSA, or ask a dealer. This page is an independent copy of the notice, kept so you can see what changed after it was published. It is not the authority, and the authority’s own text is the one to act on.
Volkswagen's own number for this recall: 97FR. That is the number on the owner letter and on the dealer paperwork. 21V616 is the number NHTSA gave the same campaign, and the number this page is filed under. They are one recall, written two ways.
What owners ask about this recall
- Which vehicles does recall 21V616 cover?
- Volkswagen Atlas, Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport, model year 2021.
- What is wrong with them?
- Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2021 Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport vehicles. Damaged relays may have been installed in the engine compartment fuse box, which could inadvertently activate the horn or engine starter.
- What can happen if it is not put right?
- A horn or starter that remains activated for an extended period of time can overheat, increasing the risk of fire.
- Is there a fix yet?
- Yes, and it is free. Dealers will inspect and as necessary, replace the relays, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed August 27, 2021. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 97FR.
- What should I do now?
- Check your own vehicle by its VIN with NHTSA, which is the record to act on. Volkswagen calls this recall 97FR, which is the number on the owner letter and the dealer paperwork.
Answered from the register this site holds. NHTSA is the record to act on.
What the authority says can happen if this is not fixed: “A horn or starter that remains activated for an extended period of time can overheat, increasing the risk of fire.”
affected
in the notice
caught
| Campaign | 21V616 |
|---|---|
| Filed by | Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. |
| System at fault | Electrical System:Wiring:Relays/Solenoids |
| Reported to NHTSA | 6 August 2021 |
| Model years | 2021-2021 |
| Vehicles named | VOLKSWAGEN ATLAS, VOLKSWAGEN ATLAS CROSS SPORT |
What the notice says today
The consequence
A horn or starter that remains activated for an extended period of time can overheat, increasing the risk of fire.
The remedy
Dealers will inspect and as necessary, replace the relays, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed August 27, 2021. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 97FR.
What it said before
This campaign is in the register but not yet in the dated wording archive, so we cannot yet say whether its text has moved. It enters the archive on the next pass.
This is one of 1,836 notices in the record whose component field names electrical system. Across that group the median wait before owners were written to was 41 days.
The models named here, across their whole recall history
The recall record and its wording are published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and are US Government public domain. The dated archive, the comparison and any before-and-after above are CarsMultiverse. How fresh every engine behind this page is, is public on the status page. To check a specific vehicle, use NHTSA’s own VIN lookup.
Other Volkswagen notices we hold
- 26V473: 2024-2026 Atlas Cross Sport and Atlas
- 26V321: 2024 Tiguan
- 26V258: 2025-2026 Taos
- 26V185: 2025 Jetta and Taos
- 26V138: 2025-2026 Jetta
- 26V030: 2023-2025 ID
- 26V028: 2023-2024 ID
- 25V854: 2025 Tiguan
All 272 Volkswagen campaigns we hold · Every manufacturer in the record
The fingerprint of this notice
We take a SHA-256 of each of the three blocks of text the authority publishes and keep the first eight characters. As we last read campaign 21V616 on 23 August 2026, they were:
- Defect summary
6eba1362 - Consequence
23bc9715 - Remedy
931753e9
We first read this notice on 21 August 2026. It has not moved since. If it ever does, these characters will not match, and the change will be dated here.
The wording we hold for 21V616 · how the whole register is watched
This notice names one vehicle among several registers that have written about it. Every notice this site holds for the Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport, in all seven, is kept on that vehicle's own page, with the newest in each.
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Owners of these cars
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