The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) has closed an investigation into a fuel injector leak issue impacting 2018-2020 Volkswagen Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport SUVs.
The investigation was opened on March 29, 2021 after allegations that the fuel injectors were leaking fuel near engine compartment components that operate at high temperatures. Consumers asserted that a fuel leak, fuel odor, and/or illuminated check engine malfunction indicator light was alerting them of the issue.
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Vehicles that were investigated included those with VW’s 2.0-liter and 3.6-liter VR6 engines. An analysis from VW concluded that the ‘long’ injectors used on cylinders 1, 3, and 5 of the VR6 require an extension pipe to reach the cylinders. It was concluded that a leak could be triggered by a damaged, misaligned, or missing supporting ring or a damaged O-ring.
The German car manufacturer later revealed that the vast majority of leaking allegations were related to ‘internal’ leaks where fuel could leak into the cylinder, triggering a misfire. However, it says that fuel would not enter into the engine compartment and that ‘internal’ leaks pose no unreasonable risk to safety.
It was also concluded that only two failures were reported outside of the vehicle’s warranty coverage period and that the failure rate was approximately 0.8 incidents per thousand vehicles. There have been no reported fires, crashes, injuries, or fatalities related to the issue, prompting the ODI to close its investigation into the issue.
Importantly, the closure of the Preliminary Evaluation does not mean that a safety-related defect doesn’t exist and the agency can take additional action “if warrantied by new circumstances.”
