In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Atlas are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Model X doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The Atlas has a standard Automatic Post-Collision Braking System, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Model X doesn’t offer a post collision braking system: in the event of a collision that triggers the airbags, more collisions are possible without the protection of airbags that may have already deployed.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Atlas offers optional Maneuver Braking that use rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a collision. The Model X doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Atlas 4Motion’s standard Hill Descent Assist allows you to creep down safely. The Model X doesn’t offer Hill Descent Assist.
The Atlas SEL Premium R-Line has a standard Area View to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Model X only offers a rear monitor and front and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the sides.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Atlas’ standard Rear Traffic Alert uses sensors in the rear to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side and automatically engage the brakes. The Model X doesn’t offer a rear cross-path warning system.
The Atlas has standard Car-Net, which uses a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver and a cellular system to remotely unlock your doors if you lock your keys in, help track down your vehicle if it’s stolen or send emergency personnel to the scene if any airbags deploy. The Model X doesn’t offer a GPS response system, only a navigation computer with no live response for emergencies, so if you’re involved in an accident and you’re incapacitated help may not come as quickly.
Both the Atlas and the Model X have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras and available all wheel drive.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH, results indicate that the Volkswagen Atlas is safer than the Tesla Model X:
|
|
Atlas |
Model X |
|
|
Front Seat |
|
| STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
| HIC |
57 |
101 |
| Chest Movement |
.5 inches |
.7 inches |
| Abdominal Force |
48 lbs. |
157 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
The Volkswagen Atlas achieved a “Top Safety Pick” rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for the 2024 model year. This recognition was based on its impressive performance in the small overlap frontal crash test, updated side impact crash test, headlight evaluations, and pedestrian crash prevention testing. The Model X has not yet been evaluated by the IIHS for 2024.