Like the rest of the Volkswagen lineup, the Atlas provides an assortment of both passive and active safety systems. It features six airbags (driver, passenger, driver and passenger side, and full-length curtain) as standard along with a number of electronic safety systems.

The Atlas offers the Automatic Post-Collision Braking System, which is standard on all models. This system builds on the premise that a collision is rarely a single, instantaneous action, but rather a series of events that follow the initial impact; the most significant of which can cause additional collisions.

The Automatic Post-Collision Braking System addresses this by applying the brakes when the airbag system detects a primary collision of sufficient force to initiate airbag deployment, thus helping reduce residual kinetic energy and, in turn, the chance of additional damage. In addition to these safety features, the vehicle has the latest version of Volkswagen's 4Motion all-wheel drive system as an available feature to help optimise traction and provide greater stability.