2023 Volkswagen ID.4 Exterior lighting Problems

Car has been in and out of various VW dealers since purchase at the end of August 2023. Car was purchased new. Immediately began receiving emergency “stop driving vehicle” messages on driver display. VW on call service advised if the car drives, I can operate it and no further action is necessary. Various Electical errors including charge 12V battery, infotainment screen going black or resetting while driving, no display while in reverse, car losing power on highway, car alarm going off while driving, if hazard lights are used, they do not shut off unless the car is off and driver is out of the car for at least ten minutes, interior lights flash on and off (this is a safety issue as is if incredibly difficult to see while driving at night, car has been in shop three times for this, no repairs, the car battery drains incredibly quickly; usually get about 2kWh in town driving, charging errors; charger not recognized, or car displays it is charging, but when complete, it didn’t charge, windows don’t respond to the controls, door handles don’t always work to open the doors; often have to access the car from passenger side (these have been replaced and still don’t work), emergency braking system doesn’t function, car ghost breaks (no objects ahead, clean sensors, driving and brakes slam on), multiple leaks in vehicle including headlights, rear driver tail light, and the light on top of the back hatch, car loses connection to emergency system, infotainment screen doesn’t respond to finger touches and must be reset, to initiate OTA updates, fuse needs to be pulled. I barely drive the car, and it’s my only vehicle. It’s not safe (lighting issues ongoing, alarms, safety features don’t work, can’t get into the car) and not reliable for travel as charging is hit or miss (at commercial charging stations and home charging station), and the battery life is extremely short, even in perfect conditions using cruise control in eco mode, the car only travels about 130 miles.

NHTSA ID

11731530

Incident

Apr 15, 2026

This issue relates to NHTSA Recall 24V344 / VW Recall 919A as the repair for this recall has already been applied to my vehicle. Despite that, while driving, my vehicle experienced a complete electronics shutdown, including loss of the instrument cluster, center display, and rearview camera. This occurred after the recall 919A software update was applied. As such, I believe the safety of my self and others was put at risk. I brought my vehicle to the dealer for diagnosis and they identified fault code U111000 with symptom 7223 but informed me that this was classified “non-customer-relevant” and therefore should be ignored. I believe the repair that Volkswagen has provided for Recall 24V344 is ineffective and the conditions that instigated this recall still exist.

NHTSA ID

11685605

Incident

Aug 29, 2025

Electrical- my windows do not roll up, when using the window switches the windows will go down if they are already down a little. I will have a window half down and try to roll it up and it goes down. -I have also had several occurrences of my screens becoming in responsive or not even displaying. -My doors: my doors do not open on the initial attempt to exit or enter the vehicle and my passenger handle sometimes comes off of the body. Lighting- I get popups telling me that my headlight system has a failure. Seats- it’s very common for my seat to just start the massagers or to start heating

NHTSA ID

11620261

Incident

Oct 16, 2024

Car suddenly developed a warning which read 'Warnings and information not available. Drive with greater care!'. All headlights, DRLs, and turn signals failed to illuminate. This caused a safety hazard while driving at dusk because there were no warnings regarding the lack of headlights and we didn't notice until it was too late and we were on a dark road.

NHTSA ID

11590686

Incident

May 22, 2024

I was driving down a highway traveling 59 mph around 5:20AM when my infotainment system and lights inside all went dark. The speedometer stayed lit up but changed to an alternate color while I was traveling. I slowed down to make sure I could brake and that all was working. Within about 20-30 seconds the whole system restarted and came back online. This was not necessarily a safety hazard, however the sheer shock of it made cause for my safety because I reacted to it in a somewhat panic sort of way by braking rapidly. I found this forum where others have reported the exact same thing. There were no warning lamps messages or any notice of the occurrence. It all started back up as if nothing happened. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11585604

Incident

Apr 26, 2024

Driver car door intermittently pops open, while driving, when stopped, and when parked (not occupied). Car door locks intermittently stop working, meaning passengers cannot enter from outside, cannot open door from inside, doors do not unlock when key fob approaches. Also when this is happening, charge port shorts ie. disconnects/connects. When these issues are happening, defogger runs intermittently when parked, unless I enter car to manually turn off heating system. Turning off defogger with app does not stop defogging even when it says "off" in app. Seems tons of water is down in door... If the car is dry, if I roll the windows down then up, windows are COVERED with water. At times, front windows go down when trying to roll them up. Not safety, but internal ambient lighting system has two colors, one for dash, one for door lights. Door light color selection does not work, and doors only will show color of dash color selection.

NHTSA ID

11567679

Incident

Jan 13, 2024

30848 miles 1/5/24 – Drove to Cedar City UT for an appointment after picking the vehicle up. The elevation is 5846 feet and the weather was about 20f. While going uphill on the interstate I started to receive messages about the headlights not working. Electrical system not working correctly error message came back. The left headlight was going on and off on its own and an error "fault vehicle lighting". "Please check left front turn signal." "Error dynamic cornering light." Heat can be turned on hi but doesn't warm the vehicle up. Heated seats don't seem to be working even when on 3. There is also a burnt electrical smell entering the vehicle. Vehicle was parked outside Findlay VW St. George service and won’t be checked in until 1/8 as they are closed on the weekend.

NHTSA ID

11563986

Incident

Jan 5, 2024

Controls for cabin temperature and media volume are not lit at night. Difficult to find and actuate without turning on the cabin lights and reducing the driver's view of the road. The power "button" (capacitive touch area, not a button) for the control/infotainment screen is immediately to the left of the temperature control and it is very common to turn off the screen when attempting to adjust temperature. All of which takes driver's attention from the road.

NHTSA ID

11550605

Incident

Oct 13, 2023

9/13/23 Got into my vehicle to head home around 9:15PM , headlights would not turn on. Tried switching from automatic to manual turn on no success. Could not unlock passenger doors from drivers side switch, had to exit car with key to unlock doors. There was a warning on the cluster above the steering wheel that says “ WARNINGS AND INFORMATION NOT AVAILABLE. DRIVE WITH GREATER CARE! Mileage would not display. There was yellow triangle showing service, inspection overdue with mileage of 62546. Car was bought July 2023 and has less than 800 miles. Car shows now on the information display under status more than 61K added at the failure

NHTSA ID

11545491

Incident

Sep 13, 2023

Climate and volume controls on main screen are not illuminated causing unnecessary fumbling at night, compromising safety.

NHTSA ID

11521286

Incident

May 10, 2023

The heating and cooling controls are not backlit for nighttime use. I have to take my eyes off the road to feel for where the temperature control is located to adjust it. While doing this, it is very dangerous and difficult to do. I have put myself and passengers at risk trying to find the controls. All VW ID4s are not backlit. Dealers are not bound to do any correction since the manufacturer has admitted that it was "and oversight on their part". I just want to make someone aware of this before someone is injured or killed in an accident because of their design flaw or whatever they deem it to be. Please, please, please investigate this before someone is injured. Thank you. The first picture uploaded below on the left shows the location of the touch controls (between the infotainment screen and row of buttons at the bottom lower area). The area with a reflective glare is where the adjustments are for temperature for driver to the left and passenger on the right. The second picture is of the display with normal night time lighting. The five small red/purple dots are inferred sensors for gesture control of the main screen and aren't visible to the human eye. The last picture is of the display without any lights on. This is unacceptable for the build of this vehicle in any price range. Again, please investigate the issue and if possible have something done to correct this. Thank you again.

NHTSA ID

11515603

Incident

Feb 23, 2023

At about 11 PM on January 24 I sent a remote command to my vehicle to heat the cabin through the myVW app. The app reported a success like it has many times. When I opened it and sat in the driver’s seat, the two information displays neither displayed anything nor lit up at all. The car appeared to have heated up as expected and was otherwise operational, i.e. I was able to put it in gear, move, and steer as expected. This was tested at low speed and for a short distance since one of the inoperative digital displays, the ID.Cockpit, also provides critical information for driving. This includes the speedometer, remaining range, and the other various functions normally present in the instrument panel. The issue was not resolved by me briefly leaving the vehicle (a tip suggested by many on forums online dedicated to the vehicle), but was after I forced the entertainment system to restart by holding down on the capacitive power button below the main infotainment screen. This was another suggestion I had often seen online. While the fix is simple, the problem is enormous. A less experienced user who hadn’t spent hours trawling forums about their car would likely not have known the solution. They would face a decision: abandoning whatever present need they had for the vehicle, or be forced to drive without information like speed and remaining range if driving could not be avoided. P.S. Please let me upload a video on this form. I had to take screenshots of the video I took. Two screenshots show the vehicle in D/drive with the screens blank. The not-screenshots show the infotainment in two states: not working after I briefly left and re-entered the vehicle, and rebooting after I pressed and held the power keys. The previews on here show that they’re upside down… if so, I don’t know why.

NHTSA ID

11503538

Incident

Jan 24, 2023