2024 Volkswagen ID.4 Electrical Problems

While attempting to park in my driveway, the vehicle experienced a complete loss of braking. The brake pedal did not stop the vehicle, and pressing the electronic parking brake switch had no effect. The vehicle continued forward and crashed through my closed garage door. The only reason it stopped was because it struck another vehicle parked inside my garage. That impact pushed the parked vehicle into my garage refrigerator, which then damaged the drywall on the garage wall adjacent to my bedroom. None of the safety systems functioned as expected. The parking sensors did not activate, there were no proximity warnings, and the automatic emergency braking system did not engage. After the crash, I exited the vehicle, but it remained powered on instead of shutting down automatically. It only turned off after I got back into the vehicle and exited multiple times. This incident involved a total loss of hydraulic and regenerative braking, an unresponsive electronic parking brake switch, failure of the parking sensors and automatic emergency braking, and failure of the high-voltage shutdown sequence upon driver exit, resulting in a structural collision. The vehicle has been towed to the dealership and is available for inspection. I am awaiting the dealership's diagnosis and have also reported the incident to my insurance company. No warning lights or messages appeared before the failure. This malfunction created a serious safety hazard and could have resulted in severe injury or death if anyone had been in the vehicle's path.

NHTSA ID

11748156

Incident

Jun 30, 2026

Vehicle was being driven at highway speed when loss of power occurred, vehicle moved to side of road and would not restart. Performed 12v capacitve procedure with no change. Hazard lights would not function, other 12v systems remained on.

NHTSA ID

11747010

Incident

Jun 27, 2026

Recall 91VH causes some cars to break carnet modules and other modules. If you google the issues, you will find that Recall 91VH (5.4.3) causes multiple cars to break. We should not have to appeal and plead with VW on a 2 year old vehicle to get it fixed. This puts saftey at risk as it causes multiple malfunctions and warning lamps to appear. The dealer says to replace the module, but VW denies the modules are affected by the update.

NHTSA ID

11739204

Incident

May 13, 2026

I am reporting an unresolved safety recall (NHTSA 26V030, Volkswagen recall 93EA) involving a high-voltage battery defect with potential risk of fire. My vehicle (VIN: [XXX] ) was purchased in the United States but is currently located in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The authorized Volkswagen distributor in the Dominican Republic has confirmed they are unable to perform the recall repair, as they do not service electric vehicles. As a result, I am operating a vehicle with a known safety defect and no available remedy, despite this being an active safety recall. I have contacted Volkswagen and requested assistance, but currently no solution has been provided. I am requesting guidance and intervention regarding how manufacturers are expected to address safety recalls for U.S.-sold vehicles located outside the country. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11729298

Incident

Apr 5, 2026

The vehicle has a recurring door handle/door lock malfunction associated with Volkswagen safety recall 57J9. Symptoms include the vehicle unlocking and immediately re-locking, auto-unlock failure, and difficulty entering the vehicle. All four door handles were previously replaced under the recall (Feb 2025), but the malfunction recurred. On 01/26/2026 I delivered the vehicle to a Volkswagen dealer for recall repair; it was fully drivable at drop-off. During the recall-related software/coding procedure, the dealer reported the procedure could not be completed because the software would not accept the currently installed headlamp modules. A manufacturer Techline case was opened (SK-1561187) and the dealer reported they were advised to replace both headlamp assemblies due to part number incompatibility. After the attempted recall procedure/diagnostics, the vehicle became not drivable and has remained at the dealer continuously for over 30 business days. The manufacturer later denied warranty coverage and closed the case unless the owner pays to replace headlamps (approx. $3,887.79) in order to complete the recall procedure. The door locking/entry malfunction and inability to complete a safety recall repair creates a safety risk (potential inability to enter/exit and vehicle immobilization after recall service). The vehicle is available for inspection at the dealer.

NHTSA ID

11723984

Incident

Jan 26, 2026

Car was plugged in to our home level 2 charger waiting to charge (no current was being supplied yet). Alarm went off, I went into our attached garage and checked on it. Heard a high pitch beeping coming from the car, went into it and saw this message (see attached picture). Took picture while waiting for garage door to open so I could back car out of garage and as far down our driveway as possible. Called fire department and then disconnected high voltage battery from under the hood. FD arrived and didn't really know what to do. Alarm continued to go off. Eventually a flatbed arrived and I had it delivered to our local dealer. We use this car in rural VT. The weather right now is single digits or below. We regularly use this to transport our one year old. Had this not happened at home but on a drive, this certainly could have been a much, much worse situation. The car is currently at the dealer waiting to be looked at. The person said I Was the third ID4 to come in over the weekend. They are not currently providing us with a loaner even though we requested one.

NHTSA ID

11714943

Incident

Jan 30, 2026

I own one of 311 vehicles specifically identified in this recall regarding "misaligned electrodes" and "shifted cathodes" in the high-voltage battery. I am formally requesting that Volkswagen replace all battery modules within the high-voltage pack of the affected 311 vehicles for the following reasons: 1. Systemic Manufacturing Deviation: The identified root cause—faulty stacker machines at the SK On facility—points to a systemic mechanical failure rather than an isolated material defect. Given that these machines were responsible for the layering and alignment of the entire pack, there is no reasonable assurance that the remaining "unflagged" modules do not possess latent alignment deviations that simply haven't triggered a diagnostic flag yet. 2. Safety and Fire Risk: The defect in question is not a performance issue but a critical safety hazard capable of causing thermal runaway. Partial replacement leaves the vehicle owner with a "mixed" battery pack, where older modules may still harbor the same manufacturing inconsistencies, continuing to pose a fire risk to the occupants and the property where the vehicle is parked. 3. Battery Imbalance and Longevity: Replacing only a subset of modules introduces a significant discrepancy in state-of-health (SoH) and internal resistance between new and old modules. This imbalance can lead to accelerated degradation of the remaining modules, reduced driving range, and repeated "Service Required" visits, as evidenced by other EV owners undergoing similar partial module recalls. 4. Diminished Value and Consumer Confidence: The "311 units" designation suggests a high concentration of risk. A vehicle with a history of multiple "surgical" battery repairs due to manufacturing-induced fire risks suffers significantly higher depreciation than those with a factory certified, fully replaced battery system. With 7618 miles it has been in for service 8 times and has had electronic issues for the past 5 visits that are still unresolved.

NHTSA ID

11710299

Incident

Jul 1, 2025

I purchased this 2024 Volkswagen ID.4 as a Certified Pre-Owned vehicle, and the electrical issues began almost immediately after taking ownership. While driving, the main infotainment display will suddenly reset, freeze, or go completely blank. Sometimes the instrument cluster also flickers or freezes during these events. At the same time, I received a “12V battery limited, please drive with care” warning. When the center screen resets while the vehicle is in motion, I temporarily lose access to important driving information such as the backup camera, vehicle status, sound alerts, and sometimes the speedometer. These failures create a safety concern because they remove visibility of warning indicators and essential driving data. The 12-volt system warnings also raise concern that the vehicle may lose power to critical control modules or experience a sudden electrical shutdown. The issues are intermittent but recurring, and started immediately after purchasing the vehicle CPO, which suggests the defect existed before I acquired the car. This appears consistent with other reported electrical and 12-volt system failures on the ID.4. I am reporting this because I believe the issue may be part of a broader safety defect involving the vehicle’s low-voltage electrical system, displays, or charging circuitry.

NHTSA ID

11703601

Incident

Nov 14, 2025

On 9/2/25, I gave my car to my local dealership to complete routine maintenance and to remedy a safety recall that had been initiated a few months prior. It was supposed to take one day to complete, but I was told that they were having trouble with a certain scan tool and would need technical assistance on their end before they could complete the recall. In short, it is now more than 3 months later (12/5) and I STILL do not have my car back. To the best of my knowledge, this is the problem: there is a scan tool that is necessary to complete the recall, and that this tool is malfunctioning. What the dealership keeps telling me is that they “continue to send tickets to their IT department, but don’t hear anything back.” A couple of times, they have heard back and have tried different updates or workarounds, to no avail. On multiple occasions, my service advisor has said that they “send tickets to IT daily in order to bother them enough actually do something.” I finally called VW customer care after my car had been with the dealership for 2 months, and the case was escalated to an RCM. She has tried following up with the dealership, as well as reaching out to the QTRL and QTM to see if there was any way to try to suss out the issue. To my knowledge, both of those have been fruitless. In fact, when the QTM visited the dealership to look at my car on November 26, all were hopeful there would be some movement. My RCM told me that the QTM was looking for updates to my case that “just weren’t there.” And that “the QTM on multiple occasions had looked for updates, but none were available.” To top things off, I spoke with my RCM on 12/2, and she said that my ticket had been closed due to “no updates in 5 days.” Infuriated, she reached back out that day to reopen the ticket. I was told today, 12/5, that the ticket STILL hasn’t been reopened. There is more, but I’m out of space. This many miscommunications and complete inaction is absolutely inexcusable at this point.

NHTSA ID

11703327

Incident

Sep 2, 2025

My screen frozed while I was driving to the point that I was not able to know how fast I was driving. My backup camera also did not displayed on the screen. I sent videos to [XXX]. The tire pressure stated that tire has a normal pressure but I had a flat tire. Tire pressure sensors are not reading the tire pressure. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11703178

Incident

Jul 23, 2025

The vehicle displays including back up cameras and speed display failed to start with the car. I was able to move the car under power and believe I could have operated the vehicle at speed. I decided that it was unsafe to operate a vehicle without speed information and left the vehicle for approximately 10 hours. When I returned it was functioning again.

NHTSA ID

11700249

Incident

Nov 3, 2025

While driving, infotainment locked and rebooted multiple times, until eventually the whole car rebooted while driving. Lost all visibility of speedometer and everything on heads up display. for 1-2 minutes. Brought to service center yesterday 11/10/25 (1st available appointment) and they collected logs to send to Volkswagen.

NHTSA ID

11698747

Incident

Nov 2, 2025

Subject: Serious Safety and Electrical Problems – Request for Buyback or Replacement Dear [Manufacturer Name or Dealer Name], I leased my vehicle in January 2025, and since the very beginning I have experienced multiple serious problems. Right after taking the car from the dealership, it had an electrical failure — it completely shut down and had to be towed by a tow truck. After that incident, the vehicle has constantly shown computer warning messages such as “switch control deactivated,” “key not recognized,” “rear motor malfunction,” and other system errors. I have taken the vehicle to the dealership several times, and they always said it was due to a recall, but they never gave me a permanent solution. They kept telling me the vehicle was safe to drive. However, on Saturday, November 8, 2025, while I was driving with my family, the vehicle suddenly stopped, started jerking violently, showed a “battery overheating” error, and then accelerated by itself. I immediately called the dealership and took the car there. It is currently in their possession. This vehicle is extremely dangerous for me and my family. I am requesting that the manufacturer or dealer take full responsibility for this issue and proceed with a buyback or replacement under the Lemon Law and warranty protection.

NHTSA ID

11698651

Incident

Nov 10, 2025

To start, have requested the vehicle paperwork many times and the dealership has failed to give me a copy. The real problem started when i took my EV to get checked as the battery was not lasting long, they said it was normal, took it again as it stopped charging on type 1 and 2 chargers, they now said it was the Onboard charging module. Also had to take the vehicle for a recall a few months ago as it had faulty door locking sensors. I feel unsafe to drive the car as a new problem appears every couple of months and VW is not reliable, my vehicle only has 7000miles in over a year and i have taken it to the dealership 3 times for safety issues

NHTSA ID

11691532

Incident

Jun 29, 2024

The car's position as shown on the navigation screen and as determined by the car's internal GPS was off by several hundred miles. While driving on the highway using adaptive cruise control, the car would frequently decelerate rapidly from 60+ mph to 30 or less. When it did this, it would display a message like "turn ahead - maximum 24 mph". Of course, there was no tight turn ahead as I was on an interstate highway in New York - the ACC was receiving messages to slow down because the location data was inaccurate. On two occasions this nearly caused a rear-end collision before I was able to disable the feature in ACC that would cause the car to decelerate because of small radius roadway curvature. During this time, the car's navigation system would continuously try to re-route, and the SOS functionality did not work.

NHTSA ID

11672066

Incident

Jul 7, 2025

Car was charging, when we got in the car it tell is there is a potential risk of fire. Recall has not been address since last year.

NHTSA ID

11670055

Incident

Jun 29, 2025

Car will not start, although there is 70% charge. This has occurred 3 times. Gets towed to deal where they tell us "it magically fixed itself." Error message states that 12v battery is not working. Was advised by dealer that recall would not fix this problem. THey advised this can happen any time the car is charged (EV vehicle) and we will just have to tow it back to be "reset" each time.

NHTSA ID

11664333

Incident

Oct 10, 2024

My 2024 vw Id4 has 2 long ignored safety recalls. The dealer i bought car from won't respond and I'm very far down the waiting list for repairs. My car isn't in a garage and one of the recalls for the door handles is worsened by it being always outdoors. Would you please help me get both recalls fixed?

NHTSA ID

11663904

Incident

May 30, 2025

5/22/2025, Thursday morning I unplugged my car that was parked inside my garage. I sat down, tapped the pedal to turn on my “ignition mode” and within a few moments my windshield shot a massive flame in front of me and began sparking shooting glass from both heating elements. Glass shards landed on my hood and garage floor. My windshield was smoking and the amount of heat generated melted some of the glass around the area where the heating elements connect to the glass on the interior of my vehicle. My dealership fought me hard saying I had a crack that caused the fire and advised me to file an insurance claim for this “accident” and also continuing driving my vehicle that had just caught fire momentarily. Thankfully the fuse blew and that’s why the fire stopped but my concern is how much heat had to be generated to spontaneously combust my glass and then melt it! I refused to accept their response and after an entire day of arguing with VW customer support and the dealership. I repeatedly asked for a diagnostic of my windshield heating element module and the amount of electricity it was giving. The dealership declined to diagnose my car and removed the heated windshield fuse per my request. I spoke with the dealership owner who finally contacted their field service advisor who advised I should not drive my vehicle that caught fire and instead are going to further investigate my concern. I struggle to trust an actual investigation will be performed and hope they do not simply replace the windshield and ignore the safety hazard of my window shooting a flame and combusting glass.

NHTSA ID

11662879

Incident

May 22, 2025

Lack of recall remedy for an issue that can cause the door to spontaneously open (I'm paraphrasing) while driving. This is due to a faulty door handle that allows water in, which can short the circuit board, causing the door to open on its own. This means I cannot have my daughter in this car, and honestly don't like the idea of getting in the vehicle myself, but the dealership said they cannot terminate the lease for me. I have tried contacting Volkswagen directly, but have yet to actually speak to a person. All I want, is to give the vehicle back to the dealership, without having to pay for the lease of this vehicle I cannot use without risking the safety of my wife and daughter.

NHTSA ID

11629712

Incident

Nov 8, 2024

The car's turtle light was on, and the car started moving slowly with instructions to part the car immediately. I brought the car to the service on 10/18/2024, and they could not diagnose it after 3 hours. I returned the vehicle on 10/21/2024 with the same complaint, and the car has been at the dealership service since then. VW instructed the service to replace one battery module, which did not solve the problem. Now, the service is waiting on different back-ordered parts, and there is no timeline for the arrival of the parts, nor are they sure this is the resolution.

NHTSA ID

11628854

Incident

Oct 17, 2024

The screen turns black and from my understanding disconnects all the safety features

NHTSA ID

11627847

Incident

Nov 7, 2024

On 3 different occasions in the last 2 weeks, everything mechanical shutdown accept for the ability to drive. This means all lights, computer systems, dashboards, etc. It was everything electrical accept for the ability to press on the gas, brake, and steer as these 3 things were fine though I could not see my speed either. It, meaning all 3 occurrences, were a total blackout. Ciocca Volkswagon in Flemington tried to give me an appointment 1 month out. I got the manager and he said I will be in the shop 1 week and should get a call. No call to date.

NHTSA ID

11627793

Incident

Nov 20, 2024

I have been leasing vehicles from VW since 2009, I leased every model they have from cars to SUVs. This is my first time leasing their first electric vehicle, ID.4. Since leasing this vehicle, we've faced multiple issues. First time was the second day after I leased it, the air conditioning wasn’t working at all. This issue was repaired. Then all sort of electrical problems started occurring when braking, including the back window lowering itself, the radio turning on and off by itself, interior lights flickering, the backup camera failing, and rear sensors not working. Additionally, the brakes have twice failed to respond properly, requiring multiple pumps to stop. Despite reporting these problems to the dealership and having inspections performed, no resolution has been found. Also 2 days ago, the rear tire unexpectedly blew out while driving, potentially due to a magnetic field beneath the vehicle pulling metal debris from the road, which may have caused a sidewall puncture. This incident occurred at just 3,221 miles of tire usage. Although it is a known issue, the dealership made me pay to replace the tire, which cost $546. Additionally, a recent safety recall about doors unexpectedly opening while driving greatly adds to all safety concerns mentioned above. These compounded issues make this vehicle very unsafe, and I’m deeply anxious about driving it, and very concerned for my safety and that of others on the road. I urge immediate resolution to these safety and potentially dangerous problems.

NHTSA ID

11626680

Incident

Nov 19, 2024

The contact owns a 2024 Volkswagen ID.4. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at an undisclosed speed and attempting to slow the vehicle, the brake pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to slow immediately. The contact stated that his wife was able to bring the vehicle to a complete stop by pump the brake pedal. The contact stated that while his wife was depressing the brake pedal, the radio volume was not working as designed, the windows were rolling up and down independently, and the headlamps were not functioning as needed. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 3,000.

NHTSA ID

11626675

Incident

Nov 21, 2024

Mileage

3,000 mi