2015 Volkswagen E-GOLF

I was driving and the car shuddered and lost all power and would not accelerate. The car glided to a stop, but there were no shoulders so I was stuck blocking traffic. Later, the police helped push it to a side street where it was safe to park. The dashboard displayed the following error: "Error: Electrical System. Stop!" This message occured at the time of the failure. There were no symptoms or warnings prior to the failure. This message can not be found in the owners manual. Turning the car off and on does not change the situation. The vehicle has not been inspected by a dealer and is awaiting a tow to a dealer

CAR WAS IN MOTION ON A CITY STREET AND SUDDENLY LOST POWER. PULLED OFF ROAD, WAITED AND RESTARTED VEHICLE WITH NORMAL FUNCTION. EVALUATED AT VW DEALER AND TOLD THE DC-DC CONVERTOR IS NOT WORKING PROPERLY AND SHUTTING DOWN THE MOTOR. THIS PART WAS PART OF A PRIOR SAFETY RECALL BY NHSTA, AND THE CAR WAS EVALUATED AND SAID TO BE FIXED. CONTACTED VW OF AMERICA (CASE # 04750977) AND TOLD THERE WAS NOTHING THEY COULD DO AS THE CAR WAS OUT OF WARRANTY.

THE VEHICLE INTERMITTENTLY WILL NOT UNLOCK/RELEASE THE CHARGING CONNECTOR FROM THE CONNECTION PORT. WHEN THIS OCCURS, THE EMERGENCY RELEASE PROCEDURE FOR THE VEHICLE WILL NOT RELEASE THE CHARGING CONNECTOR. THE CHARGING STATUS INDICATOR IS RED. EVENTUALLY CONNECTOR FINALLY RELEASES BUT AFTER EITHER HOURS OF WAITING OR SOMETIMES HITTTING THE CONNECTOR TO JAR IT FREE. DURING THE LOCKED CONDITION, THE VEHICLE IS NOT MOVEABLE - WILL NOT OPERATE. IF IT OCCURS AT A PUBLIC CHARGER, THE CAR IS LITERALLY TIED TO THE CHARGER AND BUILDING, UNABLE EVEN TO BE TOWED. CHARGERS CAN BE IN SOME KIND OF BLEAK, SCARY PLACES. NOT ALWAYS WHERE YOU WANT TO BE TRAPPED ALONE AT NIGHT. THERE ARE MANY REPORTS BY OTHER OWNERS/DRIVERS OF THE SAME YEAR AND MODEL, SEE: HTTPS://WWW.MYVWEGOLF.COM/FORUM/VIEWTOPIC.PHP?F=12&T=839&START=10 OR HTTPS://FORUMS.VWVORTEX.COM/SHOWTHREAD.PHP?9292185-NOW-CHARGER-PORT-WON-T-RELEASE-CHARGER-CONNECTER! OR HTTPS://WWW.MYVWEGOLF.COM/FORUM/VIEWTOPIC.PHP?F=12&T=158&START=30 . THERE ARE OTHERS ALSO.

CHARGER THAT CAME WITH THE CAR WAS STUCK AND COULD NOT BE REMOVED FROM CHARGING PORT. NORMAL PROCEDURE IS TO UNLOCK THE CAR, WHICH UNLOCKS THE CHARGER PIN AND ALLOWS IT TO BE REMOVED. I REPEATED THE PROCESS MULTIPLE TIMES, UNPLUGGED THE CHARGER FROM THE WALL OUTLET, TURNED CAR OFF AND ON, ETC. EVENTUALLY I LEFT THE CAR ALONE FOR 20 MINUTES, WENT BACK AND CLICKED THE LOCK/UNLOCK FOB MULTIPLE TIMES, AND THE CHARGER RELEASED FROM THE CAR. LOOKING ONLINE, I SEE THIS HAS BEEN AN ONGOING PROBLEM AND THE LOCKING SYSTEM IS FAULTY. VW NEEDS TO UPDATE THE SOFTWARE OR REMOVE THE LOCKING FEATURE ALTOGETHER.

AT ABOUT 17500 MILE ON ODOMETER, I HAD JUST UNPLUGGED THIS ELECTRIC CAR FROM A PUBLIC LEVEL 2 CHARGING STATION AND SAW A WARNING "ERROR: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM. STOP!". I ASSUMED IT WAS JUST A LIGHT WHEN FIRST TURNING THE CAR ON SO SHIFTED INTO REVERSE. ( I WAS PARKED IN A STANDARD PARKING LOT, RACKING THE CHARGER. THE CAR STARTED ROLLING OUT OF THE SPOT, BUT HAD NO POWER. I WAS ABLE TO APPLY THE BRAKES AND NOT ROLL INTO TRAFFIC. THE CAR WAS TOWED TO VW AND I AM TOLD THAT TWO SEPERATE SMALL BATTERIES HAD A PROBLEM AND NEEDE TO BE REPLACED. THIS HAS OCCURRED AND THE CAR SHOULD BE RETURNED IN A FEW DAYS. I'M WORRIED ABOUT ANOTHER FAILURE HAPPENING WHEN I AM DRIVING WITH KIDS IN CAR, AS HAS BEEN REPORTED ON YOUR SITE.

VEHICLE WAS TRAVELLING ~40 MPH ON PUBLIC ROAD. REACHED DOWN TO PRESS "MODE" BUTTON TO LEFT OF SHIFTER TWICE TO SWITCH TO ECO MODE. PRESSED "POWER" BUTTON BY MISTAKE. TWO PRESSES OF POWER BUTTON CAUSES VEHICLE TO SHUT OFF, EVEN WHILE MOVING. VEHICLE SUFFERED TOTAL LOSS OF POWER. WAS ABLE TO BRING VEHICLE TO A STOP THANKS TO LIMITED TRAFFIC, ENGAGED PARK, AND PRESSED POWER BUTTON TO RESTART VEHICLE. MODE AND POWER BUTTONS ARE RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER, BOTH REQUIRE TWO BUTTON PRESSES TO EITHER ENGAGE ECO MODE (MODE BUTTON), OR ACTIVATE EMERGENCY VEHICLE SHUTOFF (POWER BUTTON). NOT ENOUGH DIFFERENTIATION IN FEEL TO DETERMINE WHICH BUTTON IS BEING PRESSED WITHOUT TAKING EYES OFF ROAD AND LOOKING DOWN AT SHIFTER CONSOLE.

AFTER THE VEHICLE IS DONE CHARGING USING THE J1772 PLUG (L2 OR L1 CHARGING), THE PLUG REMAINS LOCKED TO THE VEHICLE CHARGING INLET. PRESSING THE J1772 PLUG BUTTON DOES NOT RELEASE THE PLUG AS THE CAR MUST BE UNLOCKED USING A KEY TO RELEASE THE PLUG. IN A PUBLIC CHARGING LOCATION, ANOTHER EV DRIVER ATTEMPTED TO REMOVE THE PLUG FROM MY CAR AND MAY HAVE BROKEN MY CAR IF I HAD NOT INTERVENED. I HAVE READ THAT OTHER PEOPLE WITH THIS VEHICLE HAVE HAD THE VEHICLE INLET DAMAGED BECAUSE THE PLUG STAYS LOCKED IN THE CAR DURING CHARGING AND AFTER CHARGING IS COMPLETE. ON A SEPARATE NOTE, AN ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE SAME CAR USED A PUBLIC L2 J1772 PLUG WITH A BROKEN LOCKING LATCH. WHEN HE REMOVED THE PLUG WHILE THE CAR WAS CHARGING, THERE WAS A LARGE SPARK WHICH JUMPED BETWEEN THE PLUG AND THE CAR. VW IS NOT FOLLOWING THE J1772 PROTOCOL AND THIS COULD LEAD TO SAFETY PROBLEMS IN THE CASE OF A BROKEN CHARGE PORT AND PERSONAL INJURY DUE TO SPARKING. PLEASE ASK VW TO CORRECTLY IMPLEMENT THE J1772 CHARGING PROTOCOL SO THAT PRESSING THE PLUG BUTTON AND/OR REMOVING THE PLUG STOPS CHARGING. PLUG LOCKING SHOULD ALSO BE DISABLED WHEN CHARGING IS COMPLETE.

WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 25-30 MPH, THE VEHICLE SHUDDERED BRIEFLY, AND THE ELECTRIC DRIVE TURNED OFF. THE DRIVER AIRBAG WAS DISABLED, IN ADDITION TO STEERING AND BRAKE ASSIST, AND OTHER SAFETY FEATURES. THE WARNING MESSAGE APPEARED ON THE MULTIFUNCTION DISPLAY STATING "ELECTRICAL SYSTEM FAILURE, STOP!" I ENABLED THE HAZARD LIGHTS, COASTED TO A STOP, AND PLACED THE CAR IN PARK. AFTER SEVERAL ATTEMPTS, THE ELECTRIC DRIVE WOULD NOT RESTART. VW 24-HOUR ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE WAS CALLED, AND THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO A VW SERVICE CENTER.