2021 Volkswagen ID.4

I leased a car three years ago. This ID4 on May 15,2023 left me at a full stop in the middle of the highway. I then dropped it off to the dealer where they inspected it and saw it was a sensor/software issue, I think. They never actually disclosed the problem, nor held accountability. They insured me after almost two weeks of having to pay gas for a loaner car that they had fixed it and it was safe. After that incident and before my car had been in service countless times, all very inconvenient but not immediate safety issues, until the door handles. The door handles have been recalled twice before this last incident. My car was in there for over two weeks again back and forth. They broke my actual handles and had to go back in again, they claimed they were fixed. Now, almost 6monthankater I go to buy this lemon pre certified through the dealer and they tell me they can’t because it has two open recalls. They failed to say that the open recalls have been since May and are only now informing id4 owners that their doors may unlatch any any moment while driving and kill your babies and someone else’s on the road. Yet, they want me to either extend my lease, turn in the car and pay over mileage (even though I thought I was leasing to buy) or buy out the car not certified through a third party with two open recalls. I am being bullied into keeping a lemon. This car is a lemon and I want Volkswagen to take it off my hands waiving any over mileage and either giving me a new id4 that is safe or my 21,000 dollars I have paid into it. I am not the only one legally bound to these lemons. I demand a resolution for my consumer rights. I will speak to every news station out there until I seek justice for me and so many others.

Vehicle had a complete failure due to electrical issues and was brought to dealership. It was apparently due to recall issues which were repaired. The vehicle was returned 2 weeks ago. Today, shortly after exiting a highway, while traveling approx. 15-20mph then vehicle completely shut down. It stopped suddenly and unexpectedly and went into neutral. I could not put the car back into drive or park. The dash indicated electrical issues, airbag issues, collision sensors, brake issues and said “vehicle must not be towed”. Vehicle is currently at dealership.

The first time I was stopped at an intersection. Luckily there was no one in front of me as the car, without warning, accelerated at full throttle. Although my foot was on the brake, and I was braking as hard as I could, the car continued to lunge forward. It finally stopped and I backed up to my original position in the intersection. The second time it happened I was pulling into a parking spot in a busy shopping center. Without warning, the car accelerated out of control, and, although I was braking as hard as I could the car continued to accelerate forward. It jumped the curb, crossed the sidewalk, and hit a large commercial postal mailbox knocking it off of its base in the concrete. There was significant damage to the vehicle but luckily in both cases no one was injured. Had anyone been on the sidewalk in that shopping center they would have been killed. It is a miracle no one was injured or killed.

I drove an ID-4 down south and preparing for right turn. Suddenly, the car was accelerating to a very high speed with the accelerator not being pressed (spontaneous acceleration). I tried hard to press the brake, but no effectiveness. Instead of turning a 90-degree angle to the west direction, the car only turned 45 degrees toward southwest, hitting the safety island and jump over the island, then crossing the eastbound road, climbing up the curb and the left side of the car hit the street tree. The car then snaked along the sidewalk and grass toward west before it stopped. The car then is pulled to the body shop (Caliber in San Jose). 1) Accelerator and brake are both failed. The car spontaneously accelerates itself and cannot be stopped even pressing the brake paddle 2) In the collision, my left shoulder and neck got hurts. 3) Not yet. The car is in the body shop. 4) The car is in the body shop. Police has seen the car. 5) No. It happened suddenly.

The contact owns a 2021 Volkswagen ID.4. The contact stated while parking the vehicle, there was an abnormal odor of smoke coming from the rear of the vehicle. Upon inspection, it was determined that the smoke and burning odor were coming from the rear passenger’s side wheel well. The vehicle was driven to the local dealer who stated that the rear passenger’s side drum brake was faulty. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The manufacturer was not contacted. The contact stated that earlier while driving the "low tire pressure" warning had been displayed. The failure mileage was 22,000.

1. The brake pedal freezes intermittently when I step on the brake. 2. The sensor is faulty - it flashes red and warns me that the brake isn't working. 3. In autonomous driving mode, it did not detect the vehicle in front of me and didn't slow down. 4. After driving in the rain, the front brakes seized up. VW of Wellesley in MA said they fixed these issues, but I continue to experience 1 and 2. It hasn't rained so I couldn't test #4. My car was in the shop from [XXX] to [XXX] this last time. Previously, it was there twice for shorter time. #2 first happened when my car was new. I mentioned it to the sales guy and he said the sensor was probably blocked. It kept happened but when my car stopped detecting the car in front on the highway, I knew something was wrong. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The car was stuck in the garage; the electronic parking brake failed to disengage. I couldn't shift to the Drive mode. The vehicle had to be dragged out from the garage and is presently at the dealer. The dealer was able to reproduce and confirm the issue. Many errors popped up on the Dashboard when turning on the start button - Electrical System Not working correctly, Drive System Error, Auto Hold Error, TPMS Error. There were no warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms of the problem before the failure. The vehicle is a risk as it may not brake at high speed or fail to move after coming to a complete stop. The vehicle is at the dealer, and I have opened up a case with Volkswagen today and am awaiting to hear from them. Its UNKNOWN if the manufacturer had inspected the vehicle.

While traveling at highway speeds I suddenly got multiple warnings of the parking brake becoming inoperative, Auto Hold Error, and Travel Assist and Cruise Control no longer available. When trying to park the vehicle's parking brake would not engage and a loud warning sound and red warning message with "Do not park vehicle on an incline" came up on the dash. The vehicle was not able to be parked on any surface without it potentially rolling away. When trying to take the car into the dealership on Monday, 9/11/2023 the vehicle would not move out of "Park" and had be dragged out of the garage it was parked in.

This car was marketed as an easy transition from gasoline powered engines, meaning its braking maneuvers should not have been largely different. However the 2021 electric did not come with auto hold which VW later determined should be added for brake safety reasons. In 2022 VW had a software upgrade and as of Sept. 2023 it has yet to be installed for me. However any update was already too late for me. In Nov. 2021 this scenario happened: I pulled up to my garage and realized the car was not aligned with the garage door so (after braking and bringing the car to a full stop) I chose "R" to proceed with the slight correction. I did not touch the accelerator but the car careened backwards down driveway and impaled itself on a large landscape rock (which stopped the descent). I just missed hitting a telephone pole and/or landing crosswise in the street at the bottom of my driveway. The incline was not steep but the backward momentum was great. I could have been severely injured but luckily only the car sustained heavy damage!

Yesterday, April 26th, 2023 the above vehicle was involved in a serious accident, possibly related to the safety recall for the high voltage cell module. My wife was driving the vehicle on her way to work, as she did for the past 2 years. Sometimes she gets coffee for herself and a coworker, so that day she turned into a parking lot of the last MacDonalds before her job. She pulled up to the drive thru lane as she did many times before. She was not distracted by the phone, and her radio was turned off. There was nobody else in her vehicle, and her thought was on the coffee order. As she was pulling up to the 2 vehicles in front of her, something horrible happened in the next 3 or 4 seconds. Her vehicle accelerated suddenly, hit the car in front of her, bounced off to the right, and kept accelerating for the next 50 feet before hitting a semi truck with such a force that the front end of her vehicle is completely obliterated and the semi truck frame was broken. Thankfully, nobody got hurt seriously, and there was no fire. The first question from the Police officer was whether she hit the accelerator pedal by mistake. She responded that she did not hit the accelerator pedal, and does not understand what happened. She was shocked by the sudden fury of her vehicle, and stated that she was unable to stop it. I believe what she is saying, because there was no reason for her to stomp hard on either pedal as she was coasting slowly, and with the vehicle's regenerative braking you only have to tap the brakes gently. If she tapped the wrong pedal by mistake, the acceleration would not be so violent. To do what the vehicle did in such a short distance, the driver would have to stomp forcefully on the pedal and keep it floored all the time. There was no need to do that, and she never even attempted to do such violent acceleration anywhere. There is a real possibility that the vehicle did an unintended full force acceleration caused by defect in the recalled module. GEICO has it