2022 Volkswagen ID.4

Vehicle suffers from unintended and sudden acceleration when the "resume' capacitive touch button is accidentally brushed against. The vehicle is subject to injure or kill the vehicles occupants or others struck by the vehicle. Vehicle advised there is "no issue" with the vehicle but they did acknowledge the problem with the design of the steering wheel. The issue is intermittent and has occurred while driving at slow speeds in parking lots when the steering wheel is frequently turned more than 90 degrees and a body part can unintentionally touch the 'Resume" button.

On 5/13/2023, I drove using adaptive cruise control (ACC). I traveled approximately 9 miles without issues and turned left into a parking lot. Upon turning, the break was engaged and which canceled the cruise control. I do not recall the exact speed it was set but it was over 50mph. I drive my VW ID.4 in B mode which is brake energy recuperation mode and brakes the car as soon as the foot is lifted from the accelerator. In the parking lot, I was driving at a slow rate of speed because it was a Saturday morning and there were lots of kids going to the Jui Jitsu gym and dance studio which was my destination. While navigating at this slow speed, I typical lift my foot off of the accelerator rather than tapping the brakes as it is an effective method in the B driving mode. I was turning right into a spot, my foot was on the accelerator because there is not coasting in this mode to turn into the spot. As I was turning the wheel hard to the right, my hand grazed the capacitive controls of the ACC and resumed the cruise control causing my car to suddenly accelerate at the previously set speed into the curbing. As mentioned, my foot was on the accelerator as I was pulling into the spot. When the car crashed into the sidewalk the impact caused my foot to depress further on the accelerator which caused a secondary impact into a support pillar further on the sidewalk. Fortunately, the pillar was there, otherwise, I would have crashed through the yoga studio directly behind the pillar which had a full class going. I also narrowly missed a father and son walking on the sidewalk to Jui Jitsu. I notifed VW and they analyzed the black box but claimed the accident to be my fault since the accelerator pedal was engaged, and I did not break until after impact. I do not dispute that.

I was driving my car (Vehicle 2, Volkswagen) southbound [XXX] , south of La Cumbre, in the #1 lane, at approximately 65 miles per hour at adaptive cruise control. I observed Vehicle 1 traveling in the #2 lane when Vehicle 1 veered into lane #1. Adaptive cruise control failed to recognize the object in my lane. It failed to reduced the speed, it failed to initiate automatic brake system, and it failed to warned the driver of the object. I collided with the front right side of his vehicle. After the crash Party 2 drove to the median shoulder and a waited CHP arrival. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

This is a repetitive intermittent issue. The ACC will engage without any command to do so. I have been to the dealer several times, but they have not been able to duplicate the issue. Because I never know when this will occur, I drive with caution. When I realize this is happening, of course I brake, and the ACC disengages as it should. These incidents are somewhat hazardous, as I am expecting to slow down, and I don't. I am certain that I do NOT in any way engage the ACC or press the "set" button on my steering wheel.

The vehicle’s forward collision warning, the land departure warning, the rear cross traffic warning, the blind spot monitoring have all been having issues since the first week of the car. I’ve taken the car into the shop over 10 times since the summer of 2022 on initial purchase. Each time the vehicle comes in and Volkswagen says they cannot fix it and a future update is coming and will fix it. The update finally has come and the vehicle has all of the same problems and more. These cars are really dangerous to drive, please recall them off the road. You have a bunch of people driving malfunctioning vehicles.

While driving to work at 6:45AM, on a secondary road with the vehicle in "B" mode and the main cruise control switch active, but not on, I approached an intersection and was attempting to use the vehicle's regenerative braking. My right foot was off the gas and gently resting on the brake peddle. This is when I felt the car suddenly accelerate. I immediately pressed the break peddle which slowed the car appropriately, but not to a complete stop. I released the break at which point the car re-accelerated. I immediately reapplied the break and came to a complete stop. There was a car in front of me and if I had not reacted so quickly it's possible I would have run into that vehicle. After these two episodes I immediately pulled off the road into a parking lot and got out of the car to do a visual inspection. After seeing nothing wrong I proceeded to drive to work without incident making sure the cruise control main switch was deactivated. The car is waiting inspection by the local dealership and available for inspection. The problem has never reoccured. No warning lamps nor messages present prior to or during the incident.

On two separate occasions the VW ID4 screens have gone blank (main display and heads up display). While the car continued to steer, we lost all indication of speed, navigation, heating, and air conditioning. The pictures we have (unable to attach via this webpage), proves the display does not come back up during driving. Further, holding down the on-off power switch by the steering column or the on-off switch in the main display greater than 10 secs when the car was parked did not reboot or perform a soft reset of the display system.

I was slowly backing out of my garage. The car braked harshly and automatically. It was so hard, despite my slow speed, that I got whiplash in my neck. The automatic system probably falsely determined that I was about to hit something. The review view camera was clear. There were no obstacles. This is the fourth such incident, although I have never been injured until now. -Yes, the car is available for inspection. -I was injured: whiplash in my neck. -I have not yet reported the problem to anyone but NHTSA. -No, it hasn't been inspected. I haven't reported it to anyone else yet. -Before the event, the car was beeping warning me that I was close to hitting something. This is always the case as I back out of the garage.

While driving my 2022 Volkswagen ID4 about 1 and 1/2 hours into our trip, I had multiple system errors come up on the "heads up" display. "Electrical system not working correctly." The car suddenly lost systems including speedometer, parking brake, steering, etc. I was able to pull off the highway with some difficulty since the steering and braking were effected. I was unable to turn off the car and the doors locked so that the key fob was not functioning. we used the key to pop open the cover on the door and unlock the door manually. we had the car towed to a dealership for diagnostic. However, the dealership was closed as it was Saturday night and it's also closed on Sunday. I'll find out tomorrow more information about what they can do. This same exact problem happened last year. I had the car towed to a dealership and then the dealership did a software update and it seemed to be fixed. I believe that this is a serious safety issue and needs to be remedied.