2023 Volkswagen ID.4

The contact owns a 2023 Volkswagen ID. 4. The contact stated while the vehicle was charging at a Volkswagen charger center, the charging port that attach to the vehicle caught on fire causing the vehicle to burn. No one was injured. The fire department was able to extinguish the fire. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a tow lot. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, and a case was filed. The failure mileage was 2,494.

On April 22nd the car was in an accident when it struck the rear of another car at a red traffic light. I had stopped at the light with car in “B” drive mode and the brake on Auto Hold. I was stopped at the light roughly 2 minutes with my right foot on neither pedal. The car was in Auto Hold brake mode as I recollect the Auto Hold indicator being illuminated. The car remained stationary during that period until it moved forward without any action from myself. I am convinced I did not hit the gas pedal. There was damage to both my car and the car in front. There had been no change of the traffic light light nor had the car in front moved when this occurred. I had not experienced this issue in my limited driving before the accident (1700 miles) or subsequent to the accident. I contacted the Volkswagen dealer following the accident and dropped the car off for them to investigate. They advised me to open a case with Volkswagen of America to get their involvement which I immediately did. Volkswagen CARE assigned a regional case manager. The dealer service department performed a 3 mile test drive and could not reproduce the problem. Volkswagen of America did not investigate the accident relying on the dealer service department to use the on-board diagnostics to read fault codes. They found two fault codes that required the replacement of the ICAS1 module (the vehicles primary computer) and the driver door handle – the latter was not related to the current recall on the vehicle. These were manufacturing defects and they stated were not the cause of the accident. I find it concerning that Volkswagen of America did not investigate the accident for product issues nor did they explain (when asked) why a faulty major component that controls the operation of the car could not be the cause of the accident.

The actuator on the charging port cover broke. I tired to get it fixed under warranty, but it has been two months and the part is still backordered from Germany. The charging port will not stay closed, so when it rains, water is getting into the charging connection and it is discolored, cannot tell if it is rust. I am concerned about plugging the high voltage plug in to the wet connector. I try to dry it, but it still seems wet.

* After parking on a hill (with the car facing uphill) and putting the car in Park, as my wife was gathering her things to exit the car, the car suddenly released from Park and lurched backward, rolling into the parked car behind it. This caused a dent on the back of the ID4, fortunately no damage to the other car. And especially fortunate that no people were hurt. * We called the dealership and also opened a case with VW corporate. Both were very responsive. After a week of running tests, they returned the car to us because they couldn't reproduce the issue and didn't find any error codes through their diagnostics * While driving the car myself, I experienced the issue again in a different context -- I was pulling out of a parking lot, on a downramp waiting to enter the street. As I lifted my foot from the brake preparing to drive into the street, the car lurched backward, up the downramp. Fortunately there was no car behind me and no pedestrians walking by. We reported this to the dealership and VW. They immediately took the car in again and kept it another week. Ultimately one of the techs at the dealership did experience the issue. We have a written report from the dealership that says, "Verified customer concern. Vehicle slightly rolled back before moving forward." (report uploaded) However, neither the dealership nor VW could trace this to an "error code" or a root cause. With confirmation of the issue from the dealer, I formally asked VW to cover the costs of the repair. VW said they would not, because there was no "error code" that pointed to a manufacturing fault. I argued that if we have confirmation that the car is doing something it shouldn't be doing, the fact that VW doesn't know why doesn't mean it's not their responsibility. The car is still potentially very unsafe. * We repaired the car at our expense (invoice uploaded) but I would still like VW to take responsibility for the cost and also ensure the car is safe for us and for others

When maneuvering off our steep driveway and performing a right turn onto the road, it's necessary to reverse back up the driveway to do this. When putting the car in reverse and then pressing the accelerator, the car went forward (more than a small roll, about a foot or so). This happened 3 times in the course of this maneuver - so put car in reverse, applied accelerator car went forward, braked to stop car going forward, put car in reverse, applied accelerator, car went forward, and repeated. This took us dangerously close to a drop off. This seems like a safety problem that the car goes forward to that extent when in reverse. The problem has been reported to the dealer. They have not tried to reproduce this problem.

I was pulling into a parking structure when the left side of the vehicle (door handles, windows, sensors) lost power. I was able to park the vehicle and then have it towed to the dealership. Although it happened at very low speed, my safety was at risk. It would have been very dangerous if this had happened on the freeway. I was unable to open the door or to close the driver window. The dealer found a blown fuse. They have not been able to identify a cause of what would cause a fuse to blow like this. They continue to work on it (we are on day 3 now) including working with VW of America engineering. The two recalls on this vehicle have been address (approx 10 days ago). I have had numerous other problems with this vehicle that I don't believe are related to this particular incident apart from the recall related to the door handles.

On the evening in question I stop the car in 5 ft front of my garage, which still does not have an automatic garage door opener. I press P to engage the parking brake and take it out of drive. I returned one phone call getting a voicemail and I don’t recall the exact sequence but I definitely had my seatbelt off and I reached to the passenger seat where I had left some things that I needed to take into the house, at that point, and again with neither of my feet on or near the accelerator , I noticed the car was moving and the next thing I knew it crashed through the garage door and hit another vehicle. The estimate for damages to my vehicle is about $14,000 and Volkswagen and insists from their analysis of the black box that nothing is wrong. However there are some issues that I’d like to discuss.

Since we purchased the vehicle in December, 2022, the doors have been unable to open on at least nine occasions, sometimes locking passengers in the vehicle, and sometimes locking passengers out of the vehicle. Using the remote key does not allow the doors to open, only making a clicking sound. As we approach the hot summer months, it is a safety risk to not be able to exit the vehicle. In addition, it is a safety risk to not be able to get into the vehicle when needed. The vehicle has been taken to two different dealerships on three occasions. The service advisor at Lindsay Volkswagen of Dulles, VA commented five times while the vehicle was being picked up that he did not believe the vehicle was safe to drive and he wouldn't drive in it with his family. The dealerships were forced to return the vehicle against their judgment by Volkswagen (manufacturer) so that it did not remain "out of service" and trigger lemon laws. VW Customer Care insists that this is part of the open recall on this vehicle but that there is nothing unsafe about the vehicle locking people in the car. They claim that if it was unsafe that NHTSA would issue a stop-drive order, instead of just the recall and stop-sale order.