10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
5 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
5 / 0
Average Mileage:
1,000 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2021 Volkswagen ID.4:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

Get free help with your lemon!
close ad
problem #22

Jun 052024

ID.4

  • miles
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.

- Clermont, FL, USA

problem #21

May 172024

ID.4

  • miles
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.

- San Jose, CA, USA

problem #20

May 072024

ID.4

  • 22,000 miles
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.

- Ann Arbor, MI, USA

problem #19

Feb 192024

ID.4

  • miles
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)

- Nashua, NH, USA

problem #18

Oct 092023

ID.4

  • miles
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.

- Hillsborough, NJ, USA

problem #17

Sep 082023

ID.4

  • miles
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.

- Ventura, CA, USA

problem #16

Nov 192021

ID.4

  • miles
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!

- Middlebury, CT, USA

problem #15

Apr 262023

ID.4

  • miles
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

- Henderson, NV, USA

problem #14

Mar 032023

ID.4

  • miles
My vehicle was in Travel Assist mode (i.e. Adaptive Cruise Control) traveling at around 65 MPH. A vehicle has cut into my lane and I felt that the car wouldn't slow quick enough to avoid a collision. I have applied breaks effectively taking the vehicle into my control and taking the vehicle off Travel Assist mode. When driver takes over by applying the breaks in this scenario, irrespective of how hard the breaks are applied, vehicle suddenly moves faster than expected for first few seconds. I had to apply the break harder than I would have applied if I was driving the car in manual mode to get the car to slow down.The expectation was that the vehicle slows down while applying the breaks. This would have caused a collision if I was not quick to react. There were no warning lights or messages on the dashboard prior to or during this incident. This could be a software issue which probably is conflicting between the breaks travel assist is applying and the breaking that the driver is applying. This has happened multiple time to me and on date mentioned on this my wife had same experience confirming that this is in deed an issue that needs some investigating into before it cause any accident(s).

- Mountain House, CA, USA

problem #13

Jan 182023

ID.4

  • miles
We-??ve been leasing a Volkswagen EV car ID4. And after a recent software update, we got problems as in the following. Intermittently when coming to stop, The vehicle is difficult to stop and Pedal pressure seems low. When we experience concern, the accelerator does not seem to react in the same way. As a result, the car failed to stop at short of stop line. Volkswagen sent us a recall notice of High voltage sudden reset error what promote acceleration failure. But our car has not only acceleration but brake issues more than dozen times in 3weeks. We believe we are in very delicate and dangerous situation. But VW doesn-??t provide a substitute vehicle, as Volkswagen view problems as vehicle to be still drivable. I strongly disagree with their view, since we will be in serious danger without secure brake and acceleration.

- Pittsburg, CA, USA

problem #12

Jan 052023

ID.4

  • miles
When driving using adaptive cruise control and my car decelerating using the regenerative braking, applying the brakes turns off the regenerative braking leaving only the friction brakes to slow/stop the car. I have demonstrated this situation to a VW dealer technician, who has confirmed that another 2021 VW ID4 that was in the shop duplicated this behavior. I have experienced this behavior multiple times over the last year. Because one of the systems for decelerating the vehicle is not available during a potentially emergency situation, I believe this is a safety risk. No warning lights or messages are displayed when this occurs. This has not been reported to my insurance company or the police.

- West Springfield, MA, USA

problem #11

Jan 292023

ID.4

  • miles
Electronic Stability Control (ESC) activated over a dozen time un-necessarily on a recent road trip. The activation caused the brake pedal to collapse and caused braking action to be un-even and nearly un-controlled on a windy mountain road. There was no slippage to cause stability control to intervene.

- Atlanta, GA, USA

problem #10

Oct 012022

ID.4

  • miles
Dealer replaced infotainment unit but it continues to blank out, freeze and or restart. Very unsafe as you have to take eyes off road to force a restart, also if front windshield is foggy if infotainment system froze or restarting you are now driving with a fogged up windshield which you can-??t see out off. Infotainment buttons do not work properly as they do not react to touch again take eyes off road to see whats happening. Infotainment screen and the other screen in front of driving wheel get very very hot. Only after showing dealer videos and recordings of all these occurrences with screen do they decide to do something about it such as change unit but problems persist. Vehicle rolls back on inclines when on a slight incline. Front end squeaks, VW dealer says is coming from the brakes and it-??s normal operation. Stopping distances is increased in cold weather, in cold weather braking distances are longer. Side mirror buttons do not always control/adjust mirrors. Dynamic cornering headlight error/malfunction warning on screen constantly, safety risk. Vehicle cannot charge error (s) pop on screen and charging stops. After multiple tries and after changing to another charging stall, charging is able to resume. Factory celular connectivity drops for days and you have to pull fuse #17 or #19 to reset LTE connection. Vehicle has a lot of shortcomings which render it very very very unsafe.

- Spartanburg , SC, USA

problem #9

Jun 212022

ID.4

  • miles
6/21/22 When I was pulling into a parking lot space, the car suddenly accelerated and the steering wheel turned uncontrollably, I could not stop the car, the brakes didn't respond at all. The car was driving by itself, I couldn't do anything to stop it, until I ran into two parked cars where it finally stopped; thank god no injuries. The car was undriveable, and was towed away, I'll have it inspected by the body shop and see if it can be repaired. This was a terrifying experience not being able to control the car, the car pretty much went into run away mode. I hope this gets reported to VW and an investigate gets conducted to find the root cause it as this could happen again to anybody.

- San Ramon, CA, USA

problem #8

Jun 032022

ID.4

  • miles
My vehicle's stability control system will activate in error to slow the vehicle when traversing moderate corners at speeds of approximately 25 to 35 mph. When this happens the vehicle experiences no actual loss of traction but the ESC warning light will flash on the dash and the vehicle will cut power and slow the vehicle with pulsing applications of the brakes by 5 to 10 mph. This is an unsafe scenario because I am unable to accelerate during these episodes even if needed and the vehicle slows to a speed well below the normal traffic traveling speed. In long sections of winding road I have had to disable the system to be able to drive normally, without interference in my ability to accelerate, and even then the stability/abs system will activate if I touch the brake pedal at all, still with no true traction loss. I am confident that it is a system failure because it occurs very predictably on certain sections of twisty road. I have experimented and the system will inappropriately activate when I drive 30 mph on the curves but provide no interference when I drive the same section at 40 mph. This issue has been reported by numerous owners on the idtalk.com forum, seeming to be specific to the AWD models, with one owner reporting he was told it is a software related issue with no imeadiate fix after having his car inspected for an extended period of time. I have reported the issue to my local dealer.

- Portland, OR, USA

problem #7

Oct 192021

ID.4

  • miles
The stability control actives inappropriately in low speed corners, slowing the car down because it's activating the brakes. This is a known issue on AWD (dual motor) ID.4 and VW dealers have said VW is aware of it and confirmed it on road testing for multiple owners (see below). I would not call it a major/dire safety issue, but it limits forward momentum, which could be an issue in emergency maneuver, and could cause unintended slowing that may increase risk of rear end collision. It is unknown what effect inappropriate brake application could have in slippery conditions. I am one of the first AWD owners in the USA and started a discussion on the problem: https://www.vwidtalk.com/threads/esc-activating-in-off-ramp.3808/page-4 Subsequently, many AWD owners have noted the same glitch. It is believed to be a software glitch (one of many in this car).

- Los Angeles, CA, USA

problem #6

Mar 152022

ID.4

  • miles
Electronic Stability Control (ESC) is activating frequently and unexpectedly. Happens on dry roads, under normal and safe driving conditions. ESC is felt as braking one or more wheels, and indicator is flashing on instrument cluster. This is not expected behavior under the driving conditions. Actuation is 100% repeatable on the same routes and speeds (typically curving roads or highway on/off-ramps), at varying temperatures (above and below freezing), dry and wet conditions, with stock tires properly inflated, in "B" or "D" mode (and drivetrain set to Comfort or ECO mode). Happens when accelerating, coasting, or brake being applied by driver.

- Portland, OR, USA

problem #5

Oct 132021

ID.4

  • miles
In October, 11 weeks ago, while parallel parking, which I do everyday for work, I reversed back into an empty spot, toggled into Drive to straighten out my car and my car accelerated and hit the car parked in front of me. I kept stomping on the break pedal but it was stiff, I couldn't press it down at all. The break pedal was as if the car was turned off. Even though it has been 11 weeks ago, I will not drive the car because VW has not fixed the problem and I do not feel safe. The body repair has been done. The car remains at the dealership where I bought it and is available for inspection. I could of hit many children because I was parking at an Elementary school when this unintended acceleration coupled with no brakes happened. It is VW's first ever ALL ELECTRIC car and the ID4's have NEVER had a software update. VW says, no technicians or trained mechanics, software would have to be done at dealer and could take all day, no software to download using Wi-Fi, may need bigger battery and no parts available. VW corporate fly out to inspect the car and run reports but they refuse to give me a copy and so does the dealership. VW is taking no responsibility and said the brake peddle was never applied, only the accelerator. I never put my foot on or near the accelerator because I was only inching forward to straighten my wheels out. When the car was put into drive it does not need any gas to move only a few inches forward. My insurance representative tried to run a report but he said there was no information at all on the recorder. He said I shouldn't have towed my car back to the dealer because information may have been erased. There were no warnings or assist to stop the car. This has not just happened to me but to many others as well. I can send documentation for that if you need

- Huntington Beach, CA, USA

problem #4

Oct 062021

ID.4

  • miles
We vehicle is stopped in any type of grade (hill, incline, or decline) when releasing the break pedal the vehicle will roll in the direction of the grade, power must be immediately applied to prevent roll. This could potentially cause a crash if a vehicle is behind/in front of another. The system should employ an auto hold type of grade breaking system. Vehicle has not been inspected, and is available upon request. This can be reproduced.

- Charlotte, NC, USA

problem #3

Sep 062021

ID.4

  • miles
It will not stop! Break don-??t work!

- La Mirada , CA, USA

Read the next 2 complaints »