Photo: polizei.news
The launch of the Volkswagen ID.3 mid-way last month has proven to be a success so far with the German model storming the most EV-friendly European markets.
The first reviews are also generally positive, though people do notice a certain drop in interior build quality compared to similar Volkswagen products - most notably, the Golf. Despite the extended development time afforded by the pandemic - the ID.3 was supposed to be released in the summer initially - there also seem to be a few nagging software issues, though nothing serious.
At least not serious enough to pin any of these two crashes on. If you're looking for anything spectacular like the Autopilot-related Tesla crashes, you're in for a big disappointment. We're looking at incidents caused by the good old nature of human beings to mess things up occasionally, and nothing else.
Ironically, the first two ID.3 crashes involve drivers whose birth days are roughly 70 years apart, as one of them was caused by a 19-year-old, and the other by an 89-year-old EV enthusiast. Which should we start with?
The 89-year-old, of course, partly because it sounds juicier, and partly because it's the only one where the culprit was actually driving Volkswagen's new EV, but more on that later. The unnamed elderly man apparently wanted to test drive the ID.3 at a VW dealership in Linderbach, Germany, polizei.news says. He got into the car but mixed up the two pedals while still in the dealership parking lot, so he reversed at full throttle into the building with 20 meters (66 feet) of space available to accelerate. Nobody was hurt, but the total damage estimate climbs over €60,000 ($70,500).
The second one happened out on the road, but it also involved a dealership car. A 53-year-old man was test driving the ID.3 when he stopped behind a car that was waiting to make a left turn. Behind him, a 19-year-old driver in a silver Ford Focus managed to miss the events that were happening in front of him - as he was distracted by the kids sitting behind, according to presseportal.de - and slammed into the EV's rear without even braking. A 21-year-old passenger in the Focus had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance, suggesting she might not have been wearing the seat belt.
The damage sustained by the ID.3 was minimal (€10,000/$11,750 between both vehicles), and the 53-year-old declared himself impressed by how well the battery-powered hatchback handled itself. The report doesn't say if he went on to buy one, though.
At least not serious enough to pin any of these two crashes on. If you're looking for anything spectacular like the Autopilot-related Tesla crashes, you're in for a big disappointment. We're looking at incidents caused by the good old nature of human beings to mess things up occasionally, and nothing else.
Ironically, the first two ID.3 crashes involve drivers whose birth days are roughly 70 years apart, as one of them was caused by a 19-year-old, and the other by an 89-year-old EV enthusiast. Which should we start with?
The 89-year-old, of course, partly because it sounds juicier, and partly because it's the only one where the culprit was actually driving Volkswagen's new EV, but more on that later. The unnamed elderly man apparently wanted to test drive the ID.3 at a VW dealership in Linderbach, Germany, polizei.news says. He got into the car but mixed up the two pedals while still in the dealership parking lot, so he reversed at full throttle into the building with 20 meters (66 feet) of space available to accelerate. Nobody was hurt, but the total damage estimate climbs over €60,000 ($70,500).
The second one happened out on the road, but it also involved a dealership car. A 53-year-old man was test driving the ID.3 when he stopped behind a car that was waiting to make a left turn. Behind him, a 19-year-old driver in a silver Ford Focus managed to miss the events that were happening in front of him - as he was distracted by the kids sitting behind, according to presseportal.de - and slammed into the EV's rear without even braking. A 21-year-old passenger in the Focus had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance, suggesting she might not have been wearing the seat belt.
The damage sustained by the ID.3 was minimal (€10,000/$11,750 between both vehicles), and the 53-year-old declared himself impressed by how well the battery-powered hatchback handled itself. The report doesn't say if he went on to buy one, though.
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