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Volkswagen ID.4 Battery Issue Prompts Recall, 351 Units Affected

The ID.4 doesn’t have the best interior materials out there, and customers aren’t pleased with the software gremlins either. But as you’d expect of the German automaker from Wolfsburg, the list of issues doesn’t end here.
2021 Volkswagen ID.4 10 photos
Photo: Volkswagen
2022 VW ID.42022 VW ID.42022 VW ID.42022 VW ID.42022 VW ID.42022 VW ID.42022 VW ID.42022 VW ID.42022 VW ID.4
Back in January 2021, which is more than a year ago, the peeps at Volkswagen were informed of a field case related to an ID.4 that refused to start up. Four months later, supplier LG Energy Solution identified the root cause of the non-starting condition. Addressed as a quality topic, the issue was presented to the Volkswagen Product Safety Committee in December.

Additional details were subsequently requested, and in this period, Volkswagen received yet another field claim alleging a stall while driving. The committee recommended field monitoring and a follow-up presentation, along with further analysis. Group brands ultimately shared information on the stall-while-driving issue in March. Days later, the committee decided to conduct a recall of ID.4 vehicles delivered stateside.

Documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration single out “an unreliable battery connection.” The German automaker did use the U word to describe a problem that stems from their cheapo approach to OEM suppliers, an extremely rare case of owning up to one’s mistakes.

“Specific soldering points on the flexible printed circuit assembly inside the battery may not establish a reliable connection due to manufacturing issues.” Unreliable connections inside the battery may lead to breakdowns or stalling while driving, ultimately resulting in a crash without warning.

What really grinds my gears, however, is that VW was completely aware of the problem and the consequences of this problem in July 2021. That’s when the LG Energy Solution optimized the amount of soldering flux material. Three weeks later, the supplier optimized the automated optical inspection.

ID.4 vehicles affected by this recall were produced between December 16th, 2020 and December 8th, 2021. Owners will be notified on May 13th, and other than waiting that long, owners may also want to know that the Wolfsburg-based outfit is developing a remedy for this issue as we speak.

Considering that we’re dealing with incorrect soldering of the flexible printed circuit assembly inside the lithium-ion battery, two outcomes spring to mind: either replace the FPCA or the high-voltage battery altogether.
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 Download: 2021 Volkswagen ID.4 battery recall (PDF)

About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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