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Volkswagen ID.4 Plagued by Instrument Panel Blackout, Owners Using Waze to View Speed

A bug hitting Volkswagen ID.4 electric vehicle is causing the instrument panel to turn black, thus blocking access to essential information.
The VW ID.4 instrument panel 252 photos
Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution/Volkswagen
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The glitch, which was flagged by several ID.4 buyers and has already been reported to the carmaker, seems to be caused by a software error.

Like in any other car, the instrument panel in ID.4 displays critical information, including the current speed of the vehicle. The blackout, therefore, makes it impossible to access the data.

Drivers who reported the problem claim the infotainment unit in the cabin is still working properly. As such, the bug only seems to affect the instrument panel exclusively.

Restarting the screens by holding the power button on the center display sometimes brings things back to normal. On the other hand, many ID.4 owners say this workaround fails to produce an improvement most of the time. Resetting everything to the factory configuration doesn’t address the bug either.

The glitch appears to impact several model years, including the first edition ID.4. Others claim they encounter the same behavior on an MY 2023. In all cases, the screen fails to come on, remaining black for a random period of time.

The black instrument panel
Photo: reddit user Bsaucier13
Occasionally and randomly, the issue seems to go away all by itself. Leaving the car parked for approximately one hour sometimes brings things back to normal, with the instrument panel then turning on properly. The feedback for this solution is still mixed, as several ID.4 owners claim they haven’t observed any improvement regardless of how long they leave the vehicles parked.

Volkswagen dealerships don’t seem to be aware of a fix. Someone says on reddit that one dealer suggested “giving it a few key cycles” to restore the instrument panel. Needless to say, this is just a waste of time and fails to produce any improvement.

Without an instrument panel to see the speed of the vehicle, ID.4 owners sometimes turn to navigation apps to get such information. Given the infotainment unit is still working, drivers can plug in their phones, launch CarPlay, and then run an application like Waze or Google Maps. These applications use GPS to determine the speed of the vehicle, and the information they provide is even more accurate than the one shown on the instrument panel.

At this point, Volkswagen is yet to acknowledge a problem hitting the ID.4. As such, it’s probably safer to consider the instrument panel blackouts just isolated cases that do not require a full recall. Several owners claim they have already booked a visit to Volkswagen dealerships, so we’ll update the article when additional information becomes available.

In the meantime, reaching out to the carmaker seems to be the only recommended solution, as most generic workarounds don’t address the instrument panel blackout.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
Bogdan Popa profile photo

Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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