VW is Recalling the ID.4 for a Potential Loss of Power

Chris Teague
by Chris Teague

The ID.4 is Volkswagen’s first mass-market EV in the United States, but it will soon be joined by many others as the automaker shifts to electrification. VW saw strong demand for the ID.4 in its first year on the market in 2021, but now it appears that many of them need a software update to prevent a dangerous potential loss of power while driving.


The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a recall last week for 20,904 2021 Volkswagen ID.4s because of an issue with the high-voltage battery management control module that could cause it to reset or fail to activate the pulse inverter. When a reset happens, the ID.4’s electric motors lose electricity while the process completes. The NHTSA says pulse inverter issues are rare.


The cause relates to the vehicle’s battery management software. It can be too sensitive in some situations and unnecessarily restart. The same failure can lead to an incorrect assessment of data coming from the pulse inverter, which could cause it to deactivate.


By the end of March, Volkswagen will notify dealers and customers, and affected vehicles will display a warning message in the dash to alert owners that the vehicle needs a dealership appointment. A software update will fix the issue, and VW said it has no plans to reimburse owners for related expenses.


[Image: VW]

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Chris Teague
Chris Teague

Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.

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  • Rover Sig Rover Sig on Feb 08, 2023

    EVs aren't going to work out for the masses. They are a dilettante's automobile, and Tesla cornered that market. To charge an EV uses the same amount of electricity as a typical house uses for a full day. We won't have that much electricity on the grid until we go back to burning lots of coal. Contrary to what legislators and millennials think, electricity comes from a source of energy, usually natural gas, oil, coal, or nuclear -- electricity is not free because you don't pay for charging your cell phone in your parent's basement.

    Where do groups of people come up with these dumb collective ideas? VW engineers: "We can rig the computer on these diesel emissions and no one will ever find out!" Europe in 1914: "Let's all march to war! It will be over by the time the leaves fall!" Parents of brides: "Let's spend $100K on this wedding! Their marriage will last and it will be money well spent!" Hindenburg builders: "We'll use hydrogen! It's cheap, and what could go wrong?" Russia: "Let's invade Ukraine! It will be over in 3 days." (Another example of that most durable of humankind's delusions - that all wars will be short and our side will win). Virus Research lab: "The bats will never get out - we don't need to worry." U.S. urban politicians: "Free needle exchanges! That will stop the drug problem in our city!" Socialists: "We'll take everyone's stuff and let the Party divide it out equally! It's worked everywhere its been tried!"

    EVs are another dumb collective obsession. They are expensive, don't work well on cold days, burn at 3000 degrees, and you can't walk to a gas station to get a gallon can of electricity. Toyota has a better grip on the future of EVs than VW does.



    • See 1 previous
    • Redapple2 Redapple2 on Feb 09, 2023

      Buffalo News 2 weeks ago. "NY to ban gas stoves and home furnaces. This will require a 4 fold increase in electric generating." ( and this doesnt count BEV you dummies !!!) PS. Do you really think the GOVT can/will expand/ allow/ permit etc.... a 4 fold increase in 15 years? 5 or 6 fold counting BEVs? NOPE. WALK jive turkey. wake up!




  • Tassos Tassos on Feb 09, 2023

    VWs ID series so far has been a MISERABLE FAILURE in the Demanding, COmpetitive US market. THey sold some copies over in Europe, where every junkmobile finds a loving home. And they wastged billions developing them. Now they are back at the drawing board, wasting more billions. How tough is it just copying, and slightly improving on, the Model 3?

    • FreedMike FreedMike on Feb 09, 2023

      Don't tell me...they should BUY a MAGNIFICIENT 2012 MERCEDES S-class. It's so ECONOMICAL!


  • Zipper69 Zipper69 on Feb 09, 2023

    A slightly related question;

    When an EV has direct drive to each wheel by electric power, what happens if just one of the motors overheats and seizes solid? Instant doughnuts ?

  • Redapple2 Redapple2 on Feb 09, 2023

    There is no man made global warming. do the math. If all the world's atmosphere were 10,000 units X big.

    380 would be co2

    362 would be naturally occurring.

    12 man made.

    You are telling me that the 12 units are STOP> END OF THE WORLD PROBLEM. But the 30 times more present - natural- is to be ignored.

    It s all propaganda from Pravda USA.

    • See 1 previous
    • EBFlex EBFlex on Feb 09, 2023

      "It s all propaganda from Pravda USA."

      Correct. None of the climate legislation that Beijing Biden has signed or any liberal has put forward has to do with the environment. It's never been about the environment. It's about control and money.

      The most powerful governments can't solve homelessness but they say they can change the Earth's temperature if you pay more taxes. Right....


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