Volkswagen is recalling 60,490 Volkswagen and Audi electric vehicles because of a faulty gear display. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the affected vehicles fail to display the “N” for neutral gear position on the instrument panel, which could confuse the driver and increase the chances of the vehicles rolling away and crushing. Due to this error, the cars have failed to comply with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
Which Models Are Affected and What’s the Issue?
The NHTSA announced the recall of the Audi Q4 e-tron, Q4 Sportback e-Tron and the Volkswagen ID.4, which are fully electric. According to Volkswagen, the faulty gear display may misguide a driver to park a car while electronic parking gear is not engaged, causing the vehicle to roll away. The company became aware of this issue in August after five cases happened outside the USA. After investigating, it attributed the malfunction to a software glitch.
Volkswagen and NHTSA have urged owners to take the vehicles to the Volkswagen dealership to update the brake control unit software to solve the problem. This update will come at no extra cost for the owners. Additionally, those affected can also contact the NHTSA by visiting their website nhtsa.gov or call 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-888-275-9153).
What Do Volkswagen Owners Need to Do?
In its notice, Volkswagen advised dealers and owners to confirm that the parking brake indicator light is displaying on the panel to avoid confusion. They can do this by noting that if the parking brake is not engaged, the indicator should not illuminate on the display. If the opposite happens, then the vehicle is one of the affected and should therefore be taken to the dealers’ outlets for repair.
Volkswagen’s Recall History
This recall comes just a month after Volkswagen recalled over 30,000 cars due to a display problem with the rearview cameras. The affected vehicles were some Audi Q3, Arteon, and Volkswagen Tiguan.
In November 2023, Volkswagen also recalled over 115,000 vehicles, especially the Passat models and certain Beetle manufactured between 2016 and 2019. These two models had defective airbags and according to the NHTSA, long-term exposure to temperature fluctuations and high humidity could cause the driver’s side frontal airbag inflator to explode.
In 2019, Volkswagen recalled a whopping 679,000 U.S. vehicles sold since 2011 because of a similar electric issue that could cause vehicles to roll away. According to the automaker, a driver could remove the key even when the car was not in parking mode. VW attributed this problem to a build-up of silicate on shift-lever micro switch contacts.
The affected vehicles were Jetta, Beetle, Beetle Convertible, Golf, Golf Sportwagen and GTI manufactured from 2011 through 2019. This problem was resolved by installing an additional switch and a circuit board and disabling a micro switch.
Recalling vehicles is not a new thing in the automobile world and many companies have done so in the past. Volkswagen remains a global automotive innovation, and recently, it is rapidly expanding its electric vehicle portfolio as illustrated by its ID.4 model, which, despite being one of the affected, plays a crucial role in Volkswagen’s commitment to sustainable mobility.
Volkswagen’s Response.
Despite these errors, VW is confident with its MEB platform which has allowed them to electrify their portfolio quickly and cost-effectively. Reports show that the company is also working on MEB platform+, expected to launch in 2026, promising improvements in load speed, performance, charging efficiency, and overall range., which will offer improvements in terms of load speed, performance, charging speed, and efficiency. This new platform will also see a new generation of batteries called unit-cell, which will increase charging speed and see ranges of up to 435 miles.