Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (VW) will be asking a small number of 2021 VW ID.4 electric crossover SUV owners, to return to their dealerships because of a problem affecting the solder connections inside the HV battery of their vehicles. This defect could result in a stall and may increase the risk of an accident. A fix for this problem is still under development by the manufacturer.

VW became aware of the defect in January 2021 when the first known field case occurred outside the U.S. VW quality and safety departments began to monitor the field reports for the nature and frequency of the non-starting condition and found reports of similar problems in other brand vehicles using the same or similar battery systems. During a multi-brand clearing committee meeting, impacted brands shared information on the potential stall while driving cases and decided to conduct a recall. Volkswagen will be conducting a recall on 351, 2021 VW ID.4 vehicles in the U.S. that contain the potentially affected parts.

According to the defect report, a manufacturing problem with the high voltage (HV) battery may have caused incorrect soldering on specific points of the flexible printed circuit assembly (FPCA). The amount of solder contact points of the FPCA is not sufficient and the thickness of the solder layer is out of tolerance parameters. The result is an unreliable connection inside the HV battery that could lead to a breakdown or stalling while driving. If this issue is present in the vehicle, the driver will be alerted by a high voltage system warning message in the instrument panel.

Owner notification letters about the defect are expected to be mailed by May 13, 2022. Volkswagen’s number for this recall is 9302 and the NHTSA campaign number is 22V-1562.

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