Volkswagen ID.4 production halted in the US after its doors wouldn’t stay closed

A fewer months ago, I was driving my 2023 Volkswagen ID.4 erstwhile seemingly retired of obscurity my operator broadside doorway made respective antithetic clicking noises and past popped open.

“That’s not good,” I thought, arsenic I rapidly unopen the doorway portion besides attempting to support my hands connected the wheel. And apparently, I wasn’t the lone 1 experiencing this problem. Hundreds of different VW owners were besides struggling to support their doors closed portion driving.

The contented culminated this week with VW halting accumulation of the all-electric ID.4 astatine its mill successful Chattanooga, Tenn., arsenic it scrambles to find a hole for the faulty physics doorway mechanism. According to the recall, h2o was seeping into the doorway and shorting retired the electronics, causing the circuitry to contented a faulty “open command.”

As a fix, VW said it would regenerate the doorway handles astatine nary outgo to the owners, and would contented a bundle update to amended the “door parameters.”

Earlier this week, VW recalled astir 100,000 ID.4 vehicles, arsenic good arsenic issued a stop-sale bid for the electrical crossover. Starting September 23rd, astir 200 workers astatine the Tennessee mill volition beryllium furloughed arsenic a effect of the accumulation pause, a spokesperson for the institution said.

“While we code the issue, we are focused connected doing close by our employees, dealers and consumers done this disruption,” said VW spokesperson Mark Gilles successful a statement.

And it comes arsenic a beauteous atrocious clip for the German company, which is struggling to enactment competitory successful the look of the looming menace from China. Earlier this month, VW signaled it could adjacent respective factories successful Europe for the archetypal clip ever successful a bid to chopped 10 cardinal euros from its equilibrium sheets.

Like astir different automakers, VW has walked backmost from its EVs-only strategy successful caller months, saying it volition trust much connected plug-in hybrids to execute its clime goals. But Gilles said that the stop-production bid shouldn’t beryllium misconstrued arsenic an abandonment of the company’s EV commitments.

“This disruption successful nary mode changes our committedness to the ID.4 and our increasing BEV portfolio,” helium said. “The ID.4 remains 1 of America’s best-selling electrical vehicles.”