Volkswagen ID.4 Incident

The customer/driver of the vehicle notified Volkswagen Group of America (VWGoA) of an incident that occurred while traveling on the highway with travel assist (SAE L2 system) activated. According to the customer, the vehicle hit a wall on the highway in which the side airbags deployed. There were no reported injuries, the vehicle was towed from the scene, and is currently in possession of the insurance company. VWGoA is working with the insurance company to inspect the vehicle. Subsequent reports will be provided when additional details regarding this case become available. 11-15-2024 Update: The insurance representative was interviewed and reported the tires as bald and the road conditions as wet and provided photos from the scene of the incident. VWGoA conducted an inspection of the vehicle on 11/4/2024. Examination of the exterior of the vehicle noted damage to the left rear quarter panel and left rear door. The left front and rear tires are flat and the condition of the tires is stated as worn in the front and rear, with the rear tires worn into the cords on the inside tread with 0% life remaining. The EDR data reflects 2 stored events recorded on the day of the incident for a total of 5 seconds of pre-crash data. The vehicle was moving forward at 63 to 65mph from 5 seconds to 3.5 seconds before the collision with no service brake activation. At time of collision, the vehicle was moving at 30mph with no service brake activation by the driver, but ESC and ABS activation occurred. VWGoA concludes that based upon physical inspection of the vehicle, the incident is a result of outside influence (worn tires in wet road conditions) and not a result of manufacturing shortcoming or OEM system malfunction.