You can always say "Hey ID!" and tell it what you want it to do without taking your hands of the steering wheel or eyes off the road.

 

I tried to say “HEY ID, please turn on the light in the Glove comparment!!“
That doesn't work either. 😂

 

Not gonna lie, that seems like a pretty obvious omission on VW's part. At least have the controls backlit so you can see them at night. That being said, do people regularly change the temperature that often? I have three vehicles, all with automatic climate control, and I leave the temps set at 70F and auto mode year round. The only thing I ever change is whether the A/C is on or off (and in the ID.4 you have to go into a menu for that anyway). Not saying it's an excuse, but I don't think this lack of backlighting on these controls at night will actually bother me in day-to-day use.

I guess the other thing is that you can hit the Clima button and then you have access to all the climate controls on the same screen. So there is a way to deal with this in the dark, I suppose.

 

That being said, do people regularly change the temperature that often?

As someone that lives in a climate where it's generally dark during commuting hours 1/4 of the year I would definitely appreciate being able to see the volume slider and climate controls, two of the most frequently used controls in the car. Even with auto controls, as someone who carpools, the passenger temp setting is often changed. I can see from ID.3 videos online that it looks like it's the same there as well, no illumination. What a big oversight. I understand you can hit the climate button to get to the on screen controls, but what about the volume? You've got the steering wheel controls, but your passenger is left pulling out a flashlight for volume controls? It's 2021, it shouldn't be this complicated.

 

I'm wondering if the lights were off in that Jalopnik vehicle. Here's a nighttime interior shot from VW's website and you can clearly see the volume and temp buttons are illuminated.

 

Now that's very interesting

 

Interesting. Which VW website?

 

Volkswagen ID.4 EV named to Autotrader list of 10 Best Car Interiors under $50,000 for 2021

Volkswagen of America, Inc. is pleased to announce that the all-new ID.4 EV was named to Autotrader’s list of 10 Best Car Interiors Under $50,000 for 2021.

media.vw.com

 

After test driving the ID.4 and Mach-E this week the layout of the ID.4 is better. The screen placement on the Mach-E was off it was almost to close and to low. Not being angled towards the drive made it harder to read too. The Mach-E has a more premium feel to it. Then again there was a $10K+ difference between the two EVs.

 

I did the roadshow drive and it was at night. Confirmed it's not lit up. I was so confused trying to find it as I first stepped into the car since the Audi was playing as I entered the car. Weird omission for sure.

 

It's sadly not lit up. Could be interior lights which looks like it lits them up.

 

So how much of a problem is that for you?

 

I will suggest that before we spin out of control on this that you go see the vehicle in person. Yes, it is a stupid thing, but I noticed on my current car that the temperature controls are not the best lit either. As I said in my review, the ambient light from the display doesn't make it all that difficult. But to each their own.

 

Not good to easily generalizing things. At my screen color and settings the area is pitch black. Nothing to see at all.

 

It seems like the ID.4 has a few annoying interior things like this. Maybe they are deal breakers for some, but to me they are small potatoes that will be easily adjusted to with time. Simply put, there still aren't a plethora of "long range" EVs available to the general public and each offering has plenty of annoying little things to consider. Personally, the relative cost, comfort, and finished/familiar car feel of the VW ID.4 make the strange button choices tolerable compared to the Bolt, Mach E, and Tesla offerings. Sure, I could continue to wait for the entire industry to lock in the perfect config, but I'm in the market for a new EV in the next few months, not years.

 

That picture potentially has an important clue: if you look in the volume slider you can see Infrared LEDs built into the slider, they appear as little purple dots and are probably only visible in pictures. But they may have something to do with the gesture controls, or perhaps even the reliability of the sliders themselves. I really don't know, and am guessing, but it seems likely to me that they perhaps used to illuminate the controls, but that interfered with whatever those IR LEDs are doing, so they made the decision to get rid of the backlight to preserve that other function. There are certainly more possible answers to this missing feature than just cost cutting or an oversight by the designers.

 

Interesting speculation.i wonder if VW technician can help us. Is there an option to remove the panel and mount an led and connect it to another panel light?

 

I remember reading somewhere (sorry can't find it) that VW representative admitted it's their blunder. Oh well. It certainly is annoying.

 

Thanks. The exact photo I was looking for

 

Use the overhead center console driver's and/or passenger's map/reading/spot lights to illuminate the HVAC control at night.

 

I've had my ID.4 for two weeks now and that my biggest issue at first - climate and volume not lit up. However, I never use the volume under the screen, always on the steering wheel. I keep climate control in auto and it took me about a week to build the muscle memory of knowing where to tap. Still, no excuse for this oversight, but I've gotten used to it.

 

Is it lit up on the steering wheel?

Dave

 

Having owned the car for almost a year now I can confirm this design oversight on the volume/climate controls has been consistently annoying. What’s just as frustrating is that reviews of the Buzz show the exact same setup. Are VW engineers living in a bubble where they get no feedback from drivers?

 

I'm puzzled by this. There are at least two workarounds, if I understand correctly:

1. Use the lighted haptic buttons on the steering wheel
2. Push the lighted "Clima" (sic) button to bring up the on screen controls and simply make the changes on screen.

Am I missing something? (and I might be, since I don't have my ID.4 yet).

Dave

 

I agree, it’s a stupid omission especially considering these aren’t really “buttons”. You can’t even feel your way through It.

however, even during the day time, I find it easier to touch the bottom left of the screen which takes me to the climate controls. It’s easier to see and touch. For volume, I have never once used those ”buttons”, I always use the steering wheel controls.

 

I plan to model a 3d printed accessory once I get my ID.4 (within a month) to partially solve this problem.

Some sort of cover that sits over the volume/temperature panel, and has inserts that fit glow in the dark pieces of filament. Not sure how much it glows or how long the glow lasts since I've never used it.

Alternatively, I could probably do a small little glow in the dark "disk" with an icon on it that gets double-sided tape'd to the icons embedded in the sliders, something to feel for and glow?

I've thought about a design with an embedded LED and light sensor to shine on the panel. I'd need to get power to it. A rechargeable AAA battery maybe? Maybe a tiny solar panel + battery + LED like you'd see in a solar garden lamp.

 

Kinda pathetic picture actually.

 

Oh man, some of you guys are so slow. Didn't see the emoji?

 

Don’t worry their tip top engineers will get right on the serious problem the buyers discovered, eh? 🙀

Me? I’m still saving for my dream Red Barchetta…

 

Don’t worry their tip top engineers will get right on the serious problem the buyers discovered, eh? 🙀

In addition to others who have stated that the backlit buttons are to be there in the future, here's a mention that they already were supposed to be implemented with "the facelift", which presumably means the MY2023 in Europe, as there were only small cosmetic changes to the GTX and basically nothing to non-GTX.

While it's not VW, it's someone who seems to have a relationship with them (to get access to the new 4motion AWD, in addition to being one of the first one's to review the ID.5 last spring), so one could assume that VW would tell him (and Chris of Battery Life, who has made the same claim) to knock it off if they were wrong. VW has previously given Chris information with an embargo before he can talk about it.

 

People are all upset about not getting OTA software updates, but then when the "illuminated sliders" OTA update comes out--along with a subscription fee--to turn on the lights, there will be even more complaints.

 

Do the TN ID4s have backlit climate controls?

 

“TN ID.4s”???

On edit: Oh! “ID.4s manufactured in Tennessee! I see!”

 

This option will be available later this year, also available from the parts department for retrofit.

 

Fixing it or updating it would be admitting they initially screwed up. Seems like an opportunity for a VW aftermarket supplier. Lots of available ID.x EVs out there.
I'd pay $50-75 for a lighted panel with included wiring that wouldn't require coding, maybe 🤔.

 

Fixing it or updating it would be admitting they initially screwed up.

They have admitted it, and they have said that illuminated controls are coming, in addition to more actual buttons on the steering wheel (and infotainment, probably, it wasn't clear).

 

They've publicly acknowledged it even going back as far summer of '21, before they were talking about a "fix" or design change. That's why I was shocked ("Shocked, I tell ya!") that they let this slide into the Buzz. At that point, everybody ought to be looking for it.