[Atlant]

I have a "fun" problem which is unique to my car. Recently my driver door handle died. The emergency release works, but electronic part is not working. I have taken the car to the service a week ago to diagnose for this problem and now just waiting for the handle part to come in. Since I wasn't given an estimate when the part may arrive I decided to keep driving the car. Opening the door is a bit of hassle and driver door cannot be locked anymore, but this isn't as bad of an issue as the door may randomly open during the drive. It wouldn't be so much of an issue if it opened slightly but stay latched, but it can actually swing open if it happens during the turn so I keep my hand ready on the handle. So, yes, it will be eventually fixed, but I am really concerned with these electronic doors, the behavior of the faulty electronic mechanism and their longevity.

The latch/lock mechanisms of the ID.4 doors are excessively complex and represent another area where the designers threw away 100 years of automotive engineering practice in favor of “Wow! Wouldn't it be KEWL if we did this…”

And I would NEVER drive a car where the door can fully unlatch randomly but that's just me.

 

[Atlant]

If a door opening and closing procedure needs time to figure it out, then VW have failed. A simple function shouldn't require a learning curve.

I've gotten exactly this reaction when I've raised issues. And I've seen this reaction to others when they've raised issues. But I 100% agree with your view.

Here are some ID.4 things that require lengthy explanations but shouldn't:

• Locking and unlocking the doors.
• Unlatching the doors.
• Operating the child safety locks.
• Operating the dome light (cabin interior lighting).
• Basic operation of the headlights and parking lights.
• Operating the High beams.
• Unplugging the J1772 charging connector.
• Turning the radio on and off.
• And doubtless others…

 

[Atlant]

Yup and I got a call today from advisor, they asked me about whether it was raining or car was washed as well because they have another car in their shop with the same issue. Likely bad seal and water damage caused this, but waiting for confirmation.

There's an old software joke:

“If architects designed buildings the way software engineers design software, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy half of civilization.”

I'm reminded of this joke more and more as we discover all the real-world things that seem to pose challenges to the design of the ID.4.

 

[Atlant]

We took an AWD ID.4 for test drive, the radio was playing and we could not figure out how to turn off radio, so we just turned sound all the way down. That made navigation voice silent, so to just hear navigation we turned audio back up and endured the radio. When we got back to the dealership we asked the salesman to show us how to turn off the radio and he could not figure it out. He just kept going into audio options and telling us what those options did (volume, fader etc). He gave up and said "you can just go on YouTube and I'm sure somebody has made a video on how you control the radio". Shows both how complex the car is and how gifted and informed the sales people are.

There are actually separate volume settings for the “Audio” (radio, etc.) and the announcements, but it's easy to accidentally turn down the volume of the announcements when you were only trying to affect the radio: just start adjusting the volume at the same time that the car starts an announcement. Then you'll be digging through the menus to turn the announcement volume back up again.

 

[Atlant]

So, I'm afraid there's no way for me to explain this that won't make you and the dealer feel a little silly... to stop the radio playing, just tap the "power" button under the infotainment screen. I have circled it in red here, but if it's hard to see, it's like a computer power icon - a circle with a line through the top of it. It also restarts the music if you want to hear it again.
View attachment 20317

Also, if the audio is set to “Favorites” and is displaying the pop-from-the-right big per-channel display (that for the Radio shows the RDS data), there's an explicit “Mute” button (icon) shown on that screen. (I have no idea why other screens don't also have a mute button.)

 

[Atlant]

No one noticed anything new/different/odd about how the doors operate. I just used them like I've used car doors all my life. Granted, we didn't use keyless entry, but I don't think that changes anything?

ID.4 doors don't work like every other door you've used all of your life. On the doors you've used all of your life, you pull on a door handle and the door handle moves a significant distance as it actuates the mechanical door latch release. On the ID.4, the door handle moves a smidgen and (usually,) electronics triggers the release of the door latch. If that fails, the ID.4 then lets you pull the handle further and mechanically release the door latch in the conventional fashion.

But this system is very complex and, based on reports here in this forum, quite prone to a variety of failures including failures where it 1) won't electronically release the door latch on command and 2) releases the door latch UNCOMMANDED.

 

[Atlant]

VW advertises this as a feature now...

View attachment 21145

“When life gives you lemons, make YouTube ads!”

 

[Atlant]

I guess this shortage of the handle explains why VW deleted this feature from 2020 Tiguan. 2023 Tiguan now has physical button which you have to press to lock AND unlock as there is no sensor that unlocks the doors when you put your hand behind handle. Change is not obvious until you start using it daily and realize the inconvenience.

This must be one of those cases where YMMV. I've never found the similar arrangement (a physical push button that reliably locks and unlocks the car 100% of the time) to be a problem on either my Chevy Volt or the various Audi loaners I was given through the years. I'll take the button ANY DAY over the Touch Triangle that only works 80% of the time. Those other cars also had the pushbutton ON ALL FOUR DOORS and not just the front doors.

 

[Atlant]

I don't know about that... I had 3 cars already 2019 RAV4, 2020 Highlander, 2020 Escape they all had same functionally with touch lock and sensor in back of the handle to open. (same as 2020 Tiguan) Never failed on me.

So given such established, tried-and-true technology, I wonder what went wrong with the ID.4 that so many of us here are having problems with the Door Lock Triangle?

And in the long run, I winder how much more all the rework-and-repair activities will cost VW than they saved by using the Capacitive-Touch sensors instead of a real switch?

 

[Atlant]

We have a similar issue. We’ve had the ID4 for a few weeks. Early on we had an issue where the vw app would report that one or another door was opened when it was not. We had the dealer come get it and provide us with a loaner. They seemed to reset the computer system, I believe? Then today, as my wife was driving home, the passenger rear door popped open a bit. The red alert showed on the dash. Then when she turned a corner, the door popped wide open. She stopped and pulled into a parking lot and called the dealer. They will be coming to pick up the car later this week ($30 charge) and giving us a loaner. Will report back when we know more. This is NOT safe, to say the least. And these doors are, to put it bluntly, crap!

Please report the incident to NHTSA. The ID.4 doors (in several ways) are just a death waiting to happen.