[voxel]

I want to keep this thread open for a while to see how many folks have (or will) encounter this issue. This is not related to the battery coolant pump nor steering position switch.

Problem: ID.4 will fire a series of errors “Electrical system not working correctly”, "Travel Assist malfunction", "12V vehicle battery", etc. then seconds later will shutdown as if the operating system got reset. Only error icons on the dashboard appear and the infotainment screen shows the time and temperature. Both screens remain blank otherwise. It took approx 10minutes before the car would restart.

Suspected source: When the ID.4 is driven over large puddles and absorbs water, it can seep into areas and causes possibly shorts. This is the EV specialist + dealer's theory. They kept asking me if I drove over water even before performing tests on it and I suspect they've seen other cases.

My dealer found zero error codes in the car. They also load tested the 12V battery and found no issue with it either. I drove 60+ miles tonight after leaving the dealership without a problem (I also drove the ID.4 to the dealership a day after the shutdown).

During the weekend before the electrical system failure it poured in Florida - heavy rains that caused flash floods in some parts of city I'm in. I drove over a dozen puddles that were 8+ inches deep... this is not unusual. The shutdown happened 16+ hours after driving through the puddles. I had already driven 70+ miles that day also. And to be very clear - I've never seen a single HV battery error.

 

[Dana]

It seems odd to me that car can trigger warning messages yet not trigger an error code. Why can't the car save and date stamp important, infrequent messages like "electrical system not working correctly"? Why does the driver have to remember or take photos of messages and then relay that info to the service dept? I get ghost messages in my Pro, but they sometimes don't stay on screen long enough to read in traffic. And so far as I know I can't bring those messages back up on the screen. At the very least we should be able to bring the last message, or last few messages, back up to view when we are at a stop. Electrical problems can be hard to find so why not program the computers to save more data?

 

[JimmyVW]

Dealer is simply lying, ehm well lets say simplifying the truth, or incompetent. The car saves every error with time stamp and often mileage counter. You can read them out via OBD2 dongle and e.g. a tool like car scanner.

puzzle is probably more that they see the old errors but no new error at the moment, so they can’t dig deeper to find which components cause it.

Afaik all components are heavily sealed with water resisting seals, but then again driving at speed through 8 inches of water isn’t something I’d feel comfy with in my ICE either. Maybe @VW TECHNICIAN can shed some light on the water resistance of the electrical system

 

[voxel]

Dealer is simply lying, ehm well lets say simplifying the truth, or incompetent. The car saves every error with time stamp and often mileage counter. You can read them out via OBD2 dongle and e.g. a tool like car scanner.

puzzle is probably more that they see the old errors but no new error at the moment, so they can’t dig deeper to find which components cause it.

Afaik all components are heavily sealed with water resisting seals, but then again driving at speed through 8 inches of water isn’t something I’d feel comfy with in my ICE either. Maybe @VW TECHNICIAN can shed some light on the water resistance of the electrical system

Yeah I am seriously considering buying one of those dongles. I briefly considered the dealership to be possibly incompetent but I did ask questions about the tests performed and they did answer satisfactorily. They have an EV specialist dedicated to these cars - he/she is only available a few days a week. This person might work for the parent VW auto group (there are multiple locations).

The car did shutoff. Computers when they crash or have their power source removed - don't always save out data.

Regardless, they told me they sent the logs to VW for analysis and I plan to drive through pools of water when it rains here (it's been a very wet Sept).

This is the image of the dashboard not long after the electrical failure

 

[Eyegautdis]

I had to drive in the recent hurricane. Huge puddles/sitting water on the side of the road. Nothing popped up.. I was talking it easy though... Hopefully its not a systemic issue.

 

[JimmyVW]

Regardless, they told me they sent the logs to VW for analysis and I plan to drive through pools of water when it rains here (it's been a very wet Sept).

This is the image of the dashboard not long after the electrical failure

At what speeds did you drive through them?

I currently have a cheap dongle, but am planning to either order a hexnet V2 cable from Ross.net
Or a dongle from OBDeleven.
Mainly because these also allow to change values in the car, e.g. like reprogramming the lane assist to retain the last setting used or resetting the airbag error light, etc

 

[VW TECHNICIAN]

If they had suspicion of testing 12V battery...they did see history of every error and stam when it happened and various other information while it happened...so your statement is appropriate post to his post about the dealer. .....nothing more or less.
Driving through 8 inches of water quite slow will not have any effect on performance. ...approaching this with 20-30 mph could result in ripping plastic shield underneath and have possibility of water damage.

Dealer is simply lying, ehm well lets say simplifying the truth, or incompetent. The car saves every error with time stamp and often mileage counter. You can read them out via OBD2 dongle and e.g. a tool like car scanner.

puzzle is probably more that they see the old errors but no new error at the moment, so they can’t dig deeper to find which components cause it.

Afaik all components are heavily sealed with water resisting seals, but then again driving at speed through 8 inches of water isn’t something I’d feel comfy with in my ICE either. Maybe @VW TECHNICIAN can shed some light on the water resistance of the electrical system

 

[Skimmilkkid]

Don’t think this is related to water. It happened to me in Southern California and my car hasn’t seen water in weeks (beyond a hand car wash a few days ago)

was driving down the highway using travel assist. Then boom, warning lights, everything shuts off. It seemed like I was still able to go drive though at least? Within 15 seconds both screens had rebooted and I was back up and going

 

[ID.4 GUINEA PIG]

I want to keep this thread open for a while to see how many folks have (or will) encounter this issue. This is not related to the battery coolant pump nor steering position switch.

Problem: ID.4 will fire a series of errors “Electrical system not working correctly”, "Travel Assist malfunction", "12V vehicle battery", etc. then seconds later will shutdown as if the operating system got reset. Only error icons on the dashboard appear and the infotainment screen shows the time and temperature. Both screens remain blank otherwise. It took approx 10minutes before the car would restart.

Suspected source: When the ID.4 is driven over large puddles and absorbs water, it can seep into areas and causes possibly shorts. This is the EV specialist + dealer's theory. They kept asking me if I drove over water even before performing tests on it and I suspect they've seen other cases.

My dealer found zero error codes in the car. They also load tested the 12V battery and found no issue with it either. I drove 60+ miles tonight after leaving the dealership without a problem (I also drove the ID.4 to the dealership a day after the shutdown).

During the weekend before the electrical system failure it poured in Florida - heavy rains that caused flash floods in some parts of city I'm in. I drove over a dozen puddles that were 8+ inches deep... this is not unusual. The shutdown happened 16+ hours after driving through the puddles. I had already driven 70+ miles that day also. And to be very clear - I've never seen a single HV battery error.

I had all those errors since June. Dealer couldn't find anything wrong since restarting the car cleared the errors but they spoke to VW and consequently ordered a new control arm for the gear selector. It's running fine now about 1 week after repair.

 

[JimmyVW]

Yeah generally the gear selector switch can cause errors like these, but definitely not always. It’s therefore hard to generalize about the cause of these errors.

 

[voxel]

At what speeds did you drive through them?

I currently have a cheap dongle, but am planning to either order a hexnet V2 cable from Ross.net
Or a dongle from OBDeleven.
Mainly because these also allow to change values in the car, e.g. like reprogramming the lane assist to retain the last setting used or resetting the airbag error light, etc

In FL cities every road is 30+ mph... even the smaller local ones. I was probably driving 30mph on the smaller roads and 40mph on the main road (which also had overflowing pools of water).

What's the best dongle for reading these errors? Reprogramming Lane Assist to retain settings would be nice too.

 

[voxel]

Don’t think this is related to water. It happened to me in Southern California and my car hasn’t seen water in weeks (beyond a hand car wash a few days ago)

was driving down the highway using travel assist. Then boom, warning lights, everything shuts off. It seemed like I was still able to go drive though at least? Within 15 seconds both screens had rebooted and I was back up and going

Interesting. You said you had the ability to drive after? After the flash of warnings, I started turning into the right turn lane and that's when everything finally shutoff.

 

[ID.4 GUINEA PIG]

I had all those errors since June. Dealer couldn't find anything wrong since restarting the car cleared the errors but they spoke to VW and consequently ordered a new control arm for the gear selector. It's running fine now about 1 week after repair.

So the part they replaced is called a WJW Switch. Specifically: 953-508-A-WJW Switch

 

[dg4prez]

At what speeds did you drive through them?

I currently have a cheap dongle, but am planning to either order a hexnet V2 cable from Ross.net
Or a dongle from OBDeleven.
Mainly because these also allow to change values in the car, e.g. like reprogramming the lane assist to retain the last setting used or resetting the airbag error light, etc

My understanding is that most of the modules are locked and cannot be edited, now.

 

[JimmyVW]

My understanding is that most of the modules are locked and cannot be edited, now.

some are open and things like lane assist and easy entry are not locked

 

[Andy at Ross-Tech.com]

So the part they replaced is called a WJW Switch. Specifically: 953-508-A-WJW Switch

Was there more to the number than just that? Maybe 3 digits before the 953?

Edit: I think I found it. WJW is just the color. The part is:
1EA 953 508 A WJW
steering col. combi switch
electric white/traffic grey

It's the selector lever as you mentioned earlier, the P-R-D-B thing.

 

[PANZERidIV]

If my VW shut off while I was driving it I would give it back and demand another one. I didn’t buy a Tesla!

 

[voxel]

If my VW shut off while I was driving it I would give it back and demand another one. I didn’t buy a Tesla!

An update:

Andy's video best represents what I experienced before shutdown. A flurry of random errors - then both screens going dark (with only warning symbols shown). However, I never saw the infamous battery coolant pump error screen and dealer found no error code.

I drove it another 1500+ miles without the problem re-appearing. The ID.4 had the usual litany of glitches that did not affect the drivetrain. The only time the car shutdown again randomly was during a EVGo DC charge and when it restarted all my measurements where in metric. Shrug. I also DC charged at dozen plus times after (usually short 20 kWh on the way back from trips) with no issues. The car drove great. No complaints.

I traded it for a Model Y which I drove for about a month then trade that for a Mach-E RWD - which is currently my favorite EV of all. The Model Y was flawless except the known panel gaps and outdated maps. It was blistering fast and smooth but lacked a soul.

I have a Kings red Pro S AWD on order but may cancel until I hear more about fixes/updates.

 

[tomilee78]

Same here, random errors going on and off. No issue in driving. The vehicle seemed to be manufactured prematurely. I hope they can push out 3.0 update soon which is supposed to fix many glitches.