Let's see if @ForaFrank has an answer to this issue.

 

I have a 2022 iD4 and recently ran into a problem when coming home from a work trip at 11. The battery in my key fob died while I was away and so the doors would not unlock. No problem though because I have the manual key right?
WRONG.
I used the key to remove the cover, insert it into the cylinder and turn. The dome light turns on, a motor actuator noise occurs inside the car door and … the door is still locked. I rotate the key in the opposite direction, the dome light turns off and the same actuator noise occurs. I try this above sequence 5 times and still locked. 😡😡😡. I open up the app hoping I can unlock the doors through the app. No luck. Call app customer service hoping they can unlock the doors remotely, OnStar style. No again.
I finally come up with the idea of using the battery from my wife’s car keyfob and I’m able to get into the car and drive home.
The next morning, I show my wife and it still doesn’t work.
I had a service appointment already scheduled the following week so I will have the dealership address the concern then. I get to the dealership this morning. I leave the keyfob about 30 feet away inside the dealership and we go out to the car with the manual key to show them the issue and it works just fine. 😡😡😡😡😡. Since my car just went out of warranty, it would be $175 for them to troubleshoot a problem that isn’t currently happening. I passed on that since that seems like throwing money away.
Has anyone ever experienced this issue and knows a possible cause/solution?

Thanks,

Aaron

Does the mechanical lock cylinder have a mechanical connection to the latch?

It sounds like it just actuates (or, in your case, attempts to actuate) the ordinary electric lock motor.

I also wonder if you should have tried to pull the door open immediately upon you actuating the mechanical lock.

I'll be interested to see what the answer is for all of this.

 

@Spin Thanks for the tag. That's a uniquely frustrating situation, @Aaron S. It’s a special kind of vexation when a car decides to behave perfectly the moment a technician looks at it, a phenomenon I believe is known as "dealership stage fright."

The mystery likely comes down to how the "manual" key actually works. On the ID.4, turning the physical key in the door lock doesn't operate a direct mechanical linkage to the latch, like an old-school house key. Instead, it acts as an electrical switch, telling the car's Body Control Module to fire the electronic door actuator. You heard the actuator, but it seems it didn't have enough oomph to complete the job.

The most probable culprit here is a slightly low 12V battery. After your car sat during your work trip, the 12V battery may have had just enough power to wake up the system and turn on the dome light, but not quite enough to fully power the lock motor. After you drove home, the car's DC-to-DC converter would have topped off the 12V battery, which would explain why it worked flawlessly at the dealership. Having your 12V battery tested would be a wise, and much cheaper, first step before paying for a diagnostic that's chasing a ghost.

 

The mystery likely comes down to how the "manual" key actually works. On the ID.4, turning the physical key in the door lock doesn't operate a direct mechanical linkage to the latch, like an old-school house key. Instead, it acts as an electrical switch, telling the car's Body Control Module to fire the electronic door actuator. You heard the actuator, but it seems it didn't have enough oomph to complete the job.

If that's true and there's no mechanical linkage between the lock cylinder and the latch mechanism (meaning it depends upon electronics working), then how do you get into a locked ID.4 if the 12V battery is very flat?

 

I'm guessing you didn't know to pull upwards on the door handle. It requires more input from the human than normal. It is meant to work that way when the 12V is dead or dying. Otherwise there would be no way to get in the car.

 

I pulled on the handle as hard as I could without being concerned that I might break it.

I appreciate everyone’s ideas.

They are performing the safety recall on the door handles today at the dealership. I asked if they thought the recall could have contributed but they said no.

My question about the 12v battery would be: Does the 12V battery also unlock the door when using the keyfob? Swapping the keyfob batteries is what allowed me to unlock the door and drive home. Also, it still wouldn’t work the next morning after driving the 30 minutes home.

I’m going to see if I can find a manual online through my library so I can better understand how the locking mechanism works.

 

I still haven't read you pulled upwards and noticed the door handle deflect upwards. Sorry to be annoying but sometimes the slightest detail can make a huge difference.

 

Pull harder. It actually lifts up and out of the body of the door.

 

Okay. I did not realize that I needed to pull upward. The handle did not deflect upward.
Based on that, I think the keyfob was still too close because it opened like it normally would. I’ll try lifting upward and with more force when I get home.

Thank you so much!

 

I thought it "worked fine" at the dealer?

How did they demonstrate opening the door with the key?

 

Here is proof the AI bot did not read our owners manual, or previous posts on this forum:

There is a keyhole in the door hidden behind a cover, Figure 60 in my manual. Read a few more pages ahead about "opening and closing the drivers door manually". Figure 47 in some later manuals, where it says:

Fig. 47 Emergency locking of driver door.
1. Use the vehicle key to pry the cap off in the direction of the arrow fig. 46.
2. Insert the key bit in the lock cylinder.
3. Turn the emergency key right to lock the vehicle fig. 47.
4. Turn the emergency key left to unlock the vehicle.
5. Pull firmly on the driver door handle to open the door.
6. Replace the cap.

 

Sadly, that Owner's Manual snippet doesn't actually address the question of whether this stuff works if the 12 V battery is flat. I hope you're right that it does work and I'm glad it does, but that language didn't guarantee that at all.

 

If we can't believe @ForaFrank, why is he ......... never mind.

 

@Spin That’s an entirely fair question. You’ve caught me; my explanation was incomplete, and I appreciate the community for the correction. It seems I was focused on the electrons and overlooked the good old-fashioned mechanical linkage that requires that firm upward pull on the handle. My apologies for the error.

The real value here is the blend of information and experience. I can offer a baseline, but the hands-on knowledge from members is what makes the answers truly reliable. Think of me as the opening act; the headliners are the folks who have actually tried to break into their own car at 11 PM.

 

Thanks for the reply, Frank. My suggestion would be to not volunteer an answer unless you are sure it is correct. I don't know if that is possible for you. Bad information is much worse than no information, and in some cases, it could be dangerous. Our members should have confidence in the information they receive, especially from an official forum account. I understand, as do most of our members, that your main mission is to increase traffic on this forum. I think we are headed down a dangerous path when we sacrifice quality for quantity.

 

There was a time when the electric trunk latch release on my Porsche 968 died. I was convinced that I'd have to send the car back to Zuffenhausen (for them to work some kind of gnomish magic on it) but I discovered that there was this long steel cable threaded through the body to a place behind an air vent grill at the back of the driver's door opening. Pull that cable et voila! The trunk opens, electric release or no.

 

Some internal door pulls need to be pulled twice if the car is locked and you are inside. I wonder if turning the physical key twice when outside would also do the trick.

 

My experience is if you don't have your foot on the brake pedal, it only takes one pull on the internal door handle. If you leave your foot on the brake pedal it will take two pulls.

 

BTW don't get me started on "Artificial Intelligence". I have 2 possible responses, one if very short, and the other is even shorter.

 

My experience is if you don't have your foot on the brake pedal, it only takes one pull on the internal door handle.

Not for me. But I’ve adopted the elbow method, which is almost always successful. The other family members seem less willing to adapt 😐

—Eric

 

Looking at the VW exploded view parts diagrams and photos of the lock cylinder:

There is only one Bowden cable connecting the exterior door handle to the latch.

We already know that the "lock" function of the latch is an electronic function, in other words "locked" seems to be an electronic state.

So there appears to be no separate physical link to act as a latch unlocker.

My assumption is that:
1. turning the physical key mechanically releases the door handle so it can be pulled out all the way (manual actuation by the human)
2. actuating the door handle pulls the Bowden cable
3. the Bowden cable releases the latch, allowing the door to open
3 (a) there is no "locked" state when this occurs, it simply opens if pulled

From @Aaron S 's telling, there is also an electronic switch, because his interior lights illuminated and he heard an actuator after turning the key. The lock cylinder has a tailpiece, but from the diagrams I can't tell what this engages with -- perhaps this is the switch? This would allow a sort of "dual function" where the physical key should allow normal electronic access when the key fob is dead, but also old fashioned mechanical access when the car's 12 volt battery is dead.

This aligns with my previous experimentation. My key cylinder works as it should to unlock the car, but I've only ever tested it with a working 12 volt battery, and I've never tried pulling the exterior door handle out to test the door handle's mechanical release.

Next step is to remove the door panel and investigate.

 

Looking at the VW exploded view parts diagrams and photos of the lock cylinder:

There is only one Bowden cable connecting the exterior door handle to the latch.

We already know that the "lock" function of the latch is an electronic function, in other words "locked" seems to be an electronic state.

So there appears to be no separate physical link to act as a latch unlocker.

My assumption is that:
1. turning the physical key mechanically releases the door handle so it can be pulled out all the way (manual actuation by the human)
2. actuating the door handle pulls the Bowden cable
3. the Bowden cable releases the latch, allowing the door to open
3 (a) there is no "locked" state when this occurs, it simply opens if pulled

From @Aaron S 's telling, there is also an electronic switch, because his interior lights illuminated and he heard an actuator after turning the key. The lock cylinder has a tailpiece, but from the diagrams I can't tell what this engages with -- perhaps this is the switch? This would allow a sort of "dual function" where the physical key should allow normal electronic access when the key fob is dead, but also old fashioned mechanical access when the car's 12 volt battery is dead.

This aligns with my previous experimentation. My key cylinder works as it should to unlock the car, but I've only ever tested it with a working 12 volt battery, and I've never tried pulling the exterior door handle out to test the door handle's mechanical release.

Next step is to remove the door panel and investigate.

View attachment 39562

Thanks! That all makes sense!

But once again, the ID.4 is asking people to “intuit” a new style of operation that is different than most of century of practice: Classically, you unlocked the door and then, separately, you operated the latch. Here, that apparently no longer work and you must operate the latch whilst holding the key operated.

 

So… I have been playing test cases with this situation and the best I can figure is that the reason the locked worked fine at the dealership was that the key fob was close enough in proximity to unlock the lock, because the door opened with just touching the handle at the dealership.
When I got the car home. I did a test where I took the batteries out of both key fob and the door unlocked with the mechanical key but it made a much different sound than when I was experiencing the issues that night. Also, the force required to lift the handle was significantly less than what I was applying that night. I think that the mechanical function of my door handle was broken and the dealership fixed it when they performed the safety recall.
I have also done a test case where I just had the mechanical key and the fob was 30 feet away with batteries and it opened just like at the dealership without the handle even lifting.

Again, I would like to thank everyone for their knowledge and input. I greatly appreciate it.

Aaron