Volkswagen’s EV battery recall reaches over 85,000, with Audi now included — SkimNews
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- Volkswagen expanded its battery recall to 85,402 EVs worldwide after the KBA added 12,734 Audi Q4 E-Tron and Q4 Sportback E-Tron vehicles on October 27.
- KBA is investigating three recalls covering 72,668 VW Group EVs, including 9,881 in Germany, across selected ID. Buzz, ID.3, ID.4 and ID.7 batches made from 2022 to 2025 and Cupra Born vehicles made from 2022 to 2024.
- Volkswagen had already recalled 22,524 U.S. ID.4 electric SUVs for model years 2023–2026; an October 23 filing to NHTSA covers 9,048 U.S. Q4 E-Tron and Q4 Sportback E-Tron vehicles for 2024–2025.
- Volkswagen said certain charging profiles combined with a state of charge above 80% may trigger thermal propagation, so it urged an 80% charging cap while the root cause remains unknown.
- Audi found that affected Q4s shared the same battery and production characteristics as other recalled VW Group EVs after being alerted to thermal events in models using those batteries; most Q4s were produced for North America.
- Audi reports no claims, crashes, fires, injuries or deaths tied to the Q4 battery issue, while U.S. authorized dealers will run battery diagnostics and impose a temporary 80% limit if needed.
Why it matters: The practical consequence for Audi is immediate: 12,734 Q4 vehicles worldwide, including 9,048 in the U.S., are directed to cap charging at 80%, and U.S. owners can obtain dealer diagnostics. The key counterpoint is that Audi reports no Q4 crashes, fires, injuries or deaths, while the shared-battery root cause remains unknown.
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