Volkswagen recalls more than 22,500 ID.4 EVs and tells owners to charge to just 80% — SkimNews
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- Volkswagen told the NHTSA on October 6 it would recall 22,524 ID.4 SUVs (model years 2023–2026) over a potential battery fire risk, with the root cause still unknown.
- VW warned that charging the high-voltage battery above 80% capacity in affected vehicles could trigger "thermal propagation," the industry term for a fire inside the battery pack.
- The recall comes after VW's earlier campaign earlier this year pulled back nearly 100,000 EVs globally, including nearly 44,000 US-market ID.4s.
- VW has logged 22 claims related to the issue between January 18, 2024 and August 7, 2026, and the Volkswagen Group Product Safety Committee has asked cell supplier SK Battery America for additional production clarifications and a potential clean date.
- Owner notification letters are scheduled to mail on November 27, 2026, with a second round to follow once a fix is available; the interim guidance is a hard 80% charging cap (VW recall number 93EX; NHTSA campaign number 26V630).
Why it matters: ID.4 owners gain a real but unconfirmed fire risk if they charge past 80%, and VW's only current mitigation is an owner-imposed charging cap with no published fix date. VW has been collecting claims since January 2024, meaning the company has known about potential issues for years without delivering a remedy.
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