Volkswagen Id 4
Problems & Worst Years

Volkswagen's ID.4 carries one of the more serious complaint profiles in this data set, with unintended-acceleration reports recurring across all three model years covered here. In 2021, 45 occurrences describe the vehicle accelerating unexpectedly, filed under the transmission system; by 2022 a similar pattern reappears as 24 reports of unintended acceleration paired with loss of control, this time logged against the braking system; and in 2023 it surges to 84 occurrences — the single largest complaint of any kind for the ID.4 in this data — filed under the electrical system. Whatever the underlying cause, owners across three consecutive years are describing the same basic complaint: the car moving on its own.

Screen and dashboard failures form the second major thread. The infotainment and instrument displays reportedly went dark 69 times in 2021, and a related dashboard and screen failure recurred 37 times in 2022 and 34 times in 2023, alongside a 2021 report of 19 high-voltage battery issues. Door operation problems and exterior lighting complaints round out a picture where the electrical architecture — screens, doors, lights, battery — is the most frequently cited source of trouble across all three years.

Recall activity is unusually heavy for this model. The 2021 model year carries six campaigns, shortened here as 21V606, 21V607, 21V852, 22V162, 23V040, and 25V120 — and 18 owners separately complained about a recall not being resolved. The 2023 model year carries seven campaigns of its own — 22V830, 22V956, 25V120, 25V434, 25V836, 26V028, and 26V030 — including one tied to complaints about the back-over prevention system, plus a 39-occurrence steering column module failure and 18 reports of service brake issues, both flagged at safety severity. The 2022 model year has no recall campaigns on file and the lowest total complaint count of the three (132), making it comparatively the cleanest year here even though its own unintended-acceleration cluster shouldn't be ignored.

A used ID.4 buyer should treat a full recall-completion check as non-negotiable — not just confirming a campaign was issued, but that it was performed on that VIN. Beyond that, these are complaints filed with NHTSA rather than a measured failure rate, and newer model years have had less time on the road to accumulate reports; a thorough pre-purchase inspection with documented service history remains the best way to judge an individual car.