NHTSA complaint #11521085

Owner complaint summary

I was driving in stop-and-go traffic on 5/3/23 and when I released my foot from the brake to gentle accelerate when traffic ahead of me moved, many error messages flashed on the dashboard and the vehicle did not move. The various errors included "travel assist not available", "forward collision warning not available", "vehicle should NOT be towed", "all wheel drive function is currently limited" and "electrical system warning, please service vehicle". When I pressed the accelerator, the car moved extremely slowly - less than 1mph. I put on my emergency flashers and attempted to move into the right lane and pull over to a safe location (extremely slowly with traffic honking and going around me). I tried turning the car off and turning it back on. Many error messages again, but the car did go a few more feet for me to turn onto a side street and park. At that point the car also started shaking/shuddering. I got out of the vehicle in a safe location and called a tow truck, and the vehicle was taken to the VW dealership. The next day, the service manager told me that they ran the fault codes and started a VW tech ticket and the problem was failure of the rear drive motor (the main motor of the car), which is currently being replaced. I also had a similar incident ~6 months ago where the car suddenly lost power while backing up in a parking garage. After about 10-15 minutes the electronic errors seemed to reset and the car drove normally, but I did take it to the dealership and At that time the control module was replaced. Suddenly losing power while driving is a safety issue because it could easily cause a rear end accident, and it is very difficult to even navigate to a safe location to pull over.