NHTSA complaint #11590449

Owner complaint summary

The Marin Volkswagen dealer informs me that the JX4 electric drive motor, control electronics 2 and high voltage control module on my 2023 Volkswagen ID.4 all failed and need to be replaced. I am informed that a Volkswagen field representative went out to the Marin dealership and confirmed the necessity of these repairs. On [XXX], 2024, I was driving in the fast lane of [XXX] at a speed of somewhere between 65 /70 miles per hour when I heard a loud "pop" sound and a warning appeared on my dashboard indicating a system failure and warning me to immediately pull over. I had lost all motor power and had to use whatever remaining momentum I had to immediately get over to the right hand shoulder in rush hour traffic. Mine and the safety of all other drivers in the area were compromised because I could have been rear-ended at high speed if I had instead hit my brakes and lost momentum in getting over to the shoulder. I was lucky to have reacted in the manner that I did in maintaining my remaining momentum. There was a very minimal shoulder available for me to pull off on. A Marin County sheriff was able to pull up behind me with flashing lights to warn drivers in the right lane to steer clear and avoid my vehicle. I had the vehicle towed to the nearest VW dealership. I had charged the car at an Electrify America station in San Francisco about an hour prior to the incident and the car had sufficient battery power (approx. 80%). I had no prior indicators that there was any problem with the vehicle. At the time of the incident, I had previously received all software updates and had the 30K maintenance service on [XXX], 2023 at Dirito Bros. Volkswagen in Walnut Creek, CA. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)