2021 Volkswagen ID.4: lane keeping assist jerks the wheel

Filed Jul 16, 2026 · Electrical, Fuel system · CA

My 2021 Volkswagen ID.4 Pro S has unexpectedly lost propulsion and come to a complete stop while being driven on at least three separate occasions. When this occurs, the vehicle jolts, stops moving, and cannot be placed into Drive or Reverse. I am only able to shift it into Neutral. After the first incident, I took the vehicle to a Volkswagen dealership the following morning. The dealership stated they could not reproduce the problem or identify any faults. The same failure occurred twice in one day this week. During one of those incidents, the vehicle lost propulsion and stopped in the middle of a busy street, creating a serious safety hazard because I was unable to move the vehicle out of traffic. Immediately before and during the failure, the vehicle displayed multiple warning messages, including: Error: Drive system. Please safely stop the vehicle. Electrical system not working correctly. Please service vehicle. Error: Electronic Stability Control (ESC). Front Assist is not available. Lane Assist is currently not available. Rear Traffic Alert is currently not available. Park Distance Control is not available. Error: Auto Hold. These warnings appeared at the same time the vehicle lost propulsion. The vehicle stalled without warning while driving and became undriveable. This is extremely concerning because it can occur suddenly in traffic, placing the driver, passengers, and surrounding motorists at risk of a crash. The vehicle is currently at the Volkswagen dealership for inspection, and I am awaiting their diagnosis. Because this dangerous condition has now occurred multiple times, I am concerned there is a serious defect affecting the vehicle's drive system or electrical system.

Filed Jun 23, 2025 · Driver assistance, Electrical · MD · crash

I was driving my 2021 Volkswagen ID.4 Pro S on March 12, 2025, in Baltimore, Maryland, when I was involved in a motor vehicle accident. Although I maintained an adequate stopping distance from the truck in front of me, my forward collision warning, lane departure warning, and lane keeping assistance systems suddenly activated, causing my vehicle to make contact with the truck. My safety—and the safety of others—was compromised. My vehicle sustained front-end damage. This was not the first time these systems engaged without cause. I took my vehicle to Heritage Volkswagen Parkville (located in Carney, Maryland) due to unresolved recalls and these irregular system behaviors. The dealership claims that Volkswagen requires me to replace the tires, align the wheels, and install a new 12V battery before completing the recall work or troubleshooting the issue. I informed the service manager that the vehicle is unsafe to drive and that, under federal law, the dealership is obligated to complete the recall. He responded that the recall work cannot proceed until the tire replacement, alignment, and battery installation are completed. As of June 23, 2025, my vehicle remains at the dealership. I have unsuccessfully attempted to reach VW’s Customer CARE department. The vehicle is not safe. I believe VW is at fault.

Filed Jun 8, 2025 · Tires · WA

In Sept. 2024 we noticed that the edges of both front tires (Alenza 235/50 R20) had pieces coming off them so we arranged to have the tires replaced at the original dealer from which we had bought the car. They agreed that the tires were failing and replaced them. At that point the tires had only done 11827 miles so I asked if a warranty was applicable that would allow me to get back some of the replacement cost for the two tires. The dealer (Hazelwood Volkswagen of Bremerton, WA) said they would make inquiries and I paid the full price in the meantime. Despite numerous follow up inquiries, as well as contact with both VW USA and Bridgestone, I have not received any response. The suggestion seems to be that original equipment supplied with a new car are not covered by any warranty. After the tires were replaced I turned off the lane assist feature on the vehicle as this often seemed overly active due to random road markings. So far we have put about 3500 miles on the new tires and they seem fine. I have pieces that chipped off the old tires, and the dealer said they would hold the old tires pending a warranty response but that was in September 2024.

Filed Sep 10, 2024 · Driver assistance, Electrical · PA

VW still has not remedied the rebooting screens issue from their May recall. If the main driver information screen shuts off, cruise control and lane keep also shut off, which means the vehicle slows down and will not continue following the lane, resulting in the vehicle possibly being put in a dangerous situation.

Filed Sep 25, 2023 · Driver assistance, Steering · OR

I have had two episodes in which the Lane Keeping Assistance put me at risk of running into a barrier on the freeway. Both happened when traveling in a middle freeway lane that split to an off-ramp (three lanes splitting to two groups of two lanes). In the first, I was taking the left ramp. The car, I think wanting to keep the lane line on my right close, suddenly steered me back to the right and toward the dividing barrier. I was able to overcome it and stay on my planned route but it was close. In the second, there was a car to my right in the right-most lane. I was taking the right exit and used my turn signal to indicate this. As I started to take the exit, turning the wheel to the right, the car forced the wheel back to straight because it thought I was trying to steer into the car to my right (in the next lane, also exiting), and again steered me toward the barrier splitting the ramp from the freeway. I was able to overcome the wheel, but again it was close. In both cases, I think the car is doing what it is designed to do (i.e. nothing is broken) but the design is dangerous. I have talked to the dealer about this problem - they have acknowledged the issue and said a new car would not have this problem. No warning lamps or messages appeared.

Filed May 29, 2023 · Electrical · FL

Instrument cluster returned error "warnings and information not available. Drive with greater care!" While vehicle was in motion. Issue resulted in loss of speedometer and other systeam safety features including blind spot monitoring, lane assist etc. Loss of speedometer while in motion was of the largest concern. The car produces audible alerts for errors such as low tire pressure or low wiper fluid, but this critical error did not.

Filed Aug 30, 2022 · Electrical · MD

All of the safety systems (adaptive cruise control, lane departure, forward collision) and the speedometer all failed while driving at highway speeds. Yes the system is available for inspection, I also have pictures that I took while stopped at a traffic light. I had no safety systems available or any indication of vehicle speed while driving when the failure occurred. I have reported a similar issue with the vehicle to Volkswagen in the past and took it in for repairs in November 2021. The technician could not find any faults despite the multiple pictures of the incident occurring being sent to Volkswagen via email. The Volkswagen case ID for the previous failure of the safety systems was #04978574. The emails are attached to this report. The vehicle was inspected by Fitzgerald Volkswagen in Annapolis, Maryland on 11/29/2021 during a previous report of systems on the vehicle failing randomly. There were warning lights and messages on the heads up display. I have pictures showing this occurring.

Filed Mar 18, 2022 · Driver assistance · CA

Lane keeping assistance is enabled by default and can not be changed while driving. However on the lanes with partially erased lane markings , markings created due to previous road repairs - car thinks vehicle is going out of the lane and pulls the car in . significant places where i drive car keeps pulling to the side . If you are driving on a highway this is very pronounced . Driving on highway with high wind conditions this has created hazardous situation where I almost lost control (Highway 5 near coalinga Californai). This has been a problem in high traffic conditions , curvy roads (Highway 17 in California) . Current implementation of the feature is safety issue . either they shall disable this feature or ability to disable this feature permanently or need to fix.

Filed Mar 15, 2022 · Driver assistance · OH

The automatic emergency braking system does not work at all. The lane keeping assistance feature has tried to ram me into concrete walls on the freeway. It has tried to ram me into metal exit fencing. It has tried to ram me into semi trucks. it has tried to run me off the road entirely. This system reacts inappropriately and when it reacts it over corrects by a large margin. It also cannot detect most types of lane markings. This happens all the time it isn't a single incident. Did I mention that there is no way to permanently disable the system?

Filed Feb 22, 2022 · Driver assistance, Electrical · TX

On multiple occasions, my brand new ID.4 has shut down while driving giving various error messages relating to the electrical system and safety features--including with the electrical system generally, with the "12 Volt electrical system", with the auto assist braking, with lane assist, etc.

Filed Feb 10, 2022 · Driver assistance · CA

the car gives zero audible warnings when the TACC + LANE KEEP turns off. On the freeway driving in a curb, it would turn off without warnings. I almost hit my car.