VW plans recall of around 100,000 MEB electric cars

According to the KBA recall database, the affected vehicles were built between 7 February 2022 and 23 August 2024. The models ID.3, ID.4 and ID.5, along with the Cupra Born, were produced at Volkswagen’s Zwickau plant in Germany, while both ID. Buzz variants rolled off the line at VW Commercial Vehicles in Hanover. Of the total, 22,182 Volkswagen-badged vehicles and 5,976 units from the Spanish brand Cupra were allocated to the German market.

In the affected vehicles, individual modules within the high-voltage battery may not meet specification.

According to the KBA, non-compliant battery modules can lead to reduced driving range and trigger a yellow warning light. “There is also a risk of fire,” the authority notes in its defect description. It remains unclear how the issue was identified, but no cases of property damage or personal injury have been reported. This indicates the problem was likely detected during internal checks rather than through incidents in customer vehicles.

As part of the recall, Volkswagen will install a software update and inspect the high-voltage battery modules. Any modules found to deviate from specifications will be replaced.

For these model years of its MEB-based vehicles, the VW Group sourced battery cells from external suppliers and assembled the modules in-house. The KBA documents do not specify the exact nature of the deviation, leaving open a broad range of possible causes.

However, some details raise questions. For example, the affected Cupra Born units were built between 7 February 2022 and 21 April 2024. By contrast, the VW ID.3 – produced alongside the Born on the same line at the Zwickau plant – is only affected for vehicles manufactured between 24 June 2023 and 23 August 2024. The reason for this discrepancy is not explained.

A similar inconsistency appears elsewhere: the ID.4 and its SUV coupé sibling, the ID.5, are typically built on a second Zwickau line together with the Audi Q4 e-tron and its Sportback variant. However, neither of the Audi models is listed in the KBA recall.

The KBA reference number for the recall of the VW models is 16271R, and VW internally refers to the action with the code 93MI. For the separately recalled Cupra Born, the KBA reference number is 16269R, and the internal code is 93S4.

kfz-betrieb.vogel.de, kba-online.de (KBA reference number required; both in German)