Thousands of VW cars face recall over battery in Germany

Carmaker Volkswagen (VW) is preparing a recall in Germany affecting several thousand vehicles because of faulty high-voltage batteries, a spokesman said on Thursday in response to a report in the business daily Handelsblatt.

According to the company, internal quality checks found that individual high-voltage battery cells in certain ID family vehicles do not meet quality requirements. The cause is production defects at suppliers, affecting a limited production period, it said.

"In rare cases, this can lead to increased thermal stress on these batteries; in extreme cases, a fire could break out," the company said.

Recalls already under way in other countries

According to the Handelsblatt report, models affected include the VW ID.3, ID.4, ID.7 and ID.Buzz from certain production periods between 2023 and 2025, as well as the Cupra Born.

The company initially did not name any models.

Recalls are already under way in Britain and the United States. In the US, more than 22,000 ID.4s are affected, according to authorities.

For Germany and other markets, corresponding actions are being prepared and should be activated at short notice, the spokesman said. The company said it was in close coordination with the responsible authorities.

The recall was not yet listed in data from the German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). It was not initially known how many vehicles are affected worldwide.

Charging limit as immediate measure

As an immediate measure, VW is limiting charging of the affected vehicles to a maximum of 80% for safety reasons. The manufacturer will bring some of the cars to service workshops as part of the recall, where the high-voltage batteries will be checked. A charging limit could be lifted only once a battery is judged to be in order, the spokesman said.

Affected customers will receive a letter, according to the company. The letter would contain all key information, including the exact recall process and contacts, the spokesman said. Anyone who does not receive such a letter is not affected, he said.

Customers will also be informed in writing later about further remedies, which are not yet final, the spokesman said. The affected battery modules would not necessarily have to be replaced, as a software update might be enough, he said.

Recall of millions of cars a few weeks earlier

At the end of September, VW had called in just over 5 million cars worldwide to workshops over a corrosion-prone screw on the steering system. In individual cases, the fault can affect the mounting of the steering and therefore its function. In Germany, almost 1.4 million vehicles from VW and the group's brands Audi, Seat and Skoda are affected.

This is not the first recall this year over battery problems: In March, VW and Cupra had already called in more than 90,000 cars worldwide for the same reason - 28,000 of them in Germany.