Volkswagen ID.4 review - Reliability & safety

Electric cars should in theory be simpler and much easier to maintain, though Volkswagen’s performance in the Driver Power customer satisfaction surveys has been rather poor of late. The ID.4 has been crash-tested by Euro NCAP and awarded five stars.

Volkswagen ID.4 reliability

There are far fewer moving parts, and there's no engine oil or filters, cambelts or timing chains or clutches to wear out and have to replace. Volkswagen has even fitted the ID.4 with rear drum brakes instead of conventional brake discs, because regenerative braking means they have far less work to do than in a similar petrol or diesel SUV. All this should mean there's less to go wrong mechanically.

If there are issues, it's more likely the ID.4 will suffer from electrical gremlins. While these can be a pain, they're unlikely to leave the car stranded, and over-the-air updates will hopefully mean some can be fixed without even having to visit the dealership. While the ID.4 itself hasn’t featured in our 2024 Driver Power survey, VW as a brand finished in a woeful 29th place out of 32 brands, with a fairly average 23.4% of owners reporting a fault in the first year of ownership. It’s ironically the worst-performing brand in Volkswagen Group’s repertoire – customers are not a fan of Volkswagen’s build quality in recent years, and its highest-scoring category was for practicality, where it placed in a middling 17th. It’s clear lots needs to be done to turn things around.

Safety

There are some novel safety features too, kicking off with a narrow strip of light beneath the windscreen that can illuminate to warn the driver, or indicate which direction to turn when the sat nav is running. This should help keep attention on the road more of the time, and help the driver react more quickly to hazards. The ID.4 is also available with LED Matrix adaptive headlights that can control the beam of light more accurately for different road and traffic conditions.

When the Volkswagen ID.4 was tested by Euro NCAP it achieved a five-star rating in 2021. It was awarded 93% and 89% for adult and child occupant protection respectively, along with a score of 85% for its safety assist features.