Volkswagen E-Golf Recalls

The Volkswagen e-Golf has 9 recalls covering the 2015–2018 model years, with the most serious being a front passenger airbag inflator defect on 2016 models where the inflator can explode during deployment and send metal fragments into the cabin, causing serious injury or death.

The 2018 model year has two separate head restraint issues: front seat head restraint guide sleeves can fail to lock properly, and rear seat head restraint guide sleeves may be incorrectly welded to the seat frame. In either case, a restraint that comes loose in a crash provides less protection to the occupant behind it.

On 2016 models, a separate airbag concern covers driver, passenger, and side curtain airbags that may not deploy correctly in a crash, and the seatbelt pretensioners may also fail to fire. There is also a rear door child safety lock issue on 2016 vehicles where the locks may not engage, allowing a child to open the door from inside while the vehicle is moving.

The 2015–2016 model years share a high-voltage battery management system defect where overly sensitive diagnostics can misread normal electrical conditions as a fault and shut down the electric drive motor without warning, which can cause a loss of power in traffic. On 2015 models, the passenger seat sensor that determines whether the front seat is occupied can misclassify or fail to detect an occupant, causing the passenger airbag to deploy incorrectly or not at all in a crash.

Two compliance-related recalls affect 2015–2017 models that were used as internal evaluation vehicles before sale. These vehicles may not meet all applicable regulatory requirements due to modifications made during that evaluation period.