Volkswagen has an ongoing problem with the battery pack in certain ID.4 EVs carrying the risk of catching on fire. It doesn't yet know what exactly the problem is, nor does it have a permanent fix. It does, however, know something important—it's less likely to happen when the battery is below 80%.

Naturally, the Germans are issuing a safety recall over the issue. That recall comes with a pretty big ask for owners: Please don't charge above that 80% threshold. And if owners don't opt-out before next week, they may not get a choice.

The recall affects 22,524 U.S.-market ID.4s from model year 2023 through 2026—all built in Chattanooga and all equipped with battery cells supplied by SK in Georgia. That's almost a third of the nearly 80,000 cars sold here across the affected model years.

Owners on Reddit recently began posting photos of a notification from their phone's myVW app. The notification alerts owners that they must decide if they wish to go against VW's guidance and not have their vehicle temporarily limit its charging to 80% of its total capacity.

For your safety and as a precaution, Volkswagen recommends limiting your vehicle's battery charge target to 80% until a remedy becomes available and recall repairs are completed.

Unless you decline by October 21, 2026, Volkswagen will apply a temporary vehicle setting, on or about October 27, 2026, that limits battery charging to 80%.

This temporary limit isn't the permanent fix. The recall documentation filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that the root cause is unknown, so Volkswagen may issue another fix later to address the actual problem.

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