2018 e-Golf Battery Fail at 600 Miles

[moonshiner]

Greetings,

I recently leased a 2018 e-Golf and had thoroughly enjoyed it until Friday, when it failed while exiting the highway. Red exclamation point light came on with "electrical error" and it refused to start. Only 600 total miles on it. I had it towed to VW Kearny Mesa and was told today that it will need to be transported 180 miles north to Oxnard in order for the repair to be completed with the assumption that the main battery will need to be replaced. Obviously, this is a frustrating/infuriating situation with a new car.

Does anyone have any experience navigating this issue? I know there were issues with earlier models, but I had hoped those issues were remedied. Does anyone have any advice for how to proceed with VW and what my potential options are? I'm familiar with lemon laws and I know if the car is in the shop for 30+ days they are legally bound to refund or replace, but I want to make sure I'm laying the groundwork for that possibility. Any advice/experience would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[RonDawg]

There was a recall for the 2015's and any 2016 made before March? 2016 for an issue that sounds a lot like yours. Basically the car would suddenly shut down for no reason whatsoever. I turned out to be a problem with the programming, and a software update fixed it.

Once you've notified VW of the problem (by bringing it to their service department) there's really nothing more to do. Just keep records of who you spoke with, when the car was brought in, how long it stayed before you got it back, and if the problem recurs how long it took for that to happen and how long it remained at the shop again.

 

[miimura]

Just keep notes about what happened and when. They should give you a free loaner car for the duration of the repair. If you don't take the loaner, you can ask for other compensation for the time the vehicle was out of service, like covering lease payments. Calling VW Customer Service and opening a case to make sure an e-Golf specialist is tracking the repair will also be helpful.

 

[JoulesThief]

If your e-Golf is being transported to Oxnard by VWoA, then it's an issue the techs at Kearny Mesa can't handle yet, due to lack of training, or it's a first time failure that VWoA is seeing, and they are putting their best people on it to resolve the problem and to do a write up on a how to fix procedure, in the event of another customer having a similar failure.

I say this, because Oxnard is VWoA's R&D department... It's also where Bentley's and Veyron's get their tires changed, and other exotic services in the VAG /Porsche/Bentley group of German engineered cars.

Not to worry, your car is being worked on by the brightest folks in the VW group, it will come back working as designed. Relax, have VW put you in a VW loaner for the inconvenience, and put some miles on their car instead of yours.

 

[moonshiner]

Thanks,
Everything I've read on here feels like it's the same issue that people saw in their 2015-16 cars. It made it up north, so I'm in a holding pattern but it's encouraging to know it's in the best hands. Thanks for the feedback, all.

 

[moonshiner]

My car is still in Oxnard and I've received literally no information about what is being repaired or when I can expect to see it. I started a case with VW two weeks ago and have called them every day this week. The response I've received EVERY TIME is "I will have information for you by end of business day tomorrow." At this point, I'm furious. The fact that nobody has contacted me to tell me specifically what is wrong with my car, what is being done about it, and when I can hope to have it back is insane. Buyer beware. If I can get out of this car, I think I will.

 

[JoulesThief]

My car is still in Oxnard and I've received literally no information about what is being repaired or when I can expect to see it. I started a case with VW two weeks ago and have called them every day this week. The response I've received EVERY TIME is "I will have information for you by end of business day tomorrow." At this point, I'm furious. The fact that nobody has contacted me to tell me specifically what is wrong with my car, what is being done about it, and when I can hope to have it back is insane. Buyer beware. If I can get out of this car, I think I will.

Welcome to typical arrogant Teutonic VW customer service. Get used to it, if your car was built in Germany. Since dieselgate, and the fines from State of CA , CARB and EPA, customer service here will be terrible. Vw de and VWoA is going to be hesitant to put a dime into any type of warranty work. Your parts are probably on backorder, not in stock, on a slow boat from Germany. Don't ask me how I know. 40 + year VW owner, been there, done that. 30 days to replace a shifter column with a bad electrical switch that failed at 42k miles in my Touareg, took them 2 hours to actually R&R the part. The rest of the time spent by Customer Care ordering the part, getting it shipped, arriving at the parts hub in Ontario California, and then delivering it to Antelope Valley VW, where it waited another week, with my car in their possession, before they installed the part, and that was after I went down there and sat in their lobby for 6 hours, they didn't even finish it by 5 pm, techs went home, they won't work OT, because VW won't pay OT on warranty work. No incentive for the techs to finish the job. Car was ready before 9 am the next morning, washed and ready for pickup. So yeah, I know how VW Customer Care works. Tell you what you want to hear, but that's about it.

 

[miimura]

This is the State's Lemon Law brochure. Familiarize yourself with it. No automobile production is perfect. You just got unlucky.

https://www.dca.ca.gov/acp/pdf_files/englemn.pdf