Volkswagen Recall - e-Golf Electric Vehicles

Volkswagen will recall the 5,561 e-Golf electric vehicles that it’s sold in the US since November 2014 due to a battery software problem, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NTHSA) said today. Customers will have to bring their cars to dealerships to get a software update.

According to an NTHSA report , the e-Golf's battery management software is at risk of stalling the car if the system detects a power surge. Specifically, the administration writes, "Oversensitive diagnostics for the high-voltage battery management system may falsely detect an electrical surge resulting in the vehicle's electric drive motor shutting down unexpectedly.” The NTHSA report noted that power steering, anti-lock brakes, lights, and airbags on the e-Golf were unaffected by the high-voltage battery glitch because they’re powered by a separate 12V battery system.

The recall was initiated by Volkswagen, rather than a US regulator, and the fix for the problem involves a software update made at a Volkswagen dealer. Mark Gillies, Volkswagen spokesperson, confirmed to Ars that “the software reflash is very simple to enact at the dealership.”