Volkswagen Recalls The ID. Buzz For Being Too Spacious

In what might be the silliest use of government oversight in history, Volkswagen has to recall every ID. Buzz sold so far because its third row is too spacious. Volkswagen sells the retro-styled EV as either a six- or seven-passenger vehicle, with the third row including two seat belts in either configuration, but because the feds think there’s enough room for three passengers back there, the car is apparently not in compliance with motor vehicle safety standards.

The Third Row Is Just Too Damn Comfy

“The third-row rear bench is wide enough for three passengers, but is designed for two passengers and equipped with two seat belts,” reads the official notice from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 208, ‘Occupant Crash Protection.'” According to that particular section of legalese, any section of seating with more than 55.2 inches of surface width needs to have at least three seatbelts, giving each passenger just 14.8 inches of seat width to occupy. That’s even less space than the cheapest seats on the cheapest airline, by the way.

And despite having only about 48 inches of hip room and 53 inches of shoulder room, the third-row seat in the ID. Buzz is too wide to qualify as a two-passenger bench according to the government’s arcane definition of seating surface width, which may take into account Volkswagen’s clearly contoured center section that incorporates the 50-50 folding seat split. We suspect the automaker could possibly push back on the recall by claiming its third row is actually comprised of two individual buckets – not far from the truth – but it’s probably easier to just fix the problem. The recall is doubly odd given its timing, shortly after NHTSA announced it would roll back safety reporting in a move that might disproportionally benefit Tesla.

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Dealers Will Install Trim To Narrow The Seat

The government’s remedy is for Volkswagen dealers to simply install some unpadded material to the third row seat bottom, thereby reducing the available surface area for passenger butts to occupy. Somehow, that solves the problem to NHTSA’s standards, although we’d posit that in a pinch, someone could probably squeeze back there anyway, hard plastic be damned. For its part, VW doesn’t have a specific solution in place yet. The automaker plans to notify 5,637 American and 771 Canadian owners of the recall in June, after which time they can return their ID. Buzz vans to the mothership for the “repair” to be carried out.

We really feel for Volkswagen, whose electric vehicles have been plagued with recalls from the start. The ID.4’s door handle snafu, wherein the electric actuators would pop open while the car was in motion, was a notable problem that needed to be fixed as soon as possible, but this recall of the ID. Buzz for being just too spacious feels far sillier. And although there will probably be some kind of anti-tampering device included with the seat-narrowing remedy, we hope that owners will be able to undo the repair and get their third-row space back if desired.

Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration