We were nearly killed when our electric VW ID.5 lost control and swerved across motorway TWICE in three months
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By SAM LAWLEY, NEWS REPORTER[1]
Published: 01:08, 19 January 2026 | Updated: 01:08, 19 January 2026
A family have been left terrified of their electric Volkswagen ID.5 after it allegedly lost control on a busy motorway twice in three months, with the father vowing never to drive an EV again.
Ken Hadley, 51, claims his life was at the mercy of his out-of-control vehicle as it veered across a three-lane road into the left-hand reservation before swerving back again and into the right-hand reservation in a nightmare ordeal in October.
The near-miss came after he claims the exact same thing happened to his wife, disabled daughter and father-in-law on a motorway in July, provoking his partner to throw the keys on the floor and refuse to drive the vehicle in future.
Mr Hadley stuck with the state-of-the-art electric car, but the decision would take him within inches of a pile-up.
He has since been in contact with solicitors working on a case involving a similar accident, which saw Ashenafei Demissie cleared of causing death and serious injury by careless driving[2] after his VW ID.4 accelerated forward and killed a five-year-old boy.
Mr Hadley's ID.5 is almost identical to the older version at the centre of the Old Bailey trial which concluded this week. Both cars are kitted out with the same software.
Last year, thousands of ID.4s were recalled by the German manufacturer over 'faulty gear displays' and Mr Hadley is urging the company to do the same with the newer model.
A Volkswagen spokesperson said in response to Mr Hadley's claims that his vehicle was inspected and no fault or defect was found, including when it was returned to Germany for further, detailed examination. They are unaware of any other similar incidents.
Ken Hadley, left, pictured with his wife and daughter. They have been left terrified of their electric Volkswagen after it allegedly lost control on a busy motorway twice in three months
The father claims his life was at the mercy of his ID.5, pictured, as it veered across a three-lane road into the left-hand reservation before swerving back again and into the right-hand reservation
Heading back from a meeting in Leamington Spa, West Midlands on October 29, the father-of-two claims he suddenly lost control of his Volkswagen despite travelling at just 40mph and not entering a bend when it happened.
Mr Hadley described the terrifying moment 'all four wheels started operating independently' and a flashing red warning sign popped up on the dashboard.
'The car started swerving all over the place,' he told the Daily Mail.
'It slammed me into the left-hand reservation, lifted the car, dragged me across all the lanes, smacked me into the right-hand reservation and as it brought me back into the middle, I think the impact of that turned the warning light off, and I managed to gain control.
'If I had hit another car, not only would I have potentially been dead or seriously injured, I could have killed multiple people and nobody would have ever got to the bottom of it.
'It would have potentially just been put down to my bad driving. And the same with my wife's incident.
'To lose complete control of a vehicle, with the steering completely disabled, is one hell of a scary experience.'
The echoes of the high-profile ID.4 case - which saw Mr Demissie accused of causing the death of Fareed Amir in November 2022 - are unsettling but Mr Hadley is grateful for the one key difference between the accidents.
'I genuinely believe, and my wife is the same, that we are both blessed because not once did it happen but twice,' he said.
Heading back from a meeting in Leamington Spa, West Midlands on October 29, the father-of-two claims he suddenly lost control of his Volkswagen despite travelling at just 40mph
The near-miss came after he claims the same thing happened to his wife, disabled daughter and father-in-law on a motorway in July (Pictured: Mr Hadley with his wife and daughter)
'On another day, in bad conditions, or with one vehicle not being aware [it could have been different].'
Sitting in the vehicle on the side of the road, Mr Hadley did not have time to dwell on what had just happened.
He called his local dealership, Johnsons Redditch, and, in one of the tensest drives of his life, crawled there in the EV which had almost caused a pile-up.
The motorist left the vehicle at the garage and headed home in a replacement car.
'To come home with tears in my eyes... I was shaking,' Mr Hadley said. 'I'm a pretty big fella and it takes a lot to scare me but I genuinely had to sit down probably for an hour because, even when it was happening, all I kept thinking was, "I'm going to leave my daughter without a dad."'
Things began to turn bitter almost immediately, with his local dealership emailing him the following evening to ask if he had remapped or retuned his car because an unknown fault code had shown up.
This would indicate it was the driver's fault and remove the warranty provisions.
'I went into the garage and said, "look, I am not particularly happy that I'm being accused of this and from what I can tell, the only way you can do this is with a software update."'
Mr Hadley claims it was then confirmed the last software update had taken place at the garage in January 2025 and had revealed a fault code which was not passed on to him, or even the service team.
Mr Hadley pictured with his wife and two daughters.
Most of all, he wants to make sure the car is taken off the roads and Volkswagen get to the bottom of what caused the near-miss
The dealership and Mr Hadley then both tried to find out what the code meant, but to no avail.
Meanwhile, he logged an official complaint with Volkswagen Financial Services, which leases him the vehicle, and it was logged at the highest level of urgency.
They confirmed they had eight weeks for the full investigation to be completed. That was 10 weeks ago.
He has also received no answers from the customer resolutions team, with his dealership also unable to get through to them.
At one point, the dealership told Mr Hadley that it had been informed the fault code had been 'incorrectly assigned by the factory' and had now been removed.
It insisted the code had nothing to do with the issues the motorist raised, but has still not provided an explanation of what it refers to.
By mid-December, the factory had replaced the EV's steering rack and was attempting to return the vehicle to Mr Hadley, just weeks after it had put his life in danger, despite an ongoing analysis of the car's parts and no concrete answer as to what happened that day.
He said: 'They hadn't identified a fault, they hadn't told me what the fault code was they've discovered, they have just sent me the replaced parts and then expect me to drive a vehicle that nearly killed my wife, my daughter and my in-laws.
He has provided evidence to a case involving a similar accident, which saw Ashenafei Demissie cleared of causing death and serious injury by careless driving after his VW ID.4 accelerated forward and killed Fareed Amir, five, pictured
Mr Demissie was behind the wheel of a Volkswagen ID.4 when it suddenly accelerated forward, killing Fareed
After a struggle to keep his replacement vehicle over the Christmas period, Mr Hadley had to hand it back to the dealership on December 29, leaving him 'without a car for the first time in 30 years'.
As if he needed any further deterrent to get back in his old ID.5, the motorist's insurance company advised him not to drive it again, he said.
Mr Hadley is still waiting for answers to questions about why it happened, and whether Volkswagen could confirm the vehicle was safe to drive.
The motorist was this week told that Volkswagen were surrendering the remaining 14 months on his lease and offering a cash rebate.
Anything will do for a replacement as long as it is not electric.
Mr Hadley said: 'I will never drive an electric car again after this.
'My biggest worry is if they sell that car and it kills somebody. They would be putting somebody's life at risk, somebody's family at risk, another motorist at risk.'
Both his brother and brother-in-law drive state-of-the-art EVs which he says have 'been in the garage more times than they have been driven'.
The father-of-two added: 'I do not think there is enough knowledge within the car industry around EVs.'
The ID.4, pictured in a stock photo, is almost identical to Mr Hadley's ID.5 and the two cars use the same software
'I have driven for years but I've never been so scared in all my life about a vehicle that I couldn't control.
'Even at 42mph it seemed like I was doing 100mph because I couldn't control that vehicle.'
But most of all, Mr Hadley wants to make sure the car is taken off the roads and Volkswagen get to the bottom of what caused the terrifying near-miss.
'My concern is if they sell it and somebody else gets that car, I'm 100 per cent sure whatever happened to us hasn't been identified and fixed correctly,' he said.
'It's bigger than me.
The financial side of it I can live with, and my solicitors are now dealing with that.
'Most recalls are normally down to one vehicle showing a problem. I've identified a pretty serious incident that's happened twice and my vehicle is still in this country.
'How many other vehicles are out there that potentially could have the same faults as mine?'
A spokesperson for Volkswagen said: 'From the point of view of the vehicle, this was inspected and no fault was found or replicated in the dealership. However due to the seriousness of the concerns raised, and in line with technical guidance, a replacement steering rack was ordered and fitted in December.
'The original steering rack was then returned to Volkswagen in Germany for detailed examination, and no defect was found that could have resulted in the steering locking.
For absolute clarity, we are unaware of any other similar incidents.
'With regards to the finance contract, our colleagues in Volkswagen Financial Services are in touch directly with Mr Hadley, and as a gesture of goodwill due to the delay in processing his complaint, he will be offered a full contract cancellation.'
References
- ^ SAM LAWLEY, NEWS REPORTER (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Ashenafei Demissie cleared of causing death and serious injury by careless driving (www.dailymail.co.uk)