A dangerous display error has led to Volkswagen recalling more than 60,000 electric vehicles in the United States.

The cars which had to be returned failed to display some gear positions, which could lead to the vehicles rolling away if the parking brake was not engaged, announced the US National Highway traffic Safety Administration.

The German manufacturer has had to recall the Audi Q4 e-tron and Volkswagen ID.4, which are both fully electric models, with a total of 60,490 vehicles affected in the US.

The problem with the gear indicator was due to a software issue, according to Volkswagen’s safety recall report. The carmaker first became aware of the issue in August, after five cases outside the US.

Earlier this month Volkswagen also issued another recall affecting some 30,000 vehicles in the US because the rearview camera didn’t display properly. And last November Volkswagen recalled nearly 115,000 vehicles in the United States over “exploding” airbags in some Beetle and Passat models from 2006 to 2019.

"The driver's side frontal airbag inflator may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, high temperatures and high temperature cycling," the U.S. auto safety regulator said.

Meanwhile, Tesla recalled almost 700,000 cars after a major fault in the warning system was identified last December. The latest issue to strike Elon Musk 's electric vehicles concerned a key warning light on the dashboard not functioning properly, which could increase the risk of a crash.

According to a letter from the NHTSA, the recall included certain 2024 Cybertruck, 2017-2025 Model 3, and 2020-2025 Model Y vehicles. It said that the tyre pressure monitoring system warning light on the vehicles may not remain illuminated between drive cycles, meaning the driver is not alerted. Driving with under-inflated tyres can increase the risk of a collision.

The US-based manufacturer said it was providing a free software update to fix the problem, which affected around 694,000 vehicles. Owner notification letters were expected to be posted on February 15 2025. It is only the latest in a string of issues discovered in Tesla vehicles in 2024, and Musk's much-feted Cybertruck had seven recalls that year. In October, Tesla recalled over 27,000 Cybertrucks due to a delay in the activation of the rearview camera image when shifting into reverse.