{"id":"631a4c56-71ab-4644-b8aa-30490b949f43","slug":"volkswagen-baunatal-robot-fatality-2015","kind":"injury","headline":"Contractor crushed by a stationary assembly robot at Volkswagen's Baunatal plant, Germany (2015)","summary":"On July 1 2015 a 22-year-old contractor installing a stationary assembly robot at the Volkswagen plant in Baunatal, Germany was grabbed and crushed against a metal plate by the machine; he died of his injuries. The worker was inside the safety cage during setup when the robot activated.","occurredAt":"2015-07-01T12:00:00.000Z","reviewStatus":"unreviewed","modelId":null,"deploymentId":null,"companyId":"904f5f2b-b4a4-4ec2-bb3b-7850d15fbaf7","aliases":[],"collisionRisk":"none","reviewNote":null,"severity":"critical","rootCauseCategory":"human_operator_error","rootCauseDetail":"Robot activated while a worker was inside the safety cage during installation/setup; crushed against a fixture.","affectedUnitsCount":null,"affectedUnitsBasis":null,"remediationStatus":"resolved","regulatoryAction":"none","regulatoryBody":null,"propertyDamageEstimateUsd":null,"damageEstimateBasis":null,"bodilyInjurySeverity":"fatal","fatalityCount":1,"lossCostClass":null,"sourceQualityTier":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-24T02:58:25.873Z","updatedAt":"2026-06-24T02:58:25.873Z","model":null,"deployment":null,"company":{"id":"904f5f2b-b4a4-4ec2-bb3b-7850d15fbaf7","name":"Volkswagen Group","slug":"volkswagen-group","description":"German automotive group (founded 1937). Its MOIA subsidiary developed the ID. Buzz AD, the first VW production vehicle fully optimized for autonomous mobility services (robotaxi).","status":"public (Frankfurt: VOW3; OTC: VWAGY)","founded":1937,"hq":"Wolfsburg, Germany","fundingTotal":null,"type":"hardware","reviewStatus":"reviewed","sources":[{"url":"https://www.volkswagen-group.com/en/articles/moia-unveils-series-production-version-id-buzz-ad-and-turnkey-solution-for-fully-autonomous-mobility-services-19392","title":"MOIA + ID. Buzz AD announcement","sourceName":"VW Group (primary)"},{"url":"https://newatlas.com/automotive/volkswagen-moia-id-buzz/","title":"VW ID. Buzz robotaxi 2026","sourceName":"New Atlas"}],"keyFacts":[{"label":"Subsidiary","value":"MOIA developed the ID. Buzz AD."},{"label":"Robot","value":"ID. Buzz AD is the first VW production vehicle fully optimized for autonomous mobility services (robotaxi)."},{"label":"Industry","value":"Automotive"},{"label":"Nationality","value":"German"}],"aliases":["Volkswagen","VW","VW Group","Volkswagen AG"],"collisionRisk":"low","reviewNote":null,"atsProvider":null,"atsSlug":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-06T15:14:57.538Z","updatedAt":"2026-06-28T13:54:32.880Z"},"derived":{"status":"active"},"sources":[{"id":"0c0e894d-ec87-4105-bc97-b05ae73985d6","incidentId":"631a4c56-71ab-4644-b8aa-30490b949f43","url":"https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/02/europe/germany-volkswagen-robot-kills-worker/index.html","label":"CNN","publishedAt":null,"notes":null,"title":null,"sourceName":null,"mediaType":"article","videoId":null,"channel":null,"durationSec":null,"timestampSec":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-24T02:58:25.873Z","updatedAt":"2026-06-24T02:58:25.873Z"}],"responses":[],"statusEvents":[],"jsonLd":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://registry.deploy.report/incidents/volkswagen-baunatal-robot-fatality-2015","url":"https://registry.deploy.report/incidents/volkswagen-baunatal-robot-fatality-2015","headline":"Contractor crushed by a stationary assembly robot at Volkswagen's Baunatal plant, Germany (2015)","description":"On July 1 2015 a 22-year-old contractor installing a stationary assembly robot at the Volkswagen plant in Baunatal, Germany was grabbed and crushed against a metal plate by the machine; he died of his injuries. The worker was inside the safety cage during setup when the robot activated.","identifier":"631a4c56-71ab-4644-b8aa-30490b949f43","datePublished":"2015-07-01T12:00:00.000Z","articleSection":"injury","publisher":{"@id":"https://deploy.report/#organization"},"author":{"@id":"https://deploy.report/#organization"}},"framework_metadata":{"framework_schema_version":"0.1.0","verification_status":"unreviewed","maturity_stage":null,"lifecycle_state":null,"architectural_position":{"cohort":null,"sub_cohorts":[]},"within_cohort_verified_vs_claimed_pair":null,"cap_flags":[],"verification_depth":{"sources_count":1,"primary_source_types":[]}}}