Speed control & suspension issues are among the top complaints received by the NHTSA from vehicle owners
The compact executive Audi A4 was launched in 2003 and heralded in the U.S. as a sporty, luxurious, winterproof vehicle that was a lot cheaper than its big BMW 3 Series rival.
The United States Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) didn’t do any safety tests that year, but there have been hundreds of complaints lodged by consumers (211 in all) about the launch model.
Some critics say that 2005 was the worst model. By then NHTSA was doing safety ratings, and the car ranked 4 stars (not 5) for most of them. There have also been 168 NHTSA complaints to date.
If you’ve got a 2021 Audi A4, there haven’t been too many complaints yet. So far, the NHTSA records only reflect four. But what is frightening is that three of these were made after vehicles had been involved in crashes. One resulted in a serious injury. So, let’s take a closer look at the circumstances.
Click on other model year to view more problems: 2022
The four complaints made to NHTSA affect three named components plus an issue categorized as Unknown or Other that appears to be a software problem. The specified components are airbags, suspension, and vehicle speed control.
Additionally, it is worth noting that the NHTSA frontal crash ratings for both the driver and front passenger sides are only four out of five stars. The tests are simulated with two similar vehicles traveling at 35 mph.
| Complaint Category | Number of Complaints |
|---|---|
| Suspension | |
| Vehicle Speed Control | |
| Air Bags | |
| Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking | |
| Unknown Or Other |
The most serious complaint is recorded as being a suspension and vehicle control issue. It happened in a leased Audi A4 with 1,347 miles on the clock, while the owner’s car was being repaired. The incident happened in a parking garage while the car was traveling at only 4 mph … and it resulted in injuries as well as a heart attack.
What happened was that when the driver turned into a parking space on the fourth floor of a parking garage, and “the vehicle inadvertently accelerated on its own at 100 mph.“ The driver braked several times, but the brakes didn’t work.
The vehicle crashed into the steel fence and broke a portion of the wall. The airbags deployed, but no warning lights were illuminated. The driver sustained two concussions and had a heart attack. The car was totaled.
They filed a police report and had the car towed to the dealer.
The other vehicle speed control issue also happened at a low speed. This time while the owner was driving through a parking lot. According to the complaint, the vehicle accelerated on its own and the brake pedal locked. The driver couldn’t depress the brake pedal and it accelerated up a hill.
The driver then collided with an electric pole which stopped the vehicle. The airbags did not deploy upon impact, so it is also registered as an airbag complaint.
Nobody was injured in this incident, but the police and fire department were on the scene and they filed a police report. Due to the failure, the vehicle was towed to an independent body shop.
The failure mileage was approximately 4,000 and “the vehicle had been destroyed”.
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When the owner of the Audi A4 who submitted this complaint went to an Audi dealer, according to the complaint, the dealer didn’t take it seriously.
This is what the issue was: “The reversing image occasionally appears (as a) white screen phenomenon. During the process of reversing, the reversing screen suddenly turns white and I cannot see anything behind.” This, the complaint points out, “brings danger to the driver and others, causing danger to life and property.”
There is one complaint that relates purely to suspension problems. Even though the owner of this Audi A4 didn’t experience a failure, he did receive a recall notice. This states that a broken lock nut could misalign the rear axle of the car causing loss of control and increasing the risk of a crash. His was one of a possible 40,993 cars affected.
Having been told that his dealer would replace the lock nuts and, if necessary, the associated bolts, free of charge, he contacted his dealer. But, his local dealer said the parts were not yet available. His complaint was that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair.
It doesn’t matter whether you have experienced faults similar to those described or something completely different. If the fault or malfunction you have experienced impacts negatively in terms of safety, use, or value of your vehicle, you may have bought a lemon. That’s when you need to contact a reputable lemon lawyer like Lemberg Law.
Over the years, we have negotiated settlements for many of our lemon law clients and organized refunds, trade-ins, buy-backs, or replacement vehicles. The law says Audi must pay the legal fees for lemon law cases, so don’t wait to contact us. We will evaluate your case with no charge at all.
Brian Jones spent more than 30 years working as an ASE Certified Master Tech and Parts Specialist at multiple dealerships. Brian has become an authority in the industry, traveling across the country to consult for car dealerships and contributing his expertise as a writer for several major automotive publications. In his spare time, Brian enjoys working on pickup trucks, muscle cars, Jeeps and anything related to motorsports.
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