Problem: When temperature falls below 38 F, recirculation button never works. Being in boston that covers most of the winter. The only way not to breathe the fumes is to turn the ventilation off completely. This then shuts the heat as well. My new commute takes me daily through the calahan tunnel. If outside is 13 F, and I am stuck in traffic in the tunnel for an hour, these are my options: Keep the heat running until poisoned by gas fumes (garage analogy), or shut off heat until frostbitten at 13 F. can this be considered a safety violation? attempted resolution: Audi of America's response was that A/C has to be turned on for recirculation button to be operational. Since A/C does not work below 38 F (they cited some federal regulation) so the recirculation button does not as well. The device works as designed, according to Audi. My dealer, tom walton of park Porsche Audi, told me confidentially that they have customers who did not want to purchase Audi A4 until these problems were solved. I filed a report with audio of America twice. There was no follow up either time. Meanwhile dealerS service department informed me that they inquired about this before and were told that device operates as designed. The same year I rented exactly the same vehicle in germany and noticed that there was a different A/C assembly installed, and that recirculation button worked well in temperatures below 20 F. in U.S., the same A/C assembly became available with the 2000 model year, where this problem is not present. I asked the dealer if I could pay to have that A/C assembly installed but was told that that was not possible. When surfing on the web, I discovered a similar problem reported by another owner with the same vehicle, but only this time the 1997 model year. So it appears that for sure 1997-1999 model year A4's have a faulty A/C assembly. Read micheal of la jolla, ca report: www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/Audi.htm.

- Medford, MA, USA