This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Car flashed several warning signs, electrical system malfunction, steering malfunction, lane assist malfunction, and finally powertrain system malfunction where car was barely driveable at very slow speed, died and I luckily was able to pull over and coast into a parking spot.
The car gave me electrical malfunction warning while driving on the highway, then all the screens turned black, and the car completely shut down while driving. The steering was still working, although heavier than usual, and the breaking also worked. The car slow down to a complete stop at the shoulder of the highway. This was very concerning, and thankfully happened close on exit with a shoulder at the side in which I was able to park the car.
Vehicle stopped and is not operational. Dealer stated that the generator went out. Part is not available due to this problem occuring on so many vehicles. Vehicle has been in the shop since late, October it is now November 28th and still no ETA on part arrival or repair completion.
On my way to work, my car alerted me to an electrical malfunction and told me to call for service. When I called my Audi dealership, they told me to bring it in for service the following week. After asking if the car was safe to drive, they told me they wouldn't know unless they looked at the car. After pleading with them, they agreed to an appointment that day. On my way to the dealership - about 10 minutes into the trip on a highway, driving at highway speed, all electrical systems in the car started shutting down, and quickly - air conditioning, all safety features like lane keep assist, collision avoidance, etc. The steering became very heavy, the brakes were underperforming. After slowing down safely, the car shut down and was completely immobile and inoperable.
After I come to a complete stop with the vehicle in drive, the vehicle will roll backwards and with such speed that the read camera will come on. The transmission is in drive the entire time.
- Rockville, MD, USA
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Starter warning followed by electrical system malfunction, these were followed by Multiple warning lights (Lane departure, adaptive cruise control, collision avoidance, etc) then 1 minute later transmission failure and engine failure imminent.... pull over immediately and contact dealer. I turned into a road off main highway within a minute of the last two warnings and as I turned, my center MMI went blank then my electronic dash went blank, transmission went into neutral and the engine died all within a few seconds. Fortunately I was able to coast to a stop.
Two miles from home all sorts of electrical malfunction warning -??? lights appear. Too many to list here. Then car completely stops and all electricals shut down. This happened in the middle of a very busy three lane 45mph main artery. Stuck in gear, unable to push off side of road. After ten minutes or so of cars zooming around us, it started enough to get off road to safe place. Waited 4 hours in freezing cold for tow truck. Very scary incident for my wife and me, as we are in our 70s. Towed to my local Audi dealer. The problem seems to be with the -??Starter Alternator-?? and is a national problem with 1000s of affected owners. Was told 29 vehicles are ahead of mine for replacement and that it could be weeks before parts are available. One car family and no loaners available and there talking weeks / months to repair.
Mid December the day after I purchased my 2019 a6 the 48V starter generator failed while driving with my son in the car. Alerts came up as electronics issue and to pull over. Very quickly it stopped dead in road. They told me it is a known issue, and they have multiple A6s waiting for this part. It has been over a month and still unknown when this part will be available. This should be a recalled item, but is under warranty.
While driving my 2019 Audi A6 Premium Plus I received error messages: "electrical system malfunction contact service", then "start stop system malfunction contact service", then "electrical system malfunction stop vehicle safely". I went on an Audi owner internet forum and read about others with the same errors. Reports from others indicated that in about 40 miles from the first message appearing, all systems will completely shut down including the engine while you are driving. This could leave you stranded in the roadway if you are not able to pull over in time and requires a tow; the vehicle cannot be relied upon to get you to a service center at that point. My vehicle was in a parking lot at the time for a few hours. I was able to start the vehicle. It presented the first two messages immediately. I was able to drive another 10 minutes to arrive at home safely. On my way home the check engine light came on and as I got to my driveway "electrical system malfunction stop vehicle safely" appeared again. Two days have passed (where I did not operating the vehicle anymore) and I've now had the vehicle towed to my Audi dealer / service center. My service advisor called me back this afternoon saying that they confirmed starter / generator / alternator needs to be replaced. The alternator (only) is now on order for me with no ETA. He said the last one they fixed with this issue took 42 days. He said he has 6 vehicles on the lot with the same issue. This issue appears to be popping up for all early builds that has the Audi 48v MHEV (mild hybrid battery system). Other owners report they needed their 48v and sometimes 12v batteries replaced. As I mentioned earlier they only ordered the alternator at this point; I'm worried that my batteries cannot be trusted after this issue as apparently the cells in the 48v become unstable after entering this state.
Starter/Generator Alternator failed and caused the battery to die ultimately leading to losing full power of the car on highway. Warning lamps were present and indicated "electrical system malfunction and contact the dealer for service." Car lost full power on the way to dealership and almost resulted in a crash. Component has been inspected by the Audi Dealer and confirmed to be the issue. Symptoms appeared very quickly and within 30 minutes of the symptoms the car was inoperable.
Multiple warnings indicating to contact dealer (Lane departure, adaptive cruise control, collision avoidance, etc) then 1 minute later transmission failure and engine failure imminent.... pull over immediately and contact dealer. I turned into a road off main highway within a minute of the last two warnings and as I turned, my center MMI went blank then my electronic dash went blank, transmission went into neutral and the engine died all within a few seconds. Fortunately I was able to coast to a stop in the parking lot. Flatbed towed to dealer who stated most likely the generator between the lithium battery bank and gas engine failed. They have seen several in this year for A6 and A7's with mild hybrid engines. I'm lucky to be in low volume traffic as there was no power to indicate to drivers around me that my engine quit and not even turn signals worked.
Today, car showed electrical problem then leading to steering problem, transmission problem, all sensors shutting off, all thro flashing one by one alarms and messages on dash and then coming to a complete halt. It would not allow me to come out and locked me in. I could see that the locks were kicking in so took a micro second gap between unlock and auto lock to get out of the car forcefully. I have had situations when in traffic light, the car wouldn-??t move back from neutral to drive unless I tried couple of times, but this was horrible incident. Now taking it to service to see what they are going to say, not always super helpful.
I was slowing down to stop at a traffic light when a message was displayed on the instrument panel that says "Electrical System Malfunction" with a yellow battery icon. A few seconds later the same "Electrical System Malfunction" with a red battery icon. Then the vehicle came to a complete stop and was inoperable. There was almo smoke coming from the hood near the positive battery terminal. The smoke had an electrical smell to it. I had no opportunity to pull over and was stuck in the middle of a very busy road right at the stop line of the traffic light. My family and I had to exit the vehicle with traffic on both sides of us and get to the side of the road safely. There was no prior indication that there was a problem, this happened all within about 5-10 seconds and I had no time to try and pull over to safety. I have found other complaints about this vehicle that are similar (see under the reliability section on Consumer Reports). The dealer identified the issue as an "internal failure" of the generator and 48v battery system, but had no explanation as to why it happened nor can they guarantee it will not happen again.
This vehicle suffers from a sometimes dangerous acceleration lag. The time it take between pressing the gas pedal and the time the car starts to move is excessive and in certain situations, dangerous. It's especially evident in conditions where you're trying to accelerate from a low RPM speed (slow traffic, "California" stop, etc) to join faster traffic or merge in. A perfect example is trying to go from a slow moving highway lane to a faster one. You pick your spot, then go for it. The car sits for 1-2 seconds...then it goes. The first few times it happened it was dangerous. I have had to adjust my driving to make sure I do not end up in a situation where a standard throttle response would be required. Additional examples of circumstances where the lag can cause the driver to inadvertently enter into an unsafe situation: -turning left across traffic - in-town merge or lane change - turning right to join faster traffic
At a stop light the engine will shut off completely requiring you to restart the car. This happens intermittently and happens when the auto on/off is on or off. Leads to dangerous situations when in city traffic or stopped at a red light on highway. Two trips to Audi and there are no error codes on the engine to diagnose the issue. Makes for very nervous driving when every stop light may cause your car to stall. Most recent issue the car would re-start and immediately stall, and then started shaking violently.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Torrance, CA, USA