Consumer Safety Complaints
Search 2,245,377 safety complaints filed by vehicle owners with NHTSA, including 140,173 crashes, 56,794 fires, and 8,580 deaths.
What is a NHTSA consumer complaint?
A consumer complaint is a free-form report filed by a vehicle owner directly to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) describing a safety concern about their vehicle. NHTSA collects these reports through its Vehicle Owner Defect Report (VOQ) system and publishes them publicly. Each complaint includes the affected component, the date and circumstances of the incident, whether the failure caused a crash or fire, and any reported injuries or deaths. The owner's full narrative description is included verbatim, NHTSA does not edit or moderate the descriptions.
The database below contains over 2,245,377 individual complaints. NHTSA's investigators monitor it for clusters of similar reports, when enough owners describe the same failure mode on the same vehicle, NHTSA may open a Preliminary Evaluation that can lead to a recall. Many of the largest recalls in U.S. history, including the Takata airbag recall and the Hyundai/Kia engine fire recalls, started as patterns visible in this complaint database years before they became formal recalls.
How to interpret what you read
A few principles for reading consumer complaints usefully:
- One complaint is anecdote; a hundred similar complaints is data. NHTSA does not investigate the truthfulness of any individual report, that's the job of the Office of Defects Investigation, which looks at the full pattern. When evaluating a vehicle, look for whether multiple owners describe the same chain of events.
- Crash, fire, injury, and death flags are owner-set. They are not verified by NHTSA. They are still useful as a filter, because owners who tick those boxes are typically reporting more serious incidents than those who don't.
- Component categories are NHTSA-assigned, not owner-assigned. NHTSA standardizes the component field so that complaints can be aggregated. The owner narrative often goes into more detail than the component category captures.
- Complaint volume scales with sales volume. A best-selling model will accumulate more raw complaints than a niche model even at the same defect rate. To compare across vehicles, look at complaints per 100,000 units sold, not raw counts.
If you've experienced a defect
File a complaint. NHTSA's investigators rely on this database to detect emerging defects, and useful complaints, specific, concrete, with dates and mileage and clear descriptions of what happened, feed directly into the agency's pattern detection. The form takes about 10 minutes and is at nhtsa.gov/recalls under "Report a Safety Problem." Your complaint becomes part of the same public record that this page is built from. Owners filing detailed VOQs are how recalls get triggered.
Read more from our blog
Showing 16,369 complaints for AUDI
Incident date: Mar 16, 2022
Unknown if passenger airbag actually works. Airbag warning light on, passenger seat belt warning on. "Passenger airbag off" illuminated constantly. Causes every electrical system to occasionally report failure.
Incident date: Mar 16, 2022
Unknown if passenger airbag actually works. Airbag warning light on, passenger seat belt warning on. "Passenger airbag off" illuminated constantly. Causes every electrical system to occasionally report failure.
Incident date: Mar 22, 2021
The contact owns a 2015 Audi A3. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V198000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.
Incident date: Oct 20, 2022
Backup camera, and MMI SYSTEM DONT WORK GOOGLE MAP,suspension front has been replaced at 90k miles
Incident date: Oct 20, 2022
Backup camera, and MMI SYSTEM DONT WORK GOOGLE MAP,suspension front has been replaced at 90k miles
Incident date: Oct 20, 2022
Backup camera, and MMI SYSTEM DONT WORK GOOGLE MAP,suspension front has been replaced at 90k miles
AUDI
A3 CABRIOLET
(2015) - AIR BAGS
Oct 20, 2022
Incident date: Oct 20, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 Audi A3. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V198000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted several times. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 2, 2022
THE INCIDENT HAPPENED ON OCTBER 2ND. I WAS DRIVING AND THE VEHICLE JUST STALLED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HIGHWAY WITH A LOUD NOISE WITHOUT ANY PRECAUTION. THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO SIGN OR NO ENGINE LIGHT THAT WAS DISPLAYED. LUCKILY, JOHNS CREEK POLICE DEPARTMENT VEHICLE IN GEORGIA WAS BEHIND ME AND HE HELPED ME TO PUSH THE CAR TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD. I REACHED OUT TO AUDI HELP AND A TWO TRUCK WAS DISP... Read more
Incident date: Dec 21, 2021
The contact owns a 2019 Audi A6. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the rearview camera and blind spot monitoring system intermittently failed to operate as needed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the dealer was unable to duplicate the failure. The dealer reprogrammed the computer and the failure recurred. The vehicle was then taken to Sewickley Audi (526 ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 21, 2021
The contact owns a 2019 Audi A6. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the rearview camera and blind spot monitoring system intermittently failed to operate as needed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the dealer was unable to duplicate the failure. The dealer reprogrammed the computer and the failure recurred. The vehicle was then taken to Sewickley Audi (526 ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 10, 2020
the light on the passenger side airbag is on all the time and a letter explaining my car had a recall to fix the issue was received back in 2020. I've been informed and also researched myself that the passenger side should not be used due to the airbag malfunctioning and being dangerous and possibly fatal. For those reasons I don't have anyone sitting in that sear and actually I don't feels safe h... Read more
Incident date: Jun 8, 2022
Sporadic failures of saftey systems by driver warning -Adaptive vehicle assistance Predictive regulation restricted -Audi adaptive light malfunction -Audi pre sense system malfunction -Adaptive vehicle assistance restricted This has happened since new and told by Audi no fix for months related to Audi solution number 2061489/4
Incident date: Jun 8, 2022
Sporadic failures of saftey systems by driver warning -Adaptive vehicle assistance Predictive regulation restricted -Audi adaptive light malfunction -Audi pre sense system malfunction -Adaptive vehicle assistance restricted This has happened since new and told by Audi no fix for months related to Audi solution number 2061489/4
Incident date: Jun 8, 2022
Sporadic failures of saftey systems by driver warning -Adaptive vehicle assistance Predictive regulation restricted -Audi adaptive light malfunction -Audi pre sense system malfunction -Adaptive vehicle assistance restricted This has happened since new and told by Audi no fix for months related to Audi solution number 2061489/4
AUDI
A3 CABRIOLET
(2015) - STEERING
Oct 17, 2022
Incident date: Oct 11, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 Audi A3. The contact stated while reversing out his driveway, the steering wheel firm and hard to turn. The contact noticed that an unknown warning light was illuminated. Additionally, there was a message stating “Do not Drive”. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the battery was replaced; however, the failure persisted. The contact was also informed that the steeri... Read more
AUDI
A3 CABRIOLET
(2015) - AIR BAGS
Oct 17, 2022
Incident date: Oct 17, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 Audi A3. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V198000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was made aware of the issue. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The con... Read more
Incident date: Oct 15, 2022
The vehicle is burning and consuming too much oil too quickly between oil changes. Oil pressure light keeps turning off and on even when there is oil. Vehicle has been serviced and worked on by Audi dealership. Currently vehicle is at Audi for exact same issues after Audi claimed to fix it. Vehicle had to be taken back to the dealer for repairs within 30 minutes after picking up the vehicle from d... Read more
Incident date: Oct 16, 2022
Vehicle has a starting error. Dealer fixed p085 with the park neutral module but problems comes back. At stop light vehicle shut down and when brake was released there was a error starting it back up again. Had to put vehicle in park and start it again.
Incident date: Oct 16, 2022
Vehicle has a starting error. Dealer fixed p085 with the park neutral module but problems comes back. At stop light vehicle shut down and when brake was released there was a error starting it back up again. Had to put vehicle in park and start it again.
Incident date: Sep 30, 2022
Water Pump prematurely failed. Upon self inspection, I noticed the coolant reservoir was below the minimum requirements. I asked the dealer to inspect, and they determined the cause was a faulty water pump. At around 50,000 miles, this water pump should not have failed under normal use. I am fortunate I self inspected, as continued use may cause premature engine failure due to overheating. Overhea... Read more
Incident date: Oct 12, 2022
1.STEERING WHEEL MALFUNCTION: sudden loss of steering control increases risk of crashing. Steering wheel now feels more loose. Issue is listed under recalls for 2019 Audi Q8 SUV's. Yellow warning light (triangle with exclamation point), Loud " dinging" alert. Appeared 10/13/2022. 2. CENTRAL LOCK MALFUNCTION: randomly unable to lock or secure vehicle. Vehicle & belongings open to public theft & d... Read more
Incident date: Oct 12, 2022
1.STEERING WHEEL MALFUNCTION: sudden loss of steering control increases risk of crashing. Steering wheel now feels more loose. Issue is listed under recalls for 2019 Audi Q8 SUV's. Yellow warning light (triangle with exclamation point), Loud " dinging" alert. Appeared 10/13/2022. 2. CENTRAL LOCK MALFUNCTION: randomly unable to lock or secure vehicle. Vehicle & belongings open to public theft & d... Read more
Incident date: Sep 26, 2022
The contact owns a 2018 Audi Q7. The contact stated while driving approximately 30 MPH, the seat belt on the passenger’s side the second row started to make a clicking sound and tightened independently around the contact's son. The contact’s son reported that he felt pressure on his chest and shoulder as the seat belt tightened but was not injured. The contact stated that the seat belt failure... Read more
Incident date: Oct 11, 2022
While on the highway, the car threw the following error message: "Electrical system: malfunction! Safely stop vehicle" I was able to drive for a mile or so to pull into a residential street and at that point, the vehicle just wouldn't move. It was essentially stalled, and I had to call roadside assistance to have it towed. After a few days, I receive an update from the dealer that the motor needs ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 11, 2022
While on the highway, the car threw the following error message: "Electrical system: malfunction! Safely stop vehicle" I was able to drive for a mile or so to pull into a residential street and at that point, the vehicle just wouldn't move. It was essentially stalled, and I had to call roadside assistance to have it towed. After a few days, I receive an update from the dealer that the motor needs ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 11, 2022
While on the highway, the car threw the following error message: "Electrical system: malfunction! Safely stop vehicle" I was able to drive for a mile or so to pull into a residential street and at that point, the vehicle just wouldn't move. It was essentially stalled, and I had to call roadside assistance to have it towed. After a few days, I receive an update from the dealer that the motor needs ... Read more
AUDI
A3 CABRIOLET
(2017) - AIR BAGS
Oct 14, 2022
Incident date: Oct 7, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Audi A3. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V198000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The local dealer was notified of the issue and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The contact stated that ... Read more
AUDI
Q5 SPORTBACK
(2022) - UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Oct 13, 2022
Incident date: Aug 16, 2022
The horn does not honk unless the engine is running. On the FIRST day I drove my new car, I was waiting in my car for my husband. I was parked. A truck behind me backed up, almost hitting my car. I tried to honk, no horn! I jumped out of my car and screamed. At the same time another man told him to stop. Today woman keep their keys IN THEIR purse to access their cars. If they are in danger,... Read more
Incident date: Oct 7, 2022
this car should be included in the NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V229000. Having the same issues as owners of other Audi Q5 have reported. while driving the Pull over and Check coolant message appears each time in vehicle. Coolant was leaking. The coolant is leaking onto the ground while refilling the reservoir but not coming from the reservoir.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2022
2017 Audi A3 Etron Sportsback- Engine light turned on at 50k, when scanned for errors no codes. Then around 55k miles started to stall when slowing down or at a full stop. The car must be turned off then immediately go into drive. Felt very dangerous when driving in high traffic areas and areas with many stop lights/signs. Car error say Transmission Malfunction first then says something about Limi... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2022
2017 Audi A3 Etron Sportsback- Engine light turned on at 50k, when scanned for errors no codes. Then around 55k miles started to stall when slowing down or at a full stop. The car must be turned off then immediately go into drive. Felt very dangerous when driving in high traffic areas and areas with many stop lights/signs. Car error say Transmission Malfunction first then says something about Limi... Read more
Incident date: Sep 14, 2021
Oil system. A quart of oil has to be added every day. Dealership says its crank case breather. Which the supercharge cause the oil to burn more. Also the antifreeze is burning more because the engine is so hot from the oil burning rapidly. Audi is aware and fails to do anything about this known issue.
Incident date: Oct 12, 2022
My 2015 Audi A3 has a recall since first part of 2021 for passenger air bag sensor. We have tried several times to get this recall fixed and every time we call the dealership they don’t have the parts. This has gone on for about a year and a half now. I would hate to see this turn into a very large lawsuit because Audi doesn’t know how to get the parts.
Incident date: Aug 29, 2022
Car turns on but won’t move. Take it to dealership as it happens for the second time and turns out the brakes are sticking to the rotors. Audi says it’s perfectly normal just put force to the accelerator. When you do that in fact, it sound like the car is about to split in half. Dangerous as they could stick while driving anywhere. Scared for my life in the car.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2021 Audi Q5 E. The contact stated that while driving at 45 MPH, the vehicle came to a sudden halt as the malfunction indicator light illuminated the instrument panel. The contact was able to restart the vehicle after approximately 15 minutes and drove the vehicle to a dealer(Audi of Quad Cities-1777 E 53rd St, Davenport, IA 52807) where they discovered a defective switch on the... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2021 Audi Q5 E. The contact stated that while driving at 45 MPH, the vehicle came to a sudden halt as the malfunction indicator light illuminated the instrument panel. The contact was able to restart the vehicle after approximately 15 minutes and drove the vehicle to a dealer(Audi of Quad Cities-1777 E 53rd St, Davenport, IA 52807) where they discovered a defective switch on the... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2021
There’s an open recall since march/2021 and Audi refuses to fix it, Since it relates to the airbag systems it’s really dangerous
Incident date: Jul 4, 2022
My 2017 Audi A4, is having a problem with the passenger air bag sensor. Whether there is a person on the passenger seat or not, the air bag sensor with turn on or off without warning and display a message. I have read that this problem has been recalled before.
Incident date: Oct 10, 2022
The contact owns a 2013 Audi S7. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to be serviced for NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V178000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) where the turbochargers needed to be replaced from wear and tear from the consequences mentioned in the recall. The dealer diagnosed that the turbocharger itself needed to be replaced, however, it was not covered under the recall. The turboc... Read more
Incident date: Oct 10, 2022
The contact owns a 2013 Audi S7. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to be serviced for NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V178000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) where the turbochargers needed to be replaced from wear and tear from the consequences mentioned in the recall. The dealer diagnosed that the turbocharger itself needed to be replaced, however, it was not covered under the recall. The turboc... Read more
Incident date: Oct 8, 2022
While the car is fully stopped at a red light, in Drive, and brakes fully depressed, the Audi Pre Sense falsely triggered. The seat belts were forcefully retracted and the pre sense light came on on the dash. Since the car was stopped, there was no imminent safety issues. However, had the car be moving, this could cause serious injury such as a crash. Also, for someone with health condition, t... Read more
Incident date: Oct 8, 2022
While the car is fully stopped at a red light, in Drive, and brakes fully depressed, the Audi Pre Sense falsely triggered. The seat belts were forcefully retracted and the pre sense light came on on the dash. Since the car was stopped, there was no imminent safety issues. However, had the car be moving, this could cause serious injury such as a crash. Also, for someone with health condition, t... Read more
Incident date: Oct 8, 2022
Dealer (Audi of Palo Alto) has failed to notify us of this safety recall or make arrangements to fix it.
Incident date: Oct 7, 2022
The car's parking brake system is not engaging when a door is opened while the car's transmission is in "Drive." Normal operation requires the parking brake to be engaged when the door is opened. Audi is aware of the issue and has issued a software patch to flash the car's firmware. See https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2019/MC-10158462-9999.pdf However, this is only done for cars in warranty. ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 7, 2022
The car's parking brake system is not engaging when a door is opened while the car's transmission is in "Drive." Normal operation requires the parking brake to be engaged when the door is opened. Audi is aware of the issue and has issued a software patch to flash the car's firmware. See https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2019/MC-10158462-9999.pdf However, this is only done for cars in warranty. ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 5, 2022
My vehicle's Airbag clock spring control unit has failed and does not work. This happened in June 2022. This part controls my airbag, my horn, vehicle display unit and other functions like the radio controls along with navigation. I had this confirmed by my local car repair shop. There is currently an air bag warning light illuminated which has been on consistently since June 2022. My horn does no... Read more
Incident date: Jun 5, 2022
My vehicle's Airbag clock spring control unit has failed and does not work. This happened in June 2022. This part controls my airbag, my horn, vehicle display unit and other functions like the radio controls along with navigation. I had this confirmed by my local car repair shop. There is currently an air bag warning light illuminated which has been on consistently since June 2022. My horn does no... Read more
Incident date: Sep 26, 2022
When a front seat passenger is present, the passenger airbag warning light comes on with a "malfunction" error displayed, then goes off.
Incident date: Jul 6, 2022
The contact owns a 2003 Audi A4. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the vehicle decelerated, lost motive power and stalled without warning. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to restart and there was steam coming from the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the residence where an independent mechanic diagnosed the vehicle and determined that the vehicle had experienced a similar failur... Read more
Incident date: Oct 2, 2022
Malfunctioning sunroof: I was the only vehicle on a flat paved road, partly cloudy skies and 65°. I had issues last summer, where when the sunroof was in the tilted position, it would not close securely. When I exited the vehicle to see what the issue was, I noticed the driver side corner was still in the tilted position, whereas the passenger side corner of the panoramic sunroof, was latched and... Read more
1 injured