2021 AUDI E-TRON Complaints

All of Audi e-tron models do not have AM radio. You are not told of this during sales and in fact the dealer sales rep and service manager did not know this until they came to the car to show me how to turn it on. I consider this feature (AM Radio) a standard for over 50 years and is a safety measure as road side signs direct you to tune to AM radio for traffic or road conditions ahead. I think this deceptive absence of a standard tool should warrant a national recall.

Had multiple instances as I approached intersection stops of the vehicle suddenly jerking and the drive train becoming disengaged. The car maintained electrical power and had working steering and braking as I coasted to a stop. This occurred 5 times over the course of 3 miles as I attempted to make my way home, and I would estimate that each occurrence happened at a speed under 10 mph. The car was near full battery charge level when this occurred. With each occurrence, the vehicle would generate a series of warning messages (indicating failures of one system after another, ranging from electrical system, to drive train, to collision avoidance, to tire pressure monitor, etc.) and would indicate the car was disabled, should be pulled over safely, and that I should call the dealer for support. For about 30 seconds, the car could not be put back into "drive" mode, but after that time I could restart the car and was able to resume driving. Fortunately, this all occurred when I was driving on neighborhood streets during a non-busy period, and I was able to carefully make my way back home. But having a car suddenly and randomly disabled while in motion could obviously be a significant safety issue. The following day I had the car towed to my local Audi dealer and at this point have received no indication of what the problem might be or even when it might be assigned to a technician for diagnosis. In looking online at Audi owner forums, it's clear that others have experienced the same problem I experienced, along with an array of other significant electrical failures. I've spoken to the Audi Customer Experience support desk and they say the problem I experienced is not one they've been made aware of.

Vehicle traveling when electrical systems malfunction message came on. Said pull over safely and call for service. After car was slowed to a stop, the vehicle was disabled with no forward or reverse drive possible. The car was stranded close to the middle right of the street. Car had to be towed to the nearest dealership around midnight. Problem has been confirmed with the dealer and they are still looking into the problem. Prior warnings messages of headlamp malfunction, Audi emergency assist unavailable, high beam headlight faulty were present about a month prior but did not disable the vehicle.

While operating the vehicle the air conditioning system failed. The vehicle was brought to dealer for diagnosis which confirmed the failure and was out of service for 30 days due to parts availability being SOP. The dealer provided a loaner and fuel reimbursement due my car being electric but refused to reimburse the lease payment for the 30 days out of service. The parts replaced were 4M0-959-609 SENSOR, 87571950 HIGH PRESSURE SWITCH & REFRIGERANT.

While I was on vacation a couple states away, I drove the Audi Etron Sportback for the first time since three days before when I drove to the vacation destination. After several minutes driving I got an "ELECTRICAL SYSTEM MALFUNCTION - PLEASE CONTACT SERVICE" notification. Several minutes later I got very large red alert that said "ELECTRICAL SYSTEM MALFUNCTION - STOP VEHICLE". I immediately pulled over to the side of the road into a parking lot just before the electric motors shut down completely. This put myself and my dog in danger. Car was towed to local Audi Dealership and they informed me that coolant had infiltrated the front motor and needed to be replaced. Then other hoses and parts had to be replaced. I am at 4 weeks without my vehicle. The car had 9800 miles on it and was roughly 9.5 months old. Upon searching the internet, there's MANY complaints of coolant infiltrating the motors after a long road trip or after many miles. This kills the motor and some owners report horror stories of having no electrical power in the middle of traffic and in the middle of streets. This is apparent that it is a not a stray issue - but it is a routine issue with the Audi Etron Sportback. And with two motors, and each one costing about $15,000 each - it is likely a very serious and expensive problem that Audi doesn't want to be known. Loss of drive ability (along with other systems) in an EV in traffic or highways is an extremely dangerous and terrible activity, especially for first responders and hazard workers that assist an owner in a vehicle that is very difficult to move when in this state.

VEHICLE SHUTS OFF AND SLAMS INTO PARK WHEN DRIVING AT LOW SPEEDS. VEHICLE WILL THEN REFUSE TO RESTART FOR ABOUT 15 SECONDS AND I AM UNABLE MOVE THE VEHICLE FROM PARK. THIS ISSUE ONLY OCCURS WHEN THE VEHICLE HAS BEEN CHARGING OVERNIGHT, AND HAS NOT OCCURRED IF THE VEHICLE HASN'T BEEN RECENTLY CHARGED. VEHICLE WAS BROUGHT TO THE DEALER WHICH STATED IT WAS WORKING AS DESIGNED. THE PROBLEM HAS OCCURRED MULTIPLE TIMES.