2018 Audi Q5 Electrical System

Unpublished costly catastropic electrical failure Audi of America reviewed the case and declined assistance solely because the vehicle was already totaled and unavailable for dealer inspection. Audi did not dispute the presence of water intrusion, the technical findings, or the cause of failure. This failure occurred without warning under ordinary environmental conditions and resulted in sudden loss of vehicle function. I am submitting this complaint to document a potential defect related to the protection and placement of electronic systems vulnerable to water exposure. I am submitting this complaint to report a potential safety-related defect involving water intrusion and catastrophic electrical failure in a 2018 Audi S5. After a heavy rain event with no roadway flooding or submersion, my vehicle experienced complete electrical failure and would not start. Inspection revealed water intrusion into the trunk area where critical electronic components—including the battery and electronic control modules—are located. The damage was extensive and rendered the vehicle inoperable, resulting in a total loss determination. Attached documentation includes photographs, video evidence, and a technical inspection summary prepared by an independent automotive service facility and reviewed in consultation with Audi-trained technicians. The findings indicate water intrusion consistent with design vulnerability rather than misuse or lack of maintenance.

My car randomly rebooting while driving. The whole MMI goes down

Turns out numerous complaints about water finding its way onto the computer comfort module. It is well known. Audi techs admitted it is due a bad design by Audi. There are no indications or warnings something is going wrong. Module gets fried and vehicle shuts off. Can't even shift or take out of Park. Insurances do not want to cover due it being water related. Audi does not want to repair due to no recall. They want approx $10,000.00 per occurrence when this happens. Definitely not fair to consumers to have to pay this or total their vehicles. My car only has 50k miles.

Water intrusion from sunroof floods electronics modules and shorting out, making the car unoperable

2018 Audi Q5 comfort System Control Module is faulty due to corrosion from water and or humidity. No incidents have occurred with my vehicle that has less than 70k miles. I purchased the vehicle as a certified pre-owned with 7700 miles on the car. The dealership claims that outside forces have cause the module to corrode and that I am responsible for the 10k payment to replace and/or repair.

Roof drains clogged resulting in water filling the interior left rear wheelwell where ligting control modules are stored and are not waterproofed. Design defect allowing water incursion into an electrical connection system that is not waterproofed resulted in sudden and immediate multiple lighting system failure, road hazard.

Starter button does not work. use of emergency start only. Dealership says rain water running off car towards the back, gets into the wiring and causes massive damage. getting a bill of over $11,000 There are recalls on this for other Q5 years but not 2018.

Sunroof drain lines leaked and filled the rear compartment with water which is also where the body control module is. The water damaged the body control module which affected vehicle lighting and abs system. Upon further investigation, this is a very common issue with Audi.

The contact owns a 2018 Audi Q5. The contact stated that vehicle failed to start. The contact stated that while replacing the battery, he observed condensation near the wiring. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the vehicle was hoisted up and there was condensation draining from the driver’s side of the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 48,000.

The contact owns a 2018 Audi Q5. The contact stated that while driving his vehicle, a start/stop malfunction warning message appeared on the display screen. Once the contact made it to his destination, the vehicle failed to turn off after repeatedly pushing the start/stop button. The next day, the failure persisted and the vehicle was taken to a dealer where a diagnostic was performed. The diagnostic showed that water had traveled from the sun roof drains into the rear left panel and into the vehicle's wiring module. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed him that there were no recalls on the vehicle. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 72,000.

The comfort control module catastrophically failed. There is video evidence of the condition the module is in. The whole car shut down. Nothing electronic worked. Doors unlocked, trunk opened, gas cap unlocked, couldn't start car or change gears, roll up/down windows, or lock the doors. The dealership has confirmed the sunroof drains leaked water into the rear left wheel well filling it up with water into the trunk where the spare wheel well is with picture evidence of the amount of water. It rained the night prior. There were no prior warning signs or any issues. Everything was working fine until it was not. The comfort control module needs to be completely rewired and the sunroof drains need to be completely replaces. If this happened while I was driving I would have lost complete control of the vehicle as all power to the car was off.

Warning lights on the dash began to light up about a minute after starting and driving the car. Pulled over, stopped the car and tried to restart but couldn't restart. Apparently water leaked in from the closed sunroof over night and flooded the spare tire well where a control module is located and shorted. Car was serviced by Audi as recommended during the entire time. Had to have the car towed to an Audi dealer and was charged $1,600 to correct after 10 days.

CAR SUDDENLY TIED WHILE DRIVING IN CITY; ENGINE/ALL SYSTEMS SHUT OFF. IT TOOK SEVERAL HOURS FOR ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE TO ARRIVE, AND THE 1ST 2 TOWING COMPANIES COULD NOT DISENGAGE THE BRAKING SYSTEM TO LOAD ONTO TRUCK! ONCE VEHICLE TOWED TO AUDI DEALER, THEIR DIAGNOSIS WAS "GATEWAY CONTROL MODULE J533, WATER IN CONTROL MODULE, CORROSION IN CONNECTOR, CAUSING FUSE FOR GATEWAY CONTROL UNIT TO BLOW" WE WERE TOLD BY DEALER THAT "LIQUID MUST HAVE SPILLED INTO AREA BEHIND REAR SEATS". WE HAVE NO YOUNG CHILDREN, AND NOBODY WAS RECENTLY SITTING IN REAR SEAT. VEHICLE IS PARKED IN GARAGE AND IS IN EXCELLENT CONDITION; 2 YEARS OLD / 24,000 MILES. THIS WAS A $3,200 REPAIR NOT COVERED UNDER WARRANTY. THIS SOUNDS LIKE A DESIGN DEFECT. AFTER SEVERAL COMMUNICATIONS I HAD WITH AUDI USA AND LOCAL DEALER, THOSE (2) PARTIES TOLD ME THIS REPAIR WOULD BE COVERED AS A "GOODWILL ADJUSTMENT" NOT A "WARRANTY ITEM". I FOUND SIMILAR REPORTS ONLINE: HERE IS A DISCUSSION I STARTED ON AN ONLINE FORUM: HTTPS://WWW.AUDIWORLD.COM/FORUMS/Q5-SQ5-MKII-DISCUSSION-218/CONTROL-MODULE-RUINED-MOISTURE-CORROSION-3001605/PAGE3/ ANOTHER ONE I FOUND: HTTPS://WWW.AUDIWORLD.COM/FORUMS/Q5-SQ5-MKII-DISCUSSION-218/COMPLETE-ENGINE-CONTROL-MODULE-FAILURE-2952745/ ATTACHED IS INVOICE. SYSTEM WILL NOT ALLOW ME TO UPLOAD PHOTOS THEY SENT ME DUE TO FILE SIZES. REPAIR TOOK ALMOST A MONTH TO COMPLETE. WE ENDED UP RENTING A CAR FOR A WEEK-LONG ROAD TRIP AS THE DEALER LOANER IS ONLY FOR LOCAL USE.

I WAS DRIVING 65 MILES AN HOUR ON I-95 IN THE LEFT LANE APPROACHING THE EXIT FOR I-695 NORTH ON SATURDAY, JANUARY 4TH AT 5:00PM. IT WAS RAINING. NO ONE WAS IN FRONT OF ME OR BEHIND ME WHEN MY CAR DASH LIT UP WITH AN AUDI PRE SENSE RED SIGN ON A BLACK BACKGROUND. THE BRAKES STOPPED THE CAR SUDDENLY ON THEIR OWN AND MY SEAT BELT SLAMMED ME TIGHTLY INTO MY SEAT. FORTUNATELY NO ONE WAS BEHIND ME OR THIS COULD HAVE CAUSED A MULTI CAR ACCIDENT. THERE WAS NOTHING VISIBLE ON THE ROAD TO SET THIS SYSTEM OFF. MONDAY MORNING I WENT TO THE DEALER TO SEE IF THEY COULD DISCONNECT THIS SYSTEM SINCE I WAS NOW AFRAID THIS WOULD HAPPEN AGAIN AND I WOULD NOT BE SO LUCKY WITH THE TRAFFIC SITUATION THE NEXT TIME. THEY LOWERED THE SENSITIVITY BUT THEY COULD NOT DISCONNECT THE SYSTEM. I ALSO CALLED AUDI TO INFORM THEM ABOUT THIS HAZARD. THEY NOTED IT ON THEIR RECORD BUT SAID IT IS PART OF THE CAR AND IT COULD NOT BE DISCONNECTED. WHEN I LOOKED ON LINE THERE WERE MANY COMPLAINTS ABOUT THIS PROBLEM; HOWEVER NONE OF THE OTHER DRIVERS WERE ON THE OPEN HIGHWAY FULL SPEED AHEAD. CAN THIS PROBLEM BE LOOKED INTO BEFORE SOMEONE'S CAR CAUSES A MAJOR PILEUP WITH SERIOUS INJURIES. THANK YOU! *JS

NAVIGATION LOCKS UP, DRIVER COCKPIT AND DASH SCREEN SHUTS DOWN WHEN CARPLAY IS ACTIVATED. AT TIME THE CAR DOESN'T RECOGNIZE CARPLAY. ADDITIONALLY THE VOLUME CONTROL WILL ONLY INCREASE AND NOT DECREASE VOLUME. SOMETIMES IT SAYS SPEECH RECOGNITION NOT RECOGNIZED WHEN ADJUSTING VOLUME. HAS NOT RESOLVED FOR THE 10 MONTHS I HAVE OWNED THE CAR. *TR

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2018 AUDI Q5. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE INSTRUMENT PANEL WENT BLANK WITHOUT WARNING AND THE INDICATORS AND GAUGES COULD NOT BE VIEWED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO MCKINNEY AUDI (6650 TEXAS STATE HWY 121, MCKINNEY, TX 75070, (972) 390-2100) WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED THAT THE COMPUTER NEEDED PATCHING IN THE "S 5 CHIP". THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 4,392. THE VIN WAS UNKNOWN.

VEHICLE TRAVELING STRAIGHT ON HIGHWAY AT 70MPH WITH PHONE PLUGGED IN TO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM AND CONNECTED TO CARPLAY. CENTER SCREEN SHUT OFF, AND AUDIO CONTROLS UNRESPONSIVE ON BOTH THE DASH AND STEERING WHEEL. THE INSTRUMENT PANEL, WHICH WAS DISPLAYING GOOGLE MAPS, THEN BLACKED OUT, WITH ONLY THE SPEEDOMETER AND TACH DISPLAYING. AGAIN, CONTROLS WERE UNRESPONSIVE. THE SYSTEM THEN RESTARTED, SIMILARLY TO INITIALLY TURNING ON THE VEHICLE. THE "INITIALIZING MAP" MESSAGE APPEARED IN THE INSTRUMENT PANEL, AND SHORTLY THEREAFTER BOTH THE CENTER SCREEN AND INSTRUMENT CLUSTER WERE FUNCTIONING NORMALLY, AND ALL CONTROLS WERE RESPONSIVE. THIS WAS ESPECIALLY STRESSFUL AS I WAS EXPECTING SOMETHING ELSE TO FAIL BUT COULDN'T PULL OVER.