2021 Audi Q8 Electrical System

The alternator on my Audi Q8 SUV died AS I WAS DRIVING IT, leaving my vehicle with no power. I was left to coast down the 50-60 MPH highway I was driving on into a turn lane, where the vehicle stopped and could not be restarted. My safety was put at risk because I was on a highway in a car that stopped operating suddenly and catastrophically. If I had not been able to coast into a turn lane, the car would have left me in a high-speed lane. I waited for a tow truck over two hours, the first hour inside the vehicle, the second outside on a small concrete lane divider. The last hour I spent directing live traffic to slow down and pass my vehicle, which was in the left-turn lane, and whose warning flasher lights had ceased working when the battery was depleted. The vehicle was towed to an Audi service department, where the vehicle was inspected, the failure diagnosed, and the failure corrected by replacing the alternator and recharging the battery. The first symptom of any problem was an error message the evening before when hands-free entry was denied (I had to use my key fob to enter the vehicle instead of placing my hand inside the door handle). Also, the dashboard displayed an error message directing me to contact a service department. In the morning, I called my local Audi service department to report the issue and was given an appointment time for the following morning. I had errands to run, so I took the vehicle on the aforementioned highway, when error messages indicating the loss of availability of various electrical and safety systems (e.g., Lane Departure warning, Lane Assist, Park assist, etc.) began to flash suddenly, one after the other, on my dashboard. The battery icon began glowing first yellow, then red, then flashing between yellow and red. There was one more message about the transmission being in trouble and that I should stop the car safely. At that moment, I lost powered forward propulsion and began to coast, as indicated above.

Vehicle reported an electrical failure and to stop vehicle. Vehicle towed to dealership. Service reported Alternator failure and a 6-8 week repair time as part is on back order.

When driving, my car had several red and yellow warning lights that came one - one for electrical system, the other for Vehicle starting malfunction and another was a battery sign. The vehicle also had delays starting. I was fearful the car would stop while driving (hopefully not on a highway or busy road) or I would be stranded somewhere because the vehicle would not start

The alternator was having malfunction in the middle of driving. At first, the system warned and showed" Electric system malfunction" with yellow lights on. As soon as I saw this warning, I drove to the nearest dealership which is about 15 mins drive. Two minutes before my wife and I arrived at the dealership, the car have many red lights warning turned on one by one. The system asked me to stop safely. And the entire system shut off by itself after we arrived at dealership. Luckily, we were able to drove the car to the service department. I can not image what could have happened it the car broke down on the highway. The engine could be completely shuts down. And there is no even no way to turn on the engine and turn on emergency lights.

Oct 15, 2022 lights began flashing. Electrical Malfunction came up. Said to pull over safely as soon as possible. Dealership said it is not safe to drive. Is still at the Audi dealership since they could finally get it in Nov 16, 2022. It has 17,248 miles on it. Am told it needs a new Alternator/Generator and there is no expected timeframe. It is now Jan 20, 2023 and I have been without a car.