2012 Audi A3 problems

What is wrong

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2012-2015 Passat, 2011-2014 Golf A6, and 2011-2013 Audi A3 diesel vehicles, thought to have been previously repaired under one of the Takata air bag recalls. The driver's side air bag inflator may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, high temperatures, and high temperature cycling.

Risk

An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy

Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver's side air bag inflators, free of charge. The recall began December 20, 2019. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1‑800‑893‑5298 or Audi customer service at 1‑800‑253‑2834. Volkswagen's numbers for this recall are 69R6, 69Q8, 69Q9, and 69Y5.

Recall number 19V862000 · Recall details

What is wrong

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2006-2013 Audi A3, 2007-2009 A4 Cabriolet and S4 Cabriolet, 2008 RS4 Cabriolet, 2009-2012 Q5, and 2010-2012 Audi A5 Cabriolet and S5 Cabriolet vehicles. Upon deployment of the driver's frontal air bag, excessive internal pressure may cause the inflator to explode.

Risk

In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the driver's frontal air bag, the inflator could explode with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy

Audi will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver's frontal air bag inflator with an alternative inflator, free of charge. The recall began February 23, 2018. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1‑800‑253‑2834. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 69R6. Note: This recall partially supersedes recall 16V‑078.

Recall number 18V082000 · Recall details

What is wrong

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain model year 2006 Volkswagen Passat sedans and wagons, 2005-2013 Audi A3, and 2006-2009 Audi A4 Cabriolet vehicles. Upon deployment of the driver's frontal air bag, excessive internal pressure may cause the inflator to rupture.

Risk

In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the driver's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy

Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver's frontal air bag inflators, free of charge. The recall began March 2017. Volkswagen owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1‑800‑893‑5298. Audi owners may contact Audi customer service at 1‑800‑253‑2834.

Recall number 16V079000 · Recall details

What is wrong

Volkswagen is recalling certain model 2009-2012 jetta and jetta sportwagen vehicles, manufactured from may 2008 through september 2011, model year 2010-2012 volkswagen golf vehicles, manufactured from may 2009 through september 2011, and model year 2010-2012 audi a3 vehicles, manufactured from september 2009 through september 2011, that are equipped with a 2.0l tdi common rail diesel engine/clean diesel engine. The fuel injection pulses could coincide with the natural frequency of the injector line #2, in specific load and RPM conditions. This resonance creates additional stress in the fuel line.

Risk

Due to the resonance condition, injector line number 2 could develop small cracks which could lead to fuel leakage. Leaking fuel in the presence of an ignition source, may lead to a fire.

Remedy

Volkswagen will install an improved fuel injector line for the number 2 cylinder on certain vehicles and will install vibration dampers on all of the injector lines. Volkswagen and audi will notify owners to have the vehicles repaired free of charge. The safety recall is expected to begin during november 2011. Owners may contact volkswagen at 1‑800‑822‑8987.

Recall number 11V490000 · Recall details

By letter dated October 3, 2011, Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (VW) notified the federal safety agency that it will conduct a safety recall to address a defect in approximately 168,275 model year (MY) 2009-2012 Volkswagen Jetta, Jetta Sportwagen, Golf, and Audi A3 vehicles equipped with the 2.0L TDI Common Rail Clean Diesel engine (the federal safety agency Recall No. 11V‑490).The recalled Jetta and Jetta Sportwagen vehicles were built from May 2008 through September 2011, the Golf vehicles were built from May 2009 through September 2011, and the Audi A3 vehicles were built from September 2009 through September 2011.According to Volkswagen, in U.S. applications of the above cited TDI vehicles including engine codes CJAA and CBEA, the fuel injection pulses could coincide with the natural frequency of the injector line #2 in specific load and RPM conditions.This resonance creates additional stress on the fuel line which a small number of parts (based on the statistic spread of line strength) cannot withstand over its lifetime.As a contributing factor, VW indicated that a supplier used tube material with scratch marks from a grinding process during certain production periods.Lines manufactured in these periods were installed in vehicles produced in the following 10 months:December 2008, January-February 2009, October 2009, March-April 2010 and September-December 2010.Injector lines using this material exhibit a significantly higher failure rate.Dealers will replace injector line #2 in all vehicles built in these months.In addition, as a precautionary measure, all recalled vehicles will have vibration dampers installed on all four fuel injector lines.Analysis of the federal safety agency complaints, VW complaints, VW field reports and warranty claims found allegations of injector line leakage in 443 subject vehicles.The leaking line was not identified in 62 of the vehicles.For the 381 that did provide information about which injector lines were leaking and/or replaced, 358 (94%) involved an injector line #2 leak/repair.Almost three-quarters of the injector line #2 leak/repair incident vehicles were built in the 10 months identified by VW, which accounted for approximately one-quarter of the recalled vehicles.The failure rate for injector line #2 in vehicles built in the 10 months affected by the supplier line scratching issue is 6.0 incidents per thousand vehicles (IPTV).The failure rate for injector line #2 in other production months of recalled vehicles is 0.8 IPTV.The leak/repair rates for the other injector lines are all well under 1 IPTV.The action taken by Volkswagen is sufficient to resolve the issues raised by this investigation. The agency will continue to monitor this issue and reserves the right to take further action if warranted by the circumstances. Accordingly, this investigation is closed.

PE11023

The Office of Defects Investgation (ODI) opened EA11-003 on February 7, 2011, based on 160 complaints to ODI and Volkswagen involving high pressure fuel pump (HPFP) failures in model year (MY) 2009 through 2010 Volkswagen Jetta and Golf and Audi A3 TDI vehicles and questions regarding fuel sample results provided by Volkswagen as part of its response to PE10-034.During EA11-003, ODI analyzed design information, field experience and test data for MY 2009 through 2012 Volkswagen Jetta, Golf and Touareg and Audi A3 and Q7 vehicles equipped with TDI engines. Volkswagen has not identified any design or manufacturing defects in the subject TDI Clean Diesel pumps and has stated that the subject pumps were designed, tested and approved for use in the United States market, with substantial design margins for fuels that are out of specification.Volkswagen believes that misfueling with gasoline is the primary cause of HPFP drivetrain failures in the field.Only the Q7 vehicles were built with misfuel protection devices.In May 2013 Volkswagen initiated a service campaign to install misfuel protection devices in all MY 2009 through 2012 Jetta, Golf and A3 vehicles.Volkswagen implemented misfuel protection devices in all of the subject models beginning in MY 2013. ODI?s analysis of HPFP drivetrain failure incidents indicates that most failures do not result in engine stall while driving and, when pump drivetrain failure does result in stall while driving, it is usually preceded by numerous warning symptoms (e.g., glow plug warning lamp, chime, limp mode, and driveability symptoms).The failure data for the subject vehicles show relatively low stalling rates (less than one percent at three years in service) for each of the pump designs used in the subject vehicles.There have been no reports of crashes, injuries or fatalities related to the alleged defect. Based on these facts, this investigation is closed.The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by the federal safety agency that a safety-related defect does not exist.The agency will continue to monitor complaints and other information relating to the alleged defect in the subject vehicles and take further action in the future if warranted.For additional information, see the closing report in the document file for EA11-003.

EA11003