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Audi A6 transmission failure problems

20 of the 1,664 owner complaints about the Audi A6 describe complete transmission failure, most of them for the 2019 model year.

owner complaints
20
worst model year
2019
typical mileage
59,900
Is there a fix? No recall or service bulletin covers this area of the car yet.

By model year

  • 2021
    1
  • 2019
    6
  • 2012
    3
  • 2003
    2
  • 2002
    1
  • 2001
    4
  • 2000
    1
  • 1998
    1
  • 1996
    1

What owners say

Filed Apr 22, 2026 · Brakes, Electrical · TX

Complete shut down of all electrical associated components while driving on highway Loss of power steering loss of braking loss of ability to accelerate transmission failure loss of lane detection, loss of car detection. Diagnosed as , faulty alternator recall repaired and continuation of same electrical failures despite six additional repairs Multiple failures of all electrical components on highway road and side roads

Filed Mar 9, 2024 · Driver assistance, Electrical · AL

Electrical malfunction warning. Steering wheel got tight. Transmission failure warning. Then the the car began to stop. all types of various warnings were popping up on the heads up display. It is in the process of getting taken to the nearest dealer.

Filed Sep 22, 2023 · Driver assistance, Electrical · NY

Received a message for "Electrical System Failure" and drove ok at first but began receiving failure messages for various systems including but not limited to Start/Stop system, transmission, power steering, and crash avoidance systems. Soon after the entertainment and comfort system screens went blank followed by the dash screen and the car eventually just turned off as I was trying to find a safe place to pull over. Safety was put a risk as I was stranded on a busy road with no shoulder and because the battery was impacted my hazard lights only lasted a short time which left me and my vehicle exposed on the side of the road. The car was towed to the dealer (Audi of Albany) who inspected determined the failure was related to a faulty ignition generator. The car is currently at Audi of Albany and will be for at least 2 weeks so I am assuming it would be available for inspection. Many different warning lights appeared in the short time leading to total shutdown of the car. I recall a start/stop failure message, batter charge low, transmission failure light, power steering failure warning, adaptive cruise control, frontal collision avoidance among others. As stated above all screens in the car eventually turned off and the car fully failed on a main road and required a tow to the dealer.

Filed May 26, 2023 · Electrical, Engine · NJ

Starter warning followed by electrical system malfunction, these were followed by Multiple warning lights (Lane departure, adaptive cruise control, collision avoidance, etc) then 1 minute later transmission failure and engine failure imminent.... pull over immediately and contact dealer. I turned into a road off main highway within a minute of the last two warnings and as I turned, my center MMI went blank then my electronic dash went blank, transmission went into neutral and the engine died all within a few seconds. Fortunately I was able to coast to a stop.

Filed Jan 17, 2023 · Electrical · KY

Multiple warnings indicating to contact dealer (Lane departure, adaptive cruise control, collision avoidance, electrical system, start/stop, etc) then 1 minute later transmission failure and engine failure imminent. After a minute or two my center MMI went blank then my electronic dash went blank, transmission went into neutral and the engine died all within a few seconds. Fortunately I was able to coast to a stop in the center median of an expressway and contacted the dealer. Flatbed towed to dealer who stated most likely the generator between the lithium battery bank and gas engine failed. They have seen several in this year for A6 and A7's with mild hybrid engines. I was lucky to be in low volume traffic as there was no power to indicate to drivers around me that my engine quit and not even turn signals worked. After having car towed to Audi dealer, they proceeded to tell me it was the starter/generator and the part was on back order for two to three months.

Filed Jan 13, 2023 · CT

Multiple warnings indicating to contact dealer (Lane departure, adaptive cruise control, collision avoidance, etc) then 1 minute later transmission failure and engine failure imminent.... pull over immediately and contact dealer. I turned into a road off main highway within a minute of the last two warnings and as I turned, my center MMI went blank then my electronic dash went blank, transmission went into neutral and the engine died all within a few seconds. Fortunately I was able to coast to a stop in the parking lot.

Filed Nov 18, 2022 · Electrical, Engine · WA

Multiple warnings indicating to contact dealer (Lane departure, adaptive cruise control, collision avoidance, etc) then 1 minute later transmission failure and engine failure imminent.... pull over immediately and contact dealer. I turned into a road off main highway within a minute of the last two warnings and as I turned, my center MMI went blank then my electronic dash went blank, transmission went into neutral and the engine died all within a few seconds. Fortunately I was able to coast to a stop in the parking lot. Flatbed towed to dealer who stated most likely the generator between the lithium battery bank and gas engine failed. They have seen several in this year for A6 and A7's with mild hybrid engines. I'm lucky to be in low volume traffic as there was no power to indicate to drivers around me that my engine quit and not even turn signals worked.

Filed Mar 23, 2020 · Transmission · 20,031 miles · CA

Shifts rough from start through first set of gears. From a standstill, under normal traffic conditions, no matter what setting the car is in, the transmission hunts for the correct gear and roughly shifts from 1-2 or 2-3. This issue was supposed to be settled by the CVT class action but audi is refusing to repair/replace. I have complained about this issue since 05-06/2014 and for 9 times since until cpo warranty and extended warranty lapsed, now they feel the problem when before they could not and determine the transmission needs replacement for $12,000.

Filed Aug 17, 2019 · Transmission · 63,000 miles · CT

I just had check engine light which aperantly is a bad mechatronic device. Thank god nothing bad happened during driving, however when I talked to audi corporate and was told it was not acommon problem and they dont want to fix it. The car is 60k and always was taken care in dealership shops, on time. Used only 30 miles a day and always kept indorr both at my work and at home. When reading online about this problem I learnt that this is a common problem, and audi apparently not trying to cover or solve it. I am attaching description of the problem from a website (https://www.ecutesting.com/common-faults/audi/audi-s-tronic-0b5-gearbox-mechatronic-problem/) "this s-tronic transmission unit fitted to high performance audi's, with the 0b5 dl501 direct shift gearbox (dsg), is a very common failing mechatronic control unit. Internal component breakdown of the s-tronic mechatronic control unit will cause a multitude of symptoms on the vehicle beginning with the illumination of the epc (electronic power control) and prnds warning lights. The running symptoms that a fault within this mechatronic...as the s-tronic/0b5 gearbox mechatronics failure advances, these symptoms progress further into critical transmission failure: sticking in gear, deactivation of half of the gears, no reverse or gears above first. Typically, when dealing with these audi s-tronic gearbox problems, main dealerships and specialists will seek to purchase an expensive replacement or repair kit direct from the manufacturer, which will also incur coding fees. The glaring problem with this method is that the manufacturer of this mechatronic control unit has not yet resolved the root cause of failure at factory level, meaning that all replacements and repair kit components still have the underlying defects that will cause malfunction, usually outside the short one-year manufacturer warranty."

Filed Jun 17, 2016 · Transmission · 125,000 miles · IL

Tl* the contact owns a 1996 audi a6. The contact stated that the transmission failed. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 125,000.

Related recalls

No recalls on record for this model year.

Questions about the Audi A6 transmission failure

Which Audi A6 years have complete transmission failure problems?

The model years with the most reports are 2019 (6 complaints), 2001 (4 complaints) and 2012 (3 complaints).

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