2020 Audi Q3: steering wheel locks up

Filed Feb 9, 2021 · 5,004 miles · TX

Truck reads faint or old lanes on the road & will often jerk the truck over to the old lane vs the actual lane that is being driven. When you try to take control its really hard as if the steering wheel locks. Recently the sensors for forward collision can sense pedestrians walking ahead of the truck a few feet away & will engage the emergency breaks as if were going to hit the pedestrians who aren't even close to us. The breaks upon release from a light or backing out of the drive way makes a horrible grinding noise. Audi said its a characteristic of the truck! Today while driving the truck seemed to be shaking a little & reducing speed. When I pulled into the parking space the truck was still shaking. An alert lit up the dash board "drive system: malfunction! Please contact service. The tachometer was fully red 1-8 vs 7-8. I tried to give the truck a little gas to stop the shaking, but that did work. I shut the truck off waited & turn it back on the message was cleared. I was scared to drive it, but took the truck to audi where it is being looked at. Auto start/ stop locks the steering wheel upon restarting & has taken off extremely fast in a jerking motion which could cause an accident. This was said to be another characteristic of the truck. It seems to be a lot of dangerous characteristics with this truck that are not mention before leasing. My previous a4 had similar features & these issues never occurred. I don't feel safe in this truck its brand new 2020 with 5k miles & it seems to be issue after issue.

Filed Aug 20, 2020 · Electrical, Engine · 100 miles · PA

I bought my 2020 q3 sline premium on august 15, 2020. The vehicle had stalled twice, first on august 17, 2020 and second on august 20, 2020. In both cases, the engine stopped as soon as I stopped in auto with my parking brakes engaged. The display screen also went dead/blank in both cases. In both cases I had to restart before I can drive. I also notice that when stopped and the auto stop engages the steering wheel locks making it difficult to turn a corner from a red light. Additionally, while driving the car identifies tar on the road as lanes and jerks the car away and it is very difficult to pull the steering back.

Filed Jun 3, 2020 · Electrical, Engine · 1,700 miles · FL

I leased my audi q3 2020 on 04/30/2020. The main issue happened recently where I was driving on a busy boulevard doing about 50mph and the engine stalled leaving only the electrical components working. I managed to pull the car to the side with my hazard lights on but had oncoming traffic doing at least 60-70mph. I felt in danger and that this could have been a grave accident. I brought the car to audi who says it's in need of a software update, they do now know when it will be available but would be in the 3rd quarter of 2020. They will call me to being my car back in for the update when available. They deemed it safe to drive, did not offer a courtesy vehicle or rental. I explained I do not feel safe and even made a report to audi of america without any help. I have a 1 month old car that I feel is going to put my life and the lives of people around me in danger if this should happen again. They did not leave me with any choice other than to take the car back because I need to get to and from work. I explained that should the car be damaged, I be injured or worse that they are liable given that I brought the car in and the issue was not resolved. I see this report has been made multiple times and I can say this is a very scary situation to happen at full speed with many cars around you. I have also had multiple alerts saying driver assistance malfunction. I also notice that when stopped and the auto stop engages the steering wheel locks making it difficult to turn a corner from a red light. Additionally, while driving the car identifies tar on the road as lanes and jerks the car away and it is very difficult to pull the steering back.

Filed Feb 9, 2020 · Electrical, Fuel system · 1,400 miles · OH

My 2020 q3 purchased december 21, 2019 malfunctioned in the middle of an intersection january 22, 2020. It had 1400 miles on it. The steering wheel locked and I had no engine. I could not turn the steering wheel and it shut off the brake lights, which left me in a seriously unsafe situation. This was the third time it happened. The other two instances happened in a parking lot. I thought I had done something wrong with the start/stop. My dealership has dismissed my safety concerns and have offered no resolution to the problem, other than disengage the start/stop every time I get in the vehicle. There was no guarantee of when this would be fixed and was told it could be months to get the parts. There was also no guarantee that this wouldn't happen with the start/stop already disengaged. I am driving a vehicle that could potentially shut down without warning leaving my life and the lives of others at risk.

Filed Jan 21, 2020 · Steering · 150 miles · CA

I bought my audi q3 on december 21 and on december 22 I started noticing issues with the steering, specifically related to the auto stop/start function. Now, as detailed below, I did not have a positive experience with my purchase of the vehicle, so when I started to notice the slow belabored turning, I thought that I was making more out of it because I had such a negative experience at the dealership. And, I wish that's what it was. As I continued to drive the vehicle more, the problem with the steering wheel locking up not only became more frequent, but also more aggressive, where it went from a short split-second delay to a delays that lasted many seconds. This is highly dangerous and terrifying. The last time it happened was in the middle of an intersection where I was trying to turn left, and the vehicle was moving forward but the steering wheel wasn't engaging - this occurred as traffic was coming towards me, one of which had to swerve to miss slamming into me in the intersection. Obviously, my next step was to bring the car into the dealership to fix the clear defect. So you can imagine my surprise, horror, and dismay, when days later I received a call from the service department telling me that not only did audi know about the defect, but that to them it wasn't a defect at all but an adequately performing 'slight delay.' of all the responses that I could have imagined, that was the one that never crossed my mind because that would me that audi was willfully ignoring the safety of their customers. The service representative did his best to show me work arounds for the problem, but as I said to him, steering your car while driving is not something that should have to be 'worked around.' there shouldn't need to be a work around where safety is concerned. The unsafe delay has continued to occur.

Filed Dec 3, 2019 · Fuel system, Steering · 200 miles · WA

Vehicle misfires/ stutters resulting in the vehicle shutting off. Driver has to manually restart car. This can be hazardous when driving in traffic as the vehicle will shut off. Not sure if this is a fuel injection issue. I've had this happen twice while ascending a hill. I picked up my new car on 10/22/2019, since 11/02/2019, I've experienced this issue 5 times. My vehicle has been in the repair shop twice for this issue and continuously since 11/25/2019. The car is not storing any faults. Vehicle also recognizes road repair sealant as a traffic lane and will take control of the steering. You have to wrestle with the steering wheel to command control of the steering. Lastly, when using these auto start/stop function, after releasing the brake the steering locks and you have to wrestle for control of the wheel.

Filed Nov 3, 2019 · Electrical, Steering · 100 miles · TX

When the auto start-stop function activates (turning the engine off), the steering wheel locks. The car can continue to roll when you let your foot off the brake to start moving again, but the steering wheel remains locked not allowing you to steer the car when necessary. I almost got hit because of this and it is very scary not to be able to steer out of the way when necessary!!! This is horrible function of the car which can cause a lot of accidents!!