In my daughter’s driveway with my foot on the brake, my vehicle suddenly accelerated forward without warning. I immediately pressed the brake pedal firmly and kept my foot on the brake, but the vehicle continued moving forward and would not stop. The vehicle crossed the street and entered the neighbor’s lawn heading towards a large tree. I managed to steer away from the tree and the neighboring house and return to the street. The vehicle then continued through a stop sign. I made a left to avoid another house and continued traveling one tenth of a mile before the vehicle finally came to a stop. Throughout the incident, my foot remained pressed on the brake pedal. Steering was very difficult. The engine did not sound as though it was revving loudly. The vehicle left deep marks in the grass, but I did not observe skid marks on the street. My initial report to AUDI I stated the vehicle was going 15-20 MPH however; I did a test with another vehicle and determined it was more like 25-30 MPH
Audi Q5 sudden acceleration problems
21 of the 1,359 owner complaints about the Audi Q5 describe sudden unintended acceleration, most of them for the 2018 model year.
- owner complaints
- 21
- worst model year
- 2018
- typical mileage
- 9,000
By model year
- 20251
- 20233
- 20221
- 20202
- 20191
- 20185
- 20164
- 20122
- 20101
- 20091
Often reported together
No deployment 3Power steering loss 1Jerking 1Brake failure 1
What owners say
Mileage at time of incident: Approximately 4,000 miles Date of incident: XXX Location: [XXX] Incident description: My vehicle was in neutral while going through an automatic car wash, as instructed. When the exit signal indicated it was clear to proceed, with my foot on the brake, I shifted into drive. The vehicle accelerated on its own, without corresponding accelerator pedal input, and struck the building adjacent to the car wash. The vehicle did not exit the building on its own, so I shifted into reverse. The vehicle again accelerated on its own and struck a structural beam. I applied continuous pressure to the brake pedal throughout the incident. The vehicle did not respond immediately, but the brakes eventually engaged and brought the vehicle to a stop. The vehicle's rear obstacle-detection and automatic braking sensors, which normally engage under similar low-speed reversing conditions, did not activate at any point during this incident. The airbags also did not deploy after the vehicle struck the building. Video footage of the incident shows the vehicle moving at low speed with no visible braking response until the vehicle came to a stop. Police and fire department personnel responded to the scene. No injuries were reported. Property damage occurred to a vinyl fence, an adjacent building, and an interior wall of a business inside that building. I requested that the vehicle's Event Data Recorder (EDR) be reviewed by the dealership/manufacturer prior to any repairs, to determine throttle position, brake switch status, and sensor activity at the time of the incident. As of this report, Audi sent an engineer to inspect the vehicle on XXX and has since provided me with a rental car. I am still awaiting the results of that inspection. Components involved: Engine/motor, electronic throttle control, service brakes, parking assist/sensors, forward collision/automatic braking system I am filing this report because I was genuinely afraid for my safety INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (
I was pulling slowly into a parking space at a grocery store, with my right foot on the brake, nearly stopped. Then the car rapidly and suddenly accelerated unintentionally. The car jumped over a bush, a median, rammed into a parked car, pushing it across the next parking lane into a third car. The third car, in turn, bumped a fourth car. Safety: The air bags did not deploy. The potential for significant injury to me, nearby pedestrians and people in cars was extremely high. Luckily, I was able to brace myself sufficiently, there were no pedestrians nearby and no one was in any of the cars. There were no warning lights, beeps, messages or any other information to indicate a defect or potential malfunction.
Subject: Formal Complaint Regarding Vehicle Safety Issue with 2020 Audi Q5 I am writing to formally file a complaint regarding a critical safety issue with my 2020 Audi Q5, as advised by the New York State Division of Consumer Protection. Please find attached a copy of the Division's correspondence dated May 21, 2024, concerning my initial complaint against Audi of America, Inc., along with supporting documents pertinent to this case. On April 10, 2024, while parking in the driveway despite applying the brakes, and despite the reduced speed, the vehicle suddenly accelerated (launching/jumping forward motion) and collided with the side of the house. On April 11, 2024, my auto insurance adjuster confirmed the vehicle was towed to the Southampton Audi Dealership for an investigation, of which supporting documentation is also attached. Following this incident, I alerted Audi of America on April 15, 2024, and have since made several follow-up communications concerning the safety risks posed by the vehicle's unexpected behavior. Copies of these communications are enclosed for your reference. Unfortunately, there has been a significant lack of substantive responses from Audi of America, leaving the issue unresolved and ongoing safety concerns unaddressed. I appreciate your assistance with this matter and look forward to your assistance in ensuring that this safety concern is adequately resolved. Very truly yours
Car was being driven normally within a parking lot of a shopping center. Proceeded to park the vehicle in a parking space. Upon pressing break and holding break pedal pressed, went to push the parking button on gear shifter and car erratically jolted and drove forward and stopped upon impact with barriers/debris/crash. Multiple alerts and warnings illuminated right prior to the incident. Reviews of other drivers of this vehicle reveals similar incidents of unintended acceleration while breaks are actively being applied. No parking button options were stopping vehicle, impact/crash stopped car. Property of shopping plaza/target was damaged, my vehicle, Audi, was damaged and another vehicle parked next to claims their vehicle was involved/hit as well. Safety was critically in danger as breaks did not work and car accelerated on its own without accelerator being pressed rather break was actively engaged and pressing of parking break to shift car from drive to park. Audi pre sense, parking break, TPMS and caution symbol alerts displayed. Problems confirmed and reviewed by Audi dealer service. Paperwork is attached along with pictures. Alerts from car has been present for sometime and car has been taken to audi numerous times with no action by dealer, car is new and is a lease. Audi is aware of these issues had took no action to audit/fix cars systems. Shortly after those visits to dealers this incident occurred. Believe these control modules having a correlation with cars sporadic behavior. Audi Service documents: Story: 5354 TSB 2070571/2 DUPLICATED CUSTOMER CONCERN DURING THE INITIAL TEST DRIVE. RAN GFF WITH DIAG ID 186214649 FOUND DTC P060C00: Internal Control Module Main Processor Performance. FOUND TSB 2070571/2. AS PER TSB "1 Clear the DTC P060C00 and return the vehicle to the customer. 2. Explain to the customer that a solution is expected to be available by the end of the 1st quarter of 2024 (subject to change) and that no repairs are necessary at this point.
This was unintentional acceleration case: When I got into the parking space, the car was almost stopped and I was about to press the park button (gear) and the car suddenly accelerated and in a fraction of a second, climbed the curb, crashed into the fence, broke the fence and crushed on a tree. I was still applying brake to stop it and I could not do anything else. The following facts show that the acceleration was totally out of my control. 1.vehicle climbed the curb 2. and climbed the dirt part, shrubs 3. to hit the fence and broke it; It looked like something mall functioned. As a matter of fact, no safety feature worked and no sound signals went on ! Even vehicle's collision system did not kick in when car was climbing over the curb. Fortunately, I could get out of that car and my body was aching due to the seat belt and airbag explosion. (Driver side bag exploded for sure. I do not remember if the other side bag exploded.)
My wife was pulling into a parking spot when all of a sudden the cars engine accelerated causing the car to jump one curb, hit a step and striking a pole before finally the brakes stopped the car from going through a storefront. None of the safety crash features stopped the vehicle. My wifes foot was on the brake, not the accelerator. Previously we had the vehicle in for service to reset the computer that kept freezing. Unfortunately we did not research Audi in detail before we bought. Since this occurrence, we have seen that some of Audi's models have had a history of "unintended sudden acceleration" and that there was actually a class action lawsuit years ago. After reading about those occurrences, we believe that this is what occurred. Audi corporate sent their engineers to download the computer data. They concluded that there was no computer error and no evidence of impact. Clearly there was impact since the car had to be repaired. I have since driven the exact route into the parking lot to see if possibly my wifes foot could have been on the accelerator. I made a right turn, quick left turn and quick right turn into the parking spot and my foot was on the brake the entire time. All third parties that have looked at the vehicle don't believe that there was a computer acceleration malfunction because the engineers said that they didn't identify a problem. I will never drive an Audi again. After this incident, I have spoken with other Audi owners and there seems to be issues with the german engineered "safety" controls. Apply brakes when not necessary, lane control jerking back into traffic when in an exit only lane. I am thankful that no person was in front of my vehicle when this occurred.
On october 15 2023 at around 5.30 pm me and my wife are coming back from my daughter"s house in basking ridge nj ,to my house in warren nj which is only about 7 miles. Its local area with speed limit around 35 miles/hr z0ne .I was driving on mount airy road , saw a red light at a distance, and also saw a couple of cars stopped at light, and slowly applied brakes to stop the vehicle. To my surprise the vehicle did not decelerate, instead accelerated very fast, and at that moment I steered the car to the left,to avoid hitting any cars in front of me,which caused me to crash into the side barrier. Within a few minutes the ambulances came, and rushed me and my wife with multiple injuries and fractures to icu morrist0wn memorial hospital. The car has only about 35,000 miles. We slowly are recovering with physical therapy . This incident definitely changed our lives, I strongly believe that vehicle"s unintended acceleration caused me to crash.
I was parking my car in a driveway on clear and sunny day. As I put the car into reverse, the engine suddenly accelerated. The car then spun around and moved sideways causing me to crash into the garage along the length of the car on passenger side. The garage was heavily damaged as were two other cars in the garage. I was not injured except for mild bruising and stiffness in neck and shoulders. Air bags did not deploy. My car had to be towed away. Three weeks earlier, the RF ACC sensor/module J428 was repaired by the Audi dealership in New London. It was out of alignment due to collision/damage to right front bumper from hit and run driver in a parking lot in June.
My wife and I were in the 2023 Audi Q5 with 1000 miles. I had complained to the dealer and manufacturer that this car was unsafe to drive. On June 9, 2023 I was driving slowly in my community. I tried to stop at a stop sign. NO brakes then at the same time the car had unintended sudden acceleration. We had no control, no brakes and hit a fence and shrubbery and cement fence. All airbags deployed.
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the Audi Q5 sudden acceleration
Which Audi Q5 years have sudden unintended acceleration problems?
The model years with the most reports are 2018 (5 complaints), 2016 (4 complaints) and 2023 (3 complaints).
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