rpcMX

Hey all--
I haven't posted in a while, busy and stuff, but now I'm running into problems that are forcing me to wonder about my car. It's a 2003 A4 purchased 10/1/2002.

Over the last year the car has been into the dealership at least once a month with random electronic/interior issues. Its total out-of-service time has been about 20-25 days since 8/03. Basically, here are the problems:

1. Airbag light illuminated, first Audi said nothing was wrong, then they admitted the driver's side airbag was malfunctioning, and they replaced it.

2. Coil pack issue, they only replaced the one that went.

3. The headlight washer system was leaking, the shift **** was peeling, the hood release was broken (by the dealer), and then the headlight dipped notice came on and the headlight wasn't working. (I don't have xenons, so headlight dipped was kind of weird.) They "reprogrammed" the car and replaced the light, headlight washer, hood release, and shift ****.

4. Credit card holder mysteriously popped open and wouldn't close, the battery cover cracked. Both fixed.

5. In October '04, during a hand carwash, one of the guys noticed water in the light cluster up front. Turns out water was leaking into the cluster and the OnStar buttons and then falling onto the console. The headliner around the light was soaking. The dealer pulled apart the entire top of the car, found several leaks, and resealed the sunroof etc.

6. About a week ago, the OnStar people called my car asking if I'd been in an accident... No, I hadn't. Apparently, the sensors had said that my airbags had gone off, or they weren't working correctly (they're not). No fix for that yet.

7. As of Saturday, the car thinks that random lights are failing when they actually aren't. It will randomly beep and say "Left Front Turn Signal" with the big yellow X, but the signal is fine and the warning will clear, only to show up again five minutes later with another light that actually is working.

There are several other random issues that I just chalk up to this being a German car... but I've totally reached my wit's end with this thing. AoA denied my request for an extended warranty... the car turned two years old 10/1/04 and now has about 40K miles on it.

I guess my question is: is this normal? Should I be worried about more problems? I feel like all these stupid things are endemic of a bigger problem... I won't really be able to afford to fix a zillion problems out of warranty after the finance payments.

So now, what to do? I bought the car in New Jersey so I'm waaay outside the terms of the Lemon Law; I don't even know if it would qualify. All I really wanted was an extended warranty, but since I know I'm going to be stuck with this car for at least another 5 years or so (unless I win the lottery) I kind of need it to work.

What do you guys think??
Thanks for allowing the long-a** post, but you guys are the most knowledgeble people I know about this stuff...
-rpc

Teh DeSeRT Rat

you cant lemon it out becuase all the problems have been different, however, if you call customer service and complain, and ask them what they are willing to do about it, they will offer to make one of your payments

rpcMX

I've been talking to them ever since October, they have denied every request I've made. They keep saying "We have decided to service the car under the terms of the warranty, and nothing else." She acted like they were doing me a favor. I'm sitting here going "Do you want a cookie? Because you *have* to do that..." =P

Anyways, thanks for your response... I hope that they at least offer to do *something*.
-rpc