susyk

On multiple occasions while driving, I have received a message saying "driver availability recognition not possible" and the car will not move. It happens if I raise up in my seat a little and turn to reach something in the backseat while I am stopped at a traffic light and it's really awful, not to mention dangerous. I have a very hard time figuring out how to fix the situation. I sort of panic and keep trying different things with brake pedal, start button and gear selector until finally some combination of things works and the car will move again. I tested it out yesterday and it doesn't seem to be related to seat belt fastening. Has anyone else had this problem or understand exactly what circumstances trigger this warning and how to correct for it?

WildBTK

This is worrisome. I have seen other posts with complaints about the extreme aggressiveness of the driver detection built into the seat. Just turning around to look out the side or back or, in your case, to grab something from the backseat causes the car to basically stop. Ridiculous.

johnkey

Something similar happened to me. When in a parking structure and backing up, I turn around and kind of lift off the seat and the car shuts off and goes to park. Service dept told me to use the camera more and try not to move.

superswiss

LOL, I guess this is where things are heading with more and more attention on self-driving. Sounds like similar to the weight sensor in the passenger seat to control the airbag, there's now a sensor in the driver's seat and if you lift out of it, it thinks nobody is in the seat and stops the car. I love the service departments answer. It's basically the Steve Jobs' answer. You are doing it wrong . Granted, ever since I've had 360 cameras I back up using the cameras instead of twisting and turning around in the seat. The cameras give much better visibility than I ever could have otherwise, plus if the rear cross traffic assist goes off I immediately see the warning on the screen.

WildBTK

The problem is the Q4 doesn't give you a 360-degree camera. So, yeah, the driver's side butt sensor is a stupid feature and poorly thought out and implemented by Audi/VW.

JNealCox

This would not be a necessity if Q4 Etron drivers would stop jumping out of their cars while they are driving.

shyde

This is by FAR, my worst gripe about the car. I want to use the freakin' power button. It has one right there. Stop turning on and off based on the seat. I would LOVE a toggle in the MMI (or even VCDS) to change this.

grue

If this is happening even when the belt is buckled, I wonder if it's possible to piggyback something into the seat wiring harness to make it think the driver seat always has weight on it… but god knows what other effects that might have.

Not sure off the top of my head how the weight sensor works, but if it's something you could unplug a couple wires from the connector and clip in a resistor, it might be worth trying

WildBTK

I wondered the same thing. I would imagine if you tricked the car into thinking a person was always in the driver's seat somehow then that would mean the car wouldn't turn off if you got out of it unless you hit the start/stop button (I assume). That would be perfectly acceptable behavior to me. Maybe someone with some electronics background and some curiosity might take a look.

A4 Phil

I think that you all need to voice these complaints to Audi. That is the only way it will change. But right now Audi simply thinks they are brilliant with a new safety feature. If they hear enough about it, they might go back to the vaterland and say "hey, please rewrite the code for our NA deliveries. This is a real problem for us." And then one step further, if you really think it is a safety issue, make a complaint to the NHTSA (Is that the right bureaucracy or is that only after accidents?) But Audi does not really lurk in our forums. Well, maybe @audiviking does but I am not sure that we have figured him out . But if this is a big deal, make it a big deal.