angrypengu

Cross posting from the A6 forum. MY22 and 23 added:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...22114-0001.pdf

ThomasWShea

@steve_du if the loaner is a courtesy, i think they are mainly trying to say they aren't obligated to provide a loaner. ok, fine, then when they get the next loaner back, they can be courteous and call you, and give it to you, since your car is in for a long term repair. that'd be the courteous thing to do. the other customers w short term repairs, they can explain to them that they had to do the courteous thing, and give the car to a party w a longer term repair, and explain that the loaner is just a courtesy, not a guarantee.

edit: Ideally do that in writing, and if they won't budge forward it to audi north america. also, go into their online system and schedule a service appointment w a loaner, it may be a ways out, but do it. if the appointment comes up and your car is still waiting on parts, go get the loaner, you would have reserved it after all.

i cannot stand it when people aren't reasonable. the reasonable thing for them to do, it to say to you: we'll get you into a loaner as soon as we can. then give you a loaner, and figure out something else for people with short term repairs. uber coupons, lyft coupons, shuttle trips etc. most people are okay with that if it is only a day or two.

Steve Du

And that was the key. They emphasis on "Not obligated" part repeatedly. I have been on the wait list since the day my car was towed to the dealer. Last checked still about 8 owner in the waitlist, same as 2 weeks before. While they didn't mention who gets priority, as far as they know they have 0 inventory to give as loaners because the current backlog of this particular problem.

I've called another dealer in another state, same situation.

It's just a waiting game. I have a feeling I'm going get my car repaired before I even hear anything back from AoA.

ThomasWShea

As far as the wait list I imagine the cars would be repaired first in first out...keeping in mind they might get parts for one model before the other, which they don't have any control over, so there may be some exceptions.

I think what is going on with the loaners (and admit i am speculating) is that they decided they aren't giving out loaners for this issue to anyone. If they did, they'd have no loaners, or very few loaners. Reality is, there is a problem for people w their cars indefinitely in the shop, and it isn't typical. Audi needs to be prepared to do something to compensate people in this situation for the loss of use (if warrantied), and I would think the cheapest easiest thing to do would be for them to get rentals for those that want a rental. If they do nothing it seems like eventually someone might take legal action and dealing with that would cost more than rentals. Cost of doing business. Once in a while there's going to have a situation that needs addressing outside of normal policy. Maybe they are holding for some reason, or holding by direction from someone, but if that is the case, it would be nice if someone would say something to give people a clue as to what is going on.

None of this has anything to do with the actual issue which is that the software doesn't handle some condition(s). It is almost like someone has run the numbers at audi and decided it is cheaper to deal with the few failures than to just update the software for all affected cars.

I still want to know if anyone has been able to pay audi to have the software updated. Has anyone done that yet?

Steve Du

This whole situation isn't just frustrating for the consumer, but for the dealer as well. I know the dealer wants to provide loaners, however whatever their decision would be, good intentions are quite often met with bad execution. In this case, as you mentioned, AoA or someone higher above are not taking any active measures. That is beyond control of us and the dealer to an extend. I would not blame this on the dealer but AoA or AG. Legal fee or not, I am sure I am not the only one out there that are affected by this situation, which now has a pretty broad service bulletin (see angrypengu's post above). Should there be any legal action taken against this, it'll still be a dent for Audi. Worst would be fed up owners who got burnt on this telling others to avoid Audi altogether, not because the dealer refused to accommodate, but Audi's failure to act actively and provide affected owners care, or even acknowledgement.

At the end of the day there isn't much we can do, especially to us who aren't fortunately enough to be provided with some sort of loaner. I'm sure there are quite few out there weren't offered absolutely nothing at all. I won't be surprised some law firm would be interested to hear from some of us.

ThomasWShea

Yeah, from what i understand you need to be able to demonstrate some kind of damage to sue. so in this case, that'd be the loss of use, i guess, or whatever else you could creatively come up with. I'm assuming the repair is covered. Then there is the cost to bring a lawsuit, so as with many things the question will be: is the loss of use enough to make someone want to initiate and sue, find a lawyer and front the cost. Typically, someone ends up affected who decides it's the principle of the thing, and they take it and run, but up till now, it doesn't appear that's the case. The demographic of people with these cars could probably take legal action if they really wanted to, but my guess is generally people have decided it isn't worth their time and energy and that they'll just take the loss of deal with it on the back end somehow. You're generally better off if you can a the party to do something for you voluntarily than if you take legal action.

angrypengu

I will be doing this in April because I barely drive. I'm at 15000 miles on my A8.

Someone else reported having this issue but they didn't need a new BSG. Dealer updated their software and they've been fine every since. I only recall of n=1 in this case though.

bcb

Hi All,

I've seen all the complaints on the Electrical System Malfunction. I have a 2019 Q8 and I've just experienced what most owners have experience. The car lights up like a Christmas Tree and ultimately the car stops. Once I got the car towed and sent to the dealership there were countless cars in the dealership for the same reason. All different years and models but primarily SUVs. The dealership said they're seeing so many every week with this issue. It's clearly an issue and should be headed to recall. I just filed a complaint with https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls and would suggest anyone who is experiencing the issue to do the same. They are having a supply chain issue so it's going to take 30-60 days to get the parts, which means you're without your vehicle for some time. Additionally, if out of warranty it's very expensive. When I searched the NHSTA there were many complaints on the same issue. I just wanted to share my experience and also urge people to go to https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls to keep the manufacturer accountable. They are clearly aware this is an issue.

ThomasWShea

We need a punch list to help people:

1. If your vehicle is part of TSB 27-22-41, see if you can get the dealer to update the software, even if you have to pay them to do it...
2. If you see the christmas tree lights on your dash, immediately stop driving, don't delay even a second. Get the car towed to an authorized dealer. This may save you the wait for the alternator, and allow them to just do the software update.
3. If you learn you need a new alternator, email audi of north america and your dealer in writing to get a loaner/rental - if you can't get one, this paper trail will help you later to demonstrate you tried to work with audi on loss of use.

For #1 I recommend you do this in person so you can get notes captured for your car, if you have to do some other minor service like an oil change to get them to make the notes I'd do it. The reason is, if you are close to warranty expiration, or just beyond it, doing this and having them capture notes will demonstrate you are trying to resolve a warrantied issue before it becomes more costly, and will increase your chances of audi deciding they will cover it even if you are just out of warranty. Ideally you want the dealer to articulate the warranty concern in the notes.

4wheelz

So I read the TSB, it says SQ8 2020-2021 ALL VINs”

But, when I search my vin on nhtsa recall website, it only shows me I have an open recall for backup camera software.

Any clarification on this? Should this TSB show up or do you have to go to dealer and ask them to check it? My SQ8 is MY2021 and manufacturer date sticker shows 09/20.