[TusharK]

Yesterday, we reported that Audi had recalled 52,000 cars sold in the US and Canada over fuel line leaks. Now, there have been reports of yet another recall. Audi is recalling 3.3 lakh cars in Germany over possible faulty electrical connections for the auxiliary heater, which could cause a fire.



The affected models include the Audi A4, A5, A5 Cabriolet and Q5 SUV built between April 2011 and May 2015. An Audi spokesperson told the media that some customers had reported a burning smell in their cars but there had been no fires or damage. This prompted the carmaker to investigate the issue, resulting in the aforementioned models being recalled.

As is the case with most recalls, owners of the affected cars can expect to receive a notification from Audi and their local authorized dealer to bring their vehicles in for repairs. However, Audi hasn't revealed a specific time frame for this. The repairs will be done free of charge.

Source: Reuters

[i74js]

Recalls are new normal these days. Is it that the QA/QC at the assembly line has gone down or is it that the companies have become over sensitive towards a possible flaw that can result in degraded performance or perhaps an accident !

Not sure, but this has been an industry wide norm these days and none of the manufacturers has been spared !

[UB_007]

I have got a recall letter from Audi to change the auxiliary heater on my A4. The letter I have is only in German. It basically says that the service center will change the hardware and update software for the climate controller which may take approximately 2h. Till the replacement, the auxiliary heater option must be turned off which can be found in the multimedia menu.



-UB

[Naveen_0181]

Originally Posted by i74js

Not sure, but this has been an industry wide norm these days and none of the manufacturers has been spared !

I guess this could be because of the race between manufacturers to launch new features/updates before the others!
Recalls for these kind of issues may be avoided by spending ample time in testing!

[UB_007]

Originally Posted by Naveen_0181

I guess this could be because of the race between manufacturers to launch new features/updates before the others!
Recalls for these kind of issues may be avoided by spending ample time in testing!

I do not believe that Audi releases its product without having a solid testing done. I know this from my experiences as well with Audi as customer. However, during development phase it is hard to detect such friction corrosion failures which occurs due to micro vibration between 2 contacts (Over a period of time) which eventually leads to reduction in plating thickness.
For sure they have lifetime tests and vibration tests but may have missed to notice corrosion as this is not really significant compared to other issues they have during engine SOP.

-UB