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2018 Audi A4

Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations

Similar to other model years

Owner complaints for the 2018 Audi A4 do not stand out strongly from the model-year median of 76.5.

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How this year compares

Owner complaints by model year

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Counts vary with age, sales and reporting. They are not failure rates.

What owners reported most

All reported categories

Tap a category to read its complaints. One report may name several components.

When problems were reported

Mileage at the reported incident

Limited mileage data: 4 of 44 reports include usable mileage. There isn’t enough coverage to show a useful chart.

NHTSA’s mileage field refers to the reported incident, not necessarily the filing date. This shows report counts, not the likelihood of a failure.

What to inspect

Issues worth paying extra attention to based on owner reports.

  • Electrical System. Review the 17 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Fuel/propulsion System. Review the 6 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Structure. Review the 6 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →

NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.

1 crash reports0 fire reports0 injury reports

What owners actually said

44 reports
Mileage unknown · Apr 7, 2023
Electrical System

The rear view camera does not activate when using the parking assist or when reversing. The sensors are still functioning as intended. This can cause unintentional accidents or injuries to pedestrians. This issue was brought up with the dealer back in January of 2023. They mentioned the wiring for the rear camera was pinched by …

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The rear view camera does not activate when using the parking assist or when reversing. The sensors are still functioning as intended. This can cause unintentional accidents or injuries to pedestrians. This issue was brought up with the dealer back in January of 2023. They mentioned the wiring for the rear camera was pinched by the trunk mechanism and because loose. There are no warning lamps displayed on the dash.

NHTSA ODI #11515996

Mileage unknown · Mar 16, 2023
Air Bags

Without cause a passenger airbag malfunction light has come up, dealership says this is not covered under recall or vehicle warranty.

NHTSA ODI #11512210

Mileage unknown · Mar 13, 2023
Air Bags

After dealership did the second repair to the airbag recall, the airbag light came on and has been on solid . When taking the car back to The dealership to have it fixed ,We were clear about the whole thing over the phone .the dealership proceeded to charge me for a diagnostic test as well as claiming to not have seen any re…

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After dealership did the second repair to the airbag recall, the airbag light came on and has been on solid . When taking the car back to The dealership to have it fixed ,We were clear about the whole thing over the phone .the dealership proceeded to charge me for a diagnostic test as well as claiming to not have seen any recalls on the car .dealership claimed the whole airbag needed to be replaced yet the car has never been in an accident. Bottom line The initial recall isn’t finished . Dealership explained car would be safe to drive , even tho the safety system is currently malfunctioning .

NHTSA ODI #11511483

Mileage unknown · Feb 15, 2023
Fuel/propulsion System

On December 29, 2022 as I was driving my engine light came on, the fuel gauge registered empty (I had over a quarter tank of fuel at the time), and my miles till empty display in the upper left of the instrument cluster went blank. I took my Audi to my Audi dealer and their recommended repair was as follows: Fuel Tank: After re…

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On December 29, 2022 as I was driving my engine light came on, the fuel gauge registered empty (I had over a quarter tank of fuel at the time), and my miles till empty display in the upper left of the instrument cluster went blank. I took my Audi to my Audi dealer and their recommended repair was as follows: Fuel Tank: After removing fuel pump and level sensor we found that the secondary fuel level sensor is built into the fuel tank is faulty. Recommend replacing the tank and fuel pump with the tank. Their reason was that if the fuel tank failed it could cause a potentially hazardous situation for the driver and passengers.

NHTSA ODI #11507343

Mileage unknown · Oct 15, 2022
Engine

Water Pump prematurely failed. Upon self inspection, I noticed the coolant reservoir was below the minimum requirements. I asked the dealer to inspect, and they determined the cause was a faulty water pump. At around 50,000 miles, this water pump should not have failed under normal use. I am fortunate I self inspected, as contin…

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Water Pump prematurely failed. Upon self inspection, I noticed the coolant reservoir was below the minimum requirements. I asked the dealer to inspect, and they determined the cause was a faulty water pump. At around 50,000 miles, this water pump should not have failed under normal use. I am fortunate I self inspected, as continued use may cause premature engine failure due to overheating. Overheating would cause spontaneous vehicle operation failure during normal driving conditions, stalling the vehicle on a road or highway, putting myself and others at risk for impact.

NHTSA ODI #11489365

Mileage unknown · Jun 29, 2022
Forward Collision Avoidance

The Audi Pre-sense engaged on 3 occasions going 50+ mph bringing the car to a complete stop when there was nothing in front if it and a car right behind me. I was lucky the car behind me did not collide. If it had been a semi truck and just as close as the car trailing me, they would not have been able to stop in time causing da…

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The Audi Pre-sense engaged on 3 occasions going 50+ mph bringing the car to a complete stop when there was nothing in front if it and a car right behind me. I was lucky the car behind me did not collide. If it had been a semi truck and just as close as the car trailing me, they would not have been able to stop in time causing damage or death. The problem could not be confirmed by the Audi dealer who performed a vehicle scan and found no codes and could not reproduced it. I had the Pre-sense shut off. I reported this to the manufacture on 6/17/22. The Pre-sense red warning triangle displayed in the instrument panel as when it was engaging.

NHTSA ODI #11471528

Mileage unknown · Jun 15, 2022
Forward Collision Avoidance

The forward collision warning system (Audi PreSense) identified a shadow from an overpass as another car and alerted me to use the brakes. My car did figure out there was not another vehicle before performing an emergency brake. If the car had done an emergency brake I would have surly been rear ended on the highway. This is not…

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The forward collision warning system (Audi PreSense) identified a shadow from an overpass as another car and alerted me to use the brakes. My car did figure out there was not another vehicle before performing an emergency brake. If the car had done an emergency brake I would have surly been rear ended on the highway. This is not the first time forward collision warning has activated due to a shadow on the road. I have not mentioned this to the dealer but have read of this happening to others that own Audi cars that use Audi PreSense. The Audi PreSense installed in my car utilizes the front facing camera only - there is not a forward facing radar system. There has never been a warning that that system is not functioning as intended.

NHTSA ODI #11469403

Mileage unknown · Feb 22, 2022
Unknown Or Other

Due to the AT&T 3G turndown, Audi of America is removing a critical safety feature from certain MY 2018 vehicles, with no solution offered to the vehicle owner except to pay an additional $650-$1000 out of pocket to install a retrofit device to restore some of these safety features. As sold, MY2017-2018 and certain MY 2019 Audi…

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Due to the AT&T 3G turndown, Audi of America is removing a critical safety feature from certain MY 2018 vehicles, with no solution offered to the vehicle owner except to pay an additional $650-$1000 out of pocket to install a retrofit device to restore some of these safety features. As sold, MY2017-2018 and certain MY 2019 Audi A4/A5/Q5/Q7 vehicles came with an emergency call feature, both automatic in the event of a severe accident, and manual. From the owners manual: "The vehicle electrical system initiates an automatic emergency call under certain circumstances, for example, if an airbag deploys. The LED in the emergency call button (2) blinks green. The emergency call is made. This cannot be cancelled." Because of the AT&T 3G Sunset, Audi of America is providing a retrofit kit to restore this emergency call functionality in the event of an accident. However, they are not providing this retrofit free to all customers. All MY2017 vehicles qualify for free installation and subscription to the new emergency call retrofit service. However, MY2018 and 2019 vehicles with an in- service date of before February 22, 2018 will have to pay for the installation and subscription to this service. Making owners of MY2018 vehicles pay to restore a critical safety feature that the vehicle was sold with is highly unethical and can lead to safety issues. Instead of an automated call to 911 during a severe accident, Audi of America is forcing owners of certain MY2018 vehicles to choose between paying $1000 + subscription fees for this critical safety service, or relying on owner's being conscious enough to use their own cell phones, which may not be the case during a severe accident. The decision by Audi of America to enforce an arbitrary in-service cutoff date of 2/22/2018 for MY2018 vehicles is highly illogical and unethical. All MY2017 vehicles, which are older and more likely to be out of warranty, qualify for the free update while MY2018 are subject to an arbitrary cutoff.

NHTSA ODI #11453407

Mileage unknown · Feb 18, 2022
Unknown Or Other

I received a message on my dashboard to turn the engine off and check the coolant when starting the vehicle each morning for the last two days. I brought the car into the Audi Dealership in Paramus/Fair Lawn, NJ. They stated the water pump was not working. I researched and found that a recall for ALL ROAD station wagons (Audi) h…

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I received a message on my dashboard to turn the engine off and check the coolant when starting the vehicle each morning for the last two days. I brought the car into the Audi Dealership in Paramus/Fair Lawn, NJ. They stated the water pump was not working. I researched and found that a recall for ALL ROAD station wagons (Audi) had occurred for 2013-2017 for water pumps that could start a fire in the car. My car, although a 2018 model, was manufactured in January 19, 2018 (the beginning of 2018; recall noted for 2017)- water pump is defective with only 56,000 miles on it. My car was manufactured with defective water pump from prior year...... They paid for water pump part but made me pay for labor to put a replacement part in the car. AUDI should be liable for this..... there should be a recall in my year car because of the potential for fire with a defective water pump.

NHTSA ODI #11452846

Mileage unknown · Nov 20, 2021
Service Brakes

While driving the emergency parking brake engaged itself without warning or cause. This caused the vehicle to come to an abrupt stop. Luckily I was in a parking lot but if I had been in a high traffic area or intersection, it could’ve caused a collision. I had 2 passengers who witnessed this sudden bizarre event. There was nothi…

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While driving the emergency parking brake engaged itself without warning or cause. This caused the vehicle to come to an abrupt stop. Luckily I was in a parking lot but if I had been in a high traffic area or intersection, it could’ve caused a collision. I had 2 passengers who witnessed this sudden bizarre event. There was nothing that could’ve caused this to happen. It scares me & now I’m worried this could happen again without warning. The sensor screen was beeping with a message to put my car in park before setting the brake. Made no sense why this happened.

NHTSA ODI #11441169

Official recalls

1

21V874000 · Air Bags:sensor:occupant Classification:front Passenger; Seats

Nov 10, 2021

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Audi) is recalling certain 2017-2020 A4 Allroad, A4 Sedan, 2018-2019 RS5 Coupe, 2019 RS5 Sportback, 2018-2020 A5 Cabriolet, A5 Coupe, A5 Sportback, S4 Sedan, S5 Cabriolet, S5 Coupe, and Audi S5 Sportback vehicles. The cable connecting the seat heater to the Passenger Occupant Detection System (PODS) may have a contact fault, causing the software to misdiagnose a malfunction and disable the passenger air bag.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: A disabled passenger air bag increases the risk of injury in the event of a crash.

Remedy: Dealers will replace the connecting cable and either the heating mat or entire seat cover, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed January 7, 2022. Owners may contact Audi customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Audi's number for this recall is 74E3. This recall is an expansion of Recall 19V-547 (74D9). Vehicles previously repaired under 19V-547 will need to return for the new remedy.

Additional source detail variants (2)

Air Bags:sensor:occupant Classification:front Passenger

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Audi) is recalling certain 2017-2020 A4 Allroad, A4 Sedan, 2018-2019 RS5 Coupe, 2019 RS5 Sportback, 2018-2020 A5 Cabriolet, A5 Coupe, A5 Sportback, S4 Sedan, S5 Cabriolet, S5 Coupe, and Audi S5 Sportback vehicles. The cable connecting the seat heater to the Passenger Occupant Detection System (PODS) may have a contact fault, causing the software to misdiagnose a malfunction and disable the passenger air bag.

Consequence: A disabled passenger air bag increases the risk of injury in the event of a crash.

Remedy: Dealers will replace the connecting cable and either the heating mat or entire seat cover, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed January 7, 2022. Owners may contact Audi customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Audi's number for this recall is 74E3. This recall is an expansion of Recall 19V-547 (74D9). Vehicles previously repaired under 19V-547 will need to return for the new remedy.

Seats

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Audi) is recalling certain 2017-2020 A4 Allroad, A4 Sedan, 2018-2019 RS5 Coupe, 2019 RS5 Sportback, 2018-2020 A5 Cabriolet, A5 Coupe, A5 Sportback, S4 Sedan, S5 Cabriolet, S5 Coupe, and Audi S5 Sportback vehicles. The cable connecting the seat heater to the Passenger Occupant Detection System (PODS) may have a contact fault, causing the software to misdiagnose a malfunction and disable the passenger air bag.

Consequence: A disabled passenger air bag increases the risk of injury in the event of a crash.

Remedy: Dealers will replace the connecting cable and either the heating mat or entire seat cover, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed January 7, 2022. Owners may contact Audi customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Audi's number for this recall is 74E3. This recall is an expansion of Recall 19V-547 (74D9). Vehicles previously repaired under 19V-547 will need to return for the new remedy.

Model-level recall history does not show whether a particular VIN is affected or has received a repair. Check a VIN with NHTSA ↗

NHTSA investigations

0

No exact-year investigations in this snapshot.