2019 Audi Q8

Electrical system malfunction caused the car to come to a stop in the middle of a busy highway. The vehicle needed to be pushed off to the side of the road by other parties as steering became increasingly difficult to navigate to the side of the road. The vehicle was stuck in neutral and could not start the engine to drive again. The vehicle needed to be towed to the closest dealership for further investigation.

Car started flashing all kinds of warnings, then cut off and had to coast to the side of the highway. Then could not get out of the car and the entire system was in complete failure so the doors would not open. Absolutely terrifying experience. Audi knows this is a bad issue and it keeps happening to thousands of Audi owners with the mild hybrid system.

On 12/12/2022 I was driving and the Q8 lost power and I coasted to a stop. All lights on driver panel were flashing or sequencing through. After sitting on the side of the road for 5 or so minutes I tried starting the car again. This time it started and I drove another 8 miles almost to my home when the car again just died in the road. This time I couldn't get it to restart. I had to have it towed to my local garage as my dealership was an hour and fifteen minutes away. The car has been diagnosed with needing an alternator, which no one including the dealerships have because this is a problem with many vehicles. It has now been over two months without my car.

In September 2022, I contacted the dealership to schedule my 50k service after observing a yellow battery light indicator flash on and then resolve itself by turning off. The mileage on my Q8 was approximately 44K at this time. I was also experiencing a passenger seatbelt warning issue despite no one in the passenger seat. The soonest the Audi service department could get me scheduled was on February 14, 2023. This has been an issue with Audi service departments at least the past 2 years. Since scheduling, I've experienced the warning issues several times On Thursday, February 2, 2023, I got a flashing yellow battery light in addition to other warnings that flashed on and then off. Because of this, I decided to take my car to the dealership for an emergency service on Friday, February 3, 2023, before traveling out of town the next week. While enroute to the dealership, the instrument panel alerted to an electrical system malfunction by displaying a yellow and then red battery icon. Multiple other warning lights for other systems malfunctioning displayed and the car stopped in traffic. My car was towed to the dealership. Once at the dealer, I was told that this was due to the generator failing and the part is on backorder due to being manufactured in Ukraine. The dealership stated this failure is apparently widespread, citing 56+ cars at this dealership and 100+ at the other with the same issue. Based upon this, the dealership informed me I qualified for the Audi USA buyback program and to contact them for a case number. When I called, I was told I had to wait 10 days to file or have had 3 reported incidents on record. On Februrary 14, 2023, I was told I did not qualify because my car was over 50k at the time it broke down. My mileage is 54,128. The issue began before 50k. I learned from the dealership, I qualify for the buyback because Audi extended the factory warranty on 1/31/2023 to include unlimited miles. I have an audio recording.

While driving in heavy traffic on 12/23/22 the entire electrical system shut down and all power was lost. Fortunately I was not hit by another vehicle and coasted into a parking lot with no power. This is very dangerous. Per conversations with the dealership and with Audi (1/10/23), alternators on thousands of vehicles are failing (possibly due to a software issue). The vehicles are sitting on dealer lots and in driveways useless. Audi online forums confirm this as well. There are no alternators available. No recall has been issued and no warning of this unsafe situation has been made by Audi. Per the dealership, they are largely in the dark as well as there has been no meaningful communication by Audi. Someone will get hurt when their car dies on a highway. People are paying thousands for their cars to be undrivable. Audi dealers will not trade the vehicles because they are effectively worthless until repaired.

Vehicle lost all power and control while driving 45mph. First electrical system failure warning came on. Within 2 minutes the transmission slipped into neutral and 15 seconds later the vehicle lost power and I coasted to a stop. I was told by Audi dealership service that the starter generator failed. They mentioned they currently have over 20 vehicles in their shop and over 25 at their other location with the same problem. They also said over 1,000 cars nationwide had same problem and the part to repair is back ordered and no reasonable estimate of repair time.