Beef with Audi UK

[Scotty C]

Afternoon all...

So as some of you will remember, over the last few months, I’ve had a serious braking issue with my car but only in heavy rain and on water logged motorways.

To date the dealer has been accommodating although, as the problem has not been experienced by them, they referred it to Technical. Technical in UK had no idea whatsoever so it was eventually escalated to Germany. They also have no idea and typically have 3 months down the line Paul Grayson, Audi Uk Area After Sales Manager has concluded it’s a characteristic of the car, which i think is quite unbelievable.

This is a dangerous, and potentially a life threatening issue as the brake pedal does not depress in the usual way and the car does not brake correctly. When it eventually does it fishtails at the front and not in a straight line. All this at motorway speeds in the wet is as scary as hell. Audi’s Executive Office are a joke too as the whole time they only evwr wanted to pacify me and never helped me at all only to finally say I should go to the motoring ombudsman if I’m not happy.

I do not really want to sell the car as 1. It’s my pride and joy and in the dry it drives perfectly normal & 2. I wouldn’t want to long this problem off on to some other poor sod as that’s not fair and a danger to them.

So I am unsure where to go from here...

Any sensible help and direction would be much appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

[Iain]

Happens with me in the wet too. Maybe collate a number of owners on here -I'm happy to provide my details

[Daveperc]

Take it to the Motor Ombudsman (https://www.themotorombudsman.org/) and see what happens.

There are several of us on here who have experienced the same issue who can corroborate. I would also look at Watchdog or similar - Audi won't want negative publicity on their flagship model.

Good luck

[bn8959]

This has happened to me too, only twice in 2 years, but both times with family in the car. There has been a good discussion thread on this ‘characteristic’ and I think it points to a known ‘feature’ linked to brake behaviour when the wipers are on.

[zappy-chops]

Didn't Chris Harris have this too when he had the long term RS6 loaner and didn't he bring it up with Audi. Sure I read an article on that somewhere. It's seems impossible that they have never heard of this. Every person this has happened to will likely have gone to their dealer looking for a fix (I sure would if it happened to me - it hasn't as yet). Sounds to me like they do know about it (and so are not being truthful) but probably can't actually figure out why it happens or are avoiding the issue of a recall (or can't recall because they don't have a fix). A good start would be to collate everyone on here that this has happened to and also if they reported it to their dealer, and whether that escalated to UK technical and/or Germany. Then Audi can't claim to have no knowledge of it.

[2Brains]

I’ve experienced this too.

Both times in the wet, both times on the motorway.

Apply braking pressure then the pedal drops and the brakes come on hard, destabilising the car.

[Ricky]

Although a slightly different fault, I share your pain !

When my B8 RS4 was brand new out of the showroom I had the dreaded DRC knock from my front suspension, and when escalated to Audi UK I was told the exact same thing, it was a characteristic of the car. My B7 RS4 had the exact same problem and Audi fixed it by replacing the shocks, and even extended the warranty on the replacement shocks as a goodwill gesture, yet the same problem a few years down the line on the B8 car it had become a characteristic, and they simply refused to replace any parts on the car. I fought to even reject the car but all I got from Audi UK was, we cannot help under the circumstances, as the noise you are describing is normal operational noise and it is a characteristic of the car. I felt so frustrated because there were soo many dealers around the country replacing shocks for other B8 owners that I really felt discriminated against.

If Audi told the same thing to everyone I would then simply have no choice but to accept it, but when they were telling me one thing, and fixing the problem for other owners, I was furious and sold the car. Its a shame though as i loved the RS models, but my faith in Audi has definitely gone.

Note to Audi Uk..... Treat all customers in the same way !!!!!!!

How they can get away with this characteristic talk given all the evidence online regarding faulty DRC suspensions in numerous models over a long number of years is beyond me !!!!

Although I didn't get a result, I genuinely hope you do !!!! I have a funny feeling though, when they have made a statement to you, they wont change their mind. I hope I'm wrong i genuinely do.

Personally if I had to do it all again, I believe the only way to get a result is through bad press. I literally would park the car outside the showroom and stand with a placard talking to every customer going in their doors day in day out until they did something about it. Maybe others would disagree but I got nowhere by being nice and going the proper channels.

Best of luck mate....

[Scotty C]

Take it to the Motor Ombudsman (https://www.themotorombudsman.org/) and see what happens.

I have only just read the heading of Step 2 and already lost faith in them...

[Anth]

Audi UK are a complete waste of time and effort with no powers at all . At best they are a useless man in the middle between you and the Audi approved garage that try to maintain Audi Quality management standards are being met so they can keep there auditors happy for ISO. If you have an issue with your car,or a dealer, your wasting your time with them. Spend a small budget with a good solicitor and watch things happen. Audi UK apparently won't deal with any situation anymore if you have a legal issue, this is what they told me. Problem is Audi dealers and customer service spend 95%of the life dealing with the basic audi A3 clients ,its the down side to spending 80-130k on a nice RS6/7 -

My 2p - get a solicitor quick, worked for me on my previos C7 pre face lift car issues that tried to Palm off when Audi UK allowed it to happen telling me how "sorry" they are .

If I was to buy a Pan turbo next, it would only be because of service and nothing to do with Audi product .

Happy to chat privately if you need .