Consumer Complaint Detail

AUDI / A4 / 1998

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
No Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 006056005 Incident Date: Feb, 04 2006
Consumer's City: DANVILLE Consumer's State: CA
Vehicle Transmission Type: MAN Manufacturers Name: Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
Model Name: A4 Model Year: 1998
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Service brakes, hydraulic:antilock/traction control/electronic limited slip
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: WAUED68D1WA Date added to File: May, 23 2021
Date Complaint Received: Feb, 12 2006 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: Jan, 14 2004
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: Yes
Number of Cylinders: 6 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: My abs light started blinking in my 1998 audi a4. i went to a mechanic and had it diagnosed; found that it was a light failure; i was told i would have to pay a lot of money to pull out the electronics and most likely not even solve the problem. later i started to notice that my abs was not engaging properly and sometimes not at all (which is now the case), i filed complaints with audi and boshe about this but they told me there could be no recall because abs is not a traffic concern. recently i was driving in the rain and making a 98 degree turn not terribly fast; there was no stop sign, and i ended up doing a 360 to a stop. i found this not only a scary experience, but one that could have been life threatening. it didn't make sense; im driving the honorable quattro. i decided to look further. i found many people have the same problem. specifically w/ models in 1998. im a fairly good driver in fact i did a defensive driving class at infineon raceway so i was still confused how i lost so much traction in such a short amount of time. i found the problem was actually part of the quattro itself. the electronic braking, traction systems, and various other vehicle dynamic systems are all dependent on the abs control module. all the test up to then showed no link to abs control unit; i was made to believe that my car just had a light failure. i started researching the control unit and i found that there is already a recall on the part but not for audi but for volkswagen! the campaign id number is 02v031000. i talked to people who were owners of volkswagens who got the recall and many of them had almost identical problems to mine. some even said the unit caught fire. so here i am told i have a light problem, then told audi cant do anything for me except get a whole new abs system at my expense. now i find the truth is one control module is responsible for the lack of control in my car as well as a possible car fire. please help: i and many others need a new unit. *nm