2006 Audi A4
Complaints about this year name headlight far more often than the model's other years — 40% of them, about 100× the usual rate of 0.4%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 298 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 71 |
| Involving a crash | 9 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| EPA combined | 22 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- dipped — 33.9% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (169.5×).
- headlight — 39.9% of this year's complaints, against 0.6% across the model's other years (64.7×).
- flicker — 30.5% of this year's complaints, against 4.9% across the model's other years (6.2×). Owners wrote it as: flicker, flickering, bulbs, off lights.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- dipped — 34% of complaints, 85× usual
- headlights — 27% of complaints, 67× usual
- night — 22% of complaints, 55× usual
What owners wrote
HEADLIGHTS WILL FLICKER / TURN OFF INTERMITTENTLY WHEN BRAKING OR TRAVELING OVER SMALL BUMPS RESULTING IN A LOSS OF VISION AT NIGHT. THIS WILL SOMETIMES GIVE THE ERROR "DIPPED HEADLIGHT" AND CAUSE THE HEADLIGHT TO TURN OFF AND REMAIN OFF UNTIL IT IS RESET.
PROBLEM STARTED SOME 3-4 MONTHS AGO, AT THE BEGINNING MY RIGHT BI-XENON HEADLIGHT STARTED JUST FLICKERING, BUT NOW, AFTER THEY FLICKER, THEY TURN OFF. I RECEIVE A MESSAGE ON THE DASH STATING "DIPPED RIGHT HEADLIGHT." AFTER I TURN OFF BOTH HEADLIGHTS ON THE SWI…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V427000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V032000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V382000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Audi A4 was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2006 Audi A4? What happened to yours?
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