2010 Audi A4
This year drew an ordinary 128 complaints for a Audi A4 — the model's median is 71. What they were about is the unusual part: 43.8% of them mention oil, against 6.1% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 128 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 71 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| EPA combined | 24 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- oil — 43.8% of this year's complaints, against 6.1% across the model's other years (7.2×).
- pistons — 39.1% of this year's complaints, against 11.2% across the model's other years (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: pistons, high, engine failure, valves.
- known — 18.8% of this year's complaints, against 6.4% across the model's other years (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: known, class, class action, quarts oil.
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.
What owners wrote
WHILE DRIVING 30 MPH, THE ADD 1 QUART OF OIL LIGHT ILLUMINATED. THE CONTACT ADDED A QUART OF OIL TO THE VEHICLE BUT 1,000 MILES LATER, THE LIGHT ILLUMINATED AGAIN. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER FOR INSPECTION AND THEY STATED THAT THE ENGINE HAD THE WRONG…
HIGH OIL CONSUMPTION FROM FAULTY PISTONS AND PISTON RINGS LEADING TO CATASTROPHIC ENGINE FAILURE. BROKE EXHAUST VALVE AT HIGHWAY SPEED WHILE ON INTERSTATE. AUDI AWARE OF DEFECTS BUT DENIES RESPONSIBILITY. THEY REFUSED MULTIPLE REASONABLE REQUESTS FOR HELP IN R…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
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 2010 Audi A4? What happened to yours?
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