2011 Audi A4
This year drew an ordinary 74 complaints for a Audi A4 — the model's median is 71. What they were about is the unusual part: 43.2% of them mention oil, against 6.1% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 74 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 71 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 24.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- oil — 43.2% of this year's complaints, against 6.1% across the model's other years (7.1×).
- than — 21.6% of this year's complaints, against 4.7% across the model's other years (4.6×).
- due — 23% of this year's complaints, against 8% across the model's other years (2.9×).
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
TAKATA RECALL. I NOTICED THAT MY CAR CONSUMES LOTS OF OIL DUE TO THE ENGINE OIL CONSUMPTION. ANYTIME I PERFORM OIL CHANGE, IT WON'T LAST LONGER THAN 7 DAYS.
Vehicle has horrible oil consumption due to piston rings being defective upon manufacture. Vehicle will have slew of problems, including stopping in the middle of the street, risking the lives of everyone in the car. Audi Dealer knows of the problem with the m…
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 2011 Audi A4? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…