2016 Audi Q5
This year drew an ordinary 77 complaints for a Audi Q5 — the model's median is 51. What they were about is the unusual part: 13% of them mention light came, against 3.8% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 77 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 51 |
| Involving a crash | 9 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 24 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- light came — 13% of this year's complaints, against 3.8% across the model's other years (3.4×). Owners wrote it as: light came, plus, premium, premium plus.
- written — 7.8% of this year's complaints, against 2.3% across the model's other years (3.3×). Owners wrote it as: written, company, striking, rev.
- paid — 6.5% of this year's complaints, against 2% across the model's other years (3.3×). Owners wrote it as: paid, purchased car.
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
WHEN STARTING NEW 2016 Q5 PREMIUM PLUS, WARNING LIGHT CAME ON, INDICATING THAT REAR HATCH IS OPEN, CAUSING REAR BRAKE LIGHTS TO NOT FUNCTION AND DOOR LOCK SIGNAL NOT TO SOUND. DEALER REPLACED REAR HATCH LATCH AND COMFORT CONTROL UNIT J393, AFTER THE THIRD VISI…
I PULLED INTO A PARKING SPACE AND PUT THE CAR IN PARK. AS I DID SO, THE ENGINE REVVED AND THE CAR LURCHED FORWARD STRIKING A TREE. THE AIR BAGS DEPLOYED AND THE CAR WAS WRITTEN OFF BY THE INSURANCE COMPANY. I HAD NOTICED A COUPLE OF TIMES BEFORE THAT THE ENGIN…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 17V622000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 17V002000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 17V001000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 18V229000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 17V298000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Audi Q5 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 2016 Audi Q5? What happened to yours?
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