2018 Audi Q5
Complaints about this year name water far more often than the model's other years — 25% of them, about 6× the usual rate of 4.5%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 197 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 51 |
| Involving a crash | 9 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 25 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- control — 23.4% of this year's complaints, against 7.7% across the model's other years (3×).
- coil — 12.2% of this year's complaints, against 2.4% across the model's other years (5.1×). Owners wrote it as: coil, break, coil spring, broke.
- signals — 9.6% of this year's complaints, against 2.3% across the model's other years (4.2×). Owners wrote it as: signals, brake lights, box, malfunctioning.
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
- control — 23% of complaints, 3× usual
- module — 17% of complaints, 5× usual
- spring — 9% of complaints, 23× usual
What owners wrote
Sunroof drain lines leaked and filled the rear compartment with water which is also where the body control module is. The water damaged the body control module which affected vehicle lighting and abs system. Upon further investigation, this is a very common is…
Roof drains clogged resulting in water filling the interior left rear wheelwell where ligting control modules are stored and are not waterproofed. Design defect allowing water incursion into an electrical connection system that is not waterproofed resulted in…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V369000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC
- 19V416000 WHEELS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V737000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 19V277000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 16V955000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V947000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 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 2018 Audi Q5? What happened to yours?
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