AUDI SQ8 Reliability by YearBest & worst years, problems & recalls — NHTSA data

I am reporting a serious safety defect involving the door locking and electrical systems in my 2024 Audi SQ8. On two separate occasions the vehicle experienced a complete electrical malfunction. During the first incident, I and my child were trapped inside the vehicle. The doors would not open from the inside and the vehicle would not start. After the first incident, the vehicle was taken to an Audi dealership for inspection and repair. I was informed that the issue had been identified and repaired. Despite those repairs, the same safety issue occurred again. During the second incident, which was captured on video, the vehicle would not start despite repeated attempts. The vehicle malfunctioned again after the dealership had already stated the problem was fixed. Dealership personnel acknowledged that they could not guarantee the problem would not happen again. I was also provided a video demonstrating a manual emergency exit procedure because the electronic door locking system could become inoperative again. The dealership showed how occupants would have to use a mechanical override to exit if the electronic system failed again. This defect creates a significant safety risk because occupants can become trapped inside the vehicle unable to exit during an emergency. The inability to start the vehicle combined with failure of the electronic door locking system could delay escape in the event of a fire, collision, medical emergency, or other hazardous situation. The vehicle has been inspected by an authorized Audi dealership multiple times. The problem was reproduced by the vehicle itself on multiple occasions, and I have video evidence documenting one of the incidents. Because of these repeated failures and the safety risk posed to me and everyone on the road I no longer feel it is safe to drive it.

Our electrical system is going craze. The electronic door handles will lock us in and out of the car, the instrument cluster will black out for periods, safety sensors go off at random, other screens in car will black out leaving controls in operable, and wireless car charger will heat the phone so hot that we have been burnt. We have take to the dealer several times. Some visits they claim they can not duplicate. They have replaced two of the door handles but they still at random do the same thing. There have been numerous system updates done to the car but it does not seem to help. We are told that the solution for these problems have not been developed yet by the manufacturer. There are no warning signs as to when these items will fail, it just happens at random. We do not feel safe driving the car as all the safety components are tied to the electrical system such as steering, braking, lighting, etc.

MMI system stops working all of a sudden. This has happened multiple times and especially when it takes updates on its own. When called customer service they referred to the dealer stating they cannot do anything. Right after my call with them the car starts functioning back to normal. When I took it to the dealer for service and the problem, Dealer mentioned Audi has received complaints about the new models being affected and is aware of the problem but there is no software patch released yet. Its dangerous to drive as all functions are are turned off including cameras, Bluetooth, collision warning, blind spot, lane departure, music and more (except the engine running). Another issue is with its auto engine stop function, is when you are at a red light with a complete stop and when the light turns green and you are ready to move, the car takes a second or two to get the engine started and pulls back a little. Also the transmission pulls rough at that time of start. Am not sure why this is happening. The car pulls back even when the auto engine stop function is turned off.

This 2021 Audi SQ8 vehicle was purchased new. The vehicle features an automatic engine stop/start feature which is intended to enhance vehicle fuel economy. The incident(s) include: (1) multiple instances when slowing to a stop and the stop/start feature turned off the vehicle engine before the vehicle has come to a stop, leaving the vehicle to "coast" to a complete stop but without the aid of power steering, full braking capacity and ordinary functionality of a running engine; (2) one instance when parking and the /start feature turned off the vehicle engine, in a drive aisle of a busy plaza parking lot, after I stopped and moved the transmission to reverse in order to back into a parking space; and (3) multiple failures to quickly start and permit required fast acceleration when the start/stop feature would not turn on the engine on demand to permit quick acceleration needed to safely cross a 2 lane roadway in front of approaching traffic from the opposite direction.

The contact owns a 2021 Audi SQ8. The contact received a recall notification for NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V295000 (Suspension) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was notified of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.