What 61 owners told NHTSA about the 2019 Audi Q7

Steering malfunction , stop car warning. On the road

NHTSA ODI 11680534

Driving down the road at 50 mph and warning light came on stating "Steering Malfunction" and lost all steering capacity and had difficultly safely exiting the traveled road to safe location. No steering and avoiding a rear collision due to unexpected breaking to handle car.

NHTSA ODI 11664388

02/04/2025 after work I was driving on local street in rush hours, suddenly the display panel popped out the warning message: Steering: malfunction! Please stop vehicle. Then I found out the wheel couldn't turn right or left any more. I turned on the emergency light immediately and moved my vehicle close to curb pending tow truck. Luckily it was raining evening, traffic was slow at 15~20 MPH, this incident didn't cause crash or injury but blocking the traffic more then one hour for the tow truck. If it happened on highway, I couldn't imagine what the serious fatal accident would be... After the Audi tech inspected, it was the electrical steering failed / the internal control died out--a defective parts.

NHTSA ODI 11641430

1. Steering malfunction, yes. 2. In the course of driving on [XXX] through a mountain pass in Colorado with snow and poor driving conditions, the steering mechanism on the vehicle failed resulting in not being able to maneuver the vehicle out of the lane or off the road safely. If this happened while other vehicles were in front/behind or to the side of us, or if this would have happened in another mountain road without emergency curbing/exits - we could have easily been killed. 3. The vehicle is at the Audi Denver dealership (had to be towed) and they confirmed the code "Steering: malfunction! Please stop vehicle" that displayed on the panel. 4. No, tried to call Audi but there was a 2 hour wait to talk to someone and even then, not sure I would have reached anyone that could have helped. 5. Warning message "Steering: malfunction! Please stop vehicle" displayed with red steering wheel icon and exclamation mark. No other warning or sign of failure. This is the problem, driving at highway speed, get a steering malfunction warning, can't steer or control the vehicle - have to stop "safely". This could have been catastrophic. In any other vehicle if rack/pinon slips or power steering fluid fails, you can still manage to steer and avoid collision, this Audi under these conditions gave no such option. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11587377

WHILE TURNING ONTO AN EXIT RAMP FROM THE HIGHWAY AT A LOW SPEED, MY SON SAID THE STEERING WHEEL SUDDENLY LOCKED UP (IT STIFFENED TO THE POINT OF NO MOVEMENT) AND HE COULDN'T TURN THE WHEEL AND CRASHED INTO A GUARD RAIL.*DT CONSUMER WOULD LIKE TO DISREGARD THE REPORT.*JB

NHTSA ODI 11363850

MY SON DRIVING AT LOW SPEED COULD NOT MAINTAIN CONTROL OF THE VEHICLE TO AVOID HITTING THE GUARD RAIL COMING OFF A HIGHWAY. IT WAS LIKE HE HYDROPLANED WITHOUT A PUDDLE IN EXISTENCE.

NHTSA ODI 11363852

BEGINNING AT 1,700 MILES (HAPPENED THREE TIMES), THEN AGAIN JUST TWO DAYS AGO AT 4,700 MILES, JUST AFTER STARTING THE CAR, THE ELECTRONIC WANING MESSAGES AND LIGHTS ON DASH WENT CRAZY. THE FOLLOWING MESSAGES APPEARED IN A ROTATING SEQUENCE (1) SAFETY SYSTEM MALFUNCTION (2) TIRE PRESSURE MALFUNCTION (3) TRANSMISSION MALFUNCTION (4) DRIVE SYSTEM MALFUNCTION (5) ADAPTIVE LIGHT MALFUNCTION (6) BRAKES MALFUNCTION - STOP VEHICLE SAFELY (7) AUDI PRE SENSE CURRENTLY LIMITED (8) STABILIZATION CONTROL ESC MALFUNCTION. IN ADDITION, THE POWER STEERING STOPPED WORKING FOR 5-10 SECONDS WHILE ATTEMPTING TO DRIVE AT LOW SPEED. THE MESSAGES APPEARED FIRST WHILE STATIONARY, BUT CONTINUED WHILE DRIVING AT LOW AND HIGHWAY SPEEDS. EACH TIME, OVER THE COURSE OF 24 HOURS, THE WARNINGS LIGHTS AND MESSAGES WENT BACK TO NORMAL.

NHTSA ODI 11349875

VEHICLE STABILITY WHILE DRIVING ON AUTOMATIC DRIVING /LANE KEEPING SYSTEM FAILED 3 TIMES ALMOST CAUSING VEHICLE TO LOOSE CONTROL AND CRASH. ON 4 OTHER OCCASIONS THE VEHICLES LANE KEEPING FAILED TO KEEP BETWEEN LANES AND INSTEAD VEAR VEHICLE IN DIFFERENT STEERING DIRECTIONS, FORCING ME TO PULL AGAINST THE STEARING WHEEL TO GO BACK STRAIGHT. AUDI AMERICA AND LOCAL DEALER CONTINUE TO SAY EVERYTHING IS OK BUT ON ALL THREE OCCASIONS I HAD WITNESSES IN MY CAR.

NHTSA ODI 11349631

SINCE DAY 1 OF OWNERSHIP 9/29/19 THE 2019 AUDI Q7 HAS HAD AN INTERMITTENT ELECTRONIC STEERING ISSUE WHERE STEERING AUTOMATICALLY BECOMES HEAVIER. THIS RESULTS IN MORE EFFORT TO EFFECTIVELY STEER THE VEHICLE. AUDI OF BEAVERTON OR WHERE THE 2019 Q7 WAS PURCHASED NEW HAS ATTEMPTED TO FIX TWICE. THE SECOND ATTEMPT RESULTED IN FULL REPLACEMENT OF THE ELECTRONIC STEERING RACK. ISSUE RANDOMLY PRESENTS ITSELF WHILE DRIVING. CURRENT MILEAGE ON VEHICLE IS 3,885 MILES. *TR

NHTSA ODI 11324744

FROM TIME TO TIME, AFTER THE AUTO ENGINE SHUTOFF ENGAGES, WHEN I RELEASE THE BRAKE AND THE ENGINE RESTARTS, POWER STEERING ISN'T AVAILABLE FOR ROUGHLY 5 SECONDS (THE CAR IS UN-STEERABLE). THIS HAPPENS WHEN THE CAR IS AT A COMPLETE STOP, AND I'M ATTEMPTING TO START MOVING AGAIN. I'VE LEARNED TO PUT THE CAR INTO "SPORT MODE" SO I DON'T RISK MY LIFE AND MY FAMILIES LIVES. THE DEALERSHIP CLAIMS THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE VEHICLE. :(

NHTSA ODI 11323192