What 28 owners told NHTSA about the 2021 Audi Q8

I was driving my car would not accelerate on the highway and it almost caused me to get into an accident with my niece in the car. When I took the car to Audi this is what I was told my the service adviser. “Good afternoon. The technician has been looking into the vehicle and has found the cause of the issue. He has found the coolant water pump has failed internally causing coolant to leak internally into the vacuum system. This is causing the vacuum to be blocked for the turbo and thus causing the sluggish feeling when accelerating. In order to fix, the water pump and all compromised vacuum system components need to be replaced. It is a rather extensive job unfortunately.” My car only has a little over 45 thousand miles. Audi should be responsible to fix this problem because they sold this car knowing the water was faulty in these models. I recall should have been put out. I was quoted $6,000 to fix this problem.

NHTSA ODI 11741357

Audi Q8 failed water pump leading to severe loss of power and a major safety issue. I was merging on a very busy highway when I had loss of power with my children in the vehicle. This was alarming as I was not able to accelerate as anticipated and had no warning/notice that this was going to occur, and others around me did not know what was going on as well. This is a known complaint and issue in these vehicles and a major safety issue. Audi should stand behind their quality and it is dissapointing costly repair that shouldn’t be needed at 50 k (right outside of warranty). This issue can cause a detrimental accident.

NHTSA ODI 11714623

The vehicle recently started to behave uncharacteristically when navigating around the curbs and changing lanes, it feels like you have hit a patch of black ice or an oil slick which I attributed to needing new tires. I purchased new tires according to the vehicle Audi manufacturer specification and had an alignment done on 2/14/2024 as is required for all-wheel drive vehicles. The situation was explained to the Audi South Atlanta Service Desk on 2/14/2024 and was logged as "Customer states that the vehicle stutters/shakes and tires seem to lower when changing lanes & going around light curves. The Customer requested that the lane departure system and other related components be checked to confirm if they are operating as designed." Dealership feedback: "Test drove: vehicle driven 2 miles and operating normally when compared to the same or similar models. No DTC's detected & lane departure system operating properly at the same time. The only noise/feeling felt was coming from the Audit Quattro bind from the all-wheel drive electronic - normal behavior." Despite the Audi Service Dept diagnosis and analysis of the issue reported, the behavior continues and is very unnerving. It seems like the front and rear axles are not in sync with the Audi Quattro Electronic all-wheel drive system. I reported the matter to Audi of America, Inc. Customer Care, Case# 06125039 on 2/21/2024, and would like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to be aware of this situation in the event other owners of the Audit Q8 report the matter or this issue results in death or injuries.

NHTSA ODI 11573249

The contact owns a 2021 Audi Q8. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH, the vehicle shutoff as the electrical problem, see local dealer warning message appeared on the instrument panel. The contact pulled off to the side of the highway and had the vehicle towed to a local dealer. The vehicle remained in the possession of the dealer and had yet to be diagnosed. The manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 3,500.

NHTSA ODI 11432422