What 16 owners told NHTSA about the 2022 Audi Audi Q7

I was traveling at highway speeds in active, high-velocity traffic when my vehicle suffered a sudden, catastrophic mechanical failure that nearly resulted in a severe multi-car accident. Without any warning, the vehicle completely lost its ability to accelerate, flatly refusing to pick up speed or maintain momentum despite pressing the gas pedal. ​This unexpected, immediate drop in propulsion marooned me in high-speed lanes, leaving the vehicle dangerously vulnerable as oncoming traffic rapidly closed the distance behind me. Drivers behind me were forced to aggressively swerve and brake to avoid a high-speed rear-end collision. Moments after this life-threatening loss of power occurred, the Check Engine Light illuminated on the dashboard. ​Subsequent technical inspection revealed a severe engineering defect: the internal seals of the factory coolant control components failed, forcing pressurized engine coolant backward into the engine’s primary vacuum system. This pressurized fluid completely contaminated the vacuum lines, the vacuum reservoir tank, and the electronic solenoids—including the N75 boost control solenoid. By filling the vacuum infrastructure with liquid coolant, the engine was instantly starved of its ability to regulate turbocharger boost, triggering a critical "limp mode" and a P0299 underboost fault. ​The catastrophic failure of an internal cooling seal directly compromising an active drivability safety system represents an unreasonable and severe defect. It transforms a routine drive into an immediate, uncontrollable highway hazard. I am filing this report because this known coolant migration pattern presents a clear, present, and life-threatening danger to owners operating this engine platform.

NHTSA ODI 11742674

While parked in my residential garage with the engine shut off and car door closed, the vehicle suffered an un-commanded rollaway incident due to a suspected defect in the electronic parking brake or automatic-park transmission software. The vehicle was completely stopped, the driver exited the vehicle and the driver's door was closed. Moments later, the vehicle shifted out of its parked state or failed to hold, rolling backward down the driveway and colliding with a basketball pole in the driveway, causing vehicle damage. No warning chimes or dashboard alerts were observed prior to exiting. The vehicle's electronic failsafe to automatically engage 'Park' upon the door opening failed to secure the vehicle.

NHTSA ODI 11742245

Since purchase of this vehicle, it randomly trips a critical engine failure error do not exceed 1200 rpm. When it does this, it will idle at a much higher rpm than the do not exceed value, which causes the vehicle to come to a stop. The vehicle went into the shop during the winter of 2022, and they determined that it was a computer failure and replaced the car's computer system. The error went away until the winter/spring of 2023. In 2022, this error always occurred within a few blocks of home at low speed; but now this critical error will trip while driving on the roads at faster speeds, which causes the vehicle to rapidly decelerate. The dealership and service center looked over the issue and found that Audi has a technical bulletin out for this, and they expect a fix by fourth quarter 2023. Until then, they advise that it is not a problem and when the vehicle does this error wait until you're stopped and then turn the car off and back on to return the vehicle to normal operating conditions. Audi told the dealership there is no safety issue, and I'm telling the dealership that it will stop rapidly and without warning, and I was lucky the last time this happened that the cars behind me were paying attention. Neither Audi corporate or Audi Bellevue consider this a safety risk, and that having a car stop suddenly and without warning to the driver or other cars on the road is perfectly fine. I've tried dealing with them all and the dealership states Audi says there is no safety issue and no fix so there is nothing we can do, and Audi USA customer care says that the dealership says it is safe so there is nothing we can do. It's a circle of nobody dealing with a serious safety issue. They state it's a rare occurrence, but I've had this happen several times over the 16 months I've owned the vehicle. See picture from text communicaiton.

NHTSA ODI 11522094