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What 4 owners told NHTSA about the 2025 Audi A3

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (4)Crash / fire / injury (2)Backup camera & sensors (1)Brakes (1)Driver assistance (1)Electrical system (1)Speed control (1)

Newest first · 4 complaints

Jul 15, 2026BrakesDriver assistance

My 2025 Audi A3 has been experiencing severe and recurring 'phantom braking' issues, where the vehicle violently and unexpectedly engages the emergency braking system without any obstacles present. This poses an immediate, life-threatening risk of being rear-ended at high speeds. Despite formally notifying Volkswagen Group of America via certified mail in May 2026, the vehicle has not been successfully repaired. The situation escalated on July 4, 2026, when the vehicle suffered a complete breakdown during operation and had to be towed to Audi Sugar Land, where it remains out of service. The manufacturer is refusing to repurchase this unsafe vehicle.

NHTSA ODI 11750651

May 15, 2026Backup camera & sensorsCrash

The Park Assist function caused me to have an incident with my vehicle when parking. I safely engaged the autopark function and followed the prompts for the car to proceed with the parking. Suddenly, when reversing the car violently accelerated, making it impossible to brake or stop the collision with the parked car. The Park Assist failed. The safety of pedestrians was put at risk, as people were walking around the area of the collision. Audi has been contacted with no current response to the issue. No warning lights other than the prompt to follow instructions.

NHTSA ODI 11738157

Jan 26, 2026

The honk stopped functioning on January 21 2026. I noticed this when a car was moving into my lane on a major highway and I need to honk to alert them. Not being able to alert another drive that they are about to hit me puts me, the other driver, and potentially others at risk. I had to break hard, which is also a safety hazard. The honk has not functioned since, so it was not an isolated issue. No warning lights went on. I have scheduled an appointment with the Bridgewater dealership for Friday January 30.

NHTSA ODI 11713416

Sep 10, 2025Electrical systemSpeed controlCrash

1) Electronic emergency brake goes on repeatedly when attempting to put vehicle in gear. 2) Speed control has coasted to a very low speed while on the highway several times, on its own with no vehicles in front of me. 3) Numerous other “glitchy” electrical issues exist. Dealer says they are collaborating with engineers in Germany. There is currently no fix. It is as if the vehicle is always cycling through various “glitches”.

NHTSA ODI 11686190

Working with the data? Download all 4 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 19, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2025 Audi A3 verdict →