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Vehicle safety record

2001 Audi A4 Problems, complaints & recalls

Owners have filed 130 complaints about the 2001 Audi A4 with NHTSA, most often about the electrical system (35) and the brakes (33). Those complaints describe 5 crashes, 9 fires and 1 injury. It is covered by 3 recalls, the latest in June 2021 for the inflator module. For comparison, the 2000 has 96 and the 2002 has 189.

NHTSA data checked

DMore problems than a typical A4 year, for its age

#78 most complained-about 2001 vehicle

Complaints
130
Recalls
3
Crashes
5
Fires
9
Injuries
1
Deaths
0

Most common 2001 Audi A4 problems

Share of all 130 complaints. One complaint can name more than one area. Tap an area for its complaints and recalls.

2001 Audi A4 recalls 3

Recall repairs are free. Your dealer fixes them whether or not you bought the car there - check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see if yours is done. What to do

Air bags: inflator module

21V47000062,812 vehicles affected

The problem
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2000-2001 Audi TT Coupe, TT Roadster, 2000-2002 A4, and S4 vehicles equipped with Non-Azide Driver Air Bag Inflators (NADI) that do not contain phase stabilized ammonium nitrate (PSAN) propellant. Due to a manufacturing issue, the NADI inflators may absorb moisture, possibly causing the air bag to deploy improperly in the event of a crash.
The risk
In the event of a crash necessitating air bag deployment, the air bag may not properly protect the occupant, increasing the risk of serious injury or death.
The fix
Dealers will replace the driver frontal airbag inflator with an alternative inflator, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed November 2, 2021. Owners may contact Audi customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 69CJ.

Engine

14E00700050 vehicles affected

The problem
The Gates Corporation (Gates) is recalling certain aftermarket Tru-Flow Water Pumps, part number TFW 41127, sold at certain NAPA Auto Parts and/or installed by automotive service technicians after November 1, 2013 (and manufactured August 2013 through October 2013) that have a black-colored pulley/sprocket or do not have 'US9377' stamped on the water pump housing. These service replacement parts were sold for use in model year 1999-2005 Audi A4, 2000-2006 Audi TT, 1998-2005 Volkswagen Beetle, 1999-2006 Golf, 1999-2008 and 2011-2013 Volkswagen Jetta, and 2000-2005 Volkswagen Passat. In the affected water pumps, the pulley or sprocket that turns the timing belt may develop microfractures causing the timing belt to fail.
The risk
A failure of the timing belt may cause the engine to shut down, potentially increasing the risk of a vehicle crash.
The fix
Gates will notify owners, and dealers will replace the water pump, free of charge. The recall began during May 2014. Owners may contact The Gates Corporation at 1-303-744-1911.

Exterior lighting

06E04900027,176 vehicles affected

The problem
Certain ck motorsports combination headlights, clear corner, bumper, and side marker lights sold as replacement lamps for use on the passenger vehicles listed above. Some combination lamps that are not equipped with amber side reflectors fail to conform to federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 108, Lamps, reflective devices, and associated equipment.
The risk
Without the amber reflectors, the vehicle will be poorly illuminated, possibly resulting in a vehicle crash without warning.
The fix
Ck motorsport will notify owners and replace the noncompliant lamps free of charge. The recall began on july 1, 2006. Owners may contact ck motorsport at 1-909-610-7211.

What owners say

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130 complaints about the 2001 Audi A4

Newest first, as filed with NHTSA by owners. Page 1 of 6.

Airbags

The contact owns a 2001 Audi A4. The contact stated that upon closing the driver's side door, her husband heard a loud gun-like sound and he noticed that the passenger-side curtain air bags had deployed. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact's husband cut the curtain air bags and drove the vehicle to his residence. The dealer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 180,000. The VIN was not available.

Filed Incident Air bagsNHTSA 11455179
Engine & coolingFire

2001 Audi a4 quattro 2.8L. As driving smoke was coming from hood.. Park and realize the engine was on fire. It look like it started by the passenger side headlight and spread. I read that audi had a recall on head light switch but did not rec, a recall letter. Not exactly sure where the fire started my audi caught on fire. I dont't have pictures to upload but I will soon. I am very hurt to know that the car I enjoyed driving caught on fire/disappointed with audi

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11210749
Airbags

While driving the vehicle on a highway going straight at ~65mph the passenger side curtain and seat airbags deployed for no reason. Vehicle manufacturer cited a "crash" signal from side impact sensor was the cause of the false deployment. No physical cause could be found, no damage was found on vehicle and all airbag system wiring was found to be intact and original. Manufacturer would not own failure and cited the vehicle being lowered as the cause. Manufacturer was unable to provide any evidence for this conclusion and vehicle is well within local laws/regulations for lowered vehicles.

Filed Incident Air bagsNHTSA 10896796
BrakesCrash

Brakes were working fine, coming off freeway, was coasting thru light, traffic stopped, brakes no longer worked, brake pedal was suddenly flush with floor. Rearended a car, car started jumping forward. Had to use the emergency brake to stop the car. Car was towed after accident, not because it was not drivable, it was not drivable due to brake problem. Repair shop said brakes failed to vacuum hose breaking, no warning prior to losing brakes. *Tr

Filed Incident Service brakesNHTSA 10621083
Engine & cooling

The check engine light (mil) has had several recurrences. The mass air flow meter and sensor have been replaced twice. ( 65,060 And 107,894). The initial failure was at 36,512 miles. 47,819 Miles, 65,060 miles, 107,894 miles,118,628 miles and in july, 2014 at 159,421 miles, there was a warranty extension letter in november, 2003 that included 2001 audi a-4 1.8T vehicles and a voluntary emissions service action 28f2/j1 ignition coil inspection/replacement in october, 2009. Secondary issue. Unable to read dashboard display. Pixeled. Unable to read safety/vehicle notifications. *Tr

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 10619139
Seats & seat belts

While using my heater on my seats and a pillow for additional back support, I noticed smoke and burning smell when pulling into my driveway. When getting out of my car I noticed that my pillow was leaking...And upon pulling the pillow off the drivers seat, it was damaged/burned through. I also noticed that a burned hole the size of a quarter is now quite visible. Worried that this may cause a car fire. *Tr

Filed Incident SeatsNHTSA 10557722
Brakes

Tl* the contact owns a 2001 audi a4. The contact stated that the abs warning light was illuminated on the instrument panel and the brake warning light was flashing. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnostics where the mechanic advised the contact that the ecu module would have to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 112,000.

Filed Incident Service brakes, hydraulicNHTSA 10451838
Electrical system

The instrument cluster 99% cannot be read due to the lcd display fading. Have done multiple searches and 9 out of 10 people have this same exact issue. Audi needs to step up and take responsibility for this issue. This has been an ongoing issue and needs to be fixed. This has been a huge pain for me because sometimes my car will beep and display something on the lcd screen but because it's fading I have no clue what it's telling me. I don't want to be driving and something life threatening happen because of a missed message because the lcd screen is broken. Fix this before people get hurt and start filing lawsuits. *Tr

Filed Incident Electrical systemNHTSA 10450108
Lights

In 2007 xenon headlights dropped/dipped headlight level sensor replaced and lights appeared to work correctly. In 2011 the same problem occurred again. Headlight leveling sensor and wiring harness replaced. Appears to be working ok. Driving with the headlights aimed incorrectly is a dangerous driving condition. It appears that there is a common design flaw with the xenon headlights. *Tr

Filed Incident Exterior lightingNHTSA 10442519
Lights

We have experienced an intermittent problem with the hid head lights flickering and shutting off during operation at night. The left low beam began to flicker and then shut off. The head light warning indicator light comes on. After inspection the next day, lights came back on and were working normally no warning lights were on. This appears to be a common problem with this type of car and in my opinion a very dangerous one that needs to be addressed by audi in a recall for the obvious ballast, bulb, wiring, problem that exists on this car. *Tr

Filed Incident Exterior lightingNHTSA 10434129
Brakes

ABS MODULE FAILURE. *TR

Filed Incident Service brakes, hydraulicNHTSA 10428427
Engine & cooling

2001 Audi a4 with timing belt failure and repair. Consumer states that the timing belt repair did not last and his vehicle completely failed on the highway. Consumer was then informed of an oil sludge issue. *Kb updated 10/19/11.

Filed Incident Engine and engine coolingNHTSA 10420283
AirbagsCrash1 injury

All airbags failed to deploy in a driver's side "t-bone" collision. A-4 is equipped with side airbags. A-4 was stationary and occupied, minivan crashed into driver's door and part of front quarter panel. Van's rate of travel was 20 to 30 mph in reverse! My wife suffered neck and shoulder injuries. Local audi dealer replaced the side airbag # 8d0 880 241 aa and the airbag controller module # 8d0 959 655 g. Only at my insistence, was this work performed when I continued to question why no airbags deployed. My direct...

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questions were met with, "you know, more injuries occur when an airbag goes off, so, your wife is probably luckier that they didn't work". Wtf?! Hey buddy, let's put you in the driver's seat and ram minivan into it with the same speed and mass! Also, rest your arm on the open window and see if you don't lose an arm like my wife almost did. What are these guy's trying to cover up for audi?! Has there been a corporate decree of total liability avoidance with deceit being pushed down to the dealer level, or are they just idiots? I'm also in the class action regarding the oil sludge lawsuit. Now they are denying 1/2 of my claim because they say I'm missing proof of a single oil change that should be in the records of the dealership that performed the work, which for some reason all the records pertaining to that critical timeline have been wiped off audi's corporate comupter system. When will it all end? I'm about to drive this [[redacted]] carover a cliff! Any audi execs want to go for a ride? I feel I have been taken for a long enough ride after some $15,000 to $20,000 in repairs over the last 6 years. Let's hope our airbags will be free from failure in the event of a future accident. Someone else's experience has been that switching out the module with the same model module has not eliminated the problem completely and it has re-occurred, i.E., Red light in dash coming on again and failure to deploy airbags in crash. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.S.C. 552(B)(6). *Kb

Filed Incident Air bagsNHTSA 10414033
Brakes

2001 Audi a4 with about 105k miles on. Abs sensor is faulty and this problem is very widespread amongst audi a4s built around this time. It is a $1500 - $2000 repair for a part that really doesn't seem to go bad with this frequency in other cars. For an example of the score, see this site. This is just one of many sites with similar complaints around this issue: http://audi-vw-abs-recall.Blogspot.Com/2005/07/audi-and-vw-please-recall-cars-between.Html. *Tr

Filed Incident Service brakes, hydraulicNHTSA 10352030
Airbags

2001 Audi a4 air bag light on dash. Dealer checked and stated air bag module bad. Order one and was installed april 27, 2010. Part # 8d0-959-655-g module. This is a major safety item. Can cause air bags to not deploy. Should last longer than it did. *Tr

Filed Incident Air bagsNHTSA 10330845
Electrical system

The digital instrument cluster is not working properly on my 2001 audi a4 1.8T. You can only see half the screen on the center display that notifies you when the car needs to be serviced and if any major problems are occurring I feel this is a safety issue and audi should recall and repair any cars with this malfunction because I have read several reviews of the same problem so obviously it is something they should look into. *Tr

Filed Incident Electrical systemNHTSA 10330101
Brakes

2001 AUDI A4 2.8 ABS BRAKE SYSTEM CONTROLLER FAILURE. *TR

Filed Incident Service brakes, hydraulicNHTSA 10328888
Fuel system

Excessive gas fumes from car. Dealer and other service center looked for problem several times. After car was unfit to drive - smelled so bad from gasoline fumes - a service garage removed the fuel tank. The fuel was seeping through molded in plastic connection fittings on top of the tank at their molded interface to the tank - the tank is a poly type tank. The tank was replaced. This is clearly a design defect. Had the fumes been near an ignition source a possible fire or worse could have resulted. It is...

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my opinion that the dissimilar materials used for the tank and fittings lost their seal over time. Audi of america has shown no interest in dealing with this. Since there were 4 fuel tanks available on a friday and on the following monday, there were none, so I had to wait up to 2 additional weeks to get a tank - I suspect they are keenly aware of this defect. This car has been garage kept, I am original owner, and it has no accidents. I have the original failed fuel tank at this time. Date of repair 6/29/09 to 7/21/09. *Tr

Filed Incident Fuel system, gasolineNHTSA 10321039
Brakes

Abs control module failed. Modules are defective and audi should recall them. Online research shows thousands of audi/vw car owners have experienced this same problem. Cost to replace module is $1500-2000 dollars. Vw has issued recall of this abs module, but audi has not (even though same exact part). Nhtsa needs to put pressure on audi to recall this component, they are defective, unsafe, and could lead to accidents. *Tr

Filed Incident Service brakes, hydraulicNHTSA 10317474
Brakes

Tl* the contact owns a 2001 audi a4. He stated that the antilock breaks sensor illuminates constantly. He had the garage replaced the break sensor twice. The first replacement was done on january 10, 2010 and the second break sensor replacement was february 16, 2010 and the failure was not corrected. The failure mileage was 90,000 and the current mileage was 102,034. He has not contacted the dealer or manufacturer.

Filed Incident Service brakes, hydraulicNHTSA 10312831
Electrical system

My 2001 audi a4 has central lcd display to display all sort of information, but this display fails in most of a4s just after a few years. This is critical for vehicle safety, because this car does not have any other indicators to signal abnormal conditions of the car such as low coolant, check engine, etc. This problem has been known more than five years, but the manufacturer has not been responsible. Please look at http://audiforums.Com/forum/showthread.Php?T=46512 for other people's complaints about this problem. *Tr

Filed Incident Electrical systemNHTSA 10308951
Brakes

Failure of abs brake control unit in an audi 2001 a4 while driving on the freeway with snow. It occurred in salt lake city, utah. Abs brake light came on and the abs brakes weren't working driving on snow and needed to be replaced. $710.00 Was the cost of the repair for a faulty unit and a very common problem that audi knows about it. Good thing that I was going really slow and I was exiting the slippery freeway at the time and I didn't slide. Thank you! *Tr

Filed Incident Service brakes, electricNHTSA 10299792
Brakes

1. One day suddenly my audi 2001 a4 starts to show abs and brake light to be failing. 2. The failure when diagnosed seems to be a problem with audi's abs control unit, and that needs to be repaired. 3. I have not repaired it yet, because dealers quoted a huge price of more than 1500$ to fix the abs control unit. *Tr

Filed Incident Service brakes, hydraulicNHTSA 10298769
Airbags

Airbag controller fails with no apparent reason. Unit generates an unclear fault code (65535) when temperature drops below 32 degrees. This will not allow the airbags to deploy in case of an accident. Module has been replaced, and the same failure occurred again less than a year later. *Tr

Filed Incident Air bagsNHTSA 10291928
Electrical system

The lcd instrument display is "pixilated" -- unable to clearly display information regarding the status of the vehicle, including safety-related information such as failure of safety-related components (anti-lock brakes etc.). This could lead to a crash or prevent the timely response to a safety-related problem. On-line forums indicate that this is a frequent problem with audi a4s. *Tr

Filed Incident Electrical systemNHTSA 10289236

Audi A4: every year compared

YearComplaintsRecallsCrashesFiresTop problemGrade
2005219473LightsF
2004189383Fuel systemD
20032154106Fuel systemF
20021892136Electrical systemF
2001130359Electrical systemD
200096552BrakesC
1999190792BrakesF
1998258662BrakesF
199799873Electrical systemD
All A4 years

2001 Audi A4 vs rivals

More sales usually means more complaints, so compare similar vehicles of the same year. The grade compares each vehicle with its own model's other years.

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Questions about the 2001 Audi A4

Does the 2001 Audi A4 have any recalls?

Yes - NHTSA lists 3 recalls for the 2001 Audi A4: inflator module (June 2021); engine (March 2014); exterior lighting (May 2006). Recall repairs are free at any authorized dealer. Enter your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see whether yours has been fixed.

What are the most common problems with the 2001 Audi A4?

By the complaints owners filed with NHTSA, the most common problem areas are the electrical system (35), brakes (33), engine & cooling (32).

How many complaints has the 2001 Audi A4 had?

130 complaints have been filed with NHTSA, the first on December 15, 2000 and the latest on March 4, 2022. Of these, 5 describe a crash and 9 a fire, and together they report 1 injury and 0 deaths.

Is the 2001 Audi A4 a reliable vehicle?

Its Safety Index is 35 out of 100 (grade D: more problems than a typical Audi A4 year, for its age). The index weighs complaints, crashes, fires, injuries, deaths and recalls against how long the vehicle has been on the road, compared with the same model's other years. It is not a measure of every repair - read the complaints and owner experiences, and have any used vehicle inspected before you buy.

Which Audi A4 years have the most complaints?

2006 (298), 1998 (258), 2005 (219). See every Audi A4 year compared.

What should I do if my 2001 Audi A4 has a problem?

If it is a safety problem, stop driving it if it is unsafe and contact your dealer. Report it to NHTSA at nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem - enough reports start investigations and recalls - and share your experience here so other owners know what to look for.

Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked . Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data

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