CarComplaints.com Notes: The 3rd generation A8 got off to a slow start. Really slow, like "limp home" slow thanks to leaking antifreeze frying the engine's control modules. Thankfully the problem was recalled in September 2016.

2.0

hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
80,667 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2011 Audi A8 electrical problems

electrical problem

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2011 Audi A8 Owner Comments

problem #3

Sep 222016

A8

  • 76,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

While driving on a city street my car suddenly stopped (4 lane street -- 2 going, to coming). There was very heavy traffic and I could not move the car as it would not come back on, nor could I shift the car into neutral to push it out of the way. As a result, the car remained in the middle of the road, in heavy traffic, for about 2 hours until the tow truck arrived. The car was towed to the local dealer where it the dealter took 4 days to diagnose it with having coolant leaked into the engine wire harness and into the PCM where it shorted the pins. As a result the car was completely inoperable. This caused a very unsafe condition as the behind me suddenly had to break and just missed hitting my car. The car just shut down and would not restart or engage the neutral gear in order for me to get out of the middle of the road. This seems to be a common thing and something that should require Audi to address via a recall in order to replace the affected part(s) before something like this happens or require Audi to make appropriate repairs to those affected by this common and dangerous fault. This is a serious safety issue! dealer wants $11000 to repair it! what should I do?? loss of work and pay as car is stranded at Audi dealer! agony! embarrassment!

- Lake Zurich, IL, USA

problem #2

May 062016

A8

  • 85,000 miles
While driving on a city street my car suddenly stopped (4 lane street -- 2 going, to coming). There was very heavy traffic and I could not move the car as it would not come back on, nor could I shift the car into neutral to push it out of the way. As a result, the car remained in the middle of the road, in heavy traffic, for about three hours until the tow truck arrived. The car was towed to the local dealer where it was diagnosed as having coolant leaked into the engine wire harness and into the PCM where it shorted the pins. As a result the car was completely inoperable. This caused a very unsafe condition as there were no warning signs, the car just shut down and would not restart or engage the neutral gear in order for me to get out of the middle of the road. This seems to be a common thing and something that should require Audi to address via a recall in order to replace the affected part(s) before something like this happens or require Audi to make appropriate repairs to those affected by this common and dangerous fault. Below is a link I found in which other individuals complain about the very issue. www.audiworld.com/forums/A8-S8-D4-platform-discussion-190/coolant-leak-through-wiring-harness-2862459/

- Middletown, RI, USA

problem #1

Feb 282016

A8

  • 81,000 miles
The transmission coolant valve leaked coolant on to the engine control module causing it to malfunction. The card stopped while in motion in the middle of the busy street and I was almost hit buy a semi truck. It started back up, I got it to a parking lot and it stopped again. I have found no less than 50 online complaints about this problem. Most of the complaints state that the manufacturer was "aware" of the problem.

- Shiloh, IL, USA

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