— An Audi Canada class action lawsuit alleges these e-tron electric vehicles are equipped with defective lithium-ion batteries that may catch fire.
- 2019-2022 Audi e-tron
- 2022-2024 Audi e-tron GT
- 2022-2023 Audi RS e-tron GT
Plaintiff Major Singh Rai purchased a 2022 Audi RS e-tron GT quattro for $197,714.00, plus tax. In May 2023, he visited an Audi dealer in Canada regarding a faulty e-tron battery charger. The dealer updated the 12-volt battery control module software when the vehicle had about 32,266 kilometers on it.
Later that evening Mr. Rai was unable to drive the Audi RS e-tron because it entered limp mode and these warning signals illuminated on the vehicle's dashboard or instrument cluster panel:
- "Safety system: malfunction! See owner's manual"
- "Stabilization control (ESC): malfunction! See Owner's manual"
- "Driver assistance systems: currently limited. Affected systems will be continuously updated in message memory"
- "Drive system: warning! Limited performance"
- "Drive system: malfunction! Please contact Service"
- "All-wheel drive: malfunction! Limited stability. Please contact Service"
The Audi e-tron class action alleges the battery problems will leave a customer unable to fully charge their electric vehicle because doing so creates a greater risk of a fire.
The battery can overheat and burn even if the vehicle is parked and shut off. In addition, a vehicle may suddenly lose power while driving.
The plaintiff contends Audi has known about the battery fire risk since before the vehicles were first put on the market. All Audi has done is announce recalls which allegedly do not require replacements for all the e-tron batteries.
Audi customers are allegedly still stuck with dangerous vehicles until Audi replaces the defective lithium-ion batteries with batteries that won't catch fire.
Based on information in Audi e-tron recalls in Canada, a customer should not charge their vehicle beyond 80% capacity, something that decreases the advertised driving range. The e-trons must also be recharged more frequently when battery capacity is decreased.
According to the lawsuit, software updates described in recall documents will only warn Audi that an e-tron battery is having problems, when the plaintiff argues the battery should be replaced to prevent problems in the first place.
The Audi e-tron class action lawsuit was filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia: Heliosphere Acceleration Flux Inc. (Major Singh Rai) v. Audi Canada Inc., et al.
The plaintiff is represented by Dusevic & Garcha.
