2021 Audi Q5 Reliability Report

False automatic emergency braking is the core complaint. The car brakes hard with nothing ahead, in both city and highway driving, including while passing through shade under a bridge. With cruise control set, it can brake and drop speed sharply. Pre Sense also yanks the seat belts tight while the car sits stopped at a light. Drivers describe near rear-end collisions and neck and rib soreness after a sudden stop. Dealers struggle to find the cause. One report covers driver-assist cameras and sensors left uncalibrated after collision repair.

A mix of unrelated faults lands here. The sunroof glass explodes while driving with no apparent cause, showering the cabin with glass. The backup camera cuts out while reversing, the MMI screen turns white or blue, and the bird's-eye camera view looks skewed, though one dealer could not reproduce it. Small climate control buttons pop off the dash and keep falling off. One report describes repeated false emergency braking with Auto Pre Sense shown on the dash.

Loss of steering control runs through these reports, and one involves a crash with an injury. In snow at low speed, the brake pedal sinks to the floor and the wheel locks, sending the car into a ditch. Another complaint describes the wheel jerking hard to the left without warning on at least 6 occasions. A third ties steering loss to the rear-seat gateway module failure, with brake and transmission warnings, black screens, and total power loss. That owner says an earlier fix covering the module in plastic did not prevent it.

Neither report describes a wheel failure. One covers original tires worn out at about 13,000 miles, with the dealer saying the new-car warranty excludes tires and sending the owner to the tire maker. The other is a dealer service dispute: the owner says the dealer would not perform a rear axle trailing arm lock nut repair unless paid work was scheduled at the same visit.

Fuel leaks appear in both reports, each carrying a fire risk. In one, metal debris on the road pierces the gas tank and gasoline drains out. In the other, gasoline drips from under the right rear of the parked car on a hot day. A yellow fuel system warning had shown earlier and the gas cap gasket had been replaced, and the dealer then calls for a new fuel pump.

Road debris tears open the plastic fuel tank and fuel leaks out in one report, at about 9,000 miles, and the dealer replaces the tank. The other report describes a fuel gauge that stays on full while the tank runs nearly empty, at about 5,000 miles, with no warning light. That car goes undiagnosed and unrepaired, leaving the driver at risk of running out of fuel.

The sunroof glass shatters at highway speed with no impact, sometimes with a loud boom, and broken glass falls into the cabin and onto the driver. Neither report identifies a cause, and an independent mechanic who inspects one car cannot find one. Both cars remain unrepaired at the time of filing. One failure occurs at about 51,000 miles. Sudden glass breakage at speed can startle the driver and cause injury.