REVscene Automotive Forum - Audi A4 Sedan/Avant + Allroad - Recall

Audi Recalls 850,000 A4s for Air-Bag Fix - WSJ - WSJ

Quote:

BERLIN— Audi AG , the German luxury car maker, has issued a world-wide recall of 850,000 Audi A4 sedans, urging their owners to bring their cars in to repair a defective air bag, a company spokesman said Thursday.

The move makes the Volkswagen AG subsidiary the latest global auto maker to launch a recall.

Audi said the problem with its air bags isn’t related to the global recall of millions of cars containing defective air bags manufactured by the Japanese company Takata Corp. The problem with Audi’s air bags is related to a software glitch that can prevent the air bag from opening in a collision, the company said.

“We are looking into a number of accidents to see if the air bag was involved,” an Audi spokesman said, adding that the Ingolstadt, Germany-based company knows of no injuries or deaths related to the air bag problem.

The Audi spokesman said the recall affects the Audi A4 sedans, Avant and AllRoad versions from 2011 through October 2014.

The recall was first reported by German trade magazine Auto Motor & Sport.

The spokesman said Audi only needs to perform a simple software update to correct the problem.

“It’s a matter of three minutes,” the spokesman said.

This is just the latest in a series of global recalls by auto makers recently as a result of faulty parts. Nearly a dozen global manufacturers have recalled millions of cars in connection with the Takata air bag, including Audi rival BMW AG , which has recalled 1.6 million cars.

Volkswagen issued a global recall of 1.1 million vehicles earlier this week related to problems with the rear-end suspension of some models.

General Motors Co. has recalled nearly three million vehicles over an ignition-switch defect.