Hi guys hope someone can help a little bit. Audi A6 s line 2.0 diesel 2013. Keep getting error message saying steering defective do not drive red light appears on instruments.  Appears randomly then goes out. Sometimes longer than usual. Have taken back to garage where it has warranty. They have found electrical fault somewhere but doesn’t know where? They have replaced steering sensor and re coded it. That didn’t work. Now there saying they can’t do anything more because they literally have nothing to go on ? Any ideas ? Where do we stand with the warranty ? Do they have to keep solving until fixed ? Anyone had similar problems with same message ? 

Hi Luke1981,

I know this has probably been fixed by now but...

 I have had the same issue with my A6 C7. It all started after I drove through a puddle on a rainy day. Initially the error message said something along the lines of "steering system fault: you can continue driving" but the following  day after driving a couple of miles down the road the light on the dashboard when from yellow to red and the message changed to something like "Do Not Drive the car". I then took it to the mechanics and they found an electrical issue on a module on the steering rack. 

the whole steering rack had to be replaced as the faulty module is not sold separately. 

My 2014 Allroad has just done exactly the same, and still waiting for the car back as there were no more steering racks left in the UK so had to be ordered from Germany. Apparently in the US they have extended the warranty to 120,000 miles or 10 years because this is a known fault. I've just written to the head of Audi UK to see if they'll help out.

On 2/5/2023 at 4:07 PM, ChrisMA said:

My 2014 Allroad has just done exactly the same, and still waiting for the car back as there were no more steering racks left in the UK so had to be ordered from Germany. Apparently in the US they have extended the warranty to 120,000 miles or 10 years because this is a known fault. I've just written to the head of Audi UK to see if they'll help out.

Any response from audi

Yes - in no uncertain terms they told me where I could go. They said there comes a point in the life of a car when maintenance is the responsibility of the owner (hello - this was a catastrophic failure of a major component at 71k miles, not a maintenance issue), and that they couldn't comment on what they do in the US, but they don't do it here. I thought their response was a joke to be honest.

So, I have my car back, but I no longer have confidence in it coping in wet weather, and sadly after 33 years of continuous Audi ownership I will probably be making this my last one.

In the meantime I want to write to the ombudsman and head of Audi in Germany - what have I got to lose apart from a few minutes of my time?

2 hours ago, ChrisMA said:

Yes - in no uncertain terms they told me where I could go. They said there comes a point in the life of a car when maintenance is the responsibility of the owner (hello - this was a catastrophic failure of a major component at 71k miles, not a maintenance issue), and that they couldn't comment on what they do in the US, but they don't do it here. I thought their response was a joke to be honest.

So, I have my car back, but I no longer have confidence in it coping in wet weather, and sadly after 33 years of continuous Audi ownership I will probably be making this my last one.

In the meantime I want to write to the ombudsman and head of Audi in Germany - what have I got to lose apart from a few minutes of my time?

Never again will I buy an audi scrap sunroof leaking headlights failing steering rack failing 7 year old car   back to peugeot i go or Ford

 

 

 

On 3/4/2023 at 6:16 PM, ChrisMA said:

Yes - in no uncertain terms they told me where I could go. They said there comes a point in the life of a car when maintenance is the responsibility of the owner (hello - this was a catastrophic failure of a major component at 71k miles, not a maintenance issue), and that they couldn't comment on what they do in the US, but they don't do it here. I thought their response was a joke to be honest.

So, I have my car back, but I no longer have confidence in it coping in wet weather, and sadly after 33 years of continuous Audi ownership I will probably be making this my last one.

In the meantime I want to write to the ombudsman and head of Audi in Germany - what have I got to lose apart from a few minutes of my time?

I have the same problem here 😭, did you hear back from Audi, Germany?