Comments: 1-15, 16-18
The front bumper pulled off twice (parking at cement barriers and sidewalks).
The air bag light went on intermittently.
The "open trunk" light went on intermittently.
This is a potentially good car. If Audi would, at the very least, warn owners about the front bumper. Otherwise, there is no way to know about the defect until it's too late. Better, if Audi wanted to actually maintain customers, they would spend almost nothing and change the design. Best, they would recall existing cars and modify the front bumper at the cost of a few hundred each, but cheaper than the eventual class action settlement and loss of customers.
I own an Audi A6 2.4 V6 and I have found no problems with it. It is a beautiful car, reliable, quick and has a look of a coupe due to it's curving roof-line. Upgrading alloy wheels to 18inches is a must, because it makes it look like a bigger TT. There is no problem with the bumper, unless you drive over concrete kerbs and barriers (just like any other car)!!
The front bumper on my 2000 Audi A6 just pulled off this weekend while I parked at a concrete curb in a parking lot. Two Audi A4 owners saw this occur (it was at a movie), came up to me and told me that this had happened to each of them, one of them TWICE. Damage to my car is $1,800. When I took it to a body shop for an estimate, the repairman said he sees "a lot of these with Audi's." He showed me the bottom of the car, and explained how the bottom line was inappropriately attached so that the plate basically "grabs" the curb and yanks off the whole front bumper. I am a civil defense attorney, but I am looking for similarly situated individuals to address a class action lawsuit for a problem I am sure Audi is well aware of. When I took it to the dealer this morning, he seemed to suggest that Audi of America was also aware of this defect. Please contact me at seanbwmartin@aol.com if you have information. Thank you very much.
It's not the bumper that's coming off, but the bumper cover. If you hadn't dragged it up on the curb I'm sure it would remain happily attached as on so many other Audis. Sure, it is probably a lousy design, but a lawsuit? Come on, take a little responsibility!
I've experienced two problems mentioned here- together: Difficulty in engaging reverse gear with the 6 speed manual, and the bumper-cover "ripoff". I was reversing out of a parking space on a downgrade, and although I thought the transmission was in "reverse", it was still in neutral. As a result, the car rolled forward over the curb at the front of the parking space. When I backed up, the entire bumper cover came loose-- about $1 grand to fix.
I agree the bumper cover is a poor design- easily fixed with "skids" below. And I've known since day one of ownership that the car is hard to get into reverse--sometimes I have to put it into 2nd and roll forward ever so slightly before reverse will engage. I just didn't anticipate that the reverse gear would fail me just as I needed it to back out of that downhill parking space.
I watch where I park much more carefully now.
I read the comments regarding the front bumper with great interest. I haven't experienced that problem, but was surprised to receive a recall notice in the mail! Audi's engineers have devised some fasteners that when installed, will make the bumper cover flush with the body. If you haven't received your recall notice, call your dealer anyway and make an appointment to take your Audi in!
On another subject, has anyone experience CV joint boot failure? This is the rubber boot that covers the joints between the front axle and wheels. When it cracks or splits, the grease escapes, dirt gets in and the wheel whines like a two year old. Anyway, this is the second Audi that I've experience this with - of course, I'm just out of the 50K mile warranty and will have to fork out my own $$$ for this.
Regarding CV boots: we had to replace all four CV boots on our 1998 Audi A6 Quattro before 40K miles. Of course, we were beyond the 3 yr warranty period. It seemed that every time I brought the car in for service on another issue, even just inspection, another boot had to be replaced. It all happened within about 3000 miles of driving. I never had this problem with any other car and found it rather odd.
Similar to the Audi A6 owners, my front bumper was pulled off by a parking barrier. I pulled in to the spot with no auditory or physical cues to signal contact of any kind with the parking barrier. As I pulled out (in reverse, of course) there was a slight pulling and a cracking sound as the right front bumper spoiler was pulled off the car.
Since there was no indication of contact in the initial parking, I feel that this is a design flaw that is not due to "outside influence" or driver negligence. In fact, the A4 bumper is only 2-3" higher from ground level than the A6.
Unfortunately, Audi Customer Service does not agree. Since there is no blanket recall from the company they refuse to pay for the $1000 damage. "Tough luck" has been their response as Audi engineers do not consider this a design flaw.
This will be the first and last Audi I will purchase as Audi does not consider the individual experiences of their customers as important.
It happened to me today! I pulled into the bank parking curb, and when I backed out the curb pulled my bumper off.
I just had my front bumper ripped off of my 2001 Audi A6 after getting hung up on a concrete curb. I didn't even know I hit the curb when I pulled into the parking spot. I had no idea until I went to leave the parking space when I heard this obnoxious noise of the bumper being ripped off. 4 things flew off the front of my car. Those 4 things are no longer usable b/c the plastic parts snapped off and are destroyed. I was shocked that the bumper covering would come off as I have done this before in other cars and it's never been a problem. The total damage is $1,200. The gentlemen at the collision repair center said that this is a very common problem in the Audi's and I shouldn't feel bad as it happens a lot. It made me feel better... but the $1,200 tab did not!
Regarding the CV joint boots: I had a similar problem with my A6. It is my understanding that this is a common problem and that Audi recalled 1998-2002 European A6s because of this. I found a small note in "L'Automobile Magazine" (France). When I questioned my Audi dealer about this recall in Costa Rica, they simply said they had no idea.
I just got my 2001 A62.7T ripped replaced for the same reason. The bumper is too low and the dealership agreed that they have seen this so many times.
Cost me $1600 to fix. Then the same week it happened again a the car wash.
So the person saying we are not good drivers is wrong.
Audi needs to do something about this problem. I am sure they are aware of it.
I used to own an Audi. It was terrible car, always at the dealer, always broken. It was 2001 A6 2,7t. I never experienced the bumper problem (rather everything else, but this). So I really think, that all of you, who had experienced faulty bumpers, should return your licenses, sell the cars and take the bus. I you need a concrete kerb-stone to stop the car from moving, you don't belong on the road. If you NEED to drive over barriers for your own pleasure, go and buy yourself a Land Rover.
My wife and I own two Audis, a '92 100 Quattro with 180,000 miles and a '96 A6 Avant with 150,000 miles. On the '92 I've had to replace the front bumper cover three times at more than $1000 each time and on the '96 we've partially ripped off the cover twice. The Audi bumper cover is a badly flawed design that from comments on the web has not been addressed, much less remedied, in fifteen years.
I volunteer at a place where I see people park more than 50 cars every day with standard parking curbs at the front of each parking space. And I've seen countless cars damage their bumper covers doing the same thing. No country or brands are immune. It all depends on how low the back edge of the cover is. Some have lifted the trailing edge to clear the curb in either direction. Others have added skids to enable the cover to rise over the curb when the driver backs up. And others, Audi being a notable one, has never lifted a finger to address the problem to my knowledge. That's deplorable.
I've probably shelled out $5000 to temporarily fix Audi's problem which grates on my mind. With some minor irritations, like trying to replace burned out lights in the instrument panel and having the replace the entire instrument cluster to fix a defective fault finding chip, I've been quite happy with my Audis (I also formerly owned an '84 Audi 5000 on which I put 150,000 miles before another driver destroyed it and found it great except for the air conditioning).
I've love to be compensated by Audi in some way for the bumper covers I've damaged and bought, but I'm not about the hold my breath. To perhaps prevent the problem, has anyone every heard of noisy feelers that could be attached to the bottom of the bumper cover, much like the feelers sold for fenders during the '50's and '60's whose scrapping noise would tell you when the side of your car was too close to a curb?
I just lost a “bumper cover” today; it’s totally disgusting and frustrating that such an expensive car has such a striking design flaw. Audi should either redesign this bumper cover, or inform their consumers that they must be extraordinarily careful when they park their Audi. When I backed out of my parking spot, at the supermarket I heard that horrible sound of metal or, shall we say “plastic” ripping—-I immediately exited the car into the pouring rain to see just what happened. I couldn’t believe my eyes; the entire bumper cover was almost completely extracted from the front of the car—-I quickly drove to an auto body shop, only to find out that the entire cover needed to be replaced at quite a hefty cost. How reassuring it has been to read all the prior comments; because I felt as if I was in a Lucille Ball comedy, and Desi was going to appear at any moment, saying you got some explaining to do.
Re: the front bumper covers coming off on those parking-lot curbs: I have a 2000 A6 Avant and have noticed that the bumper is too low to clear the curb. I noticed it once, and I am careful now not to try to park so close. My 1974 Jaguar E-type roadster's air scoop had to be fixed countless times for the same problem, and I finally figured out I shouldn't drive up so close to the curbs. Can't really blame the manufacturers...