Owners have filed 112 complaints on the Audi e-tron, covering 2019–2021. The system named most often is Electrical System (49 reports). Worst years by volume: 2019, 2021, 2020; cleanest: 2020, 2021, 2019. 4 reports describe a crash, 4 a fire. On average the car was 3.6 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Audi e-tron
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 112 e-tron complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Electrical System 49 Read
On january 13, 202, this 2019 audi e-tron was the 2nd car stopped at a red traffic signal on a public road. The driver's foot was on the brake. While the light remained red with the driver's foot still on the brake, the car lurched forward into the rear of the front car continuing pushing forward for several seconds…
The contact owned a 2019 Audi E-Tron. The contact had pulled into a charging station and had plugged the vehicle in to charge the battery. The contact stated she heard a loud boom 20 minutes after having plugged the vehicle into the charging station. The contact saw white smoke issuing from the rear of the vehicle and…
While operating the vehicle the air conditioning system failed. The vehicle was brought to dealer for diagnosis which confirmed the failure and was out of service for 30 days due to parts availability being SOP. The dealer provided a loaner and fuel reimbursement due my car being electric but refused to reimburse the…
Power Train 18 Read
When vehicle is in drive or reverse, it rolls forward and backwards when no throttle is applied (as if in neutral), vehicle hit a structure because it rolled back at a rapid pace due to an incline. Audi needs to implement a feature to prevent the vehicle from rolling when at a near stop and the vehicle is in drive or…
Vehicle shuts off and slams into park when driving at low speeds. Vehicle will then refuse to restart for about 15 seconds and I am unable move the vehicle from park. This issue only occurs when the vehicle has been charging overnight, and has not occurred if the vehicle hasn't been recently charged. Vehicle was…
While I was on vacation a couple states away, I drove the Audi Etron Sportback for the first time since three days before when I drove to the vacation destination. After several minutes driving I got an "ELECTRICAL SYSTEM MALFUNCTION - PLEASE CONTACT SERVICE" notification. Several minutes later I got very large red…
Fuel/propulsion System 6 Read
Last night, driving home from the airport, I stopped for a charge at an Electrify America charging station in San Diego, CA. Charging station ID is 200143-03. At the start of the charge, the port caught on fire, shot flames about a foot from the car. Obviously, after the flames subsided, I unplugged it. The DC high…
Vehicle failed to notify the operator about unusually bad battery cell. Range was declining significantly between charge cycles. Service center was declining to address the issue until provided detailed information as why there is a fault with the high voltage battery. A bad battery cell could result in fire and death
The Etron is an EV. At approximately 63,000 miles, I received an alert stating electric failure and move immediately off the road. I took it to Audi and apparently the front electric motor flooded. After it was repaired, I drove the car another 2500 miles and received an alert stating electric failure and get off the…
Service Brakes 6 Read
Car turns on but won’t move. Take it to dealership as it happens for the second time and turns out the brakes are sticking to the rotors. Audi says it’s perfectly normal just put force to the accelerator. When you do that in fact, it sound like the car is about to split in half. Dangerous as they could stick while…
On five separate occasions across two separate drivers, we have experienced a partial brake failure in this vehicle. We strongly believe this to be a software defect and not a mechanical fault. On the e-Tron, the first portion of the brake pedal swing typically activates the regenerative braking. About mid-way through…
The vehicle has a squeaky noise on the break no matter what condition the noise is very loud. Dealer said to break hard from 0-60 mph to clean pads and issue has not been addressed. It’s getting worse
Engine 5 Read
The contact owned a 2019 Audi E-Tron. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked in a garage, there was a sudden odor of smoke detected. The contact stated upon discovering the smoke, the contact noticed fumes and flames coming from the engine compartment and the rear undercarriage. The contact stated the…
E-Tron with 9300 miles, received Electrical Malfunction: Contact Service. Audi service said to bring vehicle in. On way to dealer, warning changed to Electrical Malfunction: Pull over safely and then, before being able to do so, the vehicle jerked and died while in traffic. Fortunately, I had decided not to take the…
2022 Audi etron. 20,759 miles. Electrical malfunction light came on. Took it to the dealer. Advised Entire front motor needed to be replaced due to coolant seepage into the front motor. Seems to be a very common problem and a 2 week+ turnaround
Forward Collision Avoidance 3 Read
The contact owns a 2021 Audi E-Tron. The contact stated that while driving approximately 5 MPH, the vehicle experienced phantom braking and came to a complete stop. The Forward Collision Avoidance warning light was illuminated. The vehicle stalled and was able to restart after 10-15 attempts. The vehicle was taken to…
While driving the vehicle on a state highway the audi adaptive cruise assist currently unavailable error message displays and disables the adaptive cruise assist function for random/unknown periods of time. This error has occurred multiple times. Additionally, when using the audi adaptive cruise assist, the vehicle…
I was traveling down a dip in the road and the Audi Pre Sense initiated emergency braking. There was no vehicle in front, the road ahead was totally clear. The vehicle behind me nearly ran into the back of my car
Vehicle Speed Control 2 Read
My e-tron has suddenly accelerated twice. Once on the highway and once going less than 15 mph on a flat, dirt road. The first time I thought perhaps it was my error, but when it happened a second time it clearly wasn't. The car revved up out of nowhere and I had to pump the breaks to slow down. I never once used…
Complete brake loss. Complete system failure. Driving on county road, braking light alerts came on indicating brake malfunction. Went to brake, no breaking engagement, alert messages on most electrical components including braking, suspension, drivetrain went off. Most every light on the dash sent alarms. Car would…
Visibility 2 Read
The contact owns a 2019 Audi E-Tron. The contact stated while entering the vehicle, there was water leaking from the sunroof of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, but the vehicle was not diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, and the manufacturer referred the contact to…
The contact owns a 2019 Audi E-Tron. The contact stated that during rainy weather, there was water entering the vehicle through the roof, and water was leaking onto the infotainment system, the shifter, and other electronics. Additionally, the contact stated that there was water accumulating in the footwell. The…
e-tron years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Electrical System | — | 1 | |
| 2020 | Electrical System,structure | — | — | |
| 2019 | Air Bags | 4 | 3 |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 57 |
| Average complaints per series | 2 |
| Worst single series | 7 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 3.6 years |
A model average of 2 hides a worst series at 7. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
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How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the e-tron?
By complaint volume, 2019, 2021, 2020 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which e-tron years are the cleanest?
2020, 2021, 2019 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Audi e-tron have?
112 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2019–2021. Of those, 4 describe a crash and 4 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.