Owners have filed 467 complaints on the Audi S4, covering 1992–2021. The system named most often is Electrical System (104 reports). Worst years by volume: 2000, 2001, 2010; cleanest: 2015, 2019, 2021. 13 reports describe a crash, 3 a fire. On average the car was 4.9 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Audi S4
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 467 S4 complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Electrical System 104 Read
The contact owns a 2004 audi s4. While driving at night, the low beam head lamps failed to illuminate without warning. While attempting to the head lamp bulbs, the contact noticed that the wiring was burned and damaged. The dealer and the manufacturer were notified of the failure, but the VIN was not included in any…
The contact owns a 2021 Audi S4. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle experienced a loss of automotive power. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The message "Drive System Malfunction - Please Contact Service" was displayed. In addition, the vehicle hesitated to…
My Audi has been having an ongoing issue with the MMI rebooting while i am driving. It takes away my ability to see the maps and or hear the map telling me which direction to go. It has not been inspected yet however it is a common issue with the 2020 Audi cars that can be replicated however it is not predictable
Power Train 83 Read
When driving in manual mode and transition from on the throttle to off-throttle, there is a 1-2 second delay before the engine stops accelerating and transitions to deceleration. Especially in first gear, this means that the vehicle continues to accelerate for that period of time. I drove another model of audi with…
My 2014 audi s4 has a epc light that keeps turning on while driving that car. The epc light will put the car into limp mode and will have a rough idle and can barley drive. When that light turns on you have to pull over immediately and restart the car to continue driving and is a complete safety hazard because it will…
The problems started by a warning on my display saying to pull over gear box or transmission failure. You have seconds to pull over before the car no longer functions. Even though you are in gear all that happens is the engine revs and you go no where. My car has only 38,500 miles on it and is out of warranty by a…
Service Brakes 47 Read
Audi s4 2010, electronic parking break randomly disengaged while parked in a sloped parking lot. Car rolled back into another vehicle causing 1800 dollars of damage
Follow up on audi s4 2010: electronic parking brake disengaged while parked in sloped parking lot. Car rolled back into another parked vehicle causing 1800 dollars worth of damage. Called the audi dealership about this issue and they claim "they have never heard of it. " I did some research and apparently this problem…
In august 2006 while driving my 2005 audi s4 convertible on a busy street in bloomington, indiana at 45-50 mph, my car died without warning...I.e. No power steering, brakes. I was able to navigate it off-road and then towed to royal audi in bloomington, in. They kept the car over a month thinking maybe I needed a new…
Exterior Lighting 41 Read
Dt: 2001, audi s4 was damaged upon delivery. Vehicle was taken back to the dealer to fix the problem, when the problem was fixed headlamps were sprayed with paint. Upon delivering the headlamps they were installed incorrectly, they were pointing down, and consumer couldn't see two feet in front of him. Consumer took…
Intermittent headlight malfunction. Over the course of a year and a half of ownership, the right headlight has malfunctioned (turned off), with no consistent cause apparent. The specific error message that appears in the driver information screen is "right headlight dipped". This condition is both unsafe, and illegal…
The xenon lights flickrer and then stop, very dangerous at night happened to me on few occasions, dealer not sure what is the cause
Tires 40 Read
Bubble on the inside sidewall. *ak( DOT number: tire size: 225/45 17 )
I drove over a minor expansion crack in the pavement and sidewall of the right rear tire tore. Next day, a different expansion crack caused similar damage in the left rear tire. (tiresize: 225/45 r17)( DOT number: tire size: 225/45 r17 )
No accident or crash. Bubble was discovered when changing to a different tire for winter. *ak (tiresize: 225/45/ 17)
Engine And Engine Cooling 32 Read
I am writing to complain about a design flaw that has been identified in the waterpump used in the 2010 audi s4 3.0t. Several owners have experienced a waterpump failure which results in the vehicle overheating and partial or full loss of power steering. Owners who have experienced failure have had their 'black…
2010 audi s4 water pump failure
My car leaked a large amount of coolant noticed after it had been parked. I managed to drive it to dealer where the water pump was replaced under warranty. I was told that the plastic seal on the pump has failed with other customers and was replaced with a new metal seal
Steering 29 Read
Audi usa has engineering control and were contacted and present during repair. Under very icy conditions on straight road, during acceleration from very slow speed, vehicle pitched into oversteer condition. Not entirely unexpected, but after a difficult recovery, when all seemed ok, it oversteered again quite…
A frontal collision with another vehicle at 50 mph. Upon impact, driver's air bag did not deploy, and the steering wheel came off the steering column. Neither the driver nor the one passenger was injured. Both parties were wearing seat belts.*ak
The contact owns a 2014 audi s4. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 40 mph, the steering wheel seized and the stop car steering system default warning light illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, who diagnosed that the steering module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The…
Air Bags 19 Read
Failure of the driver's side airbag during a front end collision while the passenger side airbag deployed-no one was occupying the passenger seat. The point of impact was center between the two headlights
Hit icy patch on freeway and crashed into concrete median barrier. Air bags for my wife and myself failed to depoly. My audi 2000, model s4 was totalled
Hit icy patch on freeway and crashed into concrete median barrier. Air bags for my wife and myself failed to depoly. My audi 2000, model s4 was totalled
S4 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 | — | — | |
| 2020 | Electrical System | — | — | |
| 2019 | Engine | — | — | |
| 2018 | Engine | — | — | |
| 2015 | Engine | — | — | |
| 2014 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 2013 | Electrical System | — | — | |
| 2012 | Electrical System | — | 2 | |
| 2011 | Engine | — | — | |
| 2010 | Engine | 2 | — | |
| 2008 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 2006 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 2005 | Air Bags | 2 | — | |
| 2004 | Electrical System,exterior Lighting | — | 1 | |
| 2002 | Electrical System | — | — | |
| 2001 | Air Bags | 3 | — | |
| 2000 | Air Bags | 6 | — | |
| 1994 | Engine And Engine Cooling,fuel System, Gasoline | — | — | |
| 1993 | Fuel System, Gasoline | — | — | |
| 1992 | Fuel System, Gasoline | — | — |
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 | 222 |
| Average complaints per series | 2.1 |
| Worst single series | 15 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 4.9 years |
A model average of 2.1 hides a worst series at 15. 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
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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 S4?
By complaint volume, 2000, 2001, 2010 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 S4 years are the cleanest?
2015, 2019, 2021 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Audi S4 have?
467 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1992–2021. Of those, 13 describe a crash and 3 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.