- Vehicles
- 21,074
- Built between
- Jan 2011 – Mar 2013
- Models
- 2
- Recall type
- Vehicle
- Initiated by
- Manufacturer
- Owners notified
- 5 February 2016
- Repaired
- 92%
- Unrepaired
- 1,601
Does this affect my vehicle?
This recall covers vehicles built between January 2011 and March 2013. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.
- 2012-2013 Audi A6Built March 2011 to March 2013
- 2012-2013 Audi A7Built January 2011 to March 2013
Repair progress
1,601 of 21,074 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q2 2017.
92% repaired — 19,370 of 21,074 reported
- Owners not reachable
- 98
- Scrapped or exported
- 5
Manufacturers file these figures with NHTSA each quarter. Vehicles the manufacturer could not trace, or that have been scrapped or exported, are counted separately and are not included in the unrepaired figure.
What the defect is
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain model year 2012-2013 Audi A6 vehicles manufactured March 28, 2011, to March 25, 2013, and 2012-2013 Audi A7 vehicles manufactured January 25, 2011, to March 19, 2013. In vehicles with heated and cooled seats, the Passenger Occupant Detection System (PODS), used to enable the front passenger air bags, may malfunction and prevent the passenger-side air bags from deploying in a crash.
What could happen
An air bag that does not deploy as intended increases the risk of occupant injury in a crash.
What gets fixed
Volkswagen will notify owners, and Audi dealers will install a PODS system repair kit, free of charge. The recall began on February 5, 2016.
Timeline
- Vehicles builtJanuary 2011 to March 2013
- Recall reported to NHTSA8 December 2015
- Owners notified5 February 2016
- Latest repair reportQ2 2017 — 92% repaired
Your rights
A safety recall repair is free. Under US federal law the manufacturer must fix a safety defect at no cost to you — no charge for parts, labor or diagnosis — whether or not you are the original owner. A dealer cannot charge you for recall work, and cannot require you to have bought the vehicle from them.
That entitlement is not unlimited. It applies where the vehicle was first sold less than 15 years before the recall was announced — 5 years for tires. Past that a manufacturer may still do the repair free of charge, and many do, but they are no longer obliged to. This recall was reported on 8 December 2015.
To arrange the repair, contact any franchised dealer for the brand. If a dealer refuses the work or tries to charge for it, you can report that to NHTSA at nhtsa.gov/recalls or on 1-888-327-4236.
Manufacturer contact
Owners may contact Audi customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 74D1.
Official source
- Manufacturer's recall number
- 74D1
- Recalling manufacturer
- Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
- Recall initiated by
- MFR
Everything on this page — the models listed, the build dates and the repair figures — comes from the manufacturer's filing to NHTSA and describes the vehicle line as a whole, not any individual car. Only the manufacturer can confirm whether a specific vehicle is affected, and whether its recall work has already been carried out. Check yours by VIN and read the official notice at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Additional notes
Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.
Check your own vehicle
This page describes the recall, not any one car. To see which recalls cover a specific vehicle, search by make, model and year.
A VIN lookup here identifies your vehicle and shows recalls issued for that make, model and year. It cannot tell you what is still open on your individual car - only the manufacturer knows that. Search by VIN instead, or check your VIN at nhtsa.gov for whether a recall is still open on your individual car.