01
Substantial Defect
One that impairs the use, value or safety of the vehicle. Stalling, brake failure, steering and persistent electrical faults qualify. A rattle generally does not.
By Manufacturer
AUDI LEMON LAW.
Audi's largest recent recall covers 356,894 cars across eighteen model lines for a rearview camera that will not display. And the campaign that covers your Q3 also covers a Volkswagen — because they are one manufacturer.
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EXPLORE ↓What Decides It
Four facts, in this order.
Audi built it, but Audi does not decide it. These four questions decide it, and the repair orders in your glovebox answer all four.
02
Repair Attempts
Florida looks for three attempts at the same defect. New York looks for four. Recall work and visits that found nothing both count.
03
Days Out of Service
Thirty cumulative days in Florida and in New York. Cumulative, not consecutive, and the days count whether or not anything was fixed.
04
Coverage Window
The defect has to be reported while the vehicle is inside the warranty or rights period. When it was reported matters more than today's date.
Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche are not three manufacturers at NHTSA. All three file under Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., and individual campaigns routinely span them: the September 2026 steering rack recall, 26V590, covers 208,724 vehicles comprising the Audi Q3, the VW Tiguan and the VW Atlas under a single number.
The largest Audi-badged action is campaign 25V900, covering 356,894 vehicles across eighteen model lines — A6, A7, A8, Q7, Q8, the S and RS variants, e-tron and e-tron GT — for a software fault that prevents the rearview camera image displaying. A rearview camera is a federally mandated safety system.
The best-known Audi warranty issue has no recall at all. The EA888 2.0T drew US class actions alleging defective piston rings that cause the engine to burn oil between services, and dual-clutch S tronic gearboxes generate persistent hesitation, shudder and mechatronic failure complaints. Both live in warranty territory, where the repair orders are the entire case.
Jonathan D. Schwartz has +25 years of experience handling Lemon Law and warranty matters, including claims against Audi. Bad Vehicle offers a free case evaluation, direct access to the attorney handling the claim, and no upfront legal fee to begin pursuing an eligible case.
Recall or Claim
A recall says the manufacturer knows. A claim says they were given the chance to fix it.
A recall is the manufacturer acknowledging that a defect exists across a population of vehicles and offering a remedy. It is a public admission of the fault pattern, which makes it useful evidence. What it is not is a Lemon Law claim.
The claim arises from what happened to your vehicle: the defect was reported, the dealership was given a reasonable number of attempts to repair it, and it is still there.
Campaign 26V240 is a reminder that not everything is software: 18,853 e-tron and Q8 e-tron models were recalled because the fastener connecting the brake pedal to the brake booster may be improperly assembled, letting the pedal detach and eliminating braking entirely.
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Check before the next visit
Your campaign number is filed under Volkswagen Group of America.
Three badges. One manufacturer.
Check My Case ↗Recurring Audi Faults
WHAT KEEPS COMING BACK.
These are the defect categories that generate the most Lemon Law and warranty claims against Audi. A vehicle showing one of these is not automatically a claim. A vehicle showing one of these repeatedly and unrepaired usually is.
Rearview Camera Blackout
Campaign 25V900 covers 356,894 Audis across eighteen model lines where a software fault stops the reversing image displaying, a federal rear-visibility violation that often needs repeat dealer visits.
Steering Rack Bolt Corrosion
Campaign 26V590 covers 208,724 Q3, Tiguan and Atlas vehicles where a corroded subframe bolt can break the steering rack housing and cause complete loss of steering control.
Brake Pedal Detachment
Audi recalled 18,853 e-tron and Q8 e-tron models under 26V240 because an under-torqued pedal-to-booster fastener can loosen and disconnect, eliminating braking function entirely.
2.0T Excessive Oil Consumption
Audi's EA888 2.0T drew US class actions alleging defective piston rings that cause the engine to burn oil between services — a warranty and repeat-repair issue rather than a recall.
S tronic Hesitation
Dual-clutch S tronic gearboxes generate persistent complaints of hesitation, shuddering and mechatronic unit failure, the classic repeat-repair pattern behind most drivetrain claims.
Restraint System Defects
Campaign 26V266 recalled 7,425 model-year 2025 Q5 and SQ5 vehicles for driver and front passenger seat belts built incorrectly and unable to properly restrain occupants in a crash.
Where It Ends Up
Four ways an Audi claim resolves.
Which one applies depends on the state, the facts and what gets negotiated with Volkswagen Group of America. All four start with the same free case review.
The models we see most
Recall record · NHTSA · September 2026
AUDIONE CAMPAIGN. 18 MODEL LINES. 356,894 CARS.
01 / 2019-2026
356,894
Rearview camera blackout — A6, A6 allroad, A7, A8, Q7, Q8, S6, S7, S8, SQ7, SQ8, RS 6 Avant, RS 7, RS Q8, e-tron, e-tron Sportback, e-tron GT and RS e-tron GT.
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02 / Q3, 2019-2021
208,724
Steering rack bolt corrodes — Shared with the VW Tiguan and Atlas. A corroded subframe bolt can break the steering rack housing and cause loss of steering control.
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03 / E-TRON, 2020-2024
18,853
Brake pedal can detach — e-tron Sportback, e-tron quattro, Q8 Sportback e-tron and SQ8 e-tron. An improperly assembled fastener can let the brake pedal detach.
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04 / Q5 SQ5, 2025
7,425
Seat belts fail to restrain — Driver and front passenger seat belts may have been manufactured incorrectly and may not properly restrain occupants in a crash.
Check My Case ↗Campaign 25V900 covers the A6, A7, A8, Q7, Q8, the S and RS variants, e-tron and e-tron GT — eighteen model lines under one number. All Audi campaigns are filed under Volkswagen Group of America. Figures from NHTSA as of 23 September 2026.
Read the 15 Questions ↗Audi Lemon Law
15 questions Audi owners ask.
General information about Lemon Law and warranty claims, not legal advice. What applies to a particular vehicle depends on its records, its warranty and the state where it was bought.
Ask Us Directly ↗
Because Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche all file at NHTSA under Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. One campaign number can therefore cover several badges — the September 2026 steering rack recall, 26V590, covers 208,724 vehicles comprising the Audi Q3, the VW Tiguan and the VW Atlas. It is normal, and it is useful evidence that the defect is a broad known pattern.
No. Audi's EA888 2.0T engine drew US class actions alleging defective piston rings causing excessive oil consumption, but it was not addressed by a safety recall. That makes the repair orders the entire evidentiary record — including every visit where you were told the consumption was within specification. Keep all of them.
A rearview camera is a federally mandated safety system, which makes a persistent failure materially different from a cosmetic complaint. Campaign 25V900 covers 356,894 Audis across eighteen model lines for exactly that fault, and a second campaign covers the Q3 alongside VW models for a camera control-unit error. Whether it supports a claim depends on the repair history.
Dual-clutch S tronic gearboxes generate persistent complaints of hesitation, shuddering and mechatronic unit failure, and these are generally handled as warranty repairs rather than recalls. The legal test is unchanged: a substantial defect, reported inside the coverage period, a reasonable number of attempts given, and a fault that is still there.
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. is the entity that files the recalls and stands behind the warranty in the United States. Practically it means the same campaign numbers, the same manufacturer notice process and the same defendant whether the badge on your car says Audi, Volkswagen or Porsche.
No. A recall is the manufacturer acknowledging that a defect exists across a population of vehicles and offering a remedy. A Lemon Law claim arises from what happened to your specific vehicle: a substantial defect, reported inside the coverage period, that the manufacturer was given a reasonable number of attempts to repair and did not. The recall is useful evidence within that claim, not a substitute for it.
Yes, where the recall remedy addressed the defect at issue and the fault persisted afterward. Owners frequently leave recall visits out of their own count because the work was free and manufacturer-initiated, which weakens the record unnecessarily. If the vehicle went in for the fault and came back with the fault, it was an attempt.
Florida's presumption generally arises after three repair attempts for the same defect, or after the vehicle has been out of service for 30 or more cumulative days during the Lemon Law rights period. A separate and earlier trigger applies at 15 cumulative days, when written notice goes to the manufacturer. It is a presumption rather than a fixed requirement — a defect serious enough to be dangerous can qualify with fewer attempts, and the presumption is one route to the remedy rather than the only one.
New York generally looks for four repair attempts for the same defect, or 30 or more days out of service, within the first two years or 18,000 miles. The framework is close to Florida's but the thresholds and the arbitration process differ, and a vehicle bought in one state and serviced in another needs the applicable law identified early.
One that impairs the use, value or safety of the vehicle. Stalling, brake failure, steering faults and persistent electrical problems clearly qualify. A rattle or a trim complaint generally does not. Between those extremes the answer depends on how the fault affects the vehicle in normal use, and on what the repair orders actually say about it.
State Lemon Law is primarily directed at qualifying new and demonstrator vehicles. A used Audi can still carry rights where a manufacturer or dealer warranty was active when the defect was reported, generally under federal warranty law including the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, which does not carry the same new-vehicle limitation.
A leased vehicle can be covered where it meets the same substantive requirements that apply to a purchase. The calculation of any refund is tied to the amounts actually paid into the lease rather than the full vehicle price, and the leasing company is dealt with as part of the resolution rather than left to be sorted out afterward.
That visit still counts as a repair attempt. Intermittent faults are extremely common in software, camera and electrical systems, and a growing share of manufacturer campaigns are software-related. A record of repeated visits where the fault was reported and not resolved is precisely the pattern the law addresses. Ask for the complaint to be written down in your words, and keep the copy that says it could not be verified.
Three, in practice. A repurchase, where the manufacturer buys the vehicle back and refunds what was paid, less a statutory offset for the miles driven before the first report of the defect. A replacement with a comparable vehicle. Or a cash settlement where the vehicle stays with you and the manufacturer pays for the diminished value. Which applies depends on the state, the facts and what is negotiated.
Broadly: the purchase price plus collateral and incidental charges, minus a mileage offset tied to the distance driven before the defect was first reported. Registration, taxes and finance charges are frequently recoverable. The offset is the part manufacturers most often calculate in their own favour, and it is worth checking line by line.
Other Manufacturers
The badge does not decide the claim.
The law applies the same way to every brand sold in the state. What differs is the defect pattern, the warranty terms and how hard the manufacturer fights.
Get in Touch
Is your Audi back at the dealership again?
Send the year, model and the repair history. Oil consumption and S tronic complaints rarely have a recall behind them, which makes the paperwork decisive.
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