Recall · 22V471000
Volkswagen Group of America recalled 2 models over air bags
28,624
Vehicles covered
2
Models
3
Model years
July 1, 2022
Filed with NHTSA
AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:DRIVER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE
- The defect
- Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Audi) is recalling certain 1998 Audi A8 and 1997-1998 Audi A4 vehicles equipped with Non-Azide Driver air bag Inflators (NADI) that do not contain phase stabilized ammonium nitrate (PSAN) propellant. Due to a manufacturing issue, the NADI inflator may absorb moisture, causing the inflator to explode or the air bag cushion to underinflate.
- What it can cause
- The inflator could explode during air bag deployment, resulting in metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants. An underinflated air bag may not properly protect the occupant. These scenarios increase the risk of serious injury or death.
- What the dealer does
- Dealers will replace the driver's air bag inflator with an alternative inflator of a different design, free of charge. Owner notification letters were sent September 21, 2021. Owners may contact Audi customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Audi's number for this recall is 69BT. The vehicles in this recall were mistakenly omitted from recall 20V-056. All vehicle owners have already been notified by mail and informed that the remedy is available.
- NHTSA's note
- 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.nhtsa.gov.
The repair is free, whatever the age or mileage of the vehicle, and whether or not you are the original owner.
Which vehicles
A recall reaches a range of VINs inside these model years, not every car built in them. Yours may not be covered even if it is listed here, and the only way to find out is NHTSA's own VIN lookup .
| Vehicle | Model years | Safety record |
|---|---|---|
| AudiA4 | 1997 to 1998 | Not published here |
| AudiA8 | 1998 | Not published here |
How this campaign compares
At 28,624 vehicles this is a bigger campaign than 86% of the 19,818 vehicle recalls filed since 1995 whose size NHTSA published. The middle campaign on file covers 472. It covers model years 1997 to 1998, so the oldest vehicles on it were 25 model years old when the defect was reported to NHTSA.
Audi vehicles have been recalled over the air bags 40 times before this, most recently in June 2021 as 21V470000. That is not evidence the earlier repair failed.
This site holds the complaint record for 2 of the 3 model years the campaign names. Their owners have filed 356 complaints with NHTSA, 356 of them before this campaign was filed. 19 of those name the air bags, the system this recall is about — a count of complaints, not of this defect. The earliest of them reached NHTSA in August 1997, 24 years before this filing.
Check your own car
A VIN check is the only answer for a specific vehicle, and it also shows every other open recall on it, which is usually the reason it is worth doing rather than reading one campaign.
Filed by Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. with NHTSA on July 1, 2022 as campaign 22V471000. Every word of the defect, consequence and remedy above is NHTSA's published record of that filing, not a summary of it.
Compiled and maintained by guarledes . Data last checked 2022-07-01.
Independent developer and analyst