Audi · NHTSA safety record

2011 Audi S4

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

Complaints

Crashes

Fires

Injuries

Deaths

Owners of the 2011 Audi S4 have filed 26 safety complaints with NHTSA between March 2012 and April 2021. The most complained-about system is the power train, named in 22 of them (85%). The typical failure was reported at 61,897 miles, the median across the 26 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

NHTSA has issued 1 recall covering this vehicle.

Recalls (1)

FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:FUEL INJECTION SYSTEM:FUEL RAIL

15V019000 · January 20, 2015

The defect: Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain model year 2011-2012 Audi S4, S5, Q7, 2012 Audi A6, Volkswagen Touareg Hybrid, and 2012-2013 Audi A7 vehicles. In the affected vehicles the fuel injection system may experience a fuel leak.
The risk: A fuel leak in the injection system in the presence of an ignition source, increases the risk of a fire.
The remedy: Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will replace the fuel rails and corresponding seals, free of charge. The recall began on March 17, 2015. Owners may contact Audi customer service at 1-800-822-2834 or Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's numbers for this recall are 24AP for Audi customers and 24BK for Volkswagen customers.

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. · up to 26,008 vehicles across all model years covered

What owners report

Complaints naming each system. One complaint can name several, so these add up to more than 26.

POWER TRAIN 22 85%

ENGINE 5 19%

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 2 8%

UNKNOWN OR OTHER 2 8%

ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 4%

SUSPENSION 1 4%

VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 4%

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2015 at 6.

2012 to 2021

In owners' own words

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER Filed March 26, 2018

1 injured · 110,000 miles

MY CAR IS HAVING JERKY SHIFTING WHENEVER THE VEHICLE IS DRIVER, ESPECIALLY ONCE THE ENGINE GETS HOT. I HAVE HAD FELT THE CAR JERK FORWARD A COUNTLESS AMOUNT OF TIMES AND HAVE GOTTEN WHIPLASH A COUPLE TIMES WHERE I'VE BEEN IN PAIN. TRANSMISSION ON MY AUDI S4 IS GIVING THE SAME ISSUES AS MANY OTHERS HAVE ENCOUNTERED ON AUDIZINE.COM AND AUDIWORLD.COM, WITH THE SAME SYMPTOMS. AUDI NEEDS TO RECTIFY THIS ISSUE AND DO A RECALL ON ALL B8/B8.5 S4 VEHICLES!

NHTSA complaint 11081315. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN Filed April 9, 2021

70,177 miles

CAR HAS DEVELOPED A TRANSMISSION PROBLEM IN THE MECHATRONIC UNIT. CAR GIVES A GEARBOX MALFUNCTION DISPLAY IN THE CAR. REVERSE WILL NOT WORKING AND THE CAR WILL REPEATEDLY GO INTO NEUTRAL AT ANY SPEED. SOMETIMES THEN IT WILL JERK BACK INTO GEAR VERY VIOLENTLY.

NHTSA complaint 11407302. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN Filed October 1, 2019

20 miles

THIS VEHICLE IS KNOWN FOR THE TRANSMISSION ISSUES THAT CAN BE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AT TIMES DUE TO THE VEHICLE MAKING SUDDEN AND UNEXPECTED MOVEMENTS.

NHTSA complaint 11265330. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN Filed February 21, 2019

85,000 miles

TRANSMISSION BLEW UP ON THE HIGHWAY AT CRUISING SPEED. HAS TO GET A TOW AND PAY 12000 FOR A NEW TRANSMISSION

NHTSA complaint 11181609. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN Filed February 8, 2018

40,612 miles

MY 2011 S4 STARTED GETTING THE "TRANSMISSION MALFUNCTION CONTINUE DRIVING" LIGHT AT ABOUT 40,612 MILES. AT THE SAME TIME MY VEHICLE WOULD JERK WHEN STOPPING AND ACCELERATION. WHEN SHIFTING DOWN THE GEARS MAKE A CLUNKING NOISE SPECIALLY FROM 3RD AND 2ND GEAR. I WAS ABLE TO USE MY EXTENDED WARRANTY THAT I BOUGHT BECAUSE AUDI DIDN'T WANT TO COVER MY VEHICLE. AUDI SERVICE ADVISORS RECOMMEND CHANGING THE MECHATRONIC AND CIRCUIT BOARD BUT MY WARRANTY ONLY AUTHORIZED THE CIRCUIT BOARD. MY VEHICLE STILL JERKS WHEN STOPPING AS IT DOWNSHIFTS AND WHEN I ACCELERATE FROM A STOP.

NHTSA complaint 11071676. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER Filed February 6, 2018

110,000 miles

DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY AT 25 MPH, CAR RANDOMLY SHOWS 'GEARBOX MALFUNCTION' AND 'TPMS' SIMULTANEOUSLY. CAR DROVE IN LIMP MODE FOR A FEW MINUTES UNTIL I WAS ABLE TO COME TO A STANDSTILL AND PUT IT IN PARK AND TURN IT BACK ON TO DRIVE. 'TMPS' SIGN IS STILL SHOWING. POSSIBILITY OF BEING A MECHATRONIC ISSUE, WHICH IS VERY WELL KNOWN AS AN ISSUE WITH THE 2010+ AUDI S4S.

NHTSA complaint 11067240. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Audi S4

Model year	Complaints	Recalls	Deaths
2020	16	3	—
2014	17	1	—
2013	32	1	—
2012	22	1	—
2010	60	0	—

Other 2011 Audi models

Q5 142 A3 43 A4 Avant 32 Q7 23 A6 21 A8 15 A5 Cabriolet 14 S5 8

Every Audi on this site — 147 vehicles, 216 recall campaigns and 0 open investigation s.

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. What each state asks for , read from the statutes.

Where these numbers come from

Complaints: NHTSA's ODI complaint file , published August 20, 2026. One complaint is one ODI number, which is how NHTSA counts them.
Recalls: NHTSA's recall campaign API , most recent campaign filed August 12, 2026.
Investigations: NHTSA's ODI investigation file , published 2026-08-19.

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

Compiled and maintained by guarledes
Independent developer and analyst