CSR

Audi · NHTSA safety record

2025 Audi S5

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

9

Complaints

0

Crashes

0

Fires

1

Injuries

0

Deaths

Owners of the 2025 Audi S5 have filed 9 safety complaints with NHTSA between August 2025 and June 2026. The most complained-about system is the electrical system, named in 5 of them (56%). The typical failure was reported at 8,577 miles, the median across the 1 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

NHTSA has issued 2 recalls covering this vehicle.

Recalls (2)

SEAT BELTS:REAR/OTHER:RETRACTOR

25V899000 · December 19, 2025

The defect
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Audi) is recalling certain 2025 SQ6 E-Tron, SQ6 Sportback E-Tron, Q6 Sportback E-Tron, A6, A5, A6 Sportback E-Tron, Q6 E-Tron, S5, and S6 Sportback E-Tron vehicles. The automatic locking retractor may fail to engage when a child seat is installed using the seat belt. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) numbers 208, "Occupant Crash Protection" and 209, "Seat Belt Assemblies."
The risk
An improperly secured child seat can increase risk of injury during a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will inspect and replace the right and left rear seat belt assembly as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed February 16, 2026. Owners may contact Audi customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Audi's number for this recall is 69D8. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall became searchable on NHTSA.gov on December 23, 2025.

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. · up to 27,768 vehicles across all model years covered

SEAT BELTS:FRONT:RETRACTOR

25V638000 · September 24, 2025

The defect
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2025 GTI, Golf R, Audi A5, A6 Sportback E-Tron, S5, S6 Sportback E-Tron, 2026 Q4 Sportback E-Tron, and Q4 E-Tron vehicles. The torsion bar in one or both front seat belt retractors may have been damaged during production.
The risk
In a crash, a damaged torsion bar in a retractor could fail. If this happens, the seat belt may not properly restrain an occupant during a crash, increasing the risk of injury.
The remedy
Dealers will replace one or both front seat belts, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed October 30, 2025, and October 31, 2025. Owners may contact Audi at 1-800-253-2834 or Volkswagen at 1-800-893-5298. Audi's number for this recall is 69UM; Volkswagen’s number for this recall is 694T. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will be searchable on NHTSA.gov beginning September 26, 2025.

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. · up to 1,042 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 9.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 5 56%
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 4 44%
LANE DEPARTURE 3 33%
ENGINE 2 22%
SERVICE BRAKES 2 22%
BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 11%
SUSPENSION 1 11%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 11%
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 11%
WHEELS 1 11%

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2026 at 5.

2025 2026
2025 to 2026, the last of them a part year

In owners' own words

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

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

1 injured

I was making a left hand turn at an intersection with no cars in immediate proximity to my car and the emergency braking system activated violently causing the car to shut off. The pre sense light came on the dashboard. This happened 3 different times. I went to Freehold Audi and they stated the pre sense was doing its job. I reported this to Audi Headquarters last week and a report was written. Other electrical issues started happening, the lane change sensor was going off randomly, the windshield wipers were going off randomly. I traded the car in yesterday to Lexus of Eatontown. They said they were going to sell the Audi retail, I’m thinking to the auction. The car has less than 10,000

NHTSA complaint 11745428, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

LANE DEPARTURE: BLIND SPOT DETECTION
all driver assistance features shut down randomly when starting vehicle for at least 45 minutes. had to drive vehicle without safety features to get home. without lane assist-fwd collision-side collision alert-rear traffic alert etc make vehicle difficult to drive and could result in accident. Dealer and Audi are aware of problem have tried to fix twice and tell me at present there is no fix. possible software update in future? Vehicle has not been inspected by insurance or anyone other than dealer. As stated above warning lights on dashboard screen flash all driver systems are not working. System resets after shutdown in 45 minutes or so, but randomly repeats sometimes two days in a row,

NHTSA complaint 11739679, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Since the day of delivery, this 2025 Audi S5 has experienced daily electronic and safety system failures. At least once per day, on startup, the vehicle throws 10 or more warning codes disabling safety-critical systems including blind spot monitoring, lane departure warning, forward collision avoidance, rear traffic alert, and adaptive lighting. These failures occur without warning and persist for varying durations before clearing on their own. Additionally, on 5 occasions the adaptive cruise control refused to activate, displaying a false "door open" warning with all doors and trunk confirmed closed. On 4 occasions the power trunk failed to latch using the electronic controls. The

NHTSA complaint 11733676, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE

8,577 miles

The contact owns a 2025 Audi S5. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost automotive power. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle failed to respond while attempting to drive. The vehicle was restarted after the failure. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that the issue could be related to a lane switch failure. The approximate failure mileage was 8,577.

NHTSA complaint 11733376. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

BACK OVER PREVENTION: REARVIEW SYSTEM BRAKING
when starting vehicle every three or four days all safety systems fail and takes anywhere from one hour to 12 hours to reset. This forces me to drive vehicle without any safety systems i.e fwd collision, rear traffic alert, lane assist , side view mirror alerts, heads up display adaptive lighting. DEALER claims there is no fix at present and cannot repair until Manufacturer finds solution to software problem. This has happened on numerous occasions

NHTSA complaint 11731036. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

SUSPENSION
Below is a detailed timeline of the problems I experienced: Intermittent starting issue Over the past few months, the car has occasionally failed to start on the first attempt. It always started on the second try, so I planned to mention it at the next service visit. Complete MMI/display blackout while driving on the highway In the middle of my trip, the entire center display and instrument cluster went completely black while I was driving at highway speed. All information disappeared (speed, fuel level, navigation, radio — everything). The car continued running, but I had no visibility into critical driving data. After pulling over and restarting the vehicle, only half the screen returned.

NHTSA complaint 11701665, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Audi S5

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2020 25 4
2018 26 2
2012 10 1
2011 8 1

Other 2025 Audi models

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

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.

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