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Audi · NHTSA safety record

2025 Audi SQ5

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

Owners have filed 8 safety complaints about the 2025 Audi SQ5 with the US government. Of those, no death is recorded. One recall campaign is open against it, covering the seat belts.

The most complained-about system is forward collision avoidance, named in 3 complaints, 38% of the total.

Compiled from NHTSA's complaint, recall and investigation files · Covers November 2025 to October 2026 · How this is counted

What is on file

8 complaints on file

8

Complaints

0

Describe a crash

0

Mention fire

0

People injured

0

Deaths

A complaint is an unverified account by the person who filed it, not a finding of fault. One complaint is one ODI number, which is how NHTSA counts them.

A recall is the manufacturer conceding a defect, and the repair is free. Whether one covers your particular car is a question only its VIN can answer, because a campaign covers a production range rather than a model year.

Which system owners named

Complaints naming each system
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 3 · 38%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 2 · 25%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 2 · 25%
POWER TRAIN 2 · 25%
ENGINE 1 · 13%
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 1 · 13%
LANE DEPARTURE 1 · 13%
STEERING 1 · 13%
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 · 13%
VISIBILITY 1 · 13%
0 4 8

Red marks a system with a recall campaign against it. One complaint can name several systems, so these add up to more than 8.

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2026 at 7.

8 6 4 2
25 26

This is the year the complaint was filed, not the year the failure happened. The range runs from 2025 to 2026, the last of them a part year, which is why its column is drawn faint.

Crash test ratings

NHTSA New Car Assessment Program

NHTSA crashes a car into a barrier and a pole and measures what happens to the dummies inside. This is what it awarded the 2025 Audi SQ5, and it is a separate question from what owners report going wrong later.

Test SUV AWD
Overall Not rated
Frontal crash Not rated
Frontal, driver Not rated
Frontal, passenger Not rated
Side crash Not rated
Side barrier Not rated
Side pole Not rated
Rollover
Chance of rollover 16.4%
Stability control standard Forward collision warning standard Lane departure warning standard

A dash means NHTSA did not rate that test for this vehicle.

Recall campaigns

1 on file

SEAT BELTS:PRETENSIONER

26V266000 · April 24, 2026

The defect
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Audi) is recalling certain 2025 Q5, Q5 Sportback, SQ5, and SQ5 Sportback vehicles. The driver and front passenger seat belts may have been manufactured incorrectly, and fail to properly restrain occupants during a crash.
The risk
Improperly restrained occupants have an increased risk of injury during a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will replace the driver and front passenger seat belts as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed May 29, 2026. Owners may contact Audi's customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Audi's number for this recall is 69GT.

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. · up to 7,425 vehicles across all model years covered

In owners’ own words

Quoted from the complaint file

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

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
My 2025 Audi SQ5 has experienced a serious and recurring electronic safety system malfunction since it was brand new. I purchased the vehicle with fewer than 10 miles on the odometer, and the problem began the very next day. More than 50% of the time when I start the vehicle, numerous warning lights and error messages appear simultaneously on the dashboard, indicating failures across multiple driver assistance and safety systems. When this happens, the vehicle’s camera-based and sensor-based safety features become unavailable, leaving me without critical driver assistance functions while driving. The malfunction is unpredictable. Occasionally, the vehicle starts normally with no warnings,

NHTSA complaint 11770022, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN
On at least five occasions since we purchased this vehicle brand new in January 2026, the digital transmission system has failed to switch into park and would not switch into park -- producing an error message. To resolve the issue, it required multiple restarts of the car, and there is no clear step to resolve the issue. It feels like luck. We've taken it to the dealership multiple times, they've done digital updates to the car -- which supposedly fixed the problem -- but it continues to recur. We will take it to the dealership again. This is a major safety issue, because the car is susceptible to rolling and movement if it cannot be placed into park (and it's very frustrating).

NHTSA complaint 11762667. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Ive experienced multiple unexpected braking events while driving on essentially open road using adaptive cruise control. When this first happened it scared me significantly and caused a car behind me to run up on me. Upon further investigation I found that this braking occurs every time I go by these two specific places on [XXX]. When this occurs, the dash display shows an intersection/crossroads icon as if it thinks Im approaching a 4 way stop. There is no 4 way intersection at the points where it happens. There are side roads entering the highway which are marked by signs. I can override the braking with accelerator pedal but the braking resumes if I release the pedal. If I dont do

NHTSA complaint 11760631, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
While driving in live traffic, the vehicle suffered a catastrophic and total simultaneous mechanical and electrical system failure. Without warning, the vehicle completely lost engine propulsion, braking assistance, and all dashboard displays. Concurrently, the vehicle suffered a complete blackout of all exterior safety lighting, including the brake lights and the emergency hazard flashers rendering the vehicle completely invisible to surrounding traffic. Prior to this complete shutdown, the vehicle had been brought to an authorized Audi dealership on 3 previous occasions soon after purchase for progressive electronic communication failures and transient dashboard warning lights, which the

NHTSA complaint 11753278, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN
1–2 second delay in throttle response from pedal input, followed by sudden uncommanded surge/jerk forward. Occurs when vehicle is on hold mode in a slope or in plain flat conditions at a light or a stop sign. It happens when the car is cold or warm. I consider the vehicle unsafe to drive. The cruise control also has a major problem. When activated the lane departure feature also gets activated automatically but instead of making the car more stable it moves the card left and right all the time without any major interaction from the driver. I have to deactivate the lane departure function all the time in order to feel safe.

NHTSA complaint 11743621. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

VISIBILITY:REARVIEW MIRRORS/DEVICES:EXTERIOR

800 miles

The contact leases a 2025 Audi SQ5. The contact stated that the driver's side exterior rear-view mirror position was blocking the driver's view while making a left turn. The manufacturer was contact and advised the contact to take the vehicle to the dealer for it to be test-driven. The dealer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 800.

NHTSA complaint 11741553. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Audi SQ5

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2021 14 5 —
2020 8 4 —
2019 20 5 —
2018 25 5 —
2015 9 1 —
2014 12 1 —

Other 2025 Audi models

Every Audi on this site — 157 vehicles.

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. How many repair attempts it takes, and how long you have to file, is set by the state you bought in and by nothing on this page.

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.

Compiled and maintained by
Independent developer and analyst