2012 Audi A4
This year drew an ordinary 71 complaints for a Audi A4 — the model's median is 74. What they were about is the unusual part: 33.8% of them mention oil, against 6.1% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 71 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 74 |
| Involving a crash | 2 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 24.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- oil — 33.8% of this year's complaints, against 6.1% across the model's other years (5.5×).
- class — 19.7% of this year's complaints, against 5.1% across the model's other years (3.9×). Owners wrote it as: class, outside, time purchase, unaware.
- having — 14.1% of this year's complaints, against 4% across the model's other years (3.5×).
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
2012 AUDI A4 HAS HAD ONGOING OIL CONSUMPTION ISUUES. AUDI DEALER PERFORMED CONSUMPTION TEST DONE AROUND 74K (3QTS PER 1000MILES - BASICALLY HAVE HAD TO ADD 1 QT EVERY 300 MILES. WAS TOLD NO RECOURSE - WAS OUTSIDE OF CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT OF 2009-2011 OF SIMILAR…
2012 AUDI A4 QUATTRO USES (BURNS) AN EXCESSIVE AMOUNT OF OIL, CONSTANTLY HAVING TO ADD MOTOR OIL. MUST ADD A QUART OF OIL ON A MONTHLY BASIS AND DRIVING LESS THAN 1,000 PER MONTH.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Audi A4 was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2012 Audi A4? What happened to yours?
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