2014 Audi Q5
Complaints about this year name steering far more often than the model's other years — 19% of them, about 3× the usual rate of 6.3%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 201 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 51 |
| Involving a crash | 9 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 24 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- specific — 11.4% of this year's complaints, against 3.5% across the model's other years (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: specific, oncoming, response, documented.
- assist — 12.9% of this year's complaints, against 5.1% across the model's other years (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: assist, longer, said audi, audi sq5.
- cold — 9.5% of this year's complaints, against 2.2% across the model's other years (4.2×). Owners wrote it as: cold, rack, very cold, stretched.
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.
Also unusual this year
- illuminated vehicle — 8% of complaints, 21× usual
- under — 18% of complaints, 3× usual
- rear subframe — 7% of complaints, 19× usual
What owners wrote
This vintage 2014 Audi A5 has a well known serious rust perforation issue with the rear subframe. The corrosion / rust through of two major holes, approx 3 inches in diameter, causing structural failure of the sub frame. This is a major saftey concern with the…
Took my vehicle in for an alignment, was told by my local Audi dealer the rear subframe has rotted through and will need to be replaced. I asked how could this happen on a vehicle under 10 years? They said they see a lot of Q5's with similar rust issues due to…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 17V622000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 17V002000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 17V001000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 18V229000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 17V298000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Audi Q5 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 2014 Audi Q5? What happened to yours?
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