Wen\Wei WuXian
As a hot-selling SUV under FAW-Volkswagen Audi, the Audi Q5L is still very famous. According to the sales data of the Association, the cumulative sales of the Audi Q52021 reached more than 139,000 units in the whole year, ranking third in the sales list of high-end SUVs, and within the FAW-Volkswagen Audi brand, its sales volume is second only to the Audi A6L. Therefore, whether it is for the high-end SUV market or for Audi itself, the Q5L is a model of great significance and status.
However, this car has recently been investigated by the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration due to the safety hazards of the product, and affected by this, the vehicle has been recalled.
According to the announcement from the State Administration for Market Regulation, FAW-Volkswagen Co., Ltd. has filed a recall plan with the State Administration for Market Regulations in accordance with the requirements of the Regulations on the Administration of the Recall of Defective Automobile Products and the Implementation Measures for the Administration of the Recall of Defective Automobile Products, and from February 28, 2022, it has recalled some domestic Audi Q5L vehicles with a production date from March 1, 2018 to December 4, 2021, with a total of 453791 units.
The specific reason is that because the vehicle is located in the lower position under the rear seat of the gateway control module, if a large amount of liquid is accidentally spilled on the rear seat, it may enter the gateway control module, resulting in a short circuit inside the gateway control module, which in turn leads to various errors and failures inside the vehicle, and even causes the power interruption during the vehicle, increasing the possibility of accidents and safety hazards.
According to media reports, in the past few years, there have been complaints about the failure of the gateway control module of the Audi Q5L. Some car owners said that they ordered the Audi Q5L in early July 2020, picked up the car on August 8, just walked 20 kilometers to prompt the fault, after the flameout could not start, and then the vehicle was towed to the 4S shop for repair, 4S shop feedback is a human factor caused by the failure, the owner needs to bear the maintenance costs. At the same time, the owner also said that his child sprinkled a little water in the back seat, but the owner also believes that a little water should not cause the vehicle to break down, and the car should also be waterproof.
In response to similar problems, there have been feedback from riders in the forum before, when the liquid is accidentally sprinkled on the seat, and then accidentally enters the gateway control module, 4S will generally be considered to be man-made, and the owner needs to repair the vehicle at his own expense. Owners of this problem often question the lack of necessary waterproofing measures for the Audi Q5L, which is a product design defect.
In response to this problem, in 2019, the China Consumer Association asked Audi manufacturers, and Audi said that "the gateway is placed under the rear seats, taking into account that the place is relatively safe and not easy to be damaged by collisions and other situations." However, this consideration is not perfect, and this is also an important reason for Audi's recall of Q5L.
From the perspective of the scale of the recall, the recalled Q5L is the domestically extended model of the second-generation Audi Q5, and combined with the recall time and the number of recalls, including the newly listed mid-term redesign of the Q5L has also been affected, for the owner, they should also pay attention to whether their vehicles are within the scope of the recall.
Write at the end:
Although car owners have previously responded to the problem of audi Q5L, the results do not seem to be ideal. The recall of Audi after the State Administration of Market Supervision opened an investigation, in fact, it does not seem "glorious". For consumers, it is naturally a good thing to be able to eliminate security risks, but for Audi's brand image, this recall should be sooner rather than later, otherwise it will ultimately hurt its own brand image and reputation.
(This article is originally produced by the editorial department of [Auto Industry] New Media, the author of this article is Wei Wuxian, and the reprint should indicate the source)