Electrical System Problems of Audi A6 - part 2

Massive safety liability here. My 2019 Audi A6 was on the highway traveling at 75mph on 4/25/2023 at noon when with no prior warning, all of the electrical systems started failing rapidly. In the course of 90 seconds, there was an electrical malfunction warning, quickly followed by malfunction warnings for steering, brakes, and cascading shutdowns of all systems like the transmission, abs, collision warning, lane departure, lights, hazard warning lights, instrument screens/clusters, hvac, windows- literally everything. A complete failure of every component and safety system while driving highspeed is extremely dangerous. Had this happened at night, I would have been bricked in the middle of the road without headlights, hazard lights, airbags, etc. The car had to be towed away to the dealership and is available for inspection. The dealer is aware of this issue and called it a 48 volt starter/ alternator issue which is apparently systemic/ widespread with 2019-21 Audi 48 volt architectures; parts are generally backordered for months. Please take note: there is an extremely high risk that someone will be killed and seriously injured as a result of this defect. The vehicle is awaiting inspection and repair at an Audi dealership. It is under extended manufacturers warranty at 50,700 miles. No other diagnostics/ inspections/ or reports have taken place yet.

See all problems of the 2019 Audi A6 🔎.

The car literally stopped working while driving. All electrical components shut down. Unable to put the car into neutral to push it to safety. Had a hard time getting the vehicle towed because the parking break engaged somehow and we were unable to disengage it. Hazard lights did not work at all! extremely unsafe situation to be in, especially if on a highway or expressway with vehicles traveling nearby at high speeds.

See all problems of the 2020 Audi A6 🔎.

Electrical system malfunction. Car will not run.

Message for "electrical system malfunction", then "start stop system malfunction", then "electrical system malfunction stop vehicle safely". Car was immobilized. Was driving on highway.

Two miles from home all sorts of electrical malfunction warning ?? lights appear. Too many to list here. Then car completely stops and all electricals shut down. This happened in the middle of a very busy three lane 45mph main artery. Stuck in gear, unable to push off side of road. After ten minutes or so of cars zooming around us, it started enough to get off road to safe place. Waited 4 hours in freezing cold for tow truck. Very scary incident for my wife and me, as we are in our 70s. Towed to my local Audi dealer. The problem seems to be with the “starter alternator” and is a national problem with 1000s of affected owners. Was told 29 vehicles are ahead of mine for replacement and that it could be weeks before parts are available. One car family and no loaners available and there talking weeks / months to repair.

I had a failure with the vehicle electrical system malfunction. I had multiple warnings from abs, power steering, adaptive cruise control. I was on the highway doing about 70 when this happened. After about 5 mins of driving, everything powered down in the vehicle. From the dashboard to the center instrument panel. Then after that, the car cut off. Lucky I was in the right lane to pull over to the shoulder. Car never started back up. Nervous about what the dealership is going to tell me.

Receiving multiple electrical warnings including low battery charge, vehicle starting system, parking brake malfunction, stabilization control (esc/abs), parking aid malfunction, and all-wheel drive malfunction. Issue appears to be due to a common failing 48v battery alternator.

Electrical system malfunction w/yellow battery icon. . . Stop/start system unavailable. Vehicle deemed unsafe to drive. Towed to dealership, part on worldwide b/o. . . Estimate several month wait for starter/alternator.

I suffered a complete failure of the vehicle's electrical system. First, I received a warning that the electrical system malfunctioned. This warning went away after two power cycles. Two days later the warning came back and a warning that the battery level was low. I was driving the vehicle approximately 1 mile on the highway when the warning became progressively dire. First the adaptive cruise control systems became failing one by one, adaptive lane keep, lane departure etc. Then I got yellow warnings about failures in the transmission and the engine. Finally those errors became dire that I must stop the vehicle. I next lost all electrical screens within 2-3 minutes of the cascading dire warnings just as I was pulling off the highway onto side streets. Within 30 seconds I lost power steering and most braking force. I was able to pull over into a bus stop, but with difficulty. I lost all hazard lights, all vehicle lights. I lost the ability to unlock the doors temporarily but this recovered. I could not turn the car back on, I could just hear the started struggling to turn over. None of the screens in the vehicle worked. No lights or horn worked. Thankfully this happened in the late afternoon while the sun was still out. The extreme danger posed by not having emergency lights, power steering and minimal braking capability made this an extremely scary situation. I was advised by Audi queens that this was confirmed alternator/generator failure.

The contact owns a 2019 Audi A6. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number 22v155000 (electrical system) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The local dealer was contacted, and it was confirmed that the part was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced the failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

I purchased the car new around June 2020 and it currently has just under 26,000 miles on it. Earlier this week while driving the car, an electrical malfunction warning appeared on the dashboard display. The first dealership I contacted did not deem it serious and set me up for an appointment over a month away. The second dealership I called had me tow the car in right away as the thought was my alternator had failed. A call back later that afternoon confirmed the alternator did in fact fail. That dealer also indicated that the wait time for a replacement was several months away. This seems to indicate much larger problems with this part as alternators are fairly common and very necessary components.

It appears that the 48v hybrid alternator failed. The vehicle completely shut down/lost all power while driving 50 mph on busy road. Almost rear ended while trying to coast to a stop. Low battery light came on the day before. The day it failed I was driving it to the dealership.

Vehicle's on board system reads "electrical malfunction: start/stop system malfunction. Call service". Then this triggers a complete shutdown of the vehicle: transmission, steering, distance, and braking sensors, etc all got affected.

While I was driving, the vehicle gave an electrical system malfunction warning. When I stopped and restarted the vehicle, the car reluctantly started with delays and a check engine light. I had to tow the car to the dealership. Upon inspection, they determined it is a generator issue, much like many other owners of 2019+ model year of Audi's. They do not have an eta on the replacement part, and thus the car will be out of commission for weeks to months. I am lucky, as many other people who have experienced this problem have had their car completely die on them in the middle of driving. This is a potentially dangerous safety hazard, and an enormous inconvenience, as any Audi owner with this generator issue will not have their car for weeks to months.

Known generator problem. The entire car shut down when I was on the express way at 5:30 pm rush hour in chicago. Luckily I was able to get over to a shoulder before the car went completely dead . Even the emergency flasher would not work, miracle that we didn't get killed. Can't believe Audi let people drive these cars when many have had this problem.

While driving to work, received notification of "electrical system malfunction, contact service immediately". I contacted Audi. They advised me to either bring the vehicle in or have it towed. I drove to Audi that afternoon. While driving to the service facility, the warning changed and told me to pull over immediately. As I was close to the dealership, I continue to drive and was able to make it to the dealership. I was informed by the service manager that the car could have shut down at any time and I would have lost complete control of steering and brakes. This is apparently a well-known problem with the 48 v generator. It will be a 2-month wait until I can have the generator replaced. Given that the electrical systems could have shut down at any time, this is a safety issue.

Was driving down the road and received a yellow “electrical system malfunction” alert. Shortly after an alert that said my start-stop function was no longer available. After about 20 minutes I received a red electrical system malfunction: stop vehicle safely. Thankfully I was pulling onto my street when the last alert popped up.

The car displayed a warning that the electrical system had a fault and to contact service. I then contacted service and they said to drive it to the dealer as it sounded like a known issue with the generator/starter and 48v system. On the way to the dealership, the warnings continued and then various systems began shutting down, including the steering and the transmission. I was going at a relatively slow speed on a side street at the time, which was fortunate, as the car locked up all four wheels and had no steering and the engine quit. Thankfully it was a side street. If this was a major street or highway, it quite likely could have caused a serious accident or injury. In contacting Audi USA, they do not have parts available to fix this issue, and the dealership confirmed that they are unable to fix the car at this time.

Starter generator/alternator problem. I was driving and suddenly got electrical malfunction issue and slowly all electronics in the car stopped working. Got the car towed to Audi service center and the service representative told me it was starter generator issue and it’s widespread. Dropped the car on 11/15/22 and still waiting for my car to be repaired.

The contact owns a 2019 Audi A6. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the warning message "electrical malfunction" suddenly displayed along with a red battery icon. After turning off and restarting the vehicle, the message remained displayed, but the battery icon changed to yellow. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed that the starter generator was faulty and needed to be replaced; however, the part was on backorder and would not be available for several months. The manufacturer was not yet contacted. The failure mileage was 42,000.

I get a message on the dashboard while driving that the electrical system failed. There is a message later that says the "start/stop system: malfunction! function unavailable. Please contact service".

The starter/generator (formerly known as alternator) of our A6 3. 0 needs to be replaced, the part is back-ordered for approximately 60 to 90 days. The yellow indicator light goes on and then the car shuts off. It happens without warning and is incredibly dangerous.

Battery light came on, called the dealer and they said don't drive and towed the car to dealer. They said need to replace starter generator c29. They did't have parts, so they keep my car at Audi dealer service shop for about one and hale month. I googled and look like it happened to too many people. Finally they said found the parts and charge me $2902. 12. I am really concerned that part is not properly constructed or something, as even in this dealership, they said my car was sixth in one month and may more after me. They are skimming money from bad part.

Multiple warnings indicating to contact dealer (lane departure, adaptive cruise control, collision avoidance, electrical system, start/stop, etc) then 1 minute later transmission failure and engine failure imminent. After a minute or two my center mmi went blank then my electronic dash went blank, transmission went into neutral and the engine died all within a few seconds. Fortunately I was able to coast to a stop in the center median of an expressway and contacted the dealer. Flatbed towed to dealer who stated most likely the generator between the lithium battery bank and gas engine failed. They have seen several in this year for A6 and a7's with mild hybrid engines. I was lucky to be in low volume traffic as there was no power to indicate to drivers around me that my engine quit and not even turn signals worked. After having car towed to Audi dealer, they proceeded to tell me it was the starter/generator and the part was on back order for two to three months.

See all problems of the 2021 Audi A6 🔎.

While driving my 2019 Audi A6 premium plus I received error messages: "electrical system malfunction contact service", then "start stop system malfunction contact service", then "electrical system malfunction stop vehicle safely". I went on an Audi owner internet forum and read about others with the same errors. Reports from others indicated that in about 40 miles from the first message appearing, all systems will completely shut down including the engine while you are driving. This could leave you stranded in the roadway if you are not able to pull over in time and requires a tow; the vehicle cannot be relied upon to get you to a service center at that point. My vehicle was in a parking lot at the time for a few hours. I was able to start the vehicle. It presented the first two messages immediately. I was able to drive another 10 minutes to arrive at home safely. On my way home the check engine light came on and as I got to my driveway "electrical system malfunction stop vehicle safely" appeared again. Two days have passed (where I did not operating the vehicle anymore) and I've now had the vehicle towed to my Audi dealer / service center. My service advisor called me back this afternoon saying that they confirmed starter / generator / alternator needs to be replaced. The alternator (only) is now on order for me with no eta. He said the last one they fixed with this issue took 42 days. He said he has 6 vehicles on the lot with the same issue. This issue appears to be popping up for all early builds that has the Audi 48v mhev (mild hybrid battery system). Other owners report they needed their 48v and sometimes 12v batteries replaced. As I mentioned earlier they only ordered the alternator at this point; I'm worried that my batteries cannot be trusted after this issue as apparently the cells in the 48v become unstable after entering this state.

Electrical system malfunction caused by a faulty generator which was confirmed by Audi connection (servicing dealership) in cincinnati, ohio.

Mid December the day after I purchased my 2019 A6 the 48v starter generator failed while driving with my son in the car. Alerts came up as electronics issue and to pull over. Very quickly it stopped dead in road. They told me it is a known issue, and they have multiple A6s waiting for this part. It has been over a month and still unknown when this part will be available. This should be a recalled item, but is under warranty.

Starter/generator failure. Message: "electrical system malfunction" car became disabled intermittently. Brought to dealer despite no service appointment available for more than a week. Dealer advised me that 7 other A6 models were in with same issue.

Warning appeared for electrical malfunction contact dealer. Within 15 minutes of driving to the dealer, electrical failure please pull over appeared. My antilock breaks, transmission, and finally the entire electric panel failed. The car entirely stopped while in traffic. I was unable to even turn on hazard lights. It would not turn back on. It required towing to Audi dealership. I have been told by Audi the starter generator died.

The contact owns a 2019 Audi A6. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 22v155000 (electrical system) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the fuel gauge was not working as designed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed but no cause for the failure was found. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 13,514. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

On December 16, 2022, the alternator on the vehicle failed, which prevented the battery from charging. Luckily, I had just parked the car when all the electronics shut off - otherwise I would have been driving on a busy street with the potential for an accident. The vehicle was towed that day to white allen european auto group in dayton and is still there and available for inspection. Today is Feb. 6, 2023, and they are still unable to get the required alternator parts and we don't have an eta. To my knowledge the vehicle has only been assessed by their technician, not anyone else. There were electrical issues prior to the failure. I took the vehicle to white allen on Nov. 22 due to warning lights for lane departure warning and lane keeping assist turning on and off, as well as issues with the engine shutting off at traffic lights and being unable to get the car to move without turning it completely off and back on again. When I took it to the dealership, they performed many vehicle recalls and repairs including multiple software updates, reworking the transmission wiring harness, servicing the start/stop system, airbag inspection, battery load, control module update, mmi software update, etc. I picked up the vehicle on November 30, 2022. On December 5, 2022, I had to take it back to white allen because the bottom display screen was not functioning properly. (when starting the car, the top half of that screen was scrambled and the bottom half was dark. After driving for a while, the screen would begin functioning properly). They diagnosed it as a hardware issue with the top screen that controls the lower screen. I was told they would replace the top screen, and the parts should be available by December 29. I asked if the car is safe to drive, and they said I could continue driving it as the lower screen doesn't control anything that might be a safety issue. On December 16, the car stopped working and I had it towed back to the dealership.

Vehicle emitted multiple warnings via dashboard displays. Called dealer's service department and they advised to bring vehicle to dealership as soon as possible. They suspected the car was experiencing pending failure of the generator or alternator, which could result in an immediate loss of all electronics, posing a serious risk while driving. I attempted to drive car the 10-15 miles to the dealership the next morning and all systems failed. Dealer confirmed issue was related to the suspected generator or alternator issue.

Starter/generator alternator failed and caused the battery to die ultimately leading to losing full power of the car on highway. Warning lamps were present and indicated "electrical system malfunction and contact the dealer for service. " car lost full power on the way to dealership and almost resulted in a crash. Component has been inspected by the Audi dealer and confirmed to be the issue. Symptoms appeared very quickly and within 30 minutes of the symptoms the car was inoperable.

A warning message appeared that there is an electrical system problem. I arranged to bring to dealer for service the next day. While driving to dealer, multiple malfunction messages appeared on dashboard. Eventually all displays went black and shortly thereafter the engine stopped. I rolled to a stop. Car was dead. Audi stated it needs a replacement starter/generator. Very dangerous as it happened to me on an interstate. My research shows that this is a not uncommon problem.

While driving on an interstate highway, an electrical fault warning appeared. 5 minutes later, a series of warnings appeared pertaining to a whole host of Audi systems, and I suddenly lost power to the car. I coasted off the highway to the shoulder, where the car died. I was told by the dealership that the issue is a generator, and that it's a common issue affecting A6s. It was truly disconcerting to lose power, without much warning, when driving.