Audi A4 1997 - Service brakes - car safety information, failing parts, recalls, bulletins, complaints

Audi A4 1997

Recalls
Technical Service Bulletins
Defect investigations
Consumer Complaints

Recalls

Campaign	Manufacturer	Manufacturing date	Type	# of units affected	Date Owner notified Mfg	Recall Initiated by	Manufacturers of recalled vehicles/products	Report Recieved Date	Record Creation Date
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - POWER ASSIST - VACUUM - HOSES, LINES/PIPING, AND FITTINGS
99V131001	VOLKSWAGEN OF AMERICA,INC	from 10/01/1997 to 02/28/1999	V (Vehicle)	88121	10/09/1999	ODI	VOLKSWAGEN OF AMERICA, INC	05/21/1999	01/21/2000
Defect Summary	Vehicle description: passenger vehicles equipped with automatic transmissions. a control valve in the vacuum hose connecting the brake booster to the intake manifold may not open or close fully at temperatures below -4 f under certain driving conditions.
Consequence Summary	This condition could cause insufficient vacuum to be provided to the brake booster.
Corrective Summary	Dealers will install a vacuum by-pass system into vehicles operated in these states which is designed to provide sufficient vacuum for full brake assist under all weather conditions.
Notes	Owner notification began october 9, 1999.owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact vw at 1-800-822-8987 or audi at 1-800-822-2834.also contact the national highway traffic safety administration's auto safety hotline at 1-888-dash-2-dot (1-888-327-4236).

Bulletins

Bulletin	Bulletin date	Item no.	Summary	Added
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - ANTILOCK
TSB-45-08-04	11/19/2008	10028008	Audi: abs activates during light brake application . control noises are heard from the abs unit at low speed without brake application. *pe	02/26/2009
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - ANTILOCK - CONTROL UNIT/MODULE
TSB-45-08-04	11/19/2008	10028008	Audi: abs activates during light brake application . control noises are heard from the abs unit at low speed without brake application. *pe	02/26/2009
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - ANTILOCK - WHEEL SPEED SENSOR
TSB-45-08-04	11/19/2008	10028008	Audi: abs activates during light brake application . control noises are heard from the abs unit at low speed without brake application. *pe	02/26/2009

Investigations

NHTSA ID	Manufacturer	Date open	Date close	Subject	Recall campaign
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC
EA00021	VOLKSWAGEN OF AMERICA, INC	08/11/2000	03/29/2002	DEGRADED BRAKING IN WET WEATHER
	There is no summary currently available
RQ99008	VOLKSWAGEN OF AMERICA, INC	06/01/1999	11/14/2000	POWER BRAKE BOOSTER VACUUM BY-PASS	99V131001
	A control valve in the vacuum hose connecting the brake booster to the intake manifold can fail to open or close fully at low temperature resulting in insufficient vacuum for proper operation of the brake booster

Consumer Complaints

Fail date	miles	occurences	Purchase date
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - ANTILOCK
12/03/2007		1
	Braking performance seems to be dramatically reduced in wet, and especially wet and cold, conditions. this happens often, but does not happen regularly, and always after prolonged high-speed driving without brake application. the reduction in performance seems much more dramatic than would be expected from typical reduction in brake performance in these conditions. *tr
			01/01/2000
	In wet weather, the effectiveness of the brakes is greatly reduced. there is about a 3 second delay before brakes begin to grab.
04/15/2001		1	08/01/2000
	Control arm bushing started squeaking indicating failure - did not know that the vehicle's instability at higher speeds and inability to track in a straight line were also due to worn control arm bushings. searched www.audiworld.com site of audi owners, found that numerous owners report driveablilty issues with worn control arm bushings. audi of america and audi dealer states that bushing problem is not a safety issue, however based on the numerous reports on audiworld.com, this is not true. owners report having to change control arms every 35k miles or so at a cost of approximately $1,500 for each side since ther are 4 control arms on each side that cost approximately $300 each plus labor. based on ntsa search, there are a number of complaints of this same problem; what will it take to get a recall of this potentially serious problem? brake problem is only when driving in wet conditions. brakes do not respond normally - apparently water comes in contact with rotors easily. this problem could easily lead to an accident and there are numerous complaints about this in the ntsa database as well. the idle air control valve problem is a reoccurring one where the engine will stall at idle, or will not idle at all. with a manual transmission, this is especially dangerous as the engine sometimes dies when the clutch is depressed as you prepare to stop. obviously this results in a loss of power braking and steering which could cause an accident. please feel free to contact me regarding any or all of these potentially dangerous conditions affecting my car. obviously i would like to see recalls on all three issues and will provide whatever assistance i can to ensure that this happens. thanks.*ak
12/21/1999		5	01/01/1999
	Wet braking. brakes failed to grab in a timely fashion, major delay in braking action led to my hitting the brake harder causing vehicle to skid sideways on a slippery roadway into another vehicle.*ak
			12/01/2000
	Wet braking delay. brake rotors seem to gather water on highway -even in light rain, and cause delayed stopping. when the pedal is pushed down it can take a couple seconds for the brakes to repond, causing an unsafe condition in emergency situations.*ak
01/06/2001		9999	10/01/2000
	The brakes don't grab when driving in rain, snow, sleet etc. there's a lag of a second or two before the car begins to stop. this happens every time you attempt to stop the car in these conditions regardless of speed. there are no brake backing plates on the front rotors from the factory. the rotors are obviously getting glazed with water and the pads are ineffective until the rotors are cleared of water. makes for a very dangerous driving condition in inclement weather! *ak
			03/01/1997
	Significant braking delay under wet conditions. *ak
		0	08/01/1997
	Lack of stopping when brakes are wet. at 1000 mi replaced all pads with german spec oem pads. wet braking problems neglable. did not need to wash underware as often.
		20	08/01/1997
	Very poor initial braking in wet conditions, ex. rain or snow. *ak
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - FOUNDATION COMPONENTS
09/26/2001		1	09/26/2000
	Vehicle had brake work completed. *slc
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - FOUNDATION COMPONENTS - DISC
11/23/1999		1	07/01/1999
	Disc brakes are not adequately shielded from water while driving in the rain or snow, resulting in no braking effort for approximately the first two seconds of brake application. the brakes are fine in dry weather, but always catch me by surprise in the wet, when you step on the pedal nothing happens until the water is shed from the brake discs. nlm
10/18/1997			10/01/1997
	The a4, unlike all other cars i've ever owned, does not have 'splash shields' inboard of the front disc brake rotors. in the rain, this causes a quite alarming period, when the brakes are initially applied, of sheer terror, because the car is not stopping! this has been made a mandatory recall all across europe, and there, insurance companies won't cover you if you rear-end someone and don't have the shields on. i see no reason why audi won't also carry this to the us, until they get sued when someone gets killed because of it. switching to gas-slotted brake rotors helps this situation, but does not eliminate it. thanks, and i hope this gets taken care of before i hit someone! oh, every single person with an a4 that i know has the same problem.
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - FOUNDATION COMPONENTS - DISC - ROTOR
			12/01/2000
	Wet braking delay. brake rotors seem to gather water on highway -even in light rain, and cause delayed stopping. when the pedal is pushed down it can take a couple seconds for the brakes to repond, causing an unsafe condition in emergency situations.*ak
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - FOUNDATION COMPONENTS - HOSES, LINES/PIPING, AND FITTINGS
12/26/2007	130000	1	02/01/2007
	1) failure of front left (driver side) hydraulic brake hose at caliper end at inboard side of hose strain relief. the damage location appears to be where hose is subject to maximum stress and flexing when front wheels turn. further inspection revealed concealed damage to right (passenger) front brake hose at the same location. 2) consequence was loss of all hydraulic braking when hose burst, resulting in minor accident. damage to vehicles was minor because of good fortune to have failure at low speed--no injuries resulted. 3) front hydraulic brake hoses were replaced with new oem hoses supplied by audi dealer. because both hoses exhibited similar wear, other audi a4 vehicles 10 years old and/or with 100,000+ miles may be subject to similar front brake hose failures. *tr
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - POWER ASSIST
02/02/1999		10	01/01/1997
	My 1997 audi a4 has experienced almost non braking in cold/wet conditions. when brakes are initially applied during these conditions there is almost zero braking for 50 feet at 35 mph or less. i have come very close to rear ending a few cars that cut in front of you. i have contacted audi of america and there response was that no known poor braking condition exists when brakes are cold/wet. yet there is a news bulletin on audi's own european web site indicating that there is a problem with brakes when wet. also many readers on the www.a4.org web site here in the us have been complaining for a long time. i hope that you would please look into this matter as a fatality can exist in this case. i have owned many us/european/japanese vehicles and never experienced such poor wet braking!