Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| STRUCTURE | |||
| 04/28/2010 | |||
| When i purchased my pre-owned 03 audi a4 cabrio in may 2010 failed to notice that the bottom left and right corners of the rear window was separating from the fabric at the top. fast forward to may 2011 its now spread enough that you could reach a whole hand into the headliner. when it rains part of the back seat,rear deck and areas of the trunk get very wet was separating from the fabric at the bottom left and right corners of the rear window, enough that you could reach a whole hand into the headliner. when it rains the headliner around the rear glass, part of the back seat,rear deck and areas of the trunk get very wet. with the smell after it dries, im sure i have mold and mildew issues as well. | |||
| 10/10/2010 | 66500 | ||
| 2003 audi a4 cabriolet has had numerous issues, failure of door gasket seal which destroyed plc, resulting in horrible sound safety issue, cost over $2k to fix, failure of cv joint which could cause wheel to fly off, failure of rear glass window that could come loose hurting other vehicles or passengers of car; car has less than 70k miles, was bought new and is garaged. audi america should reimburse owners for these numerous, (and apparently inevitable, judging by what i've read and heard from other owners) problems. | |||
| 10/18/2010 | 63710 | ||
| Tl. the contact owns a 2003 audi a4 cabriolet. the contact stated the rear window has separated from the roof of the convertible. this causes the roof not to go up or down. the contact took the vehicle to the dealer and the dealer informed the contact the entire roof along with the back window needs to be replaced. the contact stated the manufacturer should issue a recall due to the numerous complaints regarding the window. the failure mileage was 63,710 . jo | |||
| 07/18/2008 | 58000 | 1 | |
| Rear window came unglued and could not be repaired on my 2003 a4 cabriolet. audi dealer replaced top. my cost was 4000. *tr | |||
| 09/11/2007 | 52221 | 1 | |
| The adhesive which holds in the rear window on my 2003 audi a4 3.0 convertible came unglued, resulting in the window gradually falling away from the roof. i had to duct tape it in as i didn't want it popping out completely while driving, and to prevent rain / moisture from getting in. this could be a serious driving hazard should it dislodge while operating. fyi, the car had been babied since day one; garage kept and hand washed. audi of america did finally agree to pay for a new top (about 6k retail) but could not tell me if the new top had different adhesive (i don't want a repeat of this circumstance a fews yrs down the line). i researched this, and there are several other owners w/ this problem. most cars were 03's at about 40-50k miles. in my opinion, audi needs to acknowledge there was a defect w/ the adhesive and offer replacement at n/c. if you have an a4 or s4 convertible, monitor where the glass fits in the top. listen for a flapping noise at highway speeds. the main mechanic said in addition the adhesive coming undone, there also appeared to be shrinkage of the top. i do not know, from an engineering standpoint, if the shrinkage was the main problem (i.e, the pulling away from the top) or if it was a combination of both problems that culminated in the end result. regardless, audi needs to address this before there is a serious problem w/ the window flying out at freeway speeds. *tr | |||
| 09/01/2005 | 40000 | 1 | |
| Bought a 2003 audi a4 cabriolet in 2005. 6 months later, rear window in 2003 audi a4 detached from convertible top causing rear leather seat to rot and tear due to rain water leaking through the detached window. tried to have the window reattached by an audi dealership referred detailing company, adhesive did not hold and i was told the car would need a new roof. the dealership i bought the car from, don rosen audi of conshohoken, pa nor audi will take any responsibility for the detached window or provide payment for repairs. *tr | |||
| STRUCTURE - BODY | |||
| 08/11/2009 | 77000 | 1 | |
| Defective convertible top on 2003 audi a4 has resulted in the rear glass window to become loose. i'm very concerned that the window will fly off. based on on-line postings, this is a very, very common occurrence. to date, audi nor any government agency has done anything to rectify the faulty manufacturing issue. *tr | |||
| STRUCTURE - BODY - ROOF AND PILLARS | |||
| 06/01/2007 | 57000 | 1 | 09/28/2002 |
| The rear window of my 2003 a4 cabiorolet has become detached from the top. now barely hanging on, the window presents a significant safety hazard to passengers and other vehicles when it falls out. *tr | |||
| STRUCTURE - FRAME AND MEMBERS | |||
| 08/10/2009 | 50000 | 1 | |
| I bought a 2003 audi a4 convertible in november 2008 and since then the defective convertible top has resulted in the rear glass window to be nearly completely loose. this is a major hazard and represents a danger since the window could fall out and hurt other people. audi of santa monica said they can't/won't fix it and referred me to an upholstery shop who said they have seen this problem before and can't fix it (despite audi recommending them for fixing this). a detailed check of numerous online discussion boards (in the u.s. and germany) shows that this is an extremely coming problem for 2003 audi convertibles that audi simply refuses to acknowledge. 2003 was the first year that karmann manufacture the roof and, interestingly, harmann in germany seems to accept some responsibility and has fixed this problem for some people, charging only for labor. i strongly recommend that nhtsa look into this faulty manufacturing issue and force audi to accept responsibility for it. *tr | |||