Volkswagen and Audi have been called to the NHTSA's office again, this time over tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) and an infotainment system voltage regulator. The big recall covers 225,704 units of several VW and Audi models with TPMS software that can be slow to react in an exceedingly rare situation. If all four tires simultaneously lose pressure at the same rate, the system might not notify the driver in the time allowed by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) #138 S4.2, which mandates a warning within 20 minutes after certain conditions are met. The automaker says the system will inform the driver "before a potentially safety-relevant tire pressure is reached" — i.e., before they get so low as to be a hazard. But because the warning is out of FMVSS reaction-time spec, the system needs fixing.
The remedy is a trip to the VW or Audi dealer to have the TPMS software updated. The model-year recall population includes the:
- 2019: VW Tiguan LWB, VW Golf Alltrack, VW Golf R, VW Golf Sportswagen; Audi Q3, Audi A3 Cabriolet
- 2019 & 2020: VW Atlas, VW Golf, VW Golf GTI, VW Jetta, VW Jetta GLI; Audi A3
- 2020 & 2021: VW Atlas Cross Sport
- 2021: VW Atlas
VW Group of America will send notification letters to owners by December 30, 2022. Owners who don't want to wait seven weeks for official info can contact Volkswagen customer service at 800-893-5298 and refer to internal recall numbers 45J6 and 45J8, contact Audi customer service at 800-253-2834 and refer to internal recall number 45J7, or contact the NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline at 888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153) and cite campaign number 22V815.
Audi needs its dealers to have a close look at another 6,076 recalled vehicles from the 2021 and 2022 model years over their infotainment systems. A defective voltage regulator can damage the infotainment center console unit when the vehicle is turned off. On startup after that, the display screen won't work, meaning the rearview camera picture can't be displayed, either. Having no rearview camera on a modern vehicle is a federal no-no. Dealers will replace the entire console unit in cars that need it.
Although the vehicle population is much smaller, the range of potentially affected vehicles is larger. It includes the:
- 2021 & 2022: A6 Allroad, A8, E-Tron
- 2022: A3, A4, A4 Allroad, A5 Coupe and Cabriolet, A6, A7, E-Tron GT, Q3, Q7, Q8, RS Q8, RS6, RS7, S3, S4, S5 Coupe and Cabriolet, S6, S8, SQ7, SQ8
Letters will be mailed to owners by December 25th. Before then, owners can contact Audi customer service at the above number and refer to internal recall number 91EI, or get in touch with the NHTSA and cite campaign number 22V806.
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