Volkswagen of America has issued a new safety campaign for certain units of the previous iterations Audi A4 and A5, along with the Q5 SUV.
In the affected vehicles from the 2008 and 2009 model years, the airbag control units, supplied by Continental Automotive Systems, Inc., may not deploy in the event of a crash due to corrosion.
“Manufacturing defect of the airbag control unit power supply allows TiN corrosion to develop and cause the airbag control unit to fail“, says the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), adding that the airbag indicator light illumination on the instrument panel is a good indicator that the system has malfunctioned.
The problem was discovered by the supplier in February, and after it met on a couple of occasions with NHTSA representatives, the matter was presented to the Audi AG Product Safety committee in May, the last step before the recall was announced.
Audi has yet to provide a notification schedule, the exact number of affected vehicles or when these were produced, but owners will be contacted and will be advised to schedule an appointment with a local authorized dealer, which will replace the affected airbag control module, free of charge.
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