B5 A4 Airbag Recall

[IchBautAuto]

So what are people doing? I have a B5 S4 and Im not selling it to AUDI for chump change. In also not taking it to them to inspect if they are going to impound it.


ACA segment https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-...sie-cars/8b7c08b2-9efb-4e47-90de-80d28f7ab36e

My experience is somewhere on the forum, this thread or another. If your airbag is manufactured after a certain date then it is not subject to the recall. I took a photo and sent it to Audi. Confirmed not subject. I wasn't going to take my car in. There are also solutions which have been detailed, not factory approved but seem to meet all the same standards as your car would currently. I was in the same position as most here but after going through the options and the actual process, it is at least clear that not every B5 is there to be scrapped.

 

[Dutchi]

I checked my old car vin nr. (sold to my nephew) with the audi website and that car is not affected, luckily enough.
Whilst I have seen the current affair report yesterday on tv, there was a lady with a Blue B5 Avant, and by the looks of it, it was one of the GP series, and was affected by the recall.
My old avant is build 98, registered 99, pre GP, and is not affected???
Luck of the draw, I guess.......

 

[IchBautAuto]

My saga commenced when I had a brain flash to see if my cars were registered with Audi. I purchased one new and picked the rest up over time. Well, the one owner car wasn't even on their database. No idea why, still don't know but eventually it was confirmed as being recognised and in my name. Of the others, only the RS6 was even initially on the database and it took some effort to even get the others entered. Amid questions like "are you sure this isn't an import" we finally got there by providing the names and dates of the delivery dealer etc.

I'd double check the manufacture date on the air bag myself, the recall system is broken and no one wants to know.

 

[crazyazz]

My saga commenced when I had a brain flash to see if my cars were registered with Audi. I purchased one new and picked the rest up over time. Well, the one owner car wasn't even on their database. No idea why, still don't know but eventually it was confirmed as being recognised and in my name. Of the others, only the RS6 was even initially on the database and it took some effort to even get the others entered. Amid questions like "are you sure this isn't an import" we finally got there by providing the names and dates of the delivery dealer etc.

I'd double check the manufacture date on the air bag myself, the recall system is broken and no one wants to know.

This whole thing is totally unacceptable , Audi are joke. BMW seem to have handled this mess somewhat better.

 

[IchBautAuto]

This whole thing is totally unacceptable , Audi are joke. BMW seem to have handled this mess somewhat better.

I really can't comment on how any other than Audi have addressed the scheme, Oh and the statutory authorities who are supposed to be regulating the whole thing. I took my fight to Audi and luckily for me, it came out OK. This of course was not the outcome I was expecting so great relief. The big question, what to do about it? There is nothing to gain by having a moan, no one will listen. You have a few choices, accept Audi's first, second or third offer and walk away. You could refuse all offers and see what happens. You could do nothing and see what happens. It appears that a lot depends on which state your car is registered in. I had a fall back plan but it isn't something I'm recommending to others, each needs to decide independently. Despite the fact that everyone who owns a car with the specific Takata airbag fitted is being screwed, all the newspaper stories are about one gender being screwed without permission. A lesson, Takata airbag victims need to get the same level of indignation displayed and talked about in order to get a solution.

 

[broke90]

Here's a left field suggestion. What if you happen to be able to find a A4/S4 with a non-Takata or non-affected airbag from a wrecker, put it on your car (a 2 screw job) and then take it to Audi because you've received the recall notice. Then when they open it up they'll find a not affected airbag. Knowing how screwed up their database is, they'll have to blame it on incorrect record and pass your car.

 

[IchBautAuto]

Here's a left field suggestion. What if you happen to be able to find a A4/S4 with a non-Takata or non-affected airbag from a wrecker, put it on your car (a 2 screw job) and then take it to Audi because you've received the recall notice. Then when they open it up they'll find a not affected airbag. Knowing how screwed up their database is, they'll have to blame it on incorrect record and pass your car.

Perfect, just a matter of finding one. I'd expect that wreckers are right on to this now. It's effectively worth what the car is. In fact, in relationship to the database there is no reason why someone might not replace the airbag earlier in the cars life, it isn't tied to the car in any permanent way and doesn't invalidate the vehicle in any way as an OE replacement.

 

[DirkOz]

I believe that the later bag swap scenario has been recently tested and proven at one dealership in NSW.
The TT 8N was on the VIN list and was inspected. Three weeks later, upon checking the website, it is no longer on the affected list. Attached redacted photograph of the invoice.
EDIT 8 March 2020
The ACCC website had an update on 4 March 2020. The VIN list might also have been updated. If your car has been inspected and cleared by Audi, the Dealership sends a reporting form to ACCC. After a few weeks of processing, the VIN would or should have been removed.
Anyone who has had their airbag checked and cleared, please let us know if your VIN no longer appears on this list.
https://www.productsafety.gov....ystem/files/VIN list_130.pdf

HINT ALT F9 and enter your VIN in the box that appears. Hit Enter. If the result is 1/1 your VIN has not yet been removed.
If the result is 0/0 it has been removed and you're "Good to go"

Sent from my INE-LX2 using Tapatalk

 

[hy_]

The idea was broadly discussed earlier in this thread, but just wanted to throw this out there as an option for B5 owners that have a Takata affected airbag and want a plug and play replacement to a non-affected part.


Audi genuine harness 8Z0-971-589-M will allow plug and play replacement with a B5 RS4 or C5 A6/RS6 steering wheel and airbag combo. These units are manufactured by PETRI DN and not subject to recall.


No risky self-wiring or unknowns moving to a newer wheel with dual stage bag (ie, can you depend on it deploying when needed). Unplug your stock harness from the clockspring, replace with this part and fit your B5 RS4 or C5 A6/RS6 wheel and airbag.


Photo attached for reference from my B5 S4. Got both the wheel and airbag from ebay, have been in and running for a few months now without issue.


Note in Perth the harness was about a 6 week wait from Germany, there were none available locally in Australia at the time I looked into this.

 

[jnrdavo]

good find mate, hopefully this helps others out there..

 

[IK015]

Anyone else had any updates on their airbags recently?
I'm new to the forum and own an S4 that is part of the recall list. Today, I took the airbag out to check and it is in fact the BAM-PT1-0593. However, when looking at the manufacture date, it falls just outside of the dates that Audi has specified as being impacted "[FONT=&quot]May 1995 and August 1999". My one states 11 October 1999. Its probably wishful thinking that its not impacted, but I will send an email to Audi to confirm and will let you know what they say.

Has anyone else found that their airbag falls just outside of the manufacturing date listed on Audi's website?[/FONT]

 

[IchBautAuto]

Somewhere in this forum I made note of my airbag outcome. Here on the next page I said this................

"My experience is somewhere on the forum, this thread or another. If your airbag is manufactured after a certain date then it is not subject to the recall. I took a photo and sent it to Audi. Confirmed not subject. I wasn't going to take my car in."

So the short answer is yes, my airbag was outside the dates specified and I received a letter from Audi to say this. All this is in the Forum, just need to read it. You'll get plenty of help on here but you do need to pitch in and do some research yourself.

 

[IK015]

Somewhere in this forum I made note of my airbag outcome. Here on the next page I said this................

"My experience is somewhere on the forum, this thread or another. If your airbag is manufactured after a certain date then it is not subject to the recall. I took a photo and sent it to Audi. Confirmed not subject. I wasn't going to take my car in."

So the short answer is yes, my airbag was outside the dates specified and I received a letter from Audi to say this. All this is in the Forum, just need to read it. You'll get plenty of help on here but you do need to pitch in and do some research yourself.

Thanks mate, I actually read the thread thoroughly and saw your earlier comment. I probably should have stated that my car is on the list of affected VIN's. I just wanted to understand if anyone on here that has received the letter from Audi and has had their car on the affected list was able to clear the issue with Audi by sending in photos of the airbag (which dates after the affected time period).

As far as I understood your case, you hadn't received an initial letter nor could they even find your car in their records. Glad that you've been able to fix that up.

Also, I thought it would be good to see if anyone had any updates in the last few months. I think any further discussion and new information could help.

 

[IchBautAuto]

It was a fight to get any of the cars recognized by Audi. The one I bought new was the hardest. The stories about people taking in their car and more or less not seeing it again were doing the rounds and I was going to keep mine no matter what so I sent in a photo of the airbag and received the info back. It seems more likely that if you have a Face Lift model then you might be clear.

VIN: WAUZZZ8Dxxxxxxxxx
Vehicle Not Affected
Audi Australia records show that vehicle with Vehicle Identification Number WAUZZZ8Dxxxxxxxxx is not
affected by the Takata Airbag Safety Recall. However, please note that the Takata Airbag Safety Recall does not
apply to privately imported vehicles. If your vehicle was privately imported, you should call the Audi Takata
Information Line on 1800 856 770 so that additional inquiries can be made about what model airbags are
installed in your vehicle.
Date: 18/12/2019

 

[rockersteady]

I can add this, My 2000 A4B5 is not on the Vin recall list (I have 2 other b5s both '99 that are) I removed the bag from my 2000 and fitted it to a buddies A4 that was affected, IT FAILED inspection.

 

[broke90]

Which inspection is this? Rego or Audi's?

 

[IchBautAuto]

In a sense, both. As I understand it, if you have a car with the defective air bag then the car no longer meets the Australian standards that it was required to for Australian registration, so Audi notify your state roads authority who then cancel your rego or refuse to renew it.

 

[broke90]

But if your car turns up at Audi's inspection with a good airbag, they have to acknowledge it's not affected (or at least no longer affected) and therefore take the VIN off the list, which then allows a normal rego check to go through as normal. At least that's what I think should happen.

 

[IchBautAuto]

I was wanting to not be on their list for defective airbags (which I wasn't) and have a letter saying that the car was in the clear (which I finally received). The on line VIN list is really flaky and the trouble I had even getting Audi to admit that they had sold me a brand new car was unbelievable. Not being on the list is not an assurance that the airbag is not one of the defective batch. While there is some joy in not having to lose your car or jump through hoops to keep it, it might well be offset should you have an accident and the airbag make the outcome worse.

 

[IK015]

Echoing Broke's point, if the car turns up to Audi's inspection with a good airbag, they should be taking it off the VIN list, right? Unless:

- The airbag was in fact an affected one, but to IchBautAuto's point the Vin list is flakey at best and that particular airbag just wasn't picked up initially
- The airbag was fine, but the car was on the list so they failed it regardless

If point two is correct, then it seems like there is no consistency across dealerships, which is quite a concern.

My rego is up in January so it will be interesting to see if I have any issues. I'm in NSW, and will let you all know how i go.