The defect
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain model year 2012-2013 Audi A6 vehicles manufactured March 28, 2011, to March 25, 2013, and 2012-2013 Audi A7 vehicles manufactured January 25, 2011, to March 19, 2013. In vehicles with heated and cooled seats, the Passenger Occupant Detection System (PODS), used to enable the front passenger air bags, may malfunction and prevent the passenger-side air bags from deploying in a crash.
The risk
An air bag that does not deploy as intended increases the risk of occupant injury in a crash.
The remedy
Volkswagen will notify owners, and Audi dealers will install a PODS system repair kit, free of charge. The recall began on February 5, 2016. Owners may contact Audi customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 74D1.
NHTSA's own wording · initiated by MFR
Vehicles covered
| Model | Model years |
|---|---|
| Audi A6 | 2012, 2013 |
| Audi A7 | 2012, 2013 |
Components: AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION
Model years in this recall
NHTSA complaints and the number of recall campaigns for each model year this recall covers.
| Model | Year | Complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audi A6 | 2012 | 60 | 8 |
| Audi A6 | 2013 | 52 | 6 |
| Audi A7 | 2012 | 30 | 5 |
| Audi A7 | 2013 | 19 | 5 |
Other air bags recalls in 2015
61 of the 863 recall campaigns reported to NHTSA in 2015 concerned the air bags; Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. filed 321 campaigns in all.
| 15V830000 10 Dec 2015 | General Motors LLC |
| 15V815000 4 Dec 2015 | Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. |
| 15V787000 23 Nov 2015 | BMW of North America, LLC |
| 15V739000 9 Nov 2015 | BMW of North America, LLC |
| 15V714000 29 Oct 2015 | Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) |
| 15V711000 27 Oct 2015 | Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC. |
| 15V695000 23 Oct 2015 | BMW of North America, LLC |
| 15V681000 20 Oct 2015 | Nissan North America, Inc. |
NHTSA recalls (public domain) · all recalls of 2015