2006 Audi S4 problems
NHTSA has received 37 complaints about the 2006 Audi S4, and 59% of them involve lighting. After that come air bags (19%) and electrical system (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 37 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Lighting 60% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 0 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 0 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 48,000 miles 26 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 5 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 7 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 6 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 4 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 0 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 2 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 1 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 1 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 26 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 48,000 miles. For lighting specifically, the median reported mileage is about 50,000 miles (19 complaints with mileage).
None of these complaints report a crash, fire, injury or death. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 100% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2006 ranks 7th most-complained-about out of 11 model years of the Audi S4 with enough data (23 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
I leased on brand new 2006 audi s4 on july 29,2006. In december 14,2006 this car developed a problem with the power steering of car. The car was taken to the dealership for repairs. This took four days. Two weeks later this car was towed to the dealership for power steering problem. This time they replaced the power steering rack which total a twenty-three day repair. On march 24,2007 the car was once again towed to dealership and I was told the clutch of vehicle was no good.
Intermittent headlight malfunction. Over the course of a year and a half of ownership, the right headlight has malfunctioned (turned off), with no consistent cause apparent. The specific error message that appears in the driver information screen is "right headlight dipped". This condition is both unsafe, and illegal - as many states will issue a traffic violation for driving with a non-functioning headlight.
My 2006 audi s4's low beam headlights flicker while driving on very cold days. Occasionally, my left or right headlight will turn off completely. I haven't had both go out at the same time, but I am worried that this will occur eventually. The flickering is very dangerous as it happens at low speed while I am driving through my neighborhood. I am worried that I will not be able to see children crossing the street going to school.
Hid xenon headlights randomly flicker and shut off during driving. It's getting worse. Dealers "never found" problem which recurs continually so they never fixed this issue under warranty after being asked several times since the vehicle was new. 100's of other stories about this online. Huge safety issue when headlights just quit at random.