The Worst Audi Q5 Model Has a Dangerous Flaw

For many customers, Audi and other German automakers represent “German engineering” at its finest. And, while Audi does make many great cars, Audi has also made a couple of bad cars as well. Here’s the Audi Q5 model year that you may want to avoid due to a potentially dangerous flaw.

The 2014 Audi Q5’s potentially dangerous flaw

While not common, the 2014 Q5 had many reports on Car Complaints about its engine suddenly dying while the owner was driving their car. Obviously, this is not safe as there are many situations where your engine suddenly dying could lead to a crash. But with that said, it should be stressed that this wasn’t the most common issue that the 2014 Q5 had. It was nonetheless a severe issue for the owners who did encounter it, though.

For example, Car Complaints reports that, on average, the handful of 2014 Q5 owners who had this issue had a mileage of about 44,000 miles. This means that their Audi vehicles were relatively used but not by a lot. On top of that, Car Complaints also says that the average cost to fix this issue was $4,500. This is likely because one of the ways that this issue was fixed was by simply replacing the 2014 Q5’s engine. That will, of course, cost a lot of money.

As a result of these facts, Car Complaints rated this issue as “really awful,” giving it a 9.3 out of 10 on Car Complaints’ severity meter. While this issue is troubling, it isn’t necessarily the end of the world. 

What the NHTSA says about this

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or the NHTSA, does its own tests and research to see how safe cars are. One of the ways it does this is by taking in complaints by car owners, much like what Car Complaints does. 

The NHTSA, according to Car Complaints, also received several complaints about the 2014 Q5’s engine suddenly dying while it was in use. That said, while the NHTSA also reports that the average mileage of these complaints was about 40,000 miles, the NHTSA doesn’t think that it’s that severe of an issue. 

That’s largely because the NHTSA could not attribute any crashes, fires, injuries, or deaths to the 2014 Q5’s engine problems. While it’s obviously not safe for a car’s engine to shut off by itself, the NHTSA simply says that it hasn’t led to any truly severe accidents yet. As a result of that, Car Complaints says that the NHTSA gave the 2014 Q5’s engine issues a severity rating of just 3.3 out of 10. This makes the 2014 Q5’s engine problems “definitely annoying.”

The one problem you should be worried about

While the 2014 Q5 may not be causing crashes and injuries, it does have an issue that customers should be aware of. And this issue does have to do with its engine, too. But, unlike its engine simply dying on rare occasions, this issue was far more common, according to Car Complaints. 

The most common problem in the 2014 Q5 was that its engine had excessive oil consumption. While Car Complaints didn’t report on the average cost to repair this issue, historically, excessive oil consumption problems can lead to a lot of money being spent on repairs. 

Off the bat, the 2014 Q5 owners that experience this problem may have already spent more money than necessary on oil for their car. Repairing this issue permanently can be costly as well. Some owners may choose to replace the engine entirely, and for a car like the Q5, that will cost a lot of money.