Ancient Audi, current airbag recall!
 

Hi all

Thought I'd mention this here, as I know Audi UK records of current ownership of older models that don't see the inside of a main dealer service department means some of you will not be aware of this....

My parents had a 1998 A4 2.4SE saloon up until about 2012/3, when the auto gearbox cried 'enough' and died in an expensive way (it'd previously suffered from mixing with coolant due to the stupid radiator design) and after many years use they decided to scrap it and buy something newer, as even good ones were only worth about a grand at that age.

All paperwork was correctly completed and reported to DVLA, however today my dad's had a letter from Audi UK saying that according to DVLA data the car is still registered to him and requires a recall action for a replacement airbag gas generator for the driver's airbag. Depending on which gov.uk resource you use to search for it, MOT history suggests it's sitting somewhere with no valid MOT since 2012, a tax check says 'no record found' so suggests correctly recorded as scrapped.

Also interesting is that if you search the VCA recall database based on the registration number, which uses the MOT data, it shows no valid MOT but also states there are NO outstanding recalls. There is clearly something not quite right there!

However, if you enter the vehicle details without quoting a specific registration, you get the following:

Of particular note to this forum is that number of affected models isn't just A4s of the B5 era. If you search for A8s of the same age, the same recall appears. Examples across the Audi range from 1997-2001 appear to be fitted with the suspect gas generators. I don't know if 2002 models changed supplier/spec for airbag modules, or if they aren't of sufficient age to be of concern yet, but worth noting.

Worth checking here:

https://www.check-vehicle-recalls.se...e/vehicle/make

I just got one for my '98 A4 track car. The one car in the fleet which doesn't have any airbags any more :ROFL:

Not sure about the PF. All FL1s I've seen have Takata airbags but FL2s are all TRW.

Take it to the dealer for the recall and see what happens +++ :ROFL:

According to that site there are 9,536 A8s affected.

Interesting result. Mine was manufactured September '01, so shouldn't that be a FL2. Not that I'm questioning MJs comment, heaven forbid! Maybe just general apathy from Audi and/or government and basically suspect every car until it's checked.

Their data will be based only on registrations, as DVSA won't know the actual build date. They'll prefer to capture more cars than they need to, then discount the ones that aren't in the right range. Both parties will have the VIN, so 'should' be able to filter out ones that aren't affected without more grief than a phone call to a dealer.

Thats just based on the ones I've seen and my own collection, so by no means definitive.

Generally the chunky FL1 sport wheel with the full-size tiptronic buttons and dots in a ring around the Audi badge has the Takata airbag. All my FL2s have the slimmer wheel with the half-size buttons and the chrome ring and TRW airbags. I've only seen FL2 4-spoke wheels and they have the TRW as well.

Put your reg into the London LEZ checker, FL1 fails, FL2 passes. ;)
Check Your Vehicle on this page: https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/low-emission-zone

Great tip +++

Guess that makes me an FL2

Your vehicle
Black AUDI S8 4.2 QUATTRO AUTO
Country of registration
United Kingdom
Change vehicle
Congestion Charge
£15.00 to £17.50 a day
Where it operates:
Central London only - check a postcode or location

Charging times:
07:00-22:00, every day, including weekends and bank holidays. Except Christmas Day (25 December).

It was MJ (of course) who provided the explanation, a while back now. All to do with subtle revisions of the Bosch engine management software IIRC. The FL2 version has an extra .1 on the version that somehow, along with other changes, makes it "officially" (well enough for London) meets the Euro 4 standard, even though that didn't really arrive until 2005/6. :Confused:

Yes, lots of small updates on the FL2 - single piece foglight grilles for one, the introduction of the S-mode gearbox, and as far as I can tell the switch from Takata to TRW airbags although it sounds like there may be some overlap there. This is the change from Bosch ME7.1 to 7.1.1 which adds some software tweaks to how the secondary air and cam timing works plus close-coupled pre-cats to achieve Euro 4 for the A8

The FL2 S8 is actually still Euro 3 as it doesn't have the pre-cats (although does have ME7.1.1), but conveniently for those who might venture inside the M25, the way the DVLA registered the D2s means that the S8 is a sub-model of the A8 and therefore got classified as Euro 4 anyway :D