oawaad

I have a 2010 A4 and keep getting an error for the parking brake malfunction and simultaneously the air bag light is coming on. I have taken it to the dealer, and so far have already paid $500 to get the Battery Interrupter Controller replaced. They told me this controller kills power to the system if the air bags are deployed. Now 3 months later I get the same lights popping up and they want to replace the Air bag Control Module. This is a bit more pricey ($1,500), so needless to say I'd love to hear if anyone has any suggestions or has been through this before.

The dealership says this might not even fix the actual issue as it might be a wiring issue. Any suggestions?

A4Driver

This is actually a relatively common problem with Audis. My car has the same problem. The airbag and parking brake light will come on at the same time. The first time it happened to me, I was driving on the highway and the lights came on. So I pulled over in a rest stop and did what I naturally do when I park the car -- I pulled up the parking brake switch. Bad move. The brakes were now locked.

I started to panic, seeing as I was in the middle of nowhere, and a check of my cell phone showed that the nearest Audi dealer was about 100 miles away.

But something told me to shut off the engine. I did, and when I restarted the car, the warning lights did not come back on, and the brakes released themselves. So, I continued to my destination. After driving about a half an hour, the lights came back on. So I put a Post-it note over the brake switch to remind me not to use the parking brake.

To make a long story short, when I returned home several days later, I took my car to the dealership and they told me I needed to replace the airbag sensor that is in the front passenger seat. They said they would have to take the seat out and take it apart to remove the sensor. They said it would cost $1,600. Since it is an intermittent problem and it doesn't affect the driveability of the car, I have put off having the work done.

The funny thing is, I used the Carista app on my phone and reset all the fault codes on my car. I then drove from Southern Massachusetts to Montreal and back, and the lights never came back on. It's fixed, I thought. But the next day, I was driving to a car show 10 miles from my house, and the error lights came back on.

As far as your dealer goes, I think he should fix the problem at no extra cost to you, since their previous attempt at fixing it obviously didn't work. I would contact Audi of America if your dealer doesn't cooperate.
.
.
.