JBDinTX

Every Audi I have owned has rattled from day one. Lol.

jengram

OK, here is the latest update and I am not happy!
I'll try to make this long story short. Dropped off the car and the next day they told me it was the seat belt spring inside the B-pillar. They added padding and returned the car to me. I couldn't have driven the car that much because within 3 miles from the dealership and the rattle was in both the driver and passenger door. I called back the next day to setup a time for me to return the car.

The next week I returned the car and they went back to work. This time I was told that one of the seat belt springs were bad so they had to replace it. Of coarse, they had to order the part. They replaced the part and again I was told it's fixed. I asks them to drive the car more than 5 minutes to make sure the rattle was gone. The service manager took the car home for the weekend and on Monday, I was told all is good so I made my 45 minute trip to get my car. I left the dealership and within 1 miles of the dealership, the rattle was there. I immediately returned and told them to keep the car.

A different service person road with me and he sat in the back seat trying to diagnose the noise. He noticed if he pressed on the back door arm rest the rattle would stopped. We pulled off to the side of the road, the rattle was there when the back door was open. The rattle is coming from the back door and resonating to the front door. It sounds like glass hitting metal. Now they have had they car another week and still not able to correct the issue. I have been told Audi USA is also assisting and still nothing!

OK, I have had my car about 5 weeks now (picked up on 8/11) and the dealership has now had my car more than two weeks. It won't be long and they will have had it more than me!!!
The noise seems to be a design issue and hopefully they can come up with a good fix soon! Will it ever end.

LASQ5

I feel your pain. I've had several rattles that come and go periodically. Mostly from the sunroof and instrument cluster. The service department has disassembled, added felt tape and reassembled multiple times and the rattles ALWAYS come back. I also have rattles coming from the drivers and passenger side seatbelt area... I've found that if I hit the pillar with an open palm, it goes away for a while. It sucks that a $65k car rattles so badly... and it's extremely inconvenient to keep going in for service over and over for the same problem... the service reps just shrug their shoulders.

Dino757

I had exactly the noise you're describing. I tried every configuration of storing the drivers rear seat belt, with no relief. I buckled that seat belt, one month ago, and haven't even thought of the noise...... Till I read this thread.... Try leaving that seat belt buckled. It works for me..

jengram

On my car, it is definitely not from the seat belt. The noise can come with the engine running and the car not moving. Now the car has been at the dealer for almost 3 weeks!

I just got an update two days ago. They are disassembling my car one piece at a time and testing for the rattle. With the seat belt adjuster, bi-pillar panel, and rear door panel removed, the car still rattled. They just removed the read door speaker and so far, they have not been able to make the car rattle, so they might be on to something.

Since the rattle happens even when the car is not moving, it is probably not a rattle caused by movement. It is possible the speaker vibration is not dampened properly and is resonating through the rear door into the bi-pillar and happens to sound like it is coming from the seat belt adjuster.

I personally think it is a design issue that just happens if you have the right combinations of packages in your car. I have the B&O system. It could be possible this doesn't happen with the Bose system. Right now, they have no idea how to fix the problem. The are trying to get an Audi field service engineer to take a look at it to try and come up with a design fix.

I picked up my car on 8/11. It is now 9/26 and they have had my car for a total of 3.5 weeks. My car has been at the dealer more than I have had it!!! This is my 3rd German car we have owned. The Mini quality was OK. Got rid of it because the CVT transmission started to slip. The A4 has had a tire issue and windshield wiper issue and now the SQ5 issue. Oh, did I mention the brakes make a grunting noise and squeak at low speeds! I have owned around 6 Japanese cars (all bought new) in my life and have never had issues like I am seeing with the German cars. I thought the German quality was supposed to be at a high level, but I am starting to think otherwise now!

kga1978

I had rattles coming from the doors too. I noticed that if I pressed on the bottom of the door where it's all hard plastic, then the rattle would go away. After doing that, I realized it was the door cubby making the noise - it's not fully attached on the inside of the door so it can rattle. If you put your hand inside the cubby press it all the way to the back and upwards you should be able to feel that it's not attached. Solution? Place some felt tape between the cubby and the door and the rattle goes away - I had the problem on both front doors and this solved it.

Now I can hear all the other rattles instead...

jengram

OK, the ordeal is over!
I finally got my car back from the dealer after not having it for 6 straight week. I had owned my car for 8 1/2 weeks and it had been at the dealer for 6 of them; however, the rattle is no more. The rattle that I was hearing at my seat belt adjuster was coming from my rear door speakers. The vibration from the speaker would resonate through the b-pillar. The problem was on both sides, passenger and drivers. After removing the speaker they drove the car several days and the noise was gone. After installing the speaker back into the car, the rattle did not come back.

While they drove my car for the month, they noticed the front brakes making a squeaking noise. I had already complained about this when I dropped off my car, but I was told it was OK. Well the service manager didn't think it was normal. They replaced both front brake pads, calipers, and rotors. I had to wait for the parts to come from Germany. They never officially said this, but I got the impression they knew of the problem and had to replace all parts. I suspect there must have been some type of brake manufacturing issue which caused my brakes to be faulty.
I have had the car back for over a week now and it's still running good with no issues. I was not happy with my car being gone for so long, but if nothing else happens for some time, then I will be OK.

faxlee

Thanks, jengram.
Great information. I will let my dealer know next time. I send my MY16 SQ5 back to dealer with the same issue and they could not fix it. I had same front break squeaking noise as well plus the steering wheel noise at low speed which they fixed last time.