PlacitasNM (aka Ken)

----- Response to the Response Message -----

Hi Marjorie,

Thanks for your response. I totally agree with AoA's priority approach to ignition coil replacement. It's the only right way considering the enormity of the problem. It must be very frustrating for Audi to have to suffer this way because of a sub-contractor issue.

I do belive that AoA will ultimately do a voluntary recall as soon as there are enough good parts to handle it ... plus ... as soon as you are certain that the 'good' parts are indeed reliable over the long run. I've given up asking that you tell us that you will do a recall on the 1.8T model A4s once enough good parts are available. I'm assuming that your concern is that an announcement of future recall would alarm those who own these cars but are not aware of the significance or magnitude of this problem.

Although I think Audi has the 'fix' for the 1.8T with it's 100% inspected 'J' series coil (still in short supply), I see that your other problem is with the A4 3.0s. Although their ignition coil failure rate is significantly lower than on the 1.8T, it appears that there is no 'J' series equivelent for them. The problem on the 3.0s is even showing up on the 2003 models (not yet seen on the 2003 1.8T by those who monitor our forum). I can imagine that R&D is at fever pitch for the 3.0 ignition coils right now.

Anyhow, thanks again for your response

Best regards,

----- Response Message -----

Hello, Ken. Thank you for sending the latest information from the questionnaire results. As you supposed, I have referred it to the persons most concerned for their attention.

As you know, we are working as hard as we can--as is the supplier--to increase the number of available replacement coils. As we said earlier, the priority is still to replace those that must be replaced, and to be sure that we have the parts on hand to do so.

This is a very present concern for all of us at Audi; there is no employee or executive who is unaware of the matter and certainly none of us are indifferent to the problem. We will continue to serve our Audi owners to the best of our ability with the materials at hand.

Thanks again for your consistent effort in sharing the information you have amassed. We do appreciate it.

Marjorie
AudiTalk

-----Original Message-----

Sent: Monday, December 16, 2002 1:02 PM
To: Auditalk
Subject: New Ignition Coil Failure Charts

Hi Marjorie,

Here is the latest ignition coil failure information that we have gathered from our 2002/2003 Audi A4 AudiWorld forum. Much of this I'm sure you know already but there are some charts that represent information that you might find difficult to gather with your own resources.

<A HREF="https://forums.audiworld.com/a4gen2/msgs/205246.phtml">Awaiting Parts coilpack charts</A>

<A HREF="https://forums.audiworld.com/a4gen2/msgs/205237.phtml">Complete list of coilpack charts</A>

Marjorie, everyone here is virtually certain that Audi of America will invite each of us to go to our local dealers for replacement of all the ignition coils in our cars with the newest revision coils (for instance, P/N 06B-905-115-J for those cars with the 1.8T engine). I'm sure you see that your costs associated with having to react to emergency related failures is far greater than they will be once you complete a proactive ignition coil recall program. What we desparately request is for AoA to tell us NOW that that's what you plan to do when you have enough new coils in stock. We really don't want to encourage people to fill out the NHTSA form. We really don't want to have to collect all this data along with it's associated testimonials for later potential action on our part. Please help us out here.

The data shows, among other things, that when the weather starts warming, the likelyhood of failure while on the road, as opposed to just after starting the car, will increase, thus increasing the likelyhood of safety related issues. As I'm sure you can imagine, we all hope and pray that we'll go into the warm seasons with a full set of the newest revision ignition coils in all our cars.

Marjorie, you've been very responsive and helpful in the past so I know that it's not necessary for me again to ask you to pass this letter along to those who would benefit from it's data. What we would appreciate though is if you would also pass this along to Len Hunt.

Best Regards,
Ken

chzball

I appreciate all that you're doing for us

Barb

thanks for taking the lead on this! I appreciate it very much.

Wagoneer

Thanks Man! I wish you were an Audi Official - since you are the only one speaking the "R" word...