Wires

Any time I reach out to my manufacturer for parts, they takes them 4-6 weeks to schedule in and supply finished goods to me. 30 days isn't an unrealistic number for supplying parts.

hornpolish

thats kinda my point. if 30 days isnt unrealistic, then by what logic is it acceptable to hold ZERO in inventory if you want to satisfy your warranty obligations.

Wires

That's the point you are missing. If fuel pumps don't die (typically) then they aren't going to put a ton on the shelf "in case". If by some series of unfortunate events, any spares were consumed between pump builds, then you have to wait. Sure it sucks, it doesn't make it a lemon situation, nor is there anything Audi can do about it until supply stock is replaced.

Audi isn't pulling pumps out of new vehicles on the lot for you, nor are they going into manufacturing to grab parts. That isn't how the process works. If they put in a sh*tty 1988 Hyundai Excel, then you could be insanely p*ssed. But they gave you a decent loaner while the situation gets resolved. I'd say they are doing their part.

Feel free to dump this POS Audi, but ANY brand can put you in this situation. Welcome to 2018 where NOBODY stocks excess anymore!

hornpolish

so i have one concrete counter example to "if pumps dont die (typically)". the lemon law doesnt seem to care what your excuse is - "This means that the car has been repaired for the same problem four or more times, or that it has been out of service a cumulative total of 20 or more business days during a 12 month period of the warranty". the lemon law just cares that the car has been out of service, it is indifferent as to why.

we still aren't connecting really, even tho you insist we are.
you are describing what is happening, and i dont disagree
i'm describing what i expect to happen given the premium branding of an audi. i think they should try harder to avoid a "covered under warranty" outage. my loaner doesnt have a tow hitch; doesnt have DAP, doesnt have things i paid good money for and make reasonable use of. these are no big deal when i use the loaner for a few days. but when the outage was before/during and after the hurricane, how do you think i towed my boat? i should keep a spare tow-vehicle cuz audi cant keep a spare fuel pump?

i appreciate your point of view, i dont agree with it. of the folks that replied
2 say tough titty, thats how the cookie crumbles (Wires/KaDeTime)
1 agrees 30+ days for a fuel pump aint right
1 gives a link to NC lemon law
1 says maybe the tech hasnt even got the right diag yet, and i should be more pissed at that

enough to inform my opinion that others might agree audi has missed its SLA here.
and to be clear i'm not griping about a POS audi. i love the SQ5. i'm cranky that audi has missed the mark on its warranty obligation.

StickyAK

I agree with you - it's not reasonable to have to wait for critical parts for multiple weeks. Audi Corp and the laws of NC don't care if I agree with you or Wires or KaDeTime or what the opinions of the other folks on this forum are.
The laws of NC agree with you and they give you recourse.
The lemon law is your tool to compel Audi to get you a new fuel pump in under 20 NC business days.
Audi simply made a parts stocking business decision based on dollars - they have to spend less money on spare parts inventory but they will (by law) have to take more extreme measures to make "under warranty" repairs in a timely manner (what timely means is spelled out in the laws of your state - and in NC it appears that the law doesn't help you if you are leasing a vehicle).
So now Audi has to make a decision about how they are going to comply with the law:
- They can buy back your vehicle
- They can overnight parts from wherever there are new ones in a box (Mexico, Germany, China, wherever)
- They can cannibalize a new vehicle to get you the part. (they have to weigh the cost of selling that car at a deep discount after it's been repaired vs the cost of the buyback vs the cost of other options - it's probably cheaper for them to eat the difference in selling price of the cannibalized vehicle than to buy back your vehicle.

Whatever they decide to do, the law compels them to act within the timeframes outlined in statue (or administrative code). This is NOT a dealer problem - this is a corporate problem. You simply need to assert your rights under the law - step 1 is to notify the manufacturer (Audi corporation) - which is NOT the same as telling the dealer. Audi (the corporation) doesn't want to own your used SQ5 - they will get you a fuel pump within 20 business days once they are aware of the problem and understand the repercussions of not meeting that timeline.

Enough hand wringing - time to act - notify the manufacturer.

StickyAK

What was the outcome of this Mr. Hornpolish?
Fixed?
Compensation?

hornpolish

i was lucky to pick a day to call the GM @ my dealer when he had a meeting with the "audi rep" soon. between the 2 of them they must have decided to liberate a pump from one of the for sale ones.
i called in the morning. around 1pm, my phone chirped that the car had moved. by 2:30 i got the call that she was ready. Shoulda called him earlier.
Parts department had not escalated the issue to him, even tho they had placed red-alert order with audi HQ...
not at all impressed with 1-800-audi customer center. took my details like i must be exaggerating, and 3 days later called back to read-back that yes, indeed, the car was waiting a fuel pump going on 40 days. "when", i asked? "we dont have access to that information". total fluff job.

It was breaking my heart. i really love my SQ5, and there i was on the trigger for asking for my money back under the lemon law, but would not know what to get next. Tesla X P100D out of spite, but thats a pretty pile more dinero. 63AMG? i still have my 430CLK, but have no respect at all for the local benz service...

I was happy as a clam to hand back the luxo-cruser Q7. Comfortable, but not my kind of vehicle..
45 days "without" confirmed just how much i like the Adaptive Cruise (Traffic Jam mode is awesome, there is no going back); money spent on dynamic steering still worth it on the first 2 miles of my commute :-)
we spent the day touring the fancy houses at raleigh parade of homes, and i wasnt even tempted my the maserati, the macan GTS or the Jag we parked nearby.

i didnt press for compensation (might be bad karma). i'll probably get some if i bite on the eTron;
i'm starting to worry that the eTron is closer in aspirations to Q7 than SQ5 -- definitely need to wait to see/drive one now.

So alls well that ends well, and i'm glad that Wires didnt turn out to be the official spokesperson for Audi on this matter.

m1964

Well, no one can say what is typical vs atypical failure. I know one thing for 100%- Audi of NA will deny that any failure is typical.
Hey, they denied that leaking fuel pump on our Q5 was a known problem 4 weeks before issuing the recall for that exact problem.
They denied any assistance "because the vehicle is now over five years old and is out of factory warranty". Thanks to some members here, I checked the California warranty and the fuel system was covered. And 4 weeks later they issued a recall!
This denial behavior of Audi of NA continues because they denied to me that leaking sunroof hoses is a common problem but issued a recall in Australia and in the UK .
How is that for customer service: deny the problem with fuel pump and make the customer drive the Q5 leaking fuel and then issue a recall 4 weeks later?

All I know is my Q5's history and that is enough for me to make a decision what NOT TO BUY the next time. Just for comparison, I brought my RX to the Lexus dealer once in six years. RX 350 does not drive as well as Q5 but gives me no headaches either. You do not need to stock parts if they do not break.
But in the OP's situation, it broke and who is to say if it was a typical failure or not? If you ask Audi they will deny it.

PS
BTW, the service advisor at the dealer confirmed that leaking sunroofs are frequently seen. Not as frequently as leaking oil (at 77K miles), but still...

C-Los

Don't know about your state but I'd just lemon law it. Here in FL, if it's out for more than 15 business days, you can lemon law it. I did that with one my vehicles that had about 7 weeks. I got my down payment plus all my lease payments back, minus a percentage based on mileage on the car.
Was able to just pick up my check and go get another car. Had a nice chunk of cash left over.

katzjamr

My RX400h was trouble free for 13 years, 180,000 miles. I wanted another Lexus but they made them so ugly, slow and boat like in handling that the Audi was the only thing that I enjoyed driving.
Got the extended warranty, but I don't think I will have the Q5 past 90,000 miles...