Safety Concern with 2017 Audi Q7 - Brake Servo Failure Due to Rodent Damage
 

Hello AudiWorld Community,

I wanted to share a recent experience with my 2017 Audi Q7, which raised significant safety concerns. A few days ago, the car started showing a “Start/Stop System Malfunction” error. Without clear guidance on the severity of this issue, we continued using the vehicle that evening. Probably the next day, However, things took a turn for the worse when my wife, driving at a moderate speed, less than a minute after leaving home to take the kids to school, suddenly received a “Brake Servo Restricted” warning. A red light was imminent. She found herself having to apply an extraordinary amount of force to the brake pedal to stop the car, which was both alarming and physically demanding.she pulled over right after the light.

The car was towed to Audi dealership, where it was discovered that a vacuum hose had been damaged by a rodent, causing the brake servo failure. To our surprise, this repair was not covered under our Audi Pure Protection Platinum Warranty. We’ve since had the hose replaced, but the incident left us questioning the design of the vehicle in terms of protecting such critical components from rodent damage and the limitations of the warranty in covering essential safety repairs as well as the uselessness of the warning message.

I’m sharing this here to highlight a potential safety issue for other Audi Q7 owners and to gather feedback or similar experiences from the community. Has anyone else faced something like this? How did you deal with it, and do you have any advice on preventative measures?

Looking forward to the community’s insights and discussion.

Best,
Gsans
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.aud...ff3cc2980.jpeg

Wow- super glad your wife was able to navigate a tough situation and stop safely. Rodents can definitely inflict some damage to any vehicle with their indiscriminate destruction. It sounds like you either park outside or have a rodent issue inside your garage and need to take care of that ASAP.

FWIW my office is located in the same building as USAF Civil Air Patrol. They have a fleet of vehicles that can sit for weeks at a time without moving, depending on mission. They are forever battling chewed wires, mostly from rabbits. Lots of $ spent for repairs.

Audi brake servo restricted - rodent follow up
 

We have a professional exterminator service with mouse/rat traps installed around the perimeter of the home for 4 years. Car is kept in driveway. It’s the Pacific Northwest suburbia and for sure these rodents are rampant here. But this hasn’t happened in 8 years.

Have heard some manufacturers make these hoses of soy which attract rodents. Also saw Honda sells a rodent tape for hoses. I also bought these packets of mint/essential oil to put under the car in driveway when it parks. The situation really freaked us out and to me I think Audi could better protect their cars and especially the braking system!

I had a wire harness just below windshield wiper assy chewed up by rats, which caused multiple faults (PreSense, door locks etc). It took some time to determine cause. On advice from my mechanic, I see prunkled Clorox dry bleach pellets under the hood of both of my cars. Do not know how effective it is, but had no problem thus far

Are you serious?

So you ignored a warning light. Did you bother to check the owner's manual...which would have given clear guidance. Did you need a pop up flag coming out of the dash?
Right. Acts of God and rodents are not covered by manufacturer's warranty...ANY manufacturer's warranty. Do you think Lexus would have covered the errant rodent?

Again, did you RTFM? You would have found the answer there. You had an unlucky break, so to speak. Fortunately nobody was hurt. You can't blame this problem on Audi. Nobody clads running gear in kevlar or chainlink sheathing, unless of course you ordered the MILSPEC version.
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There's a Lexus in your future. Clearly you're not happy with Audi. BMW, Mercedes, and Lexus would have provided identical experiences.

I'm tempted to pile on by posting a link to one of the many videos entitled "Dumb Ways to Die"...but I won't.

Folks, if you don't understand the message on your dash and don't bother to look it up, or the difference between a solid CEL and a flashing CEL...you have failed your driver's test. Please pull over and hand your keys to a responsible adult.

Driving IRL is not like playing GTA. There's no reset button.

No need to be so harsh - those who haven't previously experienced rat/ rodent car damage don't realize that these critters can get to nearly -anything- if they can squeeze in there and will chew on any wire/hose/?? if it seems/smells/feels edible, and there is no easy way to defend from this as it can happen almost anyplace. TMK, no modern car is rodent proof. My Audi dealer could not figure out the reason for many faults in my car after what they told me was a very "through inspection", and neither could I - until an indy mechanic happened to spot the two wires in a module that was chewed through.

Disappointing
 

Rats. I see this has devolved into a typical Facebook post.

the warning light came on essentially seconds before the brake failure. It said - and I quote - “brake servo failure - you can continue driving.”

peace