macaddict111

Hey all! Hope this experience helps someone else.

Last month on my TTS with 20k miles, I started getting error messages at the exactly the same time, sometimes while driving and sometimes after starting: ESP malfunction, Hill Hold Assist Unavailable, Suspension Malfunction, Steering Malfunction, TPMS Malfunction. It didn't affect driving at all, and they would all clear upon restart and driving a bit.

Took to the dealer, and the codes were thrown because the Steering Angle Sensor, which is inside the Steering Gear (rack) and not individually replaceable was intermittently losing battery voltage (Terminal 30 errors). This basically means it or the wiring inside the gear to it was faulty. The dealership under advice from Audi of America, replaced the Steering Gear (entire rack). They called me in to come get it, and it threw all the codes again when I put it through a full range of travel. In the end, this happened because the tech flashed the old firmware directly from the old gear to the new one (standard practice), but because the new rack was a different revision, the firmware wasn't the right version. AoA sent the tech a fresh firmware flash, and the car has been great since.

Also got a free 20k mile service out of it and thermostat replacement (slight coolant leak), for the trouble of it not being resolved when I originally came in. I cannot say enough good about Audi of Beverly Hills, they are amazing!

farmerjones

Nice for you to share a positive experience at a dealership. It seems recently anyone posting here with a failure like this is calling for a free new replacement car or a class action lawsuit. You didn't freak out when it wasn't fixed, and then in turn treaded you like a valued customer with the free service. THIS is how you handle a repair, not dial AoA and make demands. Pretty odd repair, but glad it was fixed relatively easily.

Nebuul

I feel it shows a lack of class to give a back-handed insult to people who've had to escalate issues in order to get them addressed. You aren't in their shoes and have no idea what all they've gone through with the dealership before reaching that stage. Bad form.

farmerjones

That may be your opinion but you don't know the entire story.... As someone that used to deal with these "crisis" repairs daily at luxury dealerships I know pretty well how the scenario goes, and there have been some outrageous claims made here recently.

I'll just let this be, but I want you to know one of the posts here on new engine failure that focused on class-action lawsuits and a free replacement car was at my LOCAL dealership. Since I used to work with the service manager I swung by and asked about this engine failure that was posted on this forum. I got an eye roll, and then the REAL story..... It involved some shouting on the service drive from that poster, along with threats. Let me just summarize: owner error caused the failure. You'll note the posted that ranted and raged on here has never given any update or resolution about it. Wanna know why? He came on here lying, something I picked up on (along with many others) after a few short posts. It's disgracful people will come on here and make accusations that have no merit in order to "build a case" for legal action.

So you can call "bad form" on me all you want, but there have been some complaints made here against Audi that were very "bad form". So it IS genuinely nice to see someone have a bumpy service experience and give props to the dealership that resolved it with class and service.

This is off topic, so I won't comment any further on this "side note" of this post.

Nebuul

It's still bad form. If there are specific cases where issues have happened, I think you should feel free to call them out. But your previous comments will influence people with legitimate cases to keep quiet because you stereotyped the entire group of people who've had to escalate to AoA. There have been a great number of cases over the years where dealerships have dropped the ball, and we have appreciated the input from folks when dealing with those situations.

Apologies to the OP for derailing the thread. You did handle things well, and we're happy for your successful resolution.

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ourlee

macaddict111

Nebuul

Because the comment to which I replied was written in such a way as to discourage open communication on this forum, and I did not feel it was appropriate to start a new thread for the sole purpose of discussing a comment. And other people reading your thread might have their own anecdote to share about a less-fulfilling dealer experience -- or even moreso they might want advice in how to deal with a dealer problem. But if they see a post slamming literally all posts critical dealers, then they might not take part in our forum discussions here.

​​​​It's not all about you, not even in your own thread. I really don't care about your opinions of my opinions as long as people feel free to post topics about their car that others might find helpful or about which others can help.

But thank you for sharing your story about a technical solution that might help another enthusiast and a positive dealer experience.

Huey52

Well, it is Beverly Hills after all.

i had a similar steering rack problem with my allroad. Very intermittently it would get notchy to the point of lost steering confidence. The bandaid fix was to rotate the steering wheel fully lock-to-lock a couple times with the vehicle motionless. At that point tho' deemed a safety item and replaced as well.

Interesting that code plays a part even in the steering rack itself (likely related to speed-progressive steering capability).