Back in September 2020, the Volkswagen Group-owned Audi brand became aware of incidents in which overheating and melting occurred at the industrial socket when charging with the 220V/240V industrial plug at 40 amperes. Between October 2020 and December 2021, the automaker from Ingolstadt, Germany requested and analyzed parts from the field.
In the first instance, Audi determined the power outlets and/or wiring as being incapable of handling the required current. As a result, Audi rolled out a service campaign where the charging system control unit was reprogrammed to a 50 percent power level for the industrial plug. However, the simple press of a button makes it possible to charge at 100 percent.
Field monitoring continued between February 2022 and November 2023, and not surprising anyone, Audi kept receiving field reports alleging overheated and melted sockets. These incidents prompted the German automaker to reevaluate its original service campaign. Lo and behold, someone at Audi finally realized it's human nature to ignore warning labels and common sense. Given these circumstances, Audi decided to supersede the service campaign with a recall comprising 93,196 electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids from the 2020 through 2024 model year.
Dealers have already been instructed to replace the power cable with the power plug for industrial sockets with a newly designed cable that integrates temperature sensors. The report attached below further states that said cable will become available in the second quarter of 2024. In terms of part numbers, the old cable is listed as 7PP971678ED. The revised cable bears P/N 7PP971678GA in the parts system.
Owners will be notified via first-class mail on or about February 9. In the meantime, owners are urged not to use the 220V/240V portable charging cable. Instead, they should use the 110-volt home charging cable or public charging stations. Once the redesigned cable becomes available at dealers nationwide, Audi will send owners a second notice.
Photo: Audi
As per documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the affected population includes the 2022 through 2024 model year Audi e-tron GT, RS e-tron GT, Q4 e-tron, and Q4 e-tron Sportback. The list continues with the 2020 to 2021 model year Audi A8, 2019 through 2019 e-tron Quattro, 2020 through 2024 e-tron Sportback Quattro, Q5 PHEV, and 2021 to 2022 A7 PHEV.
In unsold vehicles, the original cable will be removed from said vehicles prior to delivery. At the same time, dealers are required to destroy the 220V/240V portable charging cable. For vehicles that are out of warranty, Audi will offer a reimbursement plan.
In the first three quarters of 2023, the Audi brand reported 17,628 deliveries of all-electric vehicles in the US market. The undisputed leader is the Q4 e-tron, which can only be described as the fancy brother of the Volkswagen ID.4 crossover.
Together with the Sportback, it moved 7,952 units in the first three quarters. The Q8 e-tron and Q8 e-tron Sportback accounted for 4,716 deliveries, whereas the e-tron GT and more powerful RS e-tron GT moved 2,424 examples in total.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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