AUDI Q5: AIR BAGS: SIDE/WINDOW; VISIBILITY: SUN/MOON ROOF ASSEMBLY
- What can happen
- An inflator rupture may result in metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
- Remedy
- Audi will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the inflator and either coat it or replace it, as necessary, after removing the surrounding foam, free of charge. The recall is expected to began March 2017. Owners may contact Audi customer service at…
- Potentially affected
- 234057
Completion rate: 92.5% of the 234,057 vehicles potentially affected, the share the maker has reported to NHTSA as remedied, as listed in NHTSA's recalls data (updated Nov. 12, 2026). A recall protects people only when the repair is done.
Is your vehicle in this recall? It depends on the vehicle's VIN, not its make, model or year: check a VIN or use NHTSA's VIN lookup.
- Date (report received by NHTSA)
- Jan. 3, 2017
- Filed by
- Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
- Vehicles
- AUDI Q5 (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017)
- Component
- AIR BAGS › SIDE/WINDOW; VISIBILITY › SUN/MOON ROOF ASSEMBLY
- Description of the defect
- Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2011-2017 Audi Q5 vehicles. The sunroof drainage system may allow water to soak into the foam surrounding the side head air bag inflator canister resulting in the corrosion of the canister. If this happens, the corrosion can weaken the canister and the inflator could fracture without air bag deployment, propelling fragments into the passenger compartment, striking and causing serious injury to vehicle occupants.
- Potentially affected
- 234057
- What can happen
- An inflator rupture may result in metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
- Remedy
- Audi will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the inflator and either coat it or replace it, as necessary, after removing the surrounding foam, free of charge. The recall is expected to began March 2017. Owners may contact Audi customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 69P1.
- Recall notes
- Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.
- Owner notification date
- March 3, 2017
- Manufacturer campaign number
- 69P1
- Recall type
- V (vehicle)
- Influenced by
- MFR
- Recall number
- 17V001000
How this defect works
A simplified drawing of the part, following the words of NHTSA's record. It shows how the defect is described, not an event.
What the notice says to do (the remedy, in its words)
“Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2011-2017 Audi Q5 vehicles. The sunroof drainage system may allow water to soak into the foam surrounding the side head air bag inflator canister resulting in the corrosion of the canister. If this happens, the corrosion can weaken the canister and the inflator could fracture without air bag deployment, propelling fragments into the passenger compartment, striking and causing serious injury to vehicle occupants.” “An inflator rupture may result in metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.”AUDI AIR BAGS:SIDE/WINDOW recall, NHTSA recall record, 2017-01-03. The caption and the remedy steps are the record's own words.
A generic drawing of the kind of part, not the part itself. The failure mark follows the record's verb; the phrases on the right are the record's own words. The test dummy stands for the risk the notice names (“serious injury”); it is not a record of something that happened.
If the drawing and the record's words differ, the words govern. A drawing is chosen by rules and an AI reading of the record and can miss what it means; report one with the form below.
This recall among the others
- AUDI: 25 other recalls or notices on this site in the three years before this one (from Jan. 4, 2014).
Counted from the agency records on this site, as on Statistics: a recall event once, by its first notice.
What should I do? Car recall: how to check your car and get it fixed · How to read this record
Source: NHTSA · Vehicle record. View the agency notice. The agency notice governs; check it and the company before acting.
Cite this record
NHTSA recall record 17V001000, Jan. 3, 2017. PlainRecords' title: "AUDI Q5: AIR BAGS: SIDE/WINDOW; VISIBILITY: SUN/MOON ROOF ASSEMBLY." PlainRecords, https://plainrecords.com/recall/vehicle/17v001000/ (as of the day it was built).At each build a sample of records from each source is compared with the agency's published file and the page; every correction is public. Drawings are chosen by software that reads the record. Built daily. How we check · Corrections