Our 2019 Audi Etron is totaled after 14 months. Driving it through the snow and apparently ice from a preceding car kicked up and impacted and cracked drivers side wheel well. Next day, high voltage battery failure do not drive message. Took to dealer. Two issues: front motor insulation failure (replace under warranty) and battery short. Turns out the plast fender liner is the only thing that separates the battery from the outside world. Battery shorted. $38,000 repair cost. According to dealer and Audi USA, not a warranty claim due to “external factor.” Very poor design. Hoping insurance covers this catastrophic failure. We will not be buying another VAG product in the future (we had a diesel-gate VW golf, and now this.). Buyer beware.
Scrap metal after 14 months
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For what it’s worth: no other damage to wheel, suspension, alignment, etc.
Woah, that's nuts! Very sorry to hear. I was under the impression that the Audi battery protection was second to none.
Rich Rebuilds did show that critical some components (HV lines or the cooling system?) in the Porsche Taycan had no protection whatsoever.
Rich Rebuilds did show that critical some components (HV lines or the cooling system?) in the Porsche Taycan had no protection whatsoever.
Screen grabs from the service shop video: behind plastic liner, where the finger is the battery and case.
They can't just replace one or more of the 36 battery modules? Thinking back, the salesperson I spoke with highlighted this modularity as a cost saving feature for situations like this.
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Insurance?
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That kind of damage or incident can happen to any car. I had a Focus where one of the drive shafts sheared when setting off from a junction, an S-Max where a DPF failure cost me £1200, and a Mondeo ST220 that cost me a £2k gearbox rebuild. There are plenty of stories of Teslas being bricked or written off after only minor bumps.
The issue here is more your insurance company's willingness to write off a car that is under 18 months old. Maybe they figure the breaker value is high enough. You could see if it's economical to repair and consider buying it back from your insurer.
The issue here is more your insurance company's willingness to write off a car that is under 18 months old. Maybe they figure the breaker value is high enough. You could see if it's economical to repair and consider buying it back from your insurer.
The repair costs are 60+% of the value of the car. And this will happen again.
$38,000 is insanely high for a traction battery. Model S/X is $20-25k for a replacement pack.
Audi USA confirmed. And to not protect the battery w better shielding in sheet well beyon plastic fender well liner equally dumb. But this is the same company that also designed an interference engine with timing chain for durability, but then spec’d plastic chain tensioner guides that can not be inspected and have a tendency to fail at 100k miles with resulting catastrophic damage to piston heads, valves, and rods.
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