Audi And Volkswagen Recall Almost 232,000 Cars For Bad Infotainment And TPMS

Nov. 06, 2022 5:05 PM ET by Chase Bierenkoven Recall / 1 Comment

It seems that the Volkswagen Group's infotainment woes don't stop at touch buttons.

Apparently, Volkswagen's (and Audi's) infotainment woes extend beyond just touch buttons on steering wheels. Together, the two German brands issued a recall over faulty tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) and infotainment system voltage regulators. All told, 231,780 cars between the two brands have been recalled.

Affected models include the Audi S3, Volkswagen Golf GTI, and others. We've listed the affected vehicles at the very bottom of the article. In the case of the TPMS, the software can be slow to react in rare situations. The defective voltage regulator in VAG infotainment units can damage the system in the console when the vehicle is off.

Far more cars are affected by the TPMS recall- 225,704 units in total, than the infotainment failure. Only around 6,076 cars could have that problem. If all four tires lose pressure at the same rate, the system may not tell the driver in time. Though, not in time as far as preventing accidents are concerned.

Instead, the delay violates Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 138 S4.2. That mandates a warning within 20 minutes after certain conditions, like the ones above, are met. The VAG has said in its NHTSA filings that the system will tell drivers "before a potentially safety-relevant tire pressure is reached".

Thankfully, the remedy for this is a simple update, though you will have to take your VW or Audi to a dealer to have the update done. Notification letters will be sent out by the Volkswagen Group of America by December 30, 2022, at the latest.

Audi dealers will also have to repair infotainment systems on affected models, again meaning owners must take their cars in for the fix. Thankfully, these models cover just 2021 and 2022 model years. If the voltage regulator is defective, the display screen won't work on startup. Unfortunately, it means an entirely new infotainment unit for these Audi models.

Again, we've listed all affected models at the bottom.