Open safety recalls, the components owners report failing most often, crash-test results and running costs for the 2004 Audi A4, assembled from NHTSA and EPA records.
Everything on this page applies to the model as a whole. Run its VIN to decode that exact car, its engine, trim, assembly plant and factory equipment, alongside these records.
Open a VIN recordRecalls and complaints are filed against a specific model year, so figures differ from one year to the next even within a single generation. See every Audi A4 year.
NHTSA lists 3 recalls for this make, model and year. Recalls apply to the model, so some may already be fixed on this specific car. A dealer can confirm from the VIN.
Issue: Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain model year 2004-2008 Audi A4, and 2005-2011 Audi A6 vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan), and the U.S. Virgin Islands, or "Zone A." Additionally, unless included in "Zone A" above, Volkswagen is recalling certain model year 2004-2008 Audi A4, and 2005-2008 Audi A6 vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, or "Zone B." Lastly, unless included in "Zone A" or "Zone B" above, Volkswagen is recalling model year 2004 Audi A4 vehicles originally sold, or registered, in Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. These vehicles are equipped with certain air bag inflators assembled as part of the passenger frontal air bag modules, and used as original equipment or replacement equipment. In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the front air bags, these inflators may rupture due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to absolute humidity and temperature cycling.
Risk: An inflator rupture may result in metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Remedy: Audi will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed April 28, 2017. Owners may contact Audi customer service at 1-800-822-2834.
Campaign 16V382000
Issue: The Gates Corporation (Gates) is recalling certain aftermarket Tru-Flow Water Pumps, part number TFW 41127, sold at certain NAPA Auto Parts and/or installed by automotive service technicians after November 1, 2013 (and manufactured August 2013 through October 2013) that have a black-colored pulley/sprocket or do not have 'US9377' stamped on the water pump housing. These service replacement parts were sold for use in model year 1999-2005 Audi A4, 2000-2006 Audi TT, 1998-2005 Volkswagen Beetle, 1999-2006 Golf, 1999-2008 and 2011-2013 Volkswagen Jetta, and 2000-2005 Volkswagen Passat. In the affected water pumps, the pulley or sprocket that turns the timing belt may develop microfractures causing the timing belt to fail.
Risk: A failure of the timing belt may cause the engine to shut down, potentially increasing the risk of a vehicle crash.
Remedy: Gates will notify owners, and dealers will replace the water pump, free of charge. The recall began during May 2014. Owners may contact The Gates Corporation at 1-303-744-1911.
Campaign 14E007000
Issue: ON CERTAIN PASSENGER VEHICLES, THERE IS A POSSIBILITY OF XENON HEADLAMP COATING DEGRADATION OVER TIME. THE LUMINOUS TRANSMITTANCE OF THE HEADLAMP MAY DECREASE OVER A PERIOD OF TIME.
Risk: THIS CONDITION COULD AFFECT A DRIVER'S FIELD OF VIEW, INCREASING THE RISK OF A CRASH.
Remedy: DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE LEFT AND RIGHT XENON HEADLAMP REFLECTORS FREE OF CHARGE. THE RECALL BEGAN ON APRIL 11, 2005. OWNERS MAY CONTACT AUDI AT 1-800-822-2834.
Campaign 05V096000
1 open NHTSA investigation into this model. Investigations come before recalls, so these are potential defects not yet covered by one.
Rated configuration: 2004 Audi A4 4-DR. w/SAB
The parts named most often across 189 owner complaints filed with NHTSA for this make, model and year.
1 crash · 1 fire
4 crashes · 4 injured
1 crash
Complaints are self-reported and skew toward problems people find alarming, so read this as where to look rather than as a defect rate.
******* DELETE VOQ ******* THIS COMPLAINT IS BEING MARKED FOR DELETION BECAUSE IT IS REQUESTED BY THE CONSUMER THAT THEY WISH TO HAVE IT REMOVED*DJR ******* DELETE VOQ *******
This took place about a week ago. The car was parked in our driveway when the fire started. My husband had returned home just 15 minutes prior to the fire starting. I noticed there was smoke coming in our living room window. Then I looked at our security camas. And saw smoke pouring out from underneath the hood of my car. We tried to put the fire out with our two hose system set up and it wouldn't go out. So we knew it was electrical. We couldn't get close enough to open the hood so I couldn't pour baking soda on it. Two fire extinguishers later like 10 minutes the firefighters showed up and we're able to put it out. They confirmed that the arch came from the battery terminals /cables. Two of the fireman said they'd never seen anything like this before. Then the car tried to START ITSELF as my husband and the two fireman were standing right in front of the Audi. They had to cut the remaining battery cable that wasn't completely burned through before it stopped. My neighbor has a recording of the whole incident. The engine compartment is destroyed! The engine might be all right but we don't have the finances to do anything but clean up. Oh and for extra fun one of the fireman took an ax the the hood of the A4 cabriolet I have had for maybe a month. Now we have no car and no real means of being able to fix it.
The contact owns a 2004 Audi A4. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH, the rear windshield became detached from the soft top. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer to be inspected. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and was awaiting a response. The failure mileage was approximately 86,000.
PRNDS appeared in red on my dash and then started blinking. Went on line regarding this and read about a TCM switch or a lever switch malfunction.Have an appt with mechanic on 8/26/21. From what I have read we are looking at a cost prohibitive repair of several thousands of dollars. Does Audi have any responsibility? Apparently it is a common complaint with the A4 model. Felt loss of power when decelerating.
I WAS DRIVING TO JACKSONVILLE FLORIDA AND CAR HAD SHUT OFF ON ME ON THE HIGHWAY IN YULEE FLORIDA I WAS STUCK ON THE HIGHWAY FOR 7 HRS MY CAR IS STUCK IN FLORIDA
I ORIGINALLY HAD 3 RECALLS ON MY VEHICLE I CALLED IN TO SEE ABOUT GETTING THEM FIXED FREE OF CHARGE AS EXPLAINED IN THE RECALL TECH BULLETIN .THE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDED IN GETTING ALL OF MY INFORMATION THEN AFTER DOING SO TELLS ME THERE ARE NO RECALLS ON MY VEHICLE AND PROCEEDED TO UPDATE MY CARS INFO SHORTLY AFTER I WENT BACK TO THE ORIGINAL SITE OF THIS RECALL PUT IN MY CARS INFO AGAIN AND ALL THE RECALLS THAT WAS ONCE AVAILABLE FOR MY VEHICLE WAS MYSTERIOUSLY GONE.I NEVER RECEIVED A NOTICE AND NEVER GOT IT FIXED. NOW THE RECALL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ARE STARTING TO BE NOTICEABLE ON MY VEHICLE SUCH AS THE DEFECTIVE WATER PUMP, DEFECTIVE HEADLIGHTS AND DEFECTIVE AIRBAG SITUATION WHAT CAN I HAVE DONE ABOUT THIS ISSUE
WHEN ENGINE IS UNDER LOAD WITH A FAULTY FUEL PUMP, THE ENGINE WILL STALL WHILST MOVING WITHOUT TURNING MOTOR OFF. ONLY REMEDY IS TO TURN ENGINE OFF AND ON, SINCE THE FUEL PUMP WILL NOT START ITSELF BACK ON AFTER THE STALL.
MY VEHICLE STARTED UP FINE AND I WAS DRIVING TO WORK, I WAS IDLING AT THE RED LIGHT AND MY CAR SHUT OFF AND SIGNALED THE BATTERY LIGHT. WE TRIED TO JUMP IT THINKING IT WAS THE BATTERY LIKE IT SIGNALED, AND IT WASNT SO WE HAD TO TOW IT. THE CAR STILL DOESNT START. IT CRANKS BUT WONT START AND I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF AN INTERSECTION, NO WARNING LIGHTS BEFORE HAND AT ALL.
TL* TAKATA RECALL. THE CONTACT OWNS A 2004 AUDI A4. THE CONTACT RECEIVED NOTIFICATION OF NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 18V427000 (AIR BAGS); HOWEVER, THE PART TO DO THE REPAIR WAS UNAVAILABLE. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE MANUFACTURER EXCEEDED A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME FOR THE RECALL REPAIR. AUDI NORTH MIAMI (1995 NE 142ND ST, NORTH MIAMI, FL 33181, (305) 952-5900) WAS CONTACTED AND CONFIRMED THAT THE PARTS WERE NOT AVAILABLE FOR THE RECALL REMEDY. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE ISSUE AND WAS NOT ABLE TO CONFIRM WHEN THE PARTS WERE TO BECOME AVAILABLE. THE CONTACT HAD NOT EXPERIENCED A FAILURE. PARTS DISTRIBUTION DISCONNECT.
MY AUDI STOPPED BLOWING OUT HEAT FIRST AND THEN THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON. WHEN I TOOK IT TO GET THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CODE TESTED IT READ PRESSURE DEFAULT. NOT LONG AFTER MY AIR BAG LIGHT CAME ON. NOW MY CAR IS LEAKING COOLANT.
THE HID XENON HEADLIGHTS HAVE DIMMED TO THE POINT WHERE DRIVING AT NIGHT COULD BECOME DIFFICULT. THERE IS A RECALL (05V096000) FOR 2004 AUDI A4'S WITH HID HEADLIGHTS BUT THIS VIN. IS NOT INCLUDED. POSSIBLY A KNOWN PROBLEM TO AUDI.
ON FEBRUARY 20TH I WAS PUTTING SOME ITEMS IN CAR.. I STARTED MY CAR TO GET IT WARM IT WAS VERY COLD OUTSIDE. FOR TEN TO 15 MINUTES THE CAR SAT AND WAS IDLING. I CAME INSIDE TO GET LAST FEW ITEMS TO LOAD INTO VEHICLE. I OPENED BACK PASSENGER DOOR WHEN A LOUD SOUND AS IF A GUNSHOT WENT OFF. TO MY SURPRISE THE FRONT AIRBAG DEPLOYED SMOKE AND DEBRIS THROUGH OUT ME AND MY CAR.
Showing 12 of 189 complaints.
Over 5 years this costs $5,500 more in fuel than an average new vehicle.