1999 AUDI A4 — Complaint #597852
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STEERING:LINKAGES:ROD:RELAY:CONNECTING filed September 28, 2006
NHTSA complaint #597852 (ODI reference 10169518) concerns a 1999 AUDI A4 and was filed on September 28, 2006. The owner reports the failure occurred on September 21, 2006. The vehicle had 99,500 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Massachusetts based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as steering:linkages:rod:relay:connecting, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same AUDI A4 cohort independently describe similar steering:linkages:rod:relay:connecting failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 1999 AUDI A4 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
DT*: THE CONTACT STATED WHILE DRIVING 60 MPH, THE FRONT RIGHT WHEEL MADE A CLUNKING NOISE. THE VEHICLE ALSO WANDERED FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, REQUIRING THE CONTACT TO MAINTAIN SOME EXERTION ON THE STEERING WHEEL. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A PRIVATE REPAIR SHOP, WHO DETERMINED THAT THE TIE ROD HAD FAILED. THERE WAS A NHTSA RECALL #99V248000, WHICH PERTAINED TO THE STEERING LINKAGES. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT INCLUDED IN THE RECALL DUE TO THE VIN.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 597852 |
| ODI Number | 10169518 |
| Date Filed | September 28, 2006 |
| Failure Date | September 21, 2006 |
| VIN | WAUED28D1XA |
Similar STEERING:LINKAGES:ROD:RELAY:CONNECTING Complaints for 1999 AUDI A4
I HAVE BEEN NOTICING RATTLE ON FRONT PASSENGER SIDES WHEEL AREA. I TOOK THE CAR TO MCGRATH AUDI IN GLENVIEW IL FOR INSPECTION, AND HAD SINCE RECIEVED RECALL NOTICE RELATING TO TIE ROD PROBLEMS. DECE
ON 11/10/2006, DEALER RECOMMENDS REPLACE DRIVER & PASSENGER SIDE TIE-RODS (BOOTS TORN). DEALER/MANUFACTURER DENIED THAT THE RECALL AFFECTED MY CAR. PLEASE HELP. HERE ARE MORE DETAILS OF THE RECALL
THE VEHICLE EXPERIENCED THE SAME DEFECT AS STATED IN RECALL 010 V 414 000 , HOWEVER THE VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER WAS NOT INCLUDED IN THE RECALL. *JB
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.