1999 AUDI A4 — Complaint #614110
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STEERING:LINKAGES:ROD:RELAY:CONNECTING filed February 22, 2007
NHTSA complaint #614110 (ODI reference 10183229) concerns a 1999 AUDI A4 and was filed on February 22, 2007. The owner reports the failure occurred on November 10, 2006. The report was geocoded to Virginia 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
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 : AUTO RECALL DATE: 09/13/1999 VEHICLE COMPONENT: STEERING:LINKAGES:ROD:RELAY:CONNECTING ESTIMATED VEHICLES AFFECTED: 51900 1999 AUDI A4 DEFECT SUMMARY: VEHICLE DESCRIPTION: PASSENGER VEHICLES. THE TIE RODS OF THE STEERING ASSEMBLY ARE PROTECTED ON EACH SIDE BY A SEAL TO PREVENT MOISTURE AND DUST PARTICLES FROM ENTERING THE SWIVEL BEARING MECHANISM. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOME TIE ROD SEALS MAY NOT SEAL PROPERLY. DEFECT CONSEQUENCE: IF MOISTURE AND/OR DUST PARTICLES ENTER THE SWIVEL BEARING MECHANISM, THE SWIVEL BEARING COULD WEAR OVER TIME DIMINISHING THE STEERING CONTROL OF THE VEHICLE. REMEDY: DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE TIE RODS. NOTES: VOLKSWAGEN OF AMERICA,INC, UL/KW . *NM
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 614110 |
| ODI Number | 10183229 |
| Date Filed | February 22, 2007 |
| Failure Date | November 10, 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
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 STEERIN
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.