AUDI A6 · model year

2021 AUDI A6

15 NHTSA complaints, and 11 active recalls for this specific cohort.

NHTSA overall rating

5 / 5 ★

New Car Assessment Program

The 2021AUDIA6 carries 15 consumer safety complaints in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 0 crashes, 0 fires, 0 injuries, and 0 fatalities. For crash performance, NHTSA's New Car Assessment Program gave this cohort an overall 5/5 rating, with 4/5 front crash, 5/5 side crash, and 5/5 rollover scores derived from standardized barrier and dynamic tests.

Component-level analysis is where model-year complaints become actionable: the top complaint category for the 2021 A6 is electrical system with 7 filings, followed by forward collision avoidance: warnings (2) and structure:body (1). Concentration in one or two component groups is the classic signature of a systemic defect; a flat distribution usually reflects normal aging, warranty complaints, or isolated build-plant variability. This model year has 11 active recall campaigns, which means the manufacturer is obligated to remedy the covered defect at no charge for the life of the vehicle, the full NHTSA campaign numbers are listed below.

NHTSA currently has 9 investigation files overlapping the 2021 A6. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should pair the counters above with the complaint-by-year trend on the parent model page, a spike in a single year often tracks to a platform refresh, a new transmission supplier, or an updated ECU calibration. Use the related-complaint feed below to read raw owner narratives before deciding whether any pattern here affects your specific use case.

15
Complaints
0
Crashes
0
Fires
0
Injuries
0
Deaths
2021 AUDI A6 - NHTSA crash-test profile NHTSA NCAP crash-test star ratings for the 2021 AUDI A6. Overall composite: 5.0 of 5 stars across 3 safety dimensions. Front CrashSide CrashRollover 5.0 NHTSA NCAP of 5 stars
  • Front Crash 4.0 ★
  • Side Crash 5.0 ★
  • Rollover 5.0 ★
NHTSA overall 5.0/5 stars, with front-crash, side-crash and rollover ratings from standardized NCAP barrier and dynamic tests.

Total Complaints

15 filings

Crashes Reported

0 reports

Source

NHTSA ODI

Federal complaints database

Complaints vs. fleet median (215)

At or below the fleet median complaint volume.

NHTSA NCAP overall: 5/5 - Top NCAP rating · Front: 4/5 · Side: 5/5 · Rollover: 5/5

Complaints by Component

ComponentCount
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM7
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS2
STRUCTURE:BODY1
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:STARTER ASSEMBLY1
STEERING1
ENGINE1
UNKNOWN OR OTHER1
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING1

Recalls (11)

25V20100031/03/2025

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: INSTRUMENT CLUSTER/PANEL

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Audi) is recalling certain 2021 SQ8, A6 SEDAN, A7, A8, Q7, Q8, RS6 Avant, RS7, RSQ8, S6 SEDAN, S7, S8, A6 Allroad, and SQ7 vehicles. Due to a software error, the instrument panel display may fail.

21V29500026/04/2021

SUSPENSION:REAR:AXLE:NON-POWERED AXLE ASSEMBLY

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Audi) is recalling certain 2021 Q7, Q8, Q5 Sportback, SQ5 Sportback, RS6 Avant, RS7, RS Q8, 2020-2021 Audi S6 sedan, Q5, A8, S8, A7, A6 Allroad, A5 Cabriolet, A4 sedan, A4 Allroad, SQ5, S7, A6 sedan, S5 coupe, S4 sedan, S5 Cabriolet, A5 coupe, 2019-2021 RS5 coupe,

22V03400026/01/2022

TIRES

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Audi) is recalling certain 2019-2021 Audi A5 Sportback, RS5 Coupe, RS5 Sportback, S5 Sportback, 2020-2021 A4 Allroad, A4 Sedan, A5 Cabriolet, A5 Coupe, A6 Allroad, A6 Sedan, A7, A8, Q5, S4 Sedan, S5 Coupe, S5 Cabriolet, S6 Sedan, S7, S8, SQ5, 2021 Q5 Sportback, Q7,

23V60100025/08/2023

SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:FLUID

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Audi) is recalling certain 2021 Audi S7, S6 Sedan, RS7, RS6 Avant, A6 Allroad, 2019-2021 A7, and A6 Sedan vehicles. An incorrectly labeled brake fluid cap may have been installed, which can result in the use of the wrong type of brake fluid.

22V86100021/11/2022

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Audi) is recalling certain 2020-2022 Audi S7, S6 Sedan, A6 Allroad, 2021-2022 RS7, RS6 Avant, 2019-2022 A7, and A6 Sedan vehicles. Liquid spilled in the rear seat may penetrate and cause the gateway control module to shut down.

25V90000019/12/2025

BACK OVER PREVENTION: SENSING SYSTEM: CAMERA

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Audi) is recalling certain 2019-2026 vehicles. Please see the recall report for a complete list of models. A software error may prevent the rearview camera image from displaying as intended. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal M

22V15500014/03/2022

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:INSTRUMENT PANEL:FUEL GAUGE:FUEL LEVEL FLOAT/SENSOR/SENDING UNIT

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Audi) is recalling certain 2021-2022 RS6 Avant and RS7, 2020-2022 A6 Allroad, S6 Sedan, and S7, and 2019-2022 A6 Sedan and A7 vehicles. The fuel level sender may stick, causing an inaccurate fuel level reading to be displayed on the instrument cluster.

21V15900010/03/2021

AIR BAGS

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Audi) is recalling certain 2021 Audi RS6 Avant, RS7, 2020-2021 A6 Allroad, S6 Sedan, S7, 2019-2021 A6 Sedan, and A7 vehicles. The score line on the passenger air bag may not have been manufactured correctly.

22V74200005/10/2022

BACK OVER PREVENTION:DISPLAY FUNCTION

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2021 Audi A8, RS7, RS6 Avant, RS5 Sportback, RS5 Coupe, Q8, Q7, Q5 Sportback, S4 Sedan, Q5, A7, A6, A6 Allroad, A5 Sportback, A5 Coupe, A5 Cabrioleet, A4 Sedan, A4 Allroad, E-Tron Sportback Quattro, SQ7, S5 Cabriolet, E-Tron Quattro

21V60600005/08/2021

SEAT BELTS:REAR/OTHER:RETRACTOR

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2021 Volkswagen ID4, Audi A4 Allroad, A4 Sedan, A5 Cabriolet, A5 Coupe, A5 Sportback, A6 Allroad, A6 Sedan, A7, A8, E-Tron Quattro, E-Tron Sportback Quattro, Q3, Q5, Q5 Sportback, Q7, Q8, RS5 Sportback, RS5 Coupe, RS6 Avant, RS7, RS

20V74900002/12/2020

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Audi) is recalling certain 2021 Audi A6 Allroad, Q7, RS6 and RS7 vehicles. The electrical connector can detach from the door crash sensor in either of the front doors.

Recent Complaints

20251207ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

While driving at normal speed, the entire digital instrument panel suddenly went black and a red warning triangle appeared. I lost all gauges, including speedometer, fuel level, and warning indicators. This created a serious safety risk because I was in active traffic and had no way to know my speed or see alerts. My VIN shows an open recall for this exact defect (instrument cluster blackout), but the failure has already happened during normal driving. I consider the vehicle unsafe to drive until repaired.

20250813FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS

The Audi Pre-sense is activated by weather. I was driving during a thunderstorm and Audi Presence activated causing the car to come to a hard stop due to precipitation. It happened again backing out of my driveway the Audi Pre-sense was activated and the car came to a hard stop. I thought I had back into another vehicle. This is very dangerous.

20250813FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING

The Audi Pre-sense is activated by weather. I was driving during a thunderstorm and Audi Presence activated causing the car to come to a hard stop due to precipitation. It happened again backing out of my driveway the Audi Pre-sense was activated and the car came to a hard stop. I thought I had back into another vehicle. This is very dangerous.

20250123ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

The car has had multiple issues with warning lights and malfunctioning systems. Including : 1.Child locks 2.Every single component of the ADAS 3. Emergency services being activated at least a few times a month - this is an SOS for emergency 911 service. The repeated, continuous and mostly false warning lights are a driving distraction that can easily cause an accident. I have photos of all warning lights coming on in the vehicle. The dealership has repeated stated that they couldn't reproduce the problem even though pictures were provided and the car is still under the original warranty period. The latest attempt to fix the vehicle was to replace the sensors on the front of the vehicle. This solution was only attempted after the 4th report of the problem to the dealership where the car was serviced under the original manufacturers warranty

20250123UNKNOWN OR OTHER

The car has had multiple issues with warning lights and malfunctioning systems. Including : 1.Child locks 2.Every single component of the ADAS 3. Emergency services being activated at least a few times a month - this is an SOS for emergency 911 service. The repeated, continuous and mostly false warning lights are a driving distraction that can easily cause an accident. I have photos of all warning lights coming on in the vehicle. The dealership has repeated stated that they couldn't reproduce the problem even though pictures were provided and the car is still under the original warranty period. The latest attempt to fix the vehicle was to replace the sensors on the front of the vehicle. This solution was only attempted after the 4th report of the problem to the dealership where the car was serviced under the original manufacturers warranty

20250123FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS

The car has had multiple issues with warning lights and malfunctioning systems. Including : 1.Child locks 2.Every single component of the ADAS 3. Emergency services being activated at least a few times a month - this is an SOS for emergency 911 service. The repeated, continuous and mostly false warning lights are a driving distraction that can easily cause an accident. I have photos of all warning lights coming on in the vehicle. The dealership has repeated stated that they couldn't reproduce the problem even though pictures were provided and the car is still under the original warranty period. The latest attempt to fix the vehicle was to replace the sensors on the front of the vehicle. This solution was only attempted after the 4th report of the problem to the dealership where the car was serviced under the original manufacturers warranty

20240623ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Vehicle had electrical system malfunction. Vehicle provided an electrical system malfunction and vehicle starting system malfunction warning message a few days prior to the incident. Vehicle has approximately 20.5K miles on odometer. Before I was able to bring it to service, the electrical system malfunction message became more severe and turned from yellow to red. While driving, the vehicle progressively shut down ABS, lane departure, and other systems and gave a transmission warning message. Eventually, the car lost power and I was left stranded at the side of the road.

20230909STEERING

Car reported an engine restarter issue (with battery symbol) and recommended to contact the dealer. Car next shut down automatic restart system, and air conditioning stopped working. Within a short period of time (same day), the car listed a red battery symbol and advised to stop the car. After doing so and contacting the Audi roadside, the car was listing a series of issues on multiple symptoms while also saying in the warning message "still okay to drive". These systems included steering, braking, and what seemed to be other sensors the car powers. Finally (and within 5 minutes of the previous message of being okay to drive), the warnings were continuous and started including the transmission. The car stopped accelerating (we were on the expressway) and we thankfully got to the side of the road. This was an enormously dangerous situation as the car became fully disabled and we were subject to limited options of relief from a major traffic area. Within 30 minutes of being disabled, no

20230909ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Car reported an engine restarter issue (with battery symbol) and recommended to contact the dealer. Car next shut down automatic restart system, and air conditioning stopped working. Within a short period of time (same day), the car listed a red battery symbol and advised to stop the car. After doing so and contacting the Audi roadside, the car was listing a series of issues on multiple symptoms while also saying in the warning message "still okay to drive". These systems included steering, braking, and what seemed to be other sensors the car powers. Finally (and within 5 minutes of the previous message of being okay to drive), the warnings were continuous and started including the transmission. The car stopped accelerating (we were on the expressway) and we thankfully got to the side of the road. This was an enormously dangerous situation as the car became fully disabled and we were subject to limited options of relief from a major traffic area. Within 30 minutes of being disabled, no

20230909ENGINE

Car reported an engine restarter issue (with battery symbol) and recommended to contact the dealer. Car next shut down automatic restart system, and air conditioning stopped working. Within a short period of time (same day), the car listed a red battery symbol and advised to stop the car. After doing so and contacting the Audi roadside, the car was listing a series of issues on multiple symptoms while also saying in the warning message "still okay to drive". These systems included steering, braking, and what seemed to be other sensors the car powers. Finally (and within 5 minutes of the previous message of being okay to drive), the warnings were continuous and started including the transmission. The car stopped accelerating (we were on the expressway) and we thankfully got to the side of the road. This was an enormously dangerous situation as the car became fully disabled and we were subject to limited options of relief from a major traffic area. Within 30 minutes of being disabled, no

20230605ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:STARTER ASSEMBLY

The contact owns a 2021 Audi A6. The contact stated while his father was driving 45 MPH, the electrical system Malfunction warning light illuminated. The contact stated that several electronic components started to turn off until the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was not drivable. The contact towed the vehicle to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the starter generator to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired due to the parts being on backorder. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 38,000.

Mileage: 38,000

20230206ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

The contact's wife owns a 2021 Audi A6. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V155000 (Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was contacted and was unable to confirm when parts would become available. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

20230117ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Multiple warnings indicating to contact dealer (Lane departure, adaptive cruise control, collision avoidance, electrical system, start/stop, etc) then 1 minute later transmission failure and engine failure imminent. After a minute or two my center MMI went blank then my electronic dash went blank, transmission went into neutral and the engine died all within a few seconds. Fortunately I was able to coast to a stop in the center median of an expressway and contacted the dealer. Flatbed towed to dealer who stated most likely the generator between the lithium battery bank and gas engine failed. They have seen several in this year for A6 and A7's with mild hybrid engines. I was lucky to be in low volume traffic as there was no power to indicate to drivers around me that my engine quit and not even turn signals worked. After having car towed to Audi dealer, they proceeded to tell me it was the starter/generator and the part was on back order for two to three months.

20220922STRUCTURE:BODY

Sunroof spontaneously shattered while driving. No other cars around when this occurred. Caused a very loud BANG. Was driving on the freeway when this occurred. Dealer would not confirm issue was spontaneous - felt something must have hit the car to cause this. No defined impact location on roof. Also, roof glass was pushed up in the middle instead of down like would be expected if something hit it from the outside. No warning before it occurred.

20220407ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Liquid spulked in the trunk and somehow was able to get to the control module that is located under the rear seat similar concerns as recalled Audi Q5. Vehicle malfunctioned in the middle of a busy intersection.

Compare 2021AUDIA6 to Similar Vehicles

NHTSA Investigations

View all investigations

Frequently Asked Questions

How many complaints does the 2021 AUDI A6 have?
The 2021 AUDI A6 has 15 NHTSA complaints, 0 crashes, 0 fires, 0 injuries, and 0 deaths reported.
What is the safety rating for the 2021 AUDI A6?
The 2021 AUDI A6 received an overall NHTSA safety rating of 5/5, front crash rating of 4/5, side crash rating of 5/5, and rollover rating of 5/5.
Are there any recalls for the 2021 AUDI A6?
Yes, the 2021 AUDI A6 has 11 recall(s). The most common affected component is ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: INSTRUMENT CLUSTER/PANEL. Recalls are issued by NHTSA and manufacturers must provide a free remedy.
What are the most common problems with the 2021 AUDI A6?
The most-complained component for the 2021 AUDI A6 is ELECTRICAL SYSTEM with 7 complaints. Other frequently reported areas include FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS and STRUCTURE:BODY.
Is the 2021 AUDI A6 safe to buy?
Review the complaint history, crash and fire reports, safety ratings, and recall status on this page to make an informed decision. The 2021 AUDI A6 has an NHTSA safety rating of 5/5. Compare with other model years using the links above.
Where does this data come from?
All complaint, recall, and safety rating data is sourced from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Complaints are filed by vehicle owners through NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation.

Vehicle Safety Guides

Data as of 2025. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, NHTSA recall campaign API, NHTSA NCAP crash-test ratings, and NHTSA FARS for fatality cross-reference.