Total Complaints
3 filings
AUDI S8 · model year
3 NHTSA complaints, and 1 active recall for this specific cohort.
NHTSA overall rating
Not crash-tested
New Car Assessment Program
The 2009AUDIS8 carries 3 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. No NCAP 5-star crash-test rating is available for this model year in the federal database.
Component-level analysis is where model-year complaints become actionable: the top complaint category for the 2009 S8 is vehicle speed control with 1 filings, followed by visibility/wiper (1) and visibility:sun/moon roof assembly (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 1 active recall campaign, 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 2009 S8. 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.
Total Complaints
3 filings
Crashes Reported
0 reports
Source
NHTSA ODI
Federal complaints database
At or below the fleet median complaint volume.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | 1 |
| VISIBILITY/WIPER | 1 |
| VISIBILITY:SUN/MOON ROOF ASSEMBLY | 1 |
VISIBILITY:SUN/MOON ROOF ASSEMBLY
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain model year 2007-2009 Audi A8 and S8 vehicles. The sunroof glass on the affected vehicles may not be properly secured to the sunroof frame. As a result, the sunroof glass may detach from the car while driving.
While driving on the highway my sunroof glass detached from the frame and flipped over to the back. It was still being held by about 5in of glue on the rear part of the frame and luckily it didn't depart the car which would have caused damage to cars behind me. This issue seems the same as NHTSA Recall No. / MFR Recall No. : 16V-415 / 60C3, however my VIN is not part of it. I'm reporting this because there might be other cars out there affected by this recall, which is a road hazard to other people and vehicles that are traveling behind this car.
While driving on the highway my sunroof glass detached from the frame and flipped over to the back. It was still being held by about 5in of glue on the rear part of the frame and luckily it didn't depart the car which would have caused damage to cars behind me. This issue seems the same as NHTSA Recall No. / MFR Recall No. : 16V-415 / 60C3, however my VIN is not part of it. I'm reporting this because there might be other cars out there affected by this recall, which is a road hazard to other people and vehicles that are traveling behind this car.
2009 AUDI S8 THROTTLE STUCK WIDE OPEN WHILE ACCELERATING ONTO HIGHWAY. FULL BREAKING DID NOT DISCONNECT THROTTLE. BRAKED HARD AND PULLED TO SIDE OF ROAD AND SHUT DOWN ENGINE. HAD TOWED INTO MIRAMAR AUDI, SAN DIEGO. AUDI AMERICA BROUGHT IN AND BLAMED FLOOR MATS. I PAID $2300 TO REPLACE THROTTLE CONTROL MODULES AFTER AUDI REFUSED TO DO SO. *JB
Mileage: 1,667
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.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.