A4 automatically shifts down from Drive to M1
 

This morning while driving to work, my Audi A4 shifted from Drive to M1 while I was stopped at a red light. When I go to hit the gas, there's no power. The car just grinds. I look down and see that it's in the M1 gear. I have an automatic not a manual, and I never touched the gear shift while driving.

This is the 2nd time this has happened, and both times I've had to pull over to shift it back to Park and then back to Drive. Is there something wrong with the car, or am I unknowingly doing something that would cause this?

Thank you!

No that is never normal. You might want to check the printed circuit board underneath the shifter plate. Sometimes the magnets get knocked around or there could be a short. Make sure that the shifter isn't loose and engaging tip mode, although I highly doubt this. Other than that I'd have transmission control module looked at if all else fails.

I'd suspect the magnets and/or strip they attach to along with the circuit board inside the shifter also.
My thinking is, if the indicator shows M1 the TCM "thinks" the shifter is in M1. I've seen shifters that get worn and if you even breath on the shift lever, it goes into manual mode.

Thank you! I'll definitely take it in to get looked at. Do you always take it the dealer, or is it okay to use a really good non-dealer mechanic? Sometimes I wonder about the quality of the parts when they do repairs if it's at a non-dealer mechanic.

You can always specify for them to use only genuine Audi parts if you want. Chances are if it is the shifter it'll be dealer only anyways. I've not been with Audi for over a year (went to a great indy shop) but we will use CARQUEST, NAPA, genuine dealer parts, good used parts,,,,,,,,,which ever way the customer wants to go. It's no problem at all.

With thing like you may have wrong, just make sure the indy tech or shop is knowledgeable about Audi and the way they work. A place that does a lot of European cars would be a good place. Of course, there are some diagnosis and repairs that require special tools that mostly only a dealer will have.

There is always the chance it's NOT in the shifter but a proper diagnosis will determine that, or at least narrow it down to a couple things.

Thanks so much for all the advice. Really appreciate it!

My 2019 audi a4 shifting from D to M1 by itself while driving around a curve in the road at around 25 to 30mph. It over revs to about 5k remains and stays in M1 until I manually shift to any other position. Dealer can't duplicate the problem and doesn't know how to fix this. And yes I'm sure it's not me touching the shifter, I'm no where near it and this happens almost every morning after less than 5 min driving so yes its still a bit cold. It's in 4th or 5th gear when it shifts into 1 and over revs