Hello all,

I have a 2006 Audi A6 Quattro S-line and it has 19500 miles on it. I bought the car used last week and noticed two excessively deteriorated issues with the interior upholstery:

1- The steering wheel is excessively worn out.
2- The leather side of the drivers seatright on top ofthe plastic where the seat controls arehas a crack in it bc it is always depressed when you sit on it.

I talked to the dealer about the two items and the rep told me that interior accessories are only covered for the first 12 months??? He said that it is highly unlikely that they will help me but I would need to talk to the service manager...I am moving to this car from an 05 Acura TL and they replaced my steering wheel at 49000 miles...Anyone know if they are just trying to put me off or if that this is in fact the truth?

I also am having a problem closing the trunk...I have to try 20 times before it closes...and finally the TPMS sensor continually comes up with a "TPMS MALFUNCTION" message...every time i get this issue I do a store tire pressure and initialize wheels and it goes away for a day. All the tires have the correct pressure (even the spare).


Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Sina

 

I am surprised that you did not notice the problem when you bought the car. I hope that the prior owner dropped the price to reflect the condition of the car.

There have been a few posts from 06 owners, without the full leather upgrade, who have complained about thecracking of interior. In each case it was the original owner who was complaining and in each case Audi sent someone from the regional office whoauthorized the replacement of the cracked material on Audi's nickel. I suspect that you are getting second class treatment because Audi views you as someone who purchased a $25-$30K used carinstead of someone who gave that dealer $60K for a new Audi. The dealer caters to its more affluentcustomers in hope thatmay come back and spend another $60K, or more, on their next Audi.

My suggestion is be nice to the guys in the service department and ask them to have a regional supervisor come look at the problem.

 

Excuse the dumb question, but what do you mean the "steering wheel is worn out"? I've owned a lot of cars and never wore one out.

I'd also suggest you pick some some good leather cleaner (like Meguiars) and do the interior regularly. It cleans and kinda moisturizes so it does not dry out and crack as easily.

 

Hi Kevin, I undestand what you're saying...I bought the car for about 34k and it came out to about 37k out the door, so it wasn't "cheap" per se...however, you are right as I did not purchase it from Audi. Nonetheless, whent hey say that the car is still "under warranty" one would think that it would be covered by the same quality service that the original owner received. I will try to talk to the service manager, and then escalate it up to the regional manager for this issue. I did not see the crack on the side of the seat bc it is not big and it is not really noticable, I only noticed it because I was cleaning all the seats and interior meticulously and started to find all the "flaws" in the car.

As for the question on the steering wheel...I too have never had a steering wheel fade, but the top portion of this wheel has the leather worn out to the point where there isa very small (but noticable to me) part that you can see the fuzzy part underneath the leather surface.

Does anyone know about Audi's interior warranty?

Thanks,

Sina

 

My steerling leather has same issue (kind of faded)but after using leather cleaner and conditioner, its hard to tell but at the same time, I am taking in to get it checked out and see if they'll cover this under warranty and replace the sterring wheel (worth a shot otherwise no big deal...its a used/certified car)

Any electronic malfunction should be included in your warranty...no issues there
I was getting Tire Pressure System Malfunction but they were able to figure it out at the service. Make sure you dont have a nail or something in one of your tires...missing spare can cause this issue too but you already said that you have one in there.

I know how some dealers can blow you off and say that its not covered because of WEAR AND TEAR but as Kevin said...be nice and talk to them and sometimes they work it out with you. I noticed some scratched on my MMI display after I boughtthe car few months agobut being nice and talking to right ppl at the dealership helped me get a replacement brand new screen for $200 instead of $2500.

 

Thanks guys, will try my best...I'll be on my best behavior and let you know how it goes next Monday when I take in my car!