NHTSA campaign number
21V198000
Airbag system issue — affecting 6 model years across Audi.
- Issued
- Manufacturer
- Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
- Model years
- 2015–2020
- System
- Airbags
Elevated severity
This campaign addresses a defect NHTSA classifies as carrying elevated crash or injury risk.
What the defect is
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Audi) is recalling certain 2015-2020 Audi S3 Sedan, A3 Sedan, 2016-2018 A3 Etron, 2017-2020 RS3 Sedan, and 2015-2019 A3 Cabriolet vehicles. The passenger occupant detection system (PODS) may malfunction and switch off the passenger air bag even when the seat is occupied.
Why it matters
A deactivated passenger air bag increases the risk of injury during a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will replace the PODS sensor mat and update the PODS control module, free of charge. Owners letters were mailed December 23, 2021. Owners may contact Audi customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Audi's number for this recall is 69BY.
What this page does not include
NHTSA's public recall feed does not supply an affected-population count, the manufacturer's own campaign number, owner-notification dates or a defect chronology for this campaign. Rather than estimate them, we omit them. Confirm whether a specific vehicle is affected — and whether the repair has already been done — using its VIN.
Check a VINVehicles affected by this campaign
6 model years in our index. Coverage reflects the vehicles VerifyTheVehicle tracks, which may be narrower than the full campaign population.