NHTSA campaign number
21V606000
Safety restraint issue — affecting 13 model years across Audi, Volkswagen.
- Issued
- Manufacturer
- Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
- Model years
- 2021
- System
- Seat belts
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. (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, RSQ8, S4 Sedan, S5 Cabriolet, S5 Coupe, S5 Sportback, S6 Sedan, S7, S8, SQ5, SQ5 Sportback, SQ7, SQ8, and 2021-2022 S3 Sedan vehicles. The rear seat belt automatic locking retractors may deactivate early, which can prevent the child restraint system from securing properly. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 208, "Occupant Crash Protection."
Why it matters
An unsecured child restraint system can increase the risk of injury during a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will inspect, and replace as necessary, the middle-rear seat belt assemblies, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed August 27, 2021. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298 and Audi customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Volkswagen's numbers for this recall are 69CR (VW) and 69CS (Audi).
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
13 model years in our index. Coverage reflects the vehicles VerifyTheVehicle tracks, which may be narrower than the full campaign population.