Dan Hotly

It is intensely irritating not least because no one seems to be prepared to accept responsibility. There must be some lawyers in this group - what about the potential for a class action, after all VAG has form with those ?!

I have a 2021 A3 and have had the MMI black screen on several occasions, and the garage only responds by resetting it - which they say can only be done by them. But…I have managed to reset it myself by holding down the small power button on circular dial that is in the centre console for a few seconds - it turns the MMI system on and off. It usually then reconnects and reinitialises the navigation system and the whole thing works again. Obviously different models may be different but it has worked for me. It’s still not 100% reliable but now for 95% of the time it is working! Worth a try if you have this set up in your vehicle - it also seems to update the MMI as part of the process.

I have had an almost identical experience. I have a 2021 A3 Saloon and have had the MMI reboot several times on journeys as well as the screen going (and staying) black - which means the loss of a fair few critical functions. The first time the black screen happened I took it back to west London Audi who reset the car’s software. This worked fine for a few days and then the emergency function dropped out - this ALWAYS seems to happen when driving in built up area - and then the regular crash/restart of the MMI again. The next time the MMI screen stayed black was coming back from Cornwall - it then mysteriously came back up after a stop in some services - but a few weeks later stopped working again. This is completely unacceptable on Audi’s part. The mechanic told me that the problem was known about and that Audi were ‘working on a fix’ that ‘hopefully’ is available in November. When I emailed the garage requesting some sort of compensation/replacement I was directed to VAG Finance. I’d be interested to know how many others are experiencing similar issues and like you am convinced the issue is caused by some kind of interference - it’s more reliable in more remote places. Either way this is wholly unacceptable. I was sold a car that I can’t ‘enjoy’ in that it is not of merchantable quality in the legal sense when the issue is clearly widespread and known about by both Audi and the dealer when I ordered the car. VAG have clear form in avoiding responsibility- look at the class action over the ‘dieselgate’ emissions issue…