KAJ

Hi Kate, i had had a very long battle with my A3 Quattro. The dealership I purchased from denied all acceptance of there being a fault so I took it to Audi UK. My local dealership (50 mile round trip away!) were great, but said they had to witness the fault for themselves before the warranty would cover it so it took a year in total of too-ing and frowing as the fault was intermittent. Things reached a head when it faulted so much that I couldn’t release the auto hand break at all from a set of lights on a national speed limit dual carriageway, and a lorry travelling at 60 mph almost ploughed into the back of me - the most terrifying moment of my life! I rang Audi assist and had the car retrieved and taken to the local dealership. They couldn’t release it either so sent a report to Audi uk...who then admitted they knew about the fault but do not have a fix!! Because of this, the purchase dealership had to buy the car back off me for full purchase price minus mileage. Audi UK don’t have a fix, so take your car back to the dealership, contact Audi uk and stand your ground. Good luck 😉

That's great, thank you for your reply. I'll mention the ABS sensors to the dealership. thanks!

Hi, I drive my A3 with the start/stop function activated, never have a need to turn it off. However, I've had some issues with the electronic parking brake and was advised to switch off the start/stop function and see if that made any difference. When I switched the (A) button off then went to pull away, the auto hand brake wouldn't release. Is this normal? Do you have to release the hand brake manually if start stop is disabled? thanks!

Hi, thanks for your reply! I've only owned the car for 7wks, it was an ex demo car at an Audi dealership. I've had the car into my local Audi dealership, who found a fault adjusted the sensors, which seemed to work for 2weeks, but then the 'sticking' started again. After lots of backwards and forwards with the dealership I purchased from they eventually came to collect the car and left with me a courtesy car whilst they took my car for investigation. The courtesy car (A3 saloon with electronic parking brake) was absolutely fine, no issues with the parking brake. The dealership told me they couldn't find a fault but had changed the rear brake pads and discs as they were blue from overheating, which suggested it had been sticking. I got my car back and again all seemed great, until 3weeks later, it starts sticking again!!! It's just so frustrating. THe dealership are now getting snippy with me and telling me there is no fault as they couldn't be find one when they took the car, be don't seem to be understanding that it's intermittent- for example, it was sticking this morning, but driven perfectly this afternoon. thanks, Kirstin

Hi, i have an A3 Sline Quattro, manual transmission with an electronic handbrake...just after some advice... When starting the engine and going to pull away, I am finding that the brakes seem to be sticking, I'm having to rev quite a lot for the electronic handbrake to finally release then the car sort of lurches forward. It doesn't happen all the time, it's intermittent, but has happened when pulling out of junctions, setting off from traffic lights, and has even happened when reversing then changing to first gear and going to set off. When the car is behaving as it should, it reaches bite point and releases the electronic brakes smoothly and with minimal effort...normal basically! My previous car ( Nissan) had an electronic handbrake which worked without issue, and I've owned A3s in the past too, again without issue. I always have my seatbelt on and the doors closed, so it's not an issue with that. Any advice or info would be greatly appreciated!