Audi SQ5 problems & complaints

Date of event: August 31, 2026 When I attempted to engage adaptive cruise assist / adaptive cruise control on my car, I got an error message on the vehicle that said "Adaptive cruise assist: currently unavailable. Seat belt unfastened" when in fact my seat belt was fastened. The car was taken to the dealer for service but they could not identify any error or replicate the event. This remains unsolved.

I noticed my car started to lose coolant, I checked my water pump and I saw there was a leak on of the hoses. Once I discovered that I also heard a tapping noise coming from the engine. I took it to my local Audi shop, and they discovered that my pistons were going bad. They told me I qualified for the extended piston skirt warranty for my car. While my car was in the shop they replaced all 6 of my pistons. When they told me my car was ready for pick up I picked up my call, drove it for 20 miles and my car started to make a louder tapping noise from the engine bay. I took it back to the dealership the following day they told me they were going to look into it to figure out the problem. Coupl…

2020 Audi SQ5, 3.0T EA839 engine. On 9/22/2026 an independent repair shop inspected the vehicle and found engine coolant pooling in the engine valley beneath the coolant module (integrated water pump / thermostat housing). The leak is internal and was not visible from outside the vehicle: no coolant on the ground and no warning light before the shop inspected it. The area was wet and coated with residue, indicating the leak had been active for some time. The shop confirmed the leaking coolant has contaminated the PCV valve and vacuum hose system located in the same area. Repair estimate is approximately $4,600 to replace the coolant module, PCV valve, and vacuum lines. This failure pattern o…

The car was at the dealership for a second time due to an emissions issue. While there the coolant light came on. After paying for a second evaluation, it was determined that the water pump was failing. Because of the water pump design, coolant migration occurred which can ultimately lead to turbo failure or catastrophic issues. After receiving a $7,000 estimate, we decided to order parts and do the work ourselves. It still cost about $2500 in tools and parts and 24 hours of labor to do it ourselves. Audi had a settlement for this exact issue on prior generations up to 2021. It is obviously reoccurring based on online complaints for the 2022 and a complaint for this exact issue with NHTSA. M…

The engine water pump on this vehicle is leaking both internally and externally. This vehicle uses the 3.0T (EA839) engine, which uses a vacuum-actuated water pump with a shroud sleeve mechanism. A licensed repair facility diagnosed the failure and estimated repair cost at approximately $5,500. The internal leak path allows coolant to migrate into the vacuum system rather than escape as a visible external leak. This means the failure can progress without producing the puddle or drip that owners are trained to look for during routine visual checks, delaying detection until damage has advanced further and the repair has grown more extensive. At the time of failure I observed low coolant warn…

The vehicle had come to a stop at a 4-way intersection. It started to drive into the intersection and shut off for no reason. The first thought was this was auto start/stop but it was not. The ignition button needed to be pressed to restart the vehicle to proceed. The vehicle is available for inspection. The vehicle came to a stop for no reason in the middle of the intersection making it a hazard for the driver or other drivers. The problem has not been reproduced or inspected by the dealer or any other personnel at this point. There were no warning messages or lights or other symptoms at the time of this incident.

The car is new with less than 500 miles. At approximately 7:45am the car was being driven on a 2-lane road through a rural area at approximately 50+mph. The car initiated forward collision systems and went full collision avoidance applying full brake and tensioning the seat belt. The car slowed substantially to an estimated 10mph as quickly as it could. There were no vehicles or obstacles in any direction to trigger this event. There were no vehicles following. The car is available for inspection. This could have resulted in a very serious rear end collision or injury since the driver was not expecting such a severe braking event. The car has not been to a dealer or inspected by anyone e…

On at least five occasions since we purchased this vehicle brand new in January 2026, the digital transmission system has failed to switch into park and would not switch into park -- producing an error message. To resolve the issue, it required multiple restarts of the car, and there is no clear step to resolve the issue. It feels like luck. We've taken it to the dealership multiple times, they've done digital updates to the car -- which supposedly fixed the problem -- but it continues to recur. We will take it to the dealership again. This is a major safety issue, because the car is susceptible to rolling and movement if it cannot be placed into park (and it's very frustrating).