Audi E-Tron Broken A/C Switch

Hey all!

Our current 2021 Audi Etron’s A/C pooped out after one month of living in Palm Springs, CA. The dealer is saying the A/C’s pressure switch is broken and a replacement unit has an unknown ETA. They deemed the car safe to drive and would like to release it without a functioning A/C.

I personally don’t think it’s safe to drive a car without A/C in 110 degree plus weather daily. We requested an Audi EV to function as a loaner in the meantime and are waiting a response. I understand it probably isn’t the dealer’s responsibility to provide a vehicle from their fleet for us, but Audi corporate might?

Has anyone had to deal with a long term loaner for a warranty covered part defect?

Hi, there,

I recently had the same issue on my 2020 e-Tron. Take this with a grain of salt BUT, allegedly, Audi is aware of the issue with these A/C sensors on the e-Trons. Apparently, it is only a matter of time until every one of them fails. The sensor that will be replacing it is a revised part. Rather than do a proactive recall, Audi has chosen to wait for them to fail and replace them at that time.

That aside, when mine failed, the part, too, was out of stock, or on “red alert” as Audi calls it. All told, my car was out of service for a little over a month. The good news is I was told the sensors are being actively made (as opposed to some parts who aren’t even being produced currently) and they’re constantly shipping new ones.

I was not picky about the loaner car I was given (it did happen to be an e-Tron). I don’t think you’re in a great position to choose what loaner car you’re provided. That said, after working with Audi of America, I was given 6-months of free Audi Connect, as well as a refund of the month’s lease payment.

Hope that helps!

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It is ridiculous for the dealer to suggest you can drive a car in Palm Springs in September without AC. I would insist on a similar loaner vehicle.

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Interesting! I was not aware of this.

agreed, I just don’t want to keep the 2018 q5 premium they currently have me in lol
My main concern though is that they want to release the car altogether back to me without A/C

Same thing happened back in July on our 2021 etron. Took 10 business days for the part to arrive amd no loaner was provided. Drove it broken since no loaner was given.

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It’s interesting that they’re willing to release it without functioning A/C. That was never presented as an option to me (not that I would have taken it anyway given that I live in Texas). My e-Tron is also leased (perhaps yours is not) which may make things slightly different. But, in any event, I would certainly push back on accepting the car without functioning a/c indefinitely. That’s not an acceptable solution, in my opinion.

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I agree. I guess the A/C isn’t a requirement for propulsion but a lack of can definitely create unsafe situations. Who to blame for a heat stroke related accident?

My etron’s ac stopped working as well and was able to get this replaced in one day at the dealer. I went back in July though.

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Had the same issue here as well. Dealer had my car little over a month to get parts and repair.

I was placed in a 2022 Q7 for the time being, but was not happy because the gas was $6 back then!

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ooff, hopefully we get to keep any loaner vs an Etron without AC.

Will update with dealer response. They didn’t follow up after our conversation this morning.

Is there any TSB or similar about this? My neighbor has an ETron.

Same for me. Appointment booked for tomorrow.

Update: part was originally on back order for months from Audi. Audi was going to pay for an enterprise loaner until then.
Got a call today that the Audi dealership sourced the part from a Porsche dealership and should have the work completed in a few days.

Edit: I know that the taycan/etron share a similar platform hence the part they sourced is probably the same. Should I be worried about any risks about a part not directly sourced from Audi for future faults?

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It’s a porsche part, if anything it costs more and is of ‘higher quality

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If only it was a VW part of “highest quality”

There used to be (70’s/80’s) a stark difference if the VW part was made in Germany versus Mexico/Brazil, but these days I wonder.

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