Hosed by Audi and the warranty company, Interstate, for transmission repair

[bobski]

Well, I am having to pay $10K for transmission repair on my US Spec RS6 in Germany even though I can prove it was failing in the USA and several Audi dealers could not identify the problem. Then the Frankfurt Audi dealership could not identify the problem on 6 occassions, so the car went to Neckersulm where they quickly decided it was a failed transmission.

I had hoped that my warranty company would split the cost or something, but they say "no", so I will have to go to arbitration with them. I think i will threaten to sue Audi of America since if they had caught the problem when I brought the car in mulitple times with a CEL, then the warranty company would have paid for the tranny replacement before I and my car were sent overseas to work for the US Government.

Any thoughts? Anyone ever go to arbitration with a warranty company? Anyone ever get Audi of NA to replace your transmission for free? Do we have stats on the failure rate of the RS transmission in the USA?

Thanks in advance as I try to build a case.

[Jimmy]

Gosh, this stinks for you...are they repairing or replacing the tranny ? 10K seems pretty high in either regard.

So, warranty company does not want to pay since you and the car are out of the USA? What company is this?

Its pretty well known that these cars torque converters were less that adequate from day 1 (due to a little seal), as for entire tranny failures...I don't know about that. After nearly 10 years though , I would imagine Audi NA will tell you or any of us to pound sand.

Best of luck bobski ! Give 'em Hell. Tschuss.

[lswing]

Should be more around $3,500 rebuild, $2,500 labor, $1000 shipping depending, at an independent at least...if it's done at Audi at least you get the warranty...

[vitalian]

Check with forum member "mmaturo." If I remember correctly, he had multiple transmission failure issues on his RS6.

[Chung]

It seems to be high given the anecdotal information. The previous owner of my car also had the transmission rebuilt. Please file a complaint https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/index.xhtml

[QuattroRS]

Audi US may consider helping you.

I would just continue to drive it till I got back to the US. How long? Then stick it up the ext warranty you know what.

If you have a failed torque converter it is common. NHTSA will care less...this is not a failure where safety is concerned. Not like a leaking gas tank.

[905084]

Bad tranny? Kinda like saying "bad car". What does it do? symptoms? Could be something totally unrelated, could be a bad A clutch, could be a bad TQ, TCU, even ECU. Everything is so related. These cars have their issues, but make sure it's the trans before you spend $15k in litigation to save a $6k trans.

[Jimmy Joe]

Give ém hell, Insurance companies just make sure you pay your policy, after that, they´ll do everything in their power to avoid paying claims with the silliest of reasons. Dealerships? Ditto + 1.

[mmaturo]

Check with forum member "mmaturo." If I remember correctly, he had multiple transmission failure issues on his RS6.

yup....4 replacements and last one was going when i traded it in...5 torque converters. Mine were all replaced under original warranty from new and then two by CPO warranty. I had a very strong stock motor with no tune (dyno 395 at the wheels). Unfortunately we should have banded together years ago and got Audi for this too along with the DRC campaign we waged and it worked. Probably useless now as just too long. Trust me they know they fail as I only know one owner out of 6 (4 now former) I know personally that is still on tranny number one and his is at 36K. One person his first went at 13K...I have personally seen three for sale in recent years with failing units and one car was at auction and it was shot...could only put car in reverse that I looked at for a forum member here. Oh and dozens on the forum over the years...no other car I have owned has ever tracked problems across the entire production run like this car. You guys late to the party here really need to read way back...the TCU and tranny are the problem almost every time when it comes to gear change issues and overboost related shut down/limp mode issues...symptoms are obvious when they start to go...plenty of posts on that...very few people rebuild these (tozo) and usually you are getting a rebuilt unit directly from ZF through Audi from a dealer...they do not bother with trying to rebuild them at the dealer service level. Through Audi they do not send new ones anymore I think...they were $8K when they did and even rebuilt they were $6K a year and a half ago and then 60 hours of labor (charged anyway) for the full front end dismantle and engine drop. Good luck with your claim/arbitration but I would follow through. It is bs that the warranty company will not cover it to some degree.