2026 Audi S5 Problems
Owner-reported complaints filed with NHTSA, grouped by component
Data refreshed
What this page shows
Everything below is an owner-reported complaint submitted to NHTSA about the 2026 Audi S5, grouped by the component NHTSA recorded on the report. These are not confirmed defects, and they are not recalls. NHTSA does not verify most reports before publishing them, and a category with more reports in it is not evidence that a part is defective.
Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.
Reports by component
Ranked by how many owner reports name each component category
- Brakes150.0%
- Driver assistance150.0%
Percentages are of component mentions. A single complaint can name more than one component, so these do not sum to the total complaint count.
Each component in detail
What the reports in each category say, in the owners' own words
Brakes
Reports naming service brakes, the antilock braking system, brake hoses, master cylinders or the parking brake.
From owner reports, verbatim
Summary of Safety Event: While traveling at highway speeds with active traffic behind me, the vehicle’s Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) suffered an un-commanded, severe "phantom braking" event. The vehicle aggressively engaged the emergency service brakes and decelerated rapidly with absolutely no obstacles, pedestrians, or vehicles ahead. This sudden, violent deceleration created an immediate and high-risk rear-end collision hazard.Cascading Component Failures:In tandem with the dangerous autonomous braking behavior, the vehicle's electronic architecture (E³ 1.2 platform) is exhibiting chronic software instability. The High-Performance Computing infotainment stack continuously enters an internal network routing loop, displaying "Hotspot Reconfiguring" error messages. This completely crashes the cloud connectivity, signs out the primary driver profile, and force-reboots the central MMI display screen and wireless Android Auto interfaces mid-drive.Manufacturer Actions & Hazard Status:I have contacted the manufacturer (Audi of America) and local dealership service networks regarding these systemic software and safety issues, which Audi documents under master overview Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) 2081477. The vehicle currently poses an active safety risk to myself and surrounding motorists due to unpredictable braking behavior. The manufacturer has not yet provided a date to flash the corrected firmware containers (KD2* software update) to resolve the sensor fusion logic flaws.
Too few reports in this category for a page of its own — they appear in the full complaint list.
Driver assistance
Reports naming forward-collision avoidance, lane keeping, back-over prevention, cruise control and related electronic driver-assistance systems.
From owner reports, verbatim
Summary of Safety Event: While traveling at highway speeds with active traffic behind me, the vehicle’s Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) suffered an un-commanded, severe "phantom braking" event. The vehicle aggressively engaged the emergency service brakes and decelerated rapidly with absolutely no obstacles, pedestrians, or vehicles ahead. This sudden, violent deceleration created an immediate and high-risk rear-end collision hazard.Cascading Component Failures:In tandem with the dangerous autonomous braking behavior, the vehicle's electronic architecture (E³ 1.2 platform) is exhibiting chronic software instability. The High-Performance Computing infotainment stack continuously enters an internal network routing loop, displaying "Hotspot Reconfiguring" error messages. This completely crashes the cloud connectivity, signs out the primary driver profile, and force-reboots the central MMI display screen and wireless Android Auto interfaces mid-drive.Manufacturer Actions & Hazard Status:I have contacted the manufacturer (Audi of America) and local dealership service networks regarding these systemic software and safety issues, which Audi documents under master overview Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) 2081477. The vehicle currently poses an active safety risk to myself and surrounding motorists due to unpredictable braking behavior. The manufacturer has not yet provided a date to flash the corrected firmware containers (KD2* software update) to resolve the sensor fusion logic flaws.
Too few reports in this category for a page of its own — they appear in the full complaint list.
Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.
Elsewhere on this vehicle
Data sources
- NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation — owner-reported complaints and the components recorded on them
Data on this page last refreshed .