Mylène Dionne was driving full speed down Highway 55 near Drummondville in December when she says her dashboard went black and her steering wheel went stiff.
Recommended Videos
“I thought I was going to die.”
Dionne mustered her strength and managed to force the wheel to turn, pulling her Audi Q4 e-tron — an electric SUV — onto the shoulder. “I was completely panicked, in a state of shock. I was crying and trembling.”
She called Audi to schedule a tow. At this point, about eight months into her four-year lease, it was a call she says she was used to making.
Dionne is one of several Q4 drivers who say they have experienced issues driving the luxury EV, which sells for more than $60,000. While her experience was more harrowing than most, she and two other drivers told The Gazette that issues related to their vehicles’ batteries stopped the cars from working. A Facebook group dedicated to Quebec Q4 drivers facing similar problems has grown to more than 300 members.
Audi maintains there is no widespread issue affecting the vehicle.
Dionne said it wasn’t her first time or even her first Q4 to experience an electrical malfunction. She got her first Q4 in April. On July 16, she said, a warning signal instructed her to park the car, at which point it wouldn’t start up again. Her car was towed and she got it back about three weeks later.
The issue, as explained to her, was a defect preventing the car from charging the 12-volt battery — the smaller battery that powers systems including temperature control and door locking and is needed to start the larger battery responsible for propelling the car forward.
On Aug. 21, Dionne got another warning signal and sent the car in for repairs. This time, it didn’t need a tow, but she said Audi told her it was the same issue as before. Then, on Sept. 5, the Q4 that Audi had loaned her while her own car was at the garage wouldn’t start. That car was towed and she got her car back Sept. 12. On Sept. 27, she said, her car wouldn’t start again. At this point, she decided she no longer wanted the vehicle, but she said Audi wouldn’t let her out of her lease.
After she sent a cease-and-desist letter, Dionne said, Audi offered to replace her Q4 with a new one.
She got a new Audi Q4 on Dec. 2. It was that vehicle she said malfunctioned on the highway just one week later.
In the minutes before her steering wheel locked, she said, a warning signal had instructed her to park the car. Dionne hadn’t had time to get off the highway before the dashboard went black and the lights and heating system stopped working. She said she tried to put on her blinkers, but those didn’t work either.
Though the incident left her shaken, Dionne said it could have been much worse. “I was lucky to be in the right place.” She was driving in the right lane and road conditions were good that morning.
This time, Audi released her from the lease.
Karl Phaneuf said he had been driving his Q4 for less than a week when his dashboard went black.
“I was really scared,” he said.
Phaneuf got his car home safely but, after turning it off, the vehicle wouldn’t start up again.
Audi towed the car for repairs Dec. 6, one day after the incident. He got his car back Jan. 17 after mechanics replaced the 12-volt battery.
But Phaneuf said he no longer wants the car. Between his experience and the others he’s heard about, he said he doesn’t feel safe driving a Q4. For now, he’s locked into a four-year lease.
“All I want from Audi is for the contract to be cancelled. I want them to take my car,” he said.
Shawn Erridge said his Q4 lasted two weeks before it stopped working. He said the car was flashing electrical-malfunction warnings one day and wouldn’t start the next.
A tow truck came Oct. 1 and he got the car back six weeks later.
After complaining to Audi about the long wait for repairs, the company paid him $1,600, which covered about two months of lease payments.
But like Phaneuf, Erridge said he no longer has confidence in the vehicle. He said he’d like Audi to let him out of the lease.
“I don’t want to be stuck with this for four more years,” he said.
Erridge started a Facebook group in October with about six others who he said had experienced similar issues with their Q4s. As of Tuesday, the page had 320 members.
In a statement to The Gazette, Audi spokesperson Cort Nielsen said that of the 3,775 Q4 e-trons in Quebec, 29 drivers are in continued communication with Audi. While Phaneuf would be considered one of the 29, both Dionne and Erridge’s cases are considered closed.
Nielsen said the model hasn’t faced widespread issues, but that Audi sent dealers a technical bulletin this month to “expedite diagnosis and repair” for 12-volt batteries.
After The Gazette contacted Audi about Erridge’s experience, he said a representative contacted him, offering a switch from his Q4 to a gas vehicle. Erridge declined the offer.