69DY / Passenger Frontal Airbag – 2016 Audi TT, S3, R8, A3, A3 Etron

July 27, 2022 NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 22V543000

Air Bag Inflator May Explode or Deploy Improperly

An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking occupants, resulting in serious injury or death. An improper air bag deployment may not properly restrain the occupant, increasing their risk of injury in a crash.

 

NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V543

Manufacturer Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.

Components AIR BAGS

Potential Number of Units Affected 1,216

 

Summary

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2016 Audi TT Roadster, TT Coupe, S3 Sedan, R8 Coupe, A3 Sedan, A3 Etron, A3 Cabriolet, 2016 Golf Sportwagen, Golf R, Golf GTI, Golf A7, and E Golf vehicles. During air bag deployment, the front passenger air bag may explode or deploy improperly.

 

Remedy

Dealers will replace the front-passenger air bag module, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed December 16, 2022. Owners may contact Volkswagen’s customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Audi’s customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Volkswagen’s number for this recall is 69DY and 61C1.

 

Notes

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.nhtsa.gov.

 

Check if your Audi has a Recall

 

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Affected Vehicles

Country	Beginning Model Year	Ending Model Year	Vehicle	Vehicle Count
USA	2016	2016	A3	473
USA	2016	2016	A3 CABRIOLET	16
USA	2017	2017	R8	2
USA	2016	2016	S3	83
USA	2016	2016	TT	94
CAN	2016	2016	A3	24
CAN	2016	2016	A3 CABRIOLET	1
CAN	2016	2016	S3	5
CAN	2016	2016	TT	4

 

Problem Description

In the event of a crash with airbag deployment, the front passenger airbag may explode or deploy improperly. An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking occupants, resulting in serious injury or death. An improper airbag deployment may not properly restrain the occupant, increasing their risk of injury in a crash.

 

Corrective Action

Replace the front passenger airbag.

 

Precautions

Audi recommends avoiding use of the front passenger seat whenever possible until the recall
repair has been performed.

 

Code Visibility

On August 05, 2022, the campaign code was applied to affected vehicles.

 

Owner Notification

Owner notification will take place in December 2022. Owner letter examples are included in this bulletin for your reference.

 

Repair Overview

Replace passenger frontal airbag.

 

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Chronology :

April 14-18, 2022: A dealership representative sent an email to a VWGoA employee on April 14 regarding a claim that an airbag inflator ruptured in a 2016 A3 e-Tron during a crash. The email was read and submitted to the appropriate business unit on April 18.

May 03, 2022: The current status of investigation and all relevant vehicle information were presented at the quarterly meeting between NHTSA and VWGoA.

June 29, 2022: Volkswagen Group of America was permitted to carry out a joint visual inspection with representatives for plaintiffs in the above-referenced lawsuit, ARC, Joyson, and NHTSA present. Solely based on this visual inspection the inflator is most likely original equipment and a rupture was confirmed.

July 19, 2022: Volkswagen AG and Audi AG received the serial numbers of the suspect inflator batch from the supplier and then verified the scope of vehicles in the field.

July 22, 2022: The Volkswagen and Audi Product Safety Committees decide a voluntary worldwide safety recall in order to analyze the parts from the suspect inflator batch.

Audi is aware of one customer claim due to this issue.

 

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10 Affected Products

Vehicles

MAKE	MODEL	YEAR
AUDI	A3	2016
AUDI	A3 ETRON	2016
AUDI	R8	2016
AUDI	S3	2016
AUDI	TT	2016
VOLKSWAGEN	E-GOLF	2016
VOLKSWAGEN	GOLF	2016
VOLKSWAGEN	GOLF R	2016
VOLKSWAGEN	GOLF SPORTWAGEN	2016
VOLKSWAGEN	GTI	2016

 

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18 Associated Documents

Recall 573 Report

RCLRPT-22V543-3225.pdf 222.646KB

 

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Recall Acknowledgement

RCAK-22V543-7119.pdf 645.2KB

 

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Volkswagen – VW Dealer Advance Notice – August 2022

RCMN-22V543-7639.pdf 843.139KB

 

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Volkswagen – Audi Dealer Advance Notice – August 5, 2022

RCMN-22V543-1760.pdf 843.333KB

 

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ISSUED Interim Owner Notification Letter(Part 577)

RIONL-22V543-7773.pdf 122.192KB

 

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ISSUED Interim Owner Notification Letter(Part 577)

RIONL-22V543-8280.pdf 108.304KB

 

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ISSUED Interim Owner Notification Letter(Part 577)

RIONL-22V543-0103.pdf 125.533KB

 

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ISSUED Interim Owner Notification Letter(Part 577)

RIONL-22V543-6012.pdf 111.638KB

 

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Remedy Instructions and TSB

RCRIT-22V543-3762.pdf 1220.82KB

 

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Volkswagen – Audi Dealer Launch Notice – December 2022

RCMN-22V543-7356.pdf 367.43KB

 

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ISSUED Owner Notification Letter(Part 577)

RCONL-22V543-4514.pdf 171.771KB

 

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ISSUED Owner Notification Letter(Part 577)

RCONL-22V543-8864.pdf 155.889KB

 

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Remedy Instructions and TSB

RCRIT-22V543-6365.pdf 1075.253KB

 

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ISSUED Owner Notification Letter(Part 577)

RCONL-22V543-8553.pdf 98.846KB

 

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ISSUED Owner Notification Letter(Part 577)

RCONL-22V543-1508.pdf 111.358KB

 

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Volkswagen – Dealer Launch Notice – February 2023

RCMN-22V543-5813.pdf 217.826KB

 

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ISSUED Owner Notification Letter(Part 577)

RCONL-22V543-4778.pdf 171.771KB

 

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ISSUED Owner Notification Letter(Part 577)

RCONL-22V543-1345.pdf 155.889KB

 

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Latest Recalls Documents

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/documentList.xhtml?docId=22V543&docType=RCL

 

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1 Associated Investigation

Air Bag Inflator Rupture
NHTSA ID: EA16003
Dated opened: August 4, 2016

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) is upgrading its Preliminary Evaluation of ARC Automotive Inc. (ARC) air bag inflators to an Engineering Analysis. ODI opened PE15-027 in July 2015 based on two injury incidents involving a driver air bag inflator rupture. One incident involved a 2002 Chrysler Town & Country that utilized a dual-stage air bag inflator. The other involved a 2004 Kia Optima that utilized a single-stage inflator. Both driver air bag inflators were manufactured by ARC, a tier-two supplier of automotive air bag systems, at their manufacturing facility in Knoxville Tennessee. All ARC driver air bag inflators are a hybrid design that fills the air bag by releasing an inert gas mixture stored in the inflator at high pressure. The gas mixture is augmented by an ammonium nitrate based propellant. The pressurized gas mixture and propellant are contained entirely within a hermetically sealed steel housing isolated from external atmospheric conditions.

During the course of PE15-027, ODI requested information from ARC about which air bag module manufacturers used the subject ARC inflators. Based on the information received from ARC, ODI requested information from the identified air bag module manufacturers about which vehicle manufacturers used modules with the subject ARC inflators. That process identified two additional affected vehicle manufacturers, General Motors and Hyundai.

Based on the age of the vehicles involved in the two incidents in the U.S., ODI focused on single- and dual-stage inflators manufactured by ARC from the start of production to September 2004. It is estimated that approximately 8 million inflators, both single- and dual-stage, were manufactured for use in vehicles produced by Chrysler, GM, Kia and Hyundai for sale or lease in the United States during that time frame.

In addition to identifying models using the subject ARC air bag inflator, ODI requested that the affected vehicle manufacturers supply the details for any type of complaint, field report, lawsuit, arbitration or other report involving any vehicle manufactured for sale or lease in the United States equipped with air bag modules utilizing an air bag inflator manufactured by ARC regardless of inflator type (dual vs. single) or position (i.e. driver, passenger, side, etc.). No additional field failures were reported to ODI by the vehicle manufacturers. Additionally, ODI received information from ARC regarding the design, manufacture and testing of the single- and dual-stage driver air bag inflators.

In July 2016, ODI was informed by Transport Canada of a fatal incident involving a driver air bag rupture in a 2009 Hyundai Elantra. It was determined that incident inflator was manufactured by ARC and had ruptured in substantially the same manner as the two previous incidents known to ODI. The driver air bag module in the subject 2009 Hyundai Elantra utilized a single-stage inflator manufactured at ARC’s facility in China. ARC confirmed that the inflator in the 2009 Hyundai Elantra was substantially the same design as the single-stage inflator in the 2004 Kia Optima and was assembled using substantially the same manufacturing process.

The U.S. market model 2009 Hyundai Elantra did not use the single-stage driver air bag inflator produced by ARC in China. It is unknown at this time if any of the inflators manufactured in China were used in vehicles produced for sale or lease in the United States.

ODI’s investigation will focus on determining the entire US population of ARC manufactured driver air bag inflators, single- and dual-stage, identification of affected vehicle manufacturers, and whether any single-stage driver air bag inflators manufactured at ARC’s facility in China were used in vehicles produced for sale or lease in the United States. Additionally, ODI will conduct a program to recover the subject ARC inflators from vehicles in the field for further testing and evaluation in support of root cause analysis.

 

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