"It's only been a month and a half to mention the car, and the problem occurred at 6000 kilometers. The gearbox made a noise when the fourth gear jumped to the fifth gear." As the owner of the new Audi A6L, Mr. Shi has been depressed for the past six months. According to his self-report to the "Auto Talk", he bought a brand new Audi A6L at the Yuantong Audi 4S store near his home in July 2019. Unexpectedly, the new car had problems before the break-in period. The gearbox made a slight abnormal noise to the severe abnormal noise of the rear gear shift until the clutch was replaced. However, Mr. Shi's situation is not a simple case.
"Change the gearbox before the break-in period" has recently become a hot topic among Audi riders. On the Internet and in multiple forums, large-scale complaints about the quality of the new Audi A6L gearbox have also emerged. The backstage of "Qi Cha Pa Tan" and China Automotive News Network also received complaints from many Audi owners, and the problems were mainly concentrated on the abnormal noise of the gearbox.
With the deepening of the investigation, "Auto Talk" found that after the new Audi A6L gearbox problem, because of the same transmission, the new Audi A4L and Audi Q5L also have the same problem. In the future, matching this DL382 dual-clutch gearbox designed for the Chinese market will a large-scale quality crisis break out? worry.
The gearbox of the new car was changed before the break-in period.
According to Mr. Shi’s description, the gearbox of the new car felt a little abnormal from the time he picked up the car. Later, the more I opened the car, the more it was found that the gearbox of this car was stuck during shifting. The louder the noise. In this regard, the "auto talk" interviewed the Nanchang Yuantong Audi store where Mr. Shi bought the car. The 4S store said that if the Audi A6L finds the gearbox frustration and abnormal noise, it needs to come to the store for inspection and report to the manufacturer. The clutch can be replaced only after the manufacturer's review. As for whether it is a batch problem or a product design defect, the 4S shop said it was not clear.
Mr. Shi’s car was tested, and the 4S shop determined that the gearbox was faulty, so Mr. Shi replaced the gearbox. However, the 4S shop did not give Mr. Shi any explanation for the problems with the original gearbox of the new car. Since no explanation was given to the cause of the new car problem, and he was worried about whether the problem could be solved after replacing the transmission, Mr. Shi was not satisfied with the treatment.
There are still many people who are as dissatisfied as Mr. Shi, and there are some car owners' experiences and encounters that have not even gone well with Mr. Shi. Mr. Li from Foshan, Guangzhou, bought a car in November 2019. After driving 400 kilometers for 10 days, a transmission failure warning appeared. After being tested by the 4S shop, it was identified as a transmission valve body problem, and the valve body was required to be replaced. Since the problem has not been resolved so far, Mr. Li has been defending his rights in the automobile forum for help.
Mr. Wang, who lives in Dongying, Shandong Province, also bought the Audi A6L in 2019, but his car had abnormal noises when the gearbox entered the 5th gear when the 4th gear entered the 5th gear at 16,000 kilometers. According to his feedback on the automotive forum, his vehicle is also getting worse, and the consulting technicians still require the clutch to be replaced.
According to the statistics of "Auto Talk", most consumers complaining about gearbox failures are the new Audi A6L purchased in 2019. The failure performance is mainly concentrated in the stalls and abnormal noises between the 5th and 4th gears. The shortest problem outbreak period is only 400 kilometers, and the longest problem outbreak period is only 20,000 kilometers. The general solution given to consumers by 4S stores is to replace the clutch or gearbox, indicating that this batch of gearbox clutches has common quality problems.
The same gearbox problem appeared on A4L and Q5L
According to investigation and understanding, these gearboxes are all dual-clutch gearboxes numbered DL382. It is precisely after Audi products began to fully reinstall this dual-clutch gearbox numbered DL382, many of its models have been at the forefront of the major quality complaints list. In the 2019 domestic medium and large car complaint rankings released by the car quality network, FAW-Volkswagen Audi's A6L topped the list because of abnormal transmission noise and interior odor. What's worrying is that the new Audi A4L and Audi Q5L are now the same as the new Audi A6L, both of which are equipped with this dual-clutch gearbox. Therefore, there have also been many cases and complaints about major replacements just after the break-in period. In the car forum, Mr. Wang reflected on the new Audi he bought in May 2019Q5L, two weeks after picking up the car, the gearbox has severe abnormal noise. In his opinion, as a luxury-matched Audi, the new car only traveled 1,900 kilometers, and the quality problem of the gearbox was a bit difficult for him to understand. In the end, the solution given by the 4S shop is to replace the gearbox as a whole.
The same case was copied from Mr. Zhao who lives in Linyi, Shandong. According to his complaint on the Auto Forum, the brand new Audi Q5L purchased in January 2019 has a meter mileage of 1900 kilometers after driving for 14 days, and he found that the car cannot be reversed when it is in reverse gear. The final diagnosis result of the 4S shop is that the gearbox is faulty and the gearbox needs to be changed. The gearbox problem of
on the Audi A4L is also very prominent. Mr. Li, who lives in Ningbo, Zhejiang, reported that the gearbox started to make abnormal noises and the warning light was on when the vehicle was 400 kilometers away. Later, the solution given by the 4S shop was to upgrade the gearbox program, which remained unresolved after the upgrade. It can be said that such complaints and cases are numerous.
In response to the above-mentioned problems generally reported by consumers, "Auto Talk" has interviewed Audi cars on this issue many times. Audi car customer service personnel and dealers have stated that there is no official unified recall or treatment method for the current transmission failure. When
interviewed the relevant personnel of Audi China and FAW-Volkswagen Audi, as of the time of publication, there was also no clear answer.
Gearbox products designed for the Chinese market
As our investigation deepens, "Auto Talk" found that behind the new Audi A6L, A4L and Audi Q5L gearbox problems, it was after a Volkswagen dual-clutch gearbox accident. , The result of Audi's "cost reduction campaign" aimed at the Chinese auto market.
It can be said that the Volkswagen Group took the lead in using a large number of dual-clutch gearboxes to open an era, but since then, it has been accompanied by various questions from consumers about the quality of Volkswagen gearboxes.
Originally in the product lineage of the Volkswagen Group, the dual-clutch gearbox was only assembled on Volkswagen brand models because of its low cost. Later, the Volkswagen Group changed its product strategy. In order to increase the profit margin of bicycles, it began to replace the DL382 dual-clutch gearbox with a large area of its mid-to-high-end brand Audi models. "Qi Cha Pa Tan" learned that this gearbox numbered DL382 comes from Tianjin Volkswagen's automatic transmission factory. The plant has already put into production DQ500 and DQ380 dual-clutch gearboxes, of which DL382 is a gearbox product designed for the Chinese market. The cost-effective advantage brought about by
cost compression is also evident in Audi. Whether it is the new Audi A6L, or Audi A4L and Audi Q5L, compared with the same models of competing Mercedes-Benz and BMW, they have a greater price advantage in terminal sales. Audi has always been a thriving presence in the Chinese market, but now it is getting more and more difficult in the BBA competition. The brand advantage is "leading in technology", and with market changes and competition intensifying, it is no longer so obvious, while the label of "cost-effective" has become more prominent.
The outbreak of Audi's gearbox problem is likely to reduce Audi's "grip" on the road to upward competition in the field of Chinese luxury cars. Whether it can properly solve the problem and win back the hearts of consumers has become the key to whether Audi can move closer in the Chinese market.
