Volkswagen Recalls Over 100,000 Audi Sedans: Air Bags May Not Work

A software glitch in some Audi luxury cars in the U.S. and Canada could result in a failure of front air bags, according to documents posted Wednesday by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Owners of 101,938 Audi A4, Audi S4 and Audi Allroad vehicles from the 2013 to 2015 model years should go to their nearest Audi dealership after Nov. 11 to have the software updated.

“In rare cases, it is possible that the front air bags in the affected vehicles may not deploy in a crash as designed, due to an improper algorithm/coding within the air bag control module,” Volkswagen Group, which owns Audi, said in an Oct. 23 letter to NHTSA. “Front-seat occupants may not have the intended protection from the frontal air bag system in a secondary impact, putting them at risk for injury.”

Audi's announcement comes amid a record year for automotive recalls. More than 50 million vehicles – over half from General Motors – have been called back to dealerships. More than 6 million cars from 11 manufacturers have been called back to fix a different air bag problem that traces back to Japanese auto-safety-parts manufacturer Takata Corp.