Audi Q4 e-tron joins VW battery recall, now 85,402 EVs

The battery recall that started with the Volkswagen ID.4 has reached Audi. Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) added a recall on 27 October covering 12,734 Audi Q4 e-tron and Q4 Sportback e-tron SUVs worldwide, Electrek reports. Only one of them is in Germany; Audi says most were built for North America.

The recall in numbers

• 85,402 EVs are now covered by Volkswagen Group's related battery recalls, up from the 72,700 we reported last week.
• Earlier actions cover certain batches of the ID. Buzz, ID.3, ID.4 and ID.7 built between 2022 and 2025, plus the Cupra Born from 2022 to 2024.
• In the US, Volkswagen Group of America told safety regulator NHTSA on 23 October that it is recalling 9,048 Audi Q4 e-tron and Q4 Sportback e-tron SUVs from model years 2024 and 2025.

What's wrong

According to Volkswagen's safety report to NHTSA, "certain charging profiles combined with a state of charge over 80% may trigger thermal propagation", meaning a fault in one cell could spread heat to others and, in the worst case, start a fire. The root cause is still unknown.

Audi says its Product Safety Committee was told about battery thermal events in other VW Group EVs that use the same batteries. An internal investigation then found the same battery and production characteristics in the Q4. The company says it is not aware of any claims, crashes, fires, injuries or deaths linked to the issue in the Q4 e-tron.

What owners should do

The advice is the same as for the ID.4: limit charging to 80% until a permanent fix is available. Volkswagen has already said it would apply a temporary 80% charge limit to affected ID.4s unless owners opted out, and Electrek says US dealers can run diagnostics and set a temporary limit too.

Practical steps if you drive a Q4 e-tron or one of the listed VW and Cupra models:

1. Check your VIN with Audi or Volkswagen (in the US, also on NHTSA's recall lookup).
2. Set the maximum charge to 80% in the car or the app, and avoid leaving the car at a high charge for long periods.
3. Watch for a letter from the dealer about the final repair.

Capping daily charging at 80% is good battery practice anyway, and our EV battery care guide explains why. The trade-off is range: plan longer trips with an extra charging stop until the fix arrives.