NHTSA Complaint #10086063 — 1999 AUDI A6

MY HUSBAND AND I WERE DRIVING OUR 1999 AUDI A-6 SEDAN ON A LIMITED ACCESS HIGHWAY, WE NOTICED AN ACRID SMELL IN THE CAR. SUDDENLY SMOKE BEGAN POURING OUT THE AC VENTS THEN FLAMES BEGAN COMING OUT THE VENTS ON THE DRIVERS SIDE. *AK I CALLED THE AUDIOF AMERICA HELP LINE ON THE 16TH OF JULY, GAVE A REPORT AND ON JULY 19, SPOKE TO ANETTE JOHNSON WHO TOOK A FULL FEELING VERY UNSATISFIED BY MS. JOHNSONS UNHELPFUL, THOUGH SYMPATHETIC RESPONSE, I DID A WEB SEARCH USING THE TERMS AUDI, FIRE, DASHBOARD AND DISCOVERED THAT ON MARCH 23, 2004 IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT AUDI WAS RECALLING 172,888 VEHICLES BECAUSE A WIRING PROBLEM COULD CAUSE A FIRE ON THE DRIVERS SIDE. EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED TO US! I THEN WENT TO THE SITE WWW.INTELLICHOICE.COM/REPORTS/VEHICLEREPORT.EFM/VEHICLE_NMB/11642/SECTION/RECALLS THERE I DISCOVERED THAT THEY DISIPLAY ALL CURRENT INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE NHTSA IN THEIR RECALL DATABASE AND YOU HAD NOTED THAT 22 REPORTS HAD BEEN FILED ON FIRES ON THIS VEHICLE. ARE WE THE 23RD OR THE 85TH? I CALLED MS. JOHNSON BACK AND ASKED HER WHY, WHEN I DESCRIBED EXACTLY WHAT AUDI WAS RECALLING CARS FOR SHE HAD NOT TOLD ME ABOUT THE RECALL AND OFFERED TO REPAIR OUR CAR SINCE IT FELL UNDER THAT PROBLEM. SHE SAID THAT AUDI HAS NOT RELEASED THIS IFORMATION THAT IT WAS PENDING. YET I TOLD HER YOU HAD ASSIGNED A RECALL NUMBER TO IT (ACCORDING TO THE ABOVE SITE). THAT NUMBER IS 04V133000. I AM APPALLED THAT NEWS OF THIS PROBLEM HIT THE MEDIA ON MARCH 24, 2004 AND WE WERE NOT NOTIFIED. A FIRE JUST LIKE THE ONES DESCRIBED IN INTELLICHOICES SITE OCCURRED TO US AND WE CERTAINLY COULD HAVE BEEN SERIOUSLY INJURED. YET, THE AUDI REPRESENTATIVE TOLD US THAT OWNERS STILL HAD NOT BEEN NOTIFIED. MY HUSBAND AND I STILL ARE HAVING HORRIFIC FLASHBACKS TO THAT TERRIFYING MOMENT WHEN FLAMES LEPT INTO THE PASSENGER COMPARTMENT. WE STRONGLY URGE YOU TO TAKE ACTION TO MAKE AUDI NOTIFY ALL OWNERS OF CARS LIKE OURS IMMEDIATELY.