NHTSA Complaint #10275363 — 2003 AUDI A6

AOA HAS FAILED TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR A SAFETY RELATED DEFECT IN MY AUDI A6 FUEL SYSTEM. GIVEN A NHTSA PRODUCT SAFETY GAS STORAGE TANK RECALL, I BELIEVE AOA ARE LIABLE FOR THIS SAFETY RELATED DEFECT. ON JUNE 26TH, 2009 HOFFMAN AUDI, EAST HARTFORD CT, SERVICE MANAGER JIM ORMAN ORALLY INFORMED ME THAT AOA WILL TAKE NO FURTHER ACTION IN THIS MATTER, THE REASONS PROVIDED WERE: 1) RECALL WAS ON OTHER SIDE OF THE TANK - THIS PARTICULAR VALVE WAS NOT PART OF THE RECALL AND THEY'VE SEEN ONLY A FEW OTHERS WITH ISSUES. ?THERE WAS NO POSSIBLE WAY THIS COULD OCCUR DURING THE RECALL REPAIR.? 2) FUEL TANK WAS OUT OF 4 YEAR, 50000 MILE WARRANTY. 3) AOA DISREGARDS THE UNSAFE CONDITION CAUSED BY FUEL VAPOR/FLUID LEAKS RESULTING FROM THE DEFECTIVE/WORN OUT VALVE. IN DISCUSSION IT WAS REFERENCED THAT ?THERE WERE ONLY FOUR OTHER INSTANCES OF THIS PROBLEM? AND CITED AGE OF THE VEHICLE. I WAS TOLD THAT AFTER REVIEWING IMAGES OF MY CLAIM, THE FINAL DECISION WAS MADE BY KARL KRUG, NEW ENGLAND REGIONAL SERVICE MANAGER AOA. BACKGROUND: IN LATE 2008 I WAS MADE AWARE OF A SAFETY RECALL REGARDING THE POTENTIAL FOR FUEL TANK LEAKAGE RESULTING FROM CRACKED NIPPLES ON THIS PLASTIC GAS STORAGE TANK. A REINFORCEMENT REPAIR WAS PERFORMED ON MY VEHICLE IN DECEMBER 2008 (NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID NUMBER:08V157000). ROUGHLY ONE MONTH LATER THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT ILLUMINATED AND THE DIAGNOSTIC FAULT CODE RELATED TO THE TANK VENTILATION SYSTEM WAS IDENTIFIED. LAST WEEK I ISOLATED THE P0456 16840 TANK VENTILATION SYSTEM PINHOLE LEAK CODE TO THE FUEL TANK. GIVEN THE COMPLEXITY OF THE VENTILATION SYSTEM IN THE FUEL TANK AREA, I DECIDED TO GET THE SYSTEM TESTED BY A DEALER. A CRACKED VALVE NIPPLE ATOP THE GAS STORAGE TANK WAS IDENTIFIED BY A VOLKSWAGEN SERVICE CENTER. I HAVE FILED A COMPLAINT WITH THE CT ATTORNEY GENERAL AND ASKED THEY FORWARD TO THE APPROPRIATE STATE AND FEDERAL AGENCIES FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION. *TR