NHTSA Complaint #11429704 — 2016 AUDI S7

The car drove normally at highway speed for approximately 4 hours. Upon leaving the highway and attempting to accelerate onto a secondary road into oncoming traffic, the engine shuttered. The car drove erratically for about a mile with hesitation and shuttering. After stopping at a stop sign at a very busy intersection, the engine failed completely. The Electronic Power Control warning light appeared. The engine would not restart on repeated attempts. After dealing with following traffic for several minutes, a passer by assisted with pushing the car to the side of the road. During this time, the steering and brakes barely worked and I was just able to avoid hitting a parked car due to these disablements. Note that the manual for the car includes very little information about this warning light other than "to have the function corrected as soon as possible" by an Audi dealer. There were no prior warning lights or degradations in performance. This was a catastrophic failure. The car went from performing normally to complete failure in a matter of minutes. During this sequence my wife and I were at risk as well as the drivers who were forced to enter the oncoming traffic lane to go around me and the passer by who assisted. Due to the position of the car, the tow truck operator was also at risk as were passing drivers at the time of the tow. I am told by the Audi Dealer in Rutland, VT that both turbochargers failed. This is apparently due to the clogging of an oil screen which filters oil before entering the turbos. My understanding is that this is known problem to Audi. It is very expensive to access the oil screen to determine if it is clogged. My car has only approximately 48,000 miles on it and it has received all indicated services and oil changes. There are aftermarket solutions to fix this problem which Audi has failed to implement or recommend. I was never made aware of this being a potential problem by Audi or my Audi dealer.