NHTSA Complaint #11623634 — 2024 AUDI Q5 E

My Audi SUV hybrid hatchback opens and closes using a "foot assist" motion detection system. I believe other car manufacturers offer similar systems on some of their SUVs. The hatchback often opens and closes without me intending it to. When the hatch is open it has often come down on me, my family and my grandkids without warning and without braking. It has hit our heads hard in coming down and it really did a number on my [XXX] grandson, causing some tears and leaving a good size bump and bruise afterwards. When I come around the back of the car to plug in the electric charger when I come home it often opens unintendedly and the opening hatch has often pinned me hard against the closed garage door. In checking I could not find anything in the manual about turning this feature off or controlling how it works. I spoke to 3 car dealerships and they all said it cant be turned off. Looking on line, there are other stories like mine of people getting hurt and also not finding any way to control the 'foot assist' feature. This may be a useful feature for some people but is an obvious safety hazard for me and others and it is surprising that there is no apparent way to disable or modify the feature. It should not be hard to do in my opinion and is long overdue. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)