Audi (97 A4 quattro) has issued a safety recall related to control arms - offering free replacement. They further state that if the control arms have already been replaced, they will reimburse all costs. I have my car maintained faithfully, usually by a dealer, but I did not have the formal 90K mile check done. Since I did not follow their formal process, they are refusing to pay for the repair. (this is not a "maintainable part", so the only fix, if indicated at 90K miles, would have been replacement). Audi's position seems unreasonable, given the "unrepairability factor".

- Rye, NH, USA

Control arms went bad. There's noise when turning and going over bumps.

- Union, NJ, USA

Front control arm ball joints clunk and squeak, they require replacement due to poor design.

- Royal Oak, MI, USA

Upper and lower control arms (all 4) for the front suspension have failed and must be replace again. Squeezing/crunching noise at low speed and over bumps. Have been replaced- less than 15K miles ago by Audi dealer and they've worn out already. This is a poor design and Audi needs to come through with a solution for its customers. This is a several thousand dollar repair job!

- Portland, OR, USA

On two occasions the front control arms failed. Nlm

- Milford, OH, USA

The control arms are part of the suspension. The front axle has 8 control arms in total. Went to the dealer and they explained that 6 of the control arms will cost me $2000. They also explained that this is not covered under warranty and that the manufacturer is not responsible for its malfunction. Apparently the part malfunctions is a myriad of cases with A4 and the part was never recalled. Now I have to repair a part that costs 1/7 the cost of the car because Audi is too cheap to stand by its product. I did nothing wrong--was not due to wear and tear or aggressive driving. Simply put by the dealer, "it just happens." If you investigate this problem you will notice there is a trend with this constant problem. Please help.

- Hartford, CT, USA

Control arm bushing started squeaking indicating failure - did not know that the vehicle's instability at higher speeds and inability to track in a straight line were also due to worn control arm bushings. Searched www.audiworld.com site of Audi owners, found that numerous owners report driveablilty issues with worn control arm bushings. Audi of America and Audi dealer states that bushing problem is not a safety issue, however based on the numerous reports on audiworld.com, this is not true. Owners report having to change control arms every 35K miles or so at a cost of approximately $1,500 for each side since ther are 4 control arms on each side that cost approximately $300 each plus labor. Based on ntsa search, there are a number of complaints of this same problem; what will it take to get a recall of this potentially serious problem? brake problem is only when driving in wet conditions. Brakes do not respond normally - apparently water comes in contact with rotors easily. This problem could easily lead to an accident and there are numerous complaints about this in the ntsa database as well. The idle air control valve problem is a reoccurring one where the engine will stall at idle, or will not idle at all. With a manual transmission, this is especially dangerous as the engine sometimes dies when the clutch is depressed as you prepare to stop. Obviously this results in a loss of power braking and steering which could cause an accident. Please feel free to contact me regarding any or all of these potentially dangerous conditions affecting my car. Obviously I would like to see recalls on all three issues and will provide whatever assistance I can to ensure that this happens. Thanks.

- Dayton, MN, USA