3.3

definitely annoying
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
40,391 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2013 Audi S8:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

problem #11

Sep 092022

S8

  • miles
The dealer doesn-??t want to perform the recall due to branded title. They should though. Please look into

- Gresham , OR, USA

problem #10

Feb 072022

S8

  • miles
Engine turbocharger experience catastrophic damage, engine stalled, power steering was disrupted.

- Jacksonville , OR, USA

problem #9

Jul 222021

S8

  • miles
The car was running rough for a couple weeks; hesitant to accelerate, failed to start multiple times and idled rough. One day I was coming home from my hour long commute, I put the car in reverse in my driveway and the car started bucking so badly that it became un-drivable. At this point we had to get the car towed on a flatbed an hour away to the nearest dealership and this is when we discovered that the turbos had gone bad. There was no check engine light or any indication before it just failed. I am active duty in the United States Coast Guard and being without a car is not an option. Because of the shipping delay and waiting for the turbos to come from Germany, I was without my car for two weeks. I was loaned a vehicle but I had to rent a car for one day in between. We have been told by Audi dealerships for years that this was a known problem and to expect this $10,000 repair.

- Mattapoisett, MA, USA

problem #8

Jul 012021

S8

  • miles
While driving on the main highway, my car engine shut off. I had dysfunctional brake and steering failure. Brake was hardly working and I had to use all my strength to control steering. Basically, while driving at 50mph, car engine shut off without warning and I lost steering and braking. I was able to pull off the road into a vacant parking lot and car came to a stop. Fortunately, no cars were around at the time. Otherwise, I along with my family would have been involved in a potentially fatal accident. My car had been serviced by Audi since purchase. It was just serviced within the past month. Car was towed to an Audi dealer--the turbo charger had failed. Based on the dealer description, failer of turbo caused the catastrophic failure of both the steering and the brakes. There should be a backup safety mechanism in case of turbo failure with Audi 4L engine--apparently, this does not seem to exist. I contacted Audi and they had no explanation. It was just by god's grace that horrible accident did not occur. I hope you can provide some insight into this. Based on some blogs, this is apparently common with 4L turbo engines with Audi.

- Braselton, GA, USA

problem #7

Jul 022021

S8

  • miles
Turbos failed, car stalled and will not start unless giving it gas. Down on power and performance. Check engine light came

- Monett, MO, USA

problem #6

Apr 222020

S8

  • 58,000 miles
Turbochargers failure due to clogged oil screen. Had to replace both turbocharger with new units and replaced oil screen with updated version

- Plainville, CT, USA

problem #5

Jan 152021

S8

  • 80,000 miles
While on the highway, I noticed that the car was not picking up appropriate speed when accelerating. There was no prior notice or engine lights or any abnormalities with the vehicle prior to this. I decided to pull off the highway at a rest area and as the car was slowed down around 15-20 mph, I lost total power of the vehicle and was unable to steer or use the brakes. Luckily the car was able to coast to a stop without injury but was extremely frightening with my family in the vehicle. After tow to the Audi dealership I was informed that the problem was a catastrophic failure of the turbos in the engine. I did extensive review of this problem and find out that it is a known problem and boils down to a design flaw where a small oil screen essentially starves the turbos of oil. Sometime these screens have clogged but in many cases are just fine but in all cases have lead to turbo failure. This is not a maintenance issue and all vehicles I have reviewed have been factory maintained with service records available such as in the case of my vehicle. This is not currently covered by an Audi extended warranty and repairs are very costly averaging around 12-13K from the dealerships. I contacted Audi of America and filed a complaint (as many people have) and they did not offer any assistance. They are aware of this design flaw and costly repair but have not issued any recalls. This is clearly a safety concern because had I lost power on the highway I most certainly would have been involved in a catastrophic accident. Audi had recently issued an extended warranty service on a faulty engine oil PCV valve and that repair was around 2-3K. Clearly there is a trend here with these engines. I am hopeful that with this and other complaints, that this major safety issue will lead to warranty extension and/or recall for repair of this problem. Thank you.

- Ann Arbor, MI, USA

problem #4

Apr 022020

S8 8-cyl

  • 48,700 miles
Both turbos on the engine were damaged to the point of replacement, causing the car to stall out at idle at a busy intersection putting me in danger of an accident. My car had less than 50,000 miles on it.

- Newton, MA, USA

problem #3

May 072019

S8

  • 84,600 miles
While driving, the car started to run rough and wouldn't idle when I came to a stop. It became very hard to start, especially when hot. While the car was in for recall work it was diagnosed with bad turbochargers. Quoted over $10K in repairs.

- Coventry, CT, USA

problem #2

Mar 162019

S8

  • 112,000 miles
It if very well known issue for 4.0tt V8 Audi engine, there is pour oil supply to turbos which causing them to fail. After an hour of cruising on highway car would choke on idle, difficult to even start. Audi dealer diagnosed turbo failure without underline cause. 10K dollars repair every 20-50K miles is unreasonable due to fact that oil separator, oil strainer, seals and coolant lines have been identified to be defective and updated by manufacturer (Audi)

- Toledo, OH, USA

problem #1

Feb 052018

S8

  • 61,000 miles
Car has 3 bent rims and a broken motor mount carmax will try to say they fixed rims and the motor mount is fine

- Lake Worth, FL, USA