Steering Malfunction - You may continue to drive - Terminal 15 Implausable Data Set

[gkott78]

Hey everyone, just wanted to see if anyone had experience with this issue.

I purchased my 2018 SQ5 Pretige with 45k miles just a few short weeks ago. Literally driving off the lot, i get a warning light that says "steering malfunction, you may continue to drive". I turn right back around to the dealer, but this was a Saturday and service was not opened. I noticed no issues, everything was working as it should so we set it up to bring back at a later date.

While waiting for service and an available rental vehicle I've been driving it. I've had a few issues come up, and have been trying to research it. I was at a stop sign, in comfort mode and the auto start stop shut the engine down as normal. When I went to make my left hand turn and accelerate, the car fired right back up but NO POWER STEERING.... I was able to negotiate the turn, but my god that wheel was heavy. Thank god I was driving and not my wife, there is no way she would have been able to turn the wheel. A few moments later steering assistance was back and felt normal. This happened one other time as well but only for a few seconds after auto stop.

Yesterday we had an ice storm, and it was cold and covered in sleet. I started the vehicle to warm it up before taking the kids to school I get in, put it in reverse and no power steering at all. I had to man handle the vehicle to get my kids to school. I shut down and restarted the vehicle multiple times to no resolve, the steering was gone. Later in the day I started it again to check it, and all was back, but the temps rose again.

I ran my OBD11 and pulled codes, everything shows Terminal 15 implausible data set. A few controllers had faults, and they all appear related to Data Bus, and all point back to Terminal 15.

With that being said, there is some type of recall around an issue that moisture can get into one of the data bus controllers and cause issues. The dealer got me in last night and i'm in a rental. They are working with Audi on the recall, and the steering issue. Luckily the dealer I bought it from put a 12 month bumper to bumper warranty on it, and will be taking care of everything.

Is there any known issues like this, or anyone had this issue. I've read some horror stories of steering column replacments, and some reports of the whole system shutting down causing accidents.... it's kind of got me worried as I drive me two young kids in this vehicle. I sold my A6 and got the SQ5 as I wanted more ground clearance for winter in MI, and to accommodate for our terrible roads here. If this issue presents itself in cold and moisture, than that negates my entire reason for the SQ5....

I'm hoping this is a quick easy fix, but I would like to gather as much information as possible.

Thanks in advance!!!

[robb1887]

Following. Mine just started randomly popping this same message, 3 weeks into ownership. I need to do a full scan for faults to see if they align.

I haven't had any full on failures other than the warning message.

[gkott78]

Well dealer got a loaner, and since they are not an audi dealer they sent it to my local indy euro shop. Same shop that did a lot of work on my C7 A6. News is not good....... full steering rack replacement. Right now the estimate for labor and parts is over 4200. Dealer applied thier own 12 month bumper to bumper warranty, so I'm covered. However, this is crazy. I know this dealer was aware of the issue and didn't address it. The car was owned by an employee at the dealer. Thank God for my indy shop, they are amazing and have provided me updates. I have my concerns that this is a design flaw and could repeat.

[robb1887]

Well dealer got a loaner, and since they are not an audi dealer they sent it to my local indy euro shop. Same shop that did a lot of work on my C7 A6. News is not good....... full steering rack replacement. Right now the estimate for labor and parts is over 4200. Dealer applied thier own 12 month bumper to bumper warranty, so I'm covered. However, this is crazy. I know this dealer was aware of the issue and didn't address it. The car was owned by an employee at the dealer. Thank God for my indy shop, they are amazing and have provided me updates. I have my concerns that this is a design flaw and could repeat.

Any chance you got a full parts breakdown if what they installed with PN?

[gkott78]

Any chance you got a full parts breakdown if what they installed with PN?

I'm sure I will eventually be able to get my hands on it, right now it's still there and I haven't seen any of the paperwork. The Indy shop is billing this back to the dealer, so although I'm informed I'm not the direct client to them on this work. I'll be sure to get a copy from them when it's all complete.

[robb1887]

Bump for updates.

I'm starting to think mine might be less "whole rack issue" and more a steering angle sensor issue. I haven't nailed it down, but have started to notice that I get the error message after parking with the wheel at harder angles in lieu of mostly straight.

[gkott78]

Just got the car back 2 days ago, and yes it was certainly the rack. I'll try to get pictures from the shop who replaced the rack. The terminal 15 code was still present after the rack replacement, but was found to be a bad wire in one of the harnesses also leading to the rack area which was replaced. The car is now code free and no issues at all.

I did a little google searching on this issue, and there are a few reports of the 18 SQ5 having this issue. It was also present in the C7 models, in fact Audi extended the steering rack warranty on those because of the known issue rather than an all out recall. Not an uncommon issue with Audi overall, but not super common on the B9 models.