Issue: Unexpected and extremely forceful Brake Hold impeded normal and safe driving maneuvers. While driving in heavy stop-and-go traffic on an incline approaching the GW Bridge towards NY, I cautiously attempted to move out of my lane into an adjacent lane. I lightly applied the brake, (I believe the automatic brake hold activated, to prevent rolling backwards) and the vehicle suddenly jerked extremely hard and came to a complete stop in the middle of the lane. A loud banging sound occurred at the same time, sounding like a collision. Fortunately, there was no collision. The safety concern is particularly serious when changing lanes or merging from slow-moving traffic into a lane where vehicles are traveling significantly faster. An unexpected and forceful stop could leave the vehicle stopped in the path of approaching traffic and creates a substantial risk of being struck from behind or causing a collision. Currently the 2026 Audi A5 Brake Hold function can be disabled only for level grade driving. However, it activates automatically when driving uphill. On a downhill it also activates if you press hard on the brake. "Because the Brake Hold function can interfere with normal and cautious maneuvering the manufacturer should allow the driver to totally deactivated the Brake Hold on demand". Thank you
2026 Audi A5
Owners filed 1 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the forward collision avoidance › automatic emergency braking. No safety recall has been issued.
| Component | Reports | Crashes | Fires | Injuries | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward Collision Avoidance › Automatic Emergency Braking | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
What owners reported
Newest filings1 of 1 complaints, reproduced as filed.
Across model years
Worst on record: 2020| Year | Complaints | Recalls | Fires | Deaths | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 — this page | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Routine |
| 2025 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Routine |
| 2024 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Routine |
| 2023 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Routine |
| 2022 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Routine |
| 2021 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Routine |
| 2020 | 60 | 4 | 0 | 1 | Fatalities reported |
| 2019 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Routine |
| 2018 | 38 | 6 | 0 | 0 | Routine |
| 2017 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Routine |
| 2016 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Routine |
| 2015 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Routine |
| 2014 | 28 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Routine |
| 2013 | 35 | 3 | 2 | 0 | Routine |
| 2012 | 22 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Routine |
| 2011 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Routine |
| 2010 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Routine |
| 2009 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Routine |
| 2008 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Routine |
Reading this record
No unusual pattern of severe incidents in the complaint record.
Complaint counts track how many cars were sold and how long they have been on the road as much as they track quality. A common model from 2013 has had a decade to accumulate reports; a rare one from last year has not. The signal worth weighing is in the severity columns, in whether the same component keeps appearing, and in whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.
Most recent recall on file: none. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.