2025 Audi SQ5

Routine

Owners filed 7 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the fuel/propulsion system. It has been recalled 1 time.

What fails
ComponentReportsCrashesFiresInjuries
Power Train2
000
Visibility › Rearview Mirrors/Devices › Exterior1
000
Vehicle Speed Control1
000
Fuel/Propulsion System1
000
Forward Collision Avoidance › Adaptive Cruise Control1
000
Electrical System1
000

1 safety recall

Part 573 reports
Seat Belts › Pretensioner26V266000
Filed Apr 24, 20267,425 vehiclesVolkswagen Group Of America, Inc.

Defect. Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Audi) is recalling certain 2025 Q5, Q5 Sportback, SQ5, and SQ5 Sportback vehicles. The driver and front passenger seat belts may have been manufactured incorrectly, and fail to properly restrain occupants during a crash.

Risk. Improperly restrained occupants have an increased risk of injury during a crash.

Remedy. Dealers will replace the driver and front passenger seat belts as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed May 29, 2026. Owners may contact Audi's customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Audi's number for this recall is 69GT.

What owners reported

Newest filings
Power Train
Filed Sep 8, 2026DC

On at least five occasions since we purchased this vehicle brand new in January 2026, the digital transmission system has failed to switch into park and would not switch into park -- producing an error message. To resolve the issue, it required multiple restarts of the car, and there is no clear step to resolve the issue. It feels like luck. We've taken it to the dealership multiple times, they've done digital updates to the car -- which supposedly fixed the problem -- but it continues to recur. We will take it to the dealership again. This is a major safety issue, because the car is susceptible to rolling and movement if it cannot be placed into park (and it's very frustrating).

Forward Collision Avoidance › Adaptive Cruise Control
Filed Aug 29, 2026FL

Ive experienced multiple unexpected braking events while driving on essentially open road using adaptive cruise control. When this first happened it scared me significantly and caused a car behind me to run up on me. Upon further investigation I found that this braking occurs every time I go by these two specific places on [XXX]. When this occurs, the dash display shows an intersection/crossroads icon as if it thinks Im approaching a 4 way stop. There is no 4 way intersection at the points where it happens. There are side roads entering the highway which are marked by signs. I can override the braking with accelerator pedal but the braking resumes if I release the pedal. If I dont do anything, the car decelerates to about 10-15mph and then reaccelerates back to cruise speed. I reported this to the dealer and they say no issue found and wont do anything unless they can replicate and they wont come the 50 miles to my home area to witness it. My concern is that this behavior could result in a road rage event as the driver behind may interpret the deceleration as a brake check. It could also result in me being rear ended by a driver not expecting a brake application on open road. I can provide a video file of the event if you like. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Electrical System
Filed Jul 28, 2026WA

While driving in live traffic, the vehicle suffered a catastrophic and total simultaneous mechanical and electrical system failure. Without warning, the vehicle completely lost engine propulsion, braking assistance, and all dashboard displays. Concurrently, the vehicle suffered a complete blackout of all exterior safety lighting, including the brake lights and the emergency hazard flashers rendering the vehicle completely invisible to surrounding traffic. Prior to this complete shutdown, the vehicle had been brought to an authorized Audi dealership on 3 previous occasions soon after purchase for progressive electronic communication failures and transient dashboard warning lights, which the service department dismissed as false alerts and did software updates to remedy the alert. It is unclear if those really were false alerts or some precursor to this future problem. The total loss of primary propulsion combined with the complete failure of the secondary emergency backup hazard lighting created an immediate, life-threatening traffic hazard to myself, my passengers and those in vehicles and pedestrians around me. The vehicle had to be towed to an authorized Audi dealership for diagnosis.

Power Train
Filed Jun 11, 2026PA

1–2 second delay in throttle response from pedal input, followed by sudden uncommanded surge/jerk forward. Occurs when vehicle is on hold mode in a slope or in plain flat conditions at a light or a stop sign. It happens when the car is cold or warm. I consider the vehicle unsafe to drive. The cruise control also has a major problem. When activated the lane departure feature also gets activated automatically but instead of making the car more stable it moves the card left and right all the time without any major interaction from the driver. I have to deactivate the lane departure function all the time in order to feel safe.

Visibility › Rearview Mirrors/Devices › Exterior
Filed Jun 2, 2026800 milesNY

The contact leases a 2025 Audi SQ5. The contact stated that the driver's side exterior rear-view mirror position was blocking the driver's view while making a left turn. The manufacturer was contact and advised the contact to take the vehicle to the dealer for it to be test-driven. The dealer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 800.

Fuel/Propulsion System
Filed May 7, 2026TX

I was driving out of a parking lot into the feeder road of a highway with the intent of immediately getting on the highway. When I attempted to accelerate the car would not go any faster. I was traveling perhaps 5-10 miles per hour as cars on the feeder road were approaching at 45-50 miles per hour. The lag time before the car would accelerate was about 20 seconds. Luckily, I had not entered the feeder road right as the feeder road traffic was near me, otherwise I would definitely have been hit. This lack of acceleration happened two other times but the lag time was shorter. I took the car to the dealer but they could not find the problem.

Vehicle Speed Control
Filed Nov 18, 2025NC

We bought the car today at Audi South Atlanta brand new and were driving back home. The car suddenly showed the engine light, showed drive system malfunction please safely stop, and then the car slowed down and stopped on the highway. The steering stiffened up and almost caused a car crash. It was very dangerous. The Audi dealership said that software issues were all resolved before allowing the purchase of the vehicle today, but this dangerous malfunction still happened.

7 of 7 complaints, reproduced as filed.

Across model years

Worst on record: 2018
YearComplaintsRecallsFiresDeathsAssessment
20263000Routine
2025 — this page7100Routine
20246000Routine
20233000Routine
20224200Routine
202112500Routine
20207400Routine
201919500Routine
201824500Do not drive
20175000Routine
20166000Routine
20158100Routine
201412100Routine
20131000Routine

Compare every SQ5 year →

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.

Recall repairs are free for as long as the recall stands. Check whether a specific car still has open work at NHTSA's VIN lookup.

Most recent recall on file: Apr 24, 2026. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.