There are 9 owner-reported engine complaints for the 2019 Audi Q8in NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
Piston slap issues. The manufacturer is aware of the engine failure issues. They extended the engine warranty coverage from 50k to 80k miles knowing that the engine piston slap is an extreme issue but they won’t issue a total and complete recall. Owners have to identify that issue and have to specifically bring it in to have it bore scoped. If an owner isn’t aware of the noise and goes over the 80k miles then they are not held responsible for the complete and utter engine destruction.
I was having noise from engine and and I received a letter from extended warranty for an production defect in piston skirt. I sent my car for an evaluation in the Audi of Manhattan and I was told that my car falls under the engine piston skirt defect.i have the pictures from Audi Manhattan inspection that the engine piston walls have scratches.i was denied coverage under extension warranty because my car was over 1752 mile over the extension warranty.this is and production engine defect and can be stranded any time soon in the high way or any other street putting me and My family in danger and any other people driving around my car if that engine stops in the middle of the street. My car has 81752 miles and the extension warranty was up to 80000 mile or 8 years. The extension warranty came to late almost after 6 years ,as this is an known problem with those engines EA839 that is found in audis Porsche VW Tuareg ect.
engine begin to misfire and felt like it was ready to stall. within a minute of the misfiring the engine light came on. i was in the middle of highway struggling to get my vehicle to the dealership where purchased which thankfully was only 5mins away. tech heard noise coming from fuel pump near the engine and recommended replacing along with spark plug. after replacing tech advised me to take my vehicle to audi to perform a software update that will correct the misfire and prevent the MIL from illuminating. Got that done to only be presented with a knocking noise again a month or two later. Took my car back to Audi to run a full diagnostic to find out my engine is in early engine failure due to metal shavings in the oil filter. tech states shavings in the oil could originate from the fuel pump failure and the debris would have traveled into the engine oil causing critical damage to the engine.
being quality Engineer, why is this thing failing , and why are there no recalls? Amazing how they design these things to fail right at 50k miles. From what I hear, the audi's are notorious for not making these replacements simple and specialized tools are needed. I wouldn't change anything engine related unless you have issues like engine shaking, or rattling sounds stemming from the engine mounts. And if you get major work done, it is probably best to go to the dealers and pay the extra to make sure it will be taken care of properly! numerous same issues engine mounts after 50k MIles
The alternator failed causing the vehicle to shutdown in the middle of traffic. I was on a surface road not the highway so I was able to get local police to assist. When it failed there was no car electrical system function, so I could not even turn on my emergency blinkers. This is apparently very common on Audis, as the same part was used to replace the alternator…. It took a month for the dealership to get the part in stock.
May 19th water pump cooling system pump my wife driving right on a highway on a left lane car start streaming and engines suddenly shut off thank God she make it to the left on hwy we throw the car to dealer they says engine went because of water went to engine and after that I have a big issue with the dealers and everything even my insurance pay for the new engine and everything and this is the issue a woman driving this car this is so much risk audi not doing anything about it
2018 AUDI Q8. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARD TO ENGINE FAILURE.
Generator failure. Car has been at the dealership for 45 days. Waiting for a replacement at a cost of $4000??
The auto start/stop feature of this vehicle is horrible, on several occasions I've almost gotten into an accident turning at an intersection. The engine loses power for 2-3 seconds despite pushing the gas pedal all the way down. I've also scared pedestrians at cross walks on several occasions when the vehicle is at a full stop but then suddenly lunges forward at them. The sensors on this vehicle are also very faulty. The ones that are supposed to open the rear hatch do not work despite me waving my feet and hands under them for several seconds at a time. The key fob also doesn't open the rear hatch like it's supposed to. And the sensors to detect objects around the perimeter go off all the time without any apparent reason. I've had the vehicle in for multiple service visits and none of these issues have been resolved.
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
Data synced from NHTSA on Apr 25, 2026