There are 2 owner-reported driver assist & adas complaints for the 2020 Audi SQ5in NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
I recently purchased this vehicle 8/5/23 and since then the pre sense function has activated it’s jarring emergency breaking three times. Once it happened to me backing out of my driveway without any obstruction, another with my husband backing out of a parking spot, and then most recently today with me as a driver going about 35 mph where it “sensed” a vehicle next to me about to change into my lane but changed their mind. Even if the vehicle next to me changed lanes to go in front of me, there was plenty of space and having the emergency pre sense braking created a more unsafe situation with the vehicle behind me potentially rear ending me. I contacted the local Audi dealer and they said there is no way to have this feature turn off as a default. Instead, I have to manually turn it off every time I turn on the ignition. I love the car but the pre sense feature has placed me in more unsafe situations than without it. I wish the manufacturer would allow having this system turn off as a default.
I have had multiple instances of the emergency breaking applying improperly. On at least two occasions the rear backup/parking sensors detected some sort of object when one didn’t exist and abruptly engaged the breaks despite there being no object behind me. On one occasion I had a passenger who witnessed the behavior. On another instance, and the one that concerned me, the front collision indicator detected something non-existent and abruptly slammed on my breaks while I was driving 70mph on a 3 lane highway. There were no objects or car in viewable distance at all. The abruptness, lack of warning, and breaking power sent my car out of control across all three lanes and nearly into a barrier before I was able to regain control and the breaks released. I was on the phone (hands-free) when this occurred and my fiancé could hear the whole thing. In both instances no sensors or alarms were activated in advance to give warning, and activated only in concert with the breaks being autonomously applied. All instances were reported to Audi who ran diagnostics and electrical/systems tests and found no errors or problems despite multiple occurrences.
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