recall notice

[Brett Dikeman]

On Apr 23, 2006, at 7:42 PM, bob wrote:

> Yeah now the question is, will audi replace the cars that burned  
> down from those POS? Almost cost me my v8 5sp!

Hmm...really? That's pretty interesting, as I thought the we  
established V8q speakers were not affected.

Back when the 200q20v came out, a few cars were destroyed by fire; I  
used to have a couple of VIN numbers of cars that were wrecked.  I  
have emails from one of the owners who was driving along when the  
cabin started to fill with smoke.  He pulled over, got out, and  
watched as the car burned to the ground.  Audi (I believe) bought the  
car back; I don't recall what he replaced it with.

Now, we all make fun of Ford for the "$ vs people's lives" business  
with the Pinto, ignition switches, Crown Vic fuel tanks, etc- but  
Audi clearly pulled a fast one here.  Years later when I called Audi  
Client Relations to discuss the issue, they told me "we've never  
heard of this issue".  Audi didn't issue a recall after a couple cars  
caught fire.  They didn't even bother to change the design of the  
remanufactured units!

Hysterical that after 200q20v listmembers called ACR in droves to  
report that their speakers smoked or made funny noises (some people  
having multiple failures), and Phil Rose sent a registered letter-  
Audi Client Relations continued to lie to us.  God forbid they tell  
customers "well, some customers have researched this and found a high  
failure rate.  We'll add you to a mailing list to let you know if it  
is a legitimate problem or not; in the meantime, please take your car  
to an Audi dealer and they'll be happy to unplug the rear speakers  
temporarily if you are concerned about this issue."

Nope, couldn't do that.  Gotta lie to people!

Brett