[V8] Airbag recall required on all V8s (1990-1994)

[Jeremy Ward]

If you look under the rear seat on the driver's side and see a bunch of
wires HACKED OFF and a sheet metal mounting point with nothing mounted to
it, you've had the airbag recall already performed.

As Steve said, looks like they decided to combine the Airbag Triggering Unit
(J 178 on the current diagram, located behind the radio) with the Airbag
Energy Reserve (J 177 on the current diagram, located under the driver's
rear seat) into one unit behind the radio.

Here is the snippet from the nhtsa website:
Make : AUDI Model : V8 Year : 1990 
Manufacturer : VOLKSWAGEN OF AMERICA,INC   
NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID Number : 97V172000  Recall Date : OCT 06, 1997 
Component: AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:SENSOR/CONTROL MODULE 
Potential Number Of Units Affected : 54800 
Summary: 
 VEHICLE DESCRIPTION: PASSENGER VEHICLES. SOME AIR BAG SENSORS DO NOT COMPLY
WITH AUDI'S DURABILITY STANDARDS OVER THE LIFETIME OF THE VEHICLE. 
Consequence: 
 IN THE EVENT THE SENSOR SHOULD MALFUNCTION, THE AIR BAG RESTRAINT SYSTEM
CAN INADVERTENTLY DEPLOY. DEPLOYMENT OF THE AIR BAG RESTRAINT SYSTEM WITHOUT
WARNING COULD CAUSE A DRIVER TO LOSE VEHICLE CONTROL. 
Remedy: 
 DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE AIR BAG SENSOR CONTROL MODULE. 
Notes: 
 OWNER NOTIFICATION BEGAN OCTOBER 13, 1997. OWNERS WHO TAKE THEIR VEHICLES
TO AN AUTHORIZED DEALER ON AN AGREED UPON SERVICE DATE AND DO NOT RECEIVE
THE FREE REMEDY WITHIN A REASONABLE TIME SHOULD CONTACT AUDI AT
1-800-822-2834. ALSO CONTACT THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY
ADMINISTRATION'S AUTO SAFETY HOTLINE AT 1-800-424-9393.

Cheers,

- Jeremy
www.MyV8Q.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: v8-bounces at audifans.com [mailto:v8-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of
urq
Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2006 10:37 PM
To: v8 at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [V8] KD, KF recalls

... been a while, but ISTR the V8 was a bit more complicated than that ... 
pretty sure the car originally had two separate boxes for the airbag, which 
were integrated into a single module for the recall ...

I know that when I took #344 in they indicated that there was something 
special about that particular VIN ... took the dealer 3 tries to finally get

it done ... I even got to have a rental car for a couple days ... *for an 
airbag recall!*  This was the time that all their messing around damaged the

antenna lead for the rear window mounted antenna ...

Steve B
San Jose, CA (USA)


> The Air Bag Module is located under the radio/climate control stuff in the
> center console. If I remember, you need to remove the whole center console

> to
> replace it. Not exactly a simple job, but a reasonably alert chimp should 
> be
> able to complete it successfully. If you wanted to make sure to get it 
> done
> correctly and on time, show up with the center console removed for them. 
> You
> could also verify part numbers and such before you go there.