NHTSA complaint #11587377

Owner complaint summary

1. Steering malfunction, yes. 2. In the course of driving on [XXX] through a mountain pass in Colorado with snow and poor driving conditions, the steering mechanism on the vehicle failed resulting in not being able to maneuver the vehicle out of the lane or off the road safely. If this happened while other vehicles were in front/behind or to the side of us, or if this would have happened in another mountain road without emergency curbing/exits - we could have easily been killed. 3. The vehicle is at the Audi Denver dealership (had to be towed) and they confirmed the code "Steering: malfunction! Please stop vehicle" that displayed on the panel. 4. No, tried to call Audi but there was a 2 hour wait to talk to someone and even then, not sure I would have reached anyone that could have helped. 5. Warning message "Steering: malfunction! Please stop vehicle" displayed with red steering wheel icon and exclamation mark. No other warning or sign of failure. This is the problem, driving at highway speed, get a steering malfunction warning, can't steer or control the vehicle - have to stop "safely". This could have been catastrophic. In any other vehicle if rack/pinon slips or power steering fluid fails, you can still manage to steer and avoid collision, this Audi under these conditions gave no such option. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)