2021 Audi e-tron Problems: 15 Known Issues

On the 2019-2023 Audi e-tron, the e-tron CCS charging port experiences actuator and communication failures preventing DC fast charging. The charging port door mechanism and locking pin can also malfunction in cold weather.

On the 2019-2023 Audi e-tron, the portable 'e-tron compact' charging cable supplied with the vehicle can draw the maximum current its plug adapter allows without verifying that the household circuit and receptacle can sustain it. When used on a 220V/240V outlet at the 100% charge-current setting, the outlet, adapter or cable can overheat, melt and cause a fire in the owner's garage. The cable itself lacks the temperature sensing needed to back off. NHTSA campaign 23V842000, Audi action code 93U6, covers e-tron and e-tron Sportback vehicles across the 2019-2023 range that were delivered with the affected cable.

On the 2021 Audi e-tron Battery-electric, audi TSB 2061788/2 covers model-year 2021 e-tron quattro and e-tron Sportback vehicles with specified AC/DC charging interruptions, charging-flap operation problems, or an app request for auxiliary heating that does not pre-heat the vehicle when matching DTCs are stored in high-voltage battery charger control module J1050. Audi attributes the documented condition to onboard-charger software and identifies old software level 0070, not a proven failed charger module.

On the 2019-2023 Audi e-tron, the e-tron infotainment and vehicle management software experiences OTA update failures, screen freezes, and connectivity issues. Some updates have caused temporary range estimation errors and charging behavior changes.

On the 2019-2023 Audi e-tron, the e-tron's 12V AGM auxiliary battery powers everything the driver touches before the high-voltage system wakes: door locks, the MMI, the gateway and the HV contactor circuit. The DC-DC converter only tops the 12V up while the vehicle is awake, and the high-voltage pack stops supporting it once state of charge drops low, so a car parked for two to three weeks - or one with any added parasitic load such as a hardwired dashcam in parking mode - can drain the 12V flat. The result is a car that will not wake at all: key fob does nothing, dash stays black, and the HV system cannot be closed regardless of how much charge is in the traction pack. Owners who catch it early report a '12V battery: charge low', 'Start system fault' or 'Electrical system currently limited, drive with greater care' message in the days beforehand. A weak 12V is also a common root cause of unexplained MMI glitches that vanish once the battery is replaced, so it should be ruled out before chasing infotainment faults.

On the 2020-2021 Audi e-tron, continental notified Audi that a production deviation left the rotor and shaft inside the electromechanical brake pressure unit (brake booster) welded below specification. Under a hard braking event the weld can fail and the rotor and shaft separate, which cuts the electric boost and simultaneously disables the Antilock Brake System and Electronic Stability Control. The driver retains only unboosted mechanical braking - a very hard, high-effort pedal with substantially longer stopping distances and no wheel-lock protection. NHTSA campaign 21V569000 covers 2021 e-tron quattro and 2020-2021 e-tron Sportback quattro vehicles; owner letters were mailed September 14, 2021.

On the 2019-2023 Audi e-tron, a fastener that joins the brake pedal input rod to the actuator rod (pushrod) of the electromechanical brake booster may have been assembled without the correct torque at the supplier. Over time the screw joint can loosen and the pedal can fully separate from the booster, at which point the service brakes stop responding to the pedal and the driver is left with only the electric parking brake / emergency braking. Audi first reported the defect in August 2024 (recall 24V621) covering a very small build window of 2019 e-tron units, then expanded it in April 2026 under a new NHTSA campaign, 26V240 (Audi 46P7), covering 2019-2024 e-tron and 2020-2024 e-tron Sportback vehicles - 18,853 units in the expanded action. This is a brake-by-wire vehicle, so the mechanical pedal-to-booster joint is the only path from the driver's foot to hydraulic pressure.

On the 2019-2022 Audi e-tron LG E61V battery modules, nHTSA recall 23V867 / Audi 93U9 and 93V2 covers certain 2019-2022 e-tron quattro and 2020-2022 e-tron Sportback quattro vehicles with potentially affected LG E61V high-voltage battery modules. A critical self-discharge condition can lead to thermal overload, smoke or fire. Audi’s amended filing lists 26,866 potentially involved vehicles and an estimated three-percent defect rate; loss of range or performance can be an early indication.

On the 2021 Audi e-tron, the automatic locking retractor (ALR) mode in the affected rear seat belts can switch itself off prematurely. ALR is the mode a parent engages by pulling the belt all the way out to cinch a forward-facing child restraint tight; if it deactivates early, the belt reverts to free-spooling emergency-locking mode and the child seat is no longer held snug against the seat back. In a crash the restraint can move excessively, increasing injury risk to the child. The condition is a non-compliance with FMVSS 208, Occupant Crash Protection. NHTSA campaign 21V606000 covers 2021 e-tron vehicles among other Audi models.

On the 2021-2022 Audi e-tron, the MMI infotainment main unit can suffer internal damage during the vehicle shutdown sequence. Once damaged, the unit no longer renders the rearview camera image, so selecting reverse produces a blank or missing backup-camera view - a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 111 non-compliance and a backover hazard. This is a hardware failure of the head unit itself, distinct from the software-only blank-camera defect Audi corrected on 2021 e-tron models under campaign 22V742, and it cannot be fixed by a parameter update. NHTSA campaign 22V806000 covers 2021-2022 e-tron quattro and 2022 e-tron Sportback quattro vehicles among other Audi models.

On the 2019-2022 Audi e-tron Battery-electric, audi TSB 2067941/3 covers a rare cooling-system leak on specified legacy e-tron variants. At very low temperatures, the elastomer in coolant valve N632 can allow a minor leak when valve part 4KE963375K is installed. Audi lists visible coolant under the vehicle, a coolant warning, or a low expansion-tank level found during service, after other leak paths have been excluded.

On the 2019-2023 Audi e-tron, two separate causes produce the same owner complaint - the e-tron will not hold its rated 150 kW DC charge rate. First, the pack must be near 25-30 degrees C to accept full current, and the e-tron does not heat the battery when a DC charger is set as the navigation destination (Audi describes route-planner battery preconditioning only for the e-tron GT models); owners who arrive at a charger after a short or gentle drive arrive with a cold pack and see rates well below the headline figure, particularly in winter or on the first fast charge of a trip. Second, and more consequential, owners report that after the 23V867 / 93U9 high-voltage battery module recall software is installed, the battery-monitoring strategy caps the session earlier than before: multiple owners describe holding 120 kW or more only to about 59% state of charge where the car previously held that rate to 80%, cutting the usable range added by a standard 30-minute stop by roughly a third. The recall software is a safety monitor for self-discharging modules, so this reduction is a deliberate consequence of the remedy rather than a defect in the car.

On the 2019-2023 Audi e-tron, the e-tron's asynchronous drive units use a silicon-carbide mechanical face seal to separate the water/glycol cooling circuit from the stator cavity and reduction gearbox. That seal does not tolerate the thermal cycling, rapid speed transients and reverse rotation of EV duty, and it weeps coolant internally into the motor. Because coolant is electrically conductive, the first electrical evidence is a degrading high-voltage isolation resistance - fault codes P0AA600 (HV system isolation fault) and P0B2600 - long before any noise appears. Later stages bring a rising whine or milling/buzzing noise that increases with speed, then contamination and destruction of the stator windings, bearings and in the worst cases the inverter. Audi addressed drive-motor coolant leakage in TSB 93 24 46 (also indexed 2073858). The rear unit's coolant catch bottle monitors only one of two seals, so a leak on the unmonitored side gives no early warning at all. Independent EV drivetrain specialists report most failures between roughly 30,000 and 100,000 km (about 19,000-62,000 miles) across e-tron 50/55 quattro, e-tron Sportback and e-tron S.

On the 2019-2023 Audi e-tron, on e-tron and e-tron Sportback vehicles ordered with the optional virtual exterior mirrors, the camera pod replaces the glass mirror and feeds an OLED display in the door card. Two distinct failures recur. First, wiring in the power-folding mechanism can be pinched or broken by repeated fold cycles, killing the camera feed - a failure Audi addresses in TSB 9083 / 2076264. Second, condensation forms inside the sealed camera housing on the inside face of the cover glass, fogging the image; unlike a conventional mirror it does not clear with the rear-defogger button, and owners report multiple warranty replacements of the same side. Owners also widely report poor low-light and night image quality independent of any hardware fault. Because the pod on many cars also carries surround-view input, a dead camera can take the 360-degree view and parking aids down with it.

On the 2019-2023 Audi e-tron, audi TSB 2059363/5 covers a legacy e-tron air-suspension malfunction when suspension controller J775 stores C1260F0 for no communication with compressor-control unit J1135 or U112100 with symptom code 262400 for a missing message. This is an electrical communication path; the bulletin does not establish leaking air lines, worn struts, height-sensor failure, compressor burnout or ball-joint wear as one common defect.