I just took delivery of my new Audi A6 Quattro and as soon as got home started to read the owners manual and tried to program my seat position #1. No result. I showed it to the dealer and his conclusion #1 position does not work. I did use positions #2 and #3 and they work fine.
I handed my wife her master key and when we returned home from first drive she tried to remove the key from the ignition and she had the battery portion in her hand and the key portion was still in the ignition.
It is very frustrating when you read how much effort Audi puts into building a car and instead of enjoying my car I wonder what goes wrong next?
The dealer told me to use crazy glue on the key and worry about the battery change later.
Any suggestions ??
Very dissapointed !!

Jorg

On the A6 2.7T that I reviewed last week that stupid key kept coming apart like you discribe. I figured that maybe it was because this key was handled by so many different journalist, but then I thought that could be the reason, since I was probably the first journalist to have this car. (there was about 950 miles on it when I took delivery, and about 600 of those were put on by the driver who delivered the car to me). Superglue may be a good idea, but I would only put a small dot on so it's not too hard to take apart when the battery needs to be replaced. But I agree with you that it shouldn't be happening at all.

Matt

One of my two (new) keys fall apart; the other feels impossible to get apart!

Happened to me too and also on one key. Audi, are you reading this?

Both should be easily fixed by dealer. Worry about the big stuff not working, which doesn't happen much in AD 1999.

BAD key design. The black part keeps coming off the ring of all of mine. The battery lid is not snug on any of them.

It is 1999, and with A6 prices in the high 30's and up, there are no exceptable excuses for problems of any kind. Neither my 3yr old BMW 328ics nor my 3yr old Jeep Grand Cherokee Ltd. have been in the shop for anything, period. Both are zero defect cars. The reason Audi has a reputation for poor reliability in North America is that they earned it for themselves.

After living with the Audi for a couple thousand miles, I like the car overall, but I can see why VW/Audi have problems with unhappy customers. There are many fussy little detail features, and the operation or some features is overly complex and not intuitive at all. This is the kind of thing that frustrates owners. Just my opinion, others may disagree.

I'm happy to report my new A6 Avant has had none of the "usual suspect" problems. If it does, the dealer will get one visit to resolve it, after which they will be made to wish they had. I don't make loud noises, I make sure I cost them money and time. If they don't value my time, then I feel compelled to return the favor.

jm

I also have an Audi A6, but with no problems at all. When I was in Germany earlier this year, I had rented an Opel Vectra. This also had the falling apart key problem (which was alarming at first).

Didn't the dealer go through all the options on the car. When I bought my A6 the dealer and I spent about 1 hour going over all the different options on the car, and testing them all out. I also received a list that some "specialist" used to go through all the items in the car to make sure everything was working fine.

Doesn't sound like a major problem (shouldn't have any though), but from many forms and people I've talked to this happens to ALL manufacturers (MB,BMW,Lexus,Audi,Olds, Lincoln, Jag etc))