sleater_kinney_rox

Thanks devx. I contacted my dealer today and found that my Q5 is indeed one of the 2011's affected. It is at the departure port and scheduled to leave on 5/31. I was informed that Audi is giving customers Audi Care (complete vehicle maintenance for the 4yr/50,000 mi warranty period) as compensation for the inconvenience of having to bring the vehicle in later for the component install.

geronimosan

Is the free Audi Care just at your dealership, or across all Audi of America 2011 and 2012 Audi's affected by the backup camera problem?

sleater_kinney_rox

The way it was phrased to me implied that Audi made the decision at a higher level.

geronimosan

Thanks for the info - will have to mention this to my car salesperson.

Cabo de Hornos

Given the shipping date you noted s_k_r, I suspect mine is "in" the same boat, although the departure dates from Bremerhaven to Brunswick, GA for "end of May" are still showing 5/29 and 6/1, with arrivals on 6/15 and 6/20. I did check some other destination ports with arrival dates prior to 6/30, but only found one for Port Hueneme departing on 6/4, with arrival on 6/29and for Galveston leaving on 5/30, with arrival on 6/20.

Dealer hasn't returned my call yet, but the memo really doesn't clearly say that MY11's will be getting a camera at some point at all, which could explain the AudiCare arrangement you described, but hopefully it's not as a "consolation prize". Of course, it would be best if camera installation will in fact be provided at a future time. On the other hand, the memo is quite clear that MY12s will get a camera at some point.

devx

For those with MY2011 vehicles impacted by the change definitely check with the dealer and understand what they are offering before accepting or signing anything. Reading the announcement again from an impacted 2011 owner's PoV, it could be interpreted as Audi will provide compensation (order adjustment aka cost reduction) or some other type of compromising package (AudiCare or equivalent) in lieu of the camera. It's important to understand when accepting their offer that it's clear if the camera will still be included at no charge when available.

With the upcoming holiday weekend I may not have time but I'll try to reach out to my dealer to find out if he knows anything regarding compensation. He might roll his eyes if I ask about 2011's but even an answer about 2012's could be valuable.

He's going to be tired of me by September. Hmm, maybe he'll expedite my order...

loscoz

LOL - I didn't have this potential 'issue' but I kept asking my dealership question after question, asking on pending arrival date again & again - after pick up of my Q i've NEVER heard from the sales dept again!!
wait - that's not meant as a complaint - hahahah!!

bridger76

I think my Q is on the ship right now and I'm fighting the urge to call the dealer each day to check on exact dates. I can follow the ship myself, but I want timing from port to pickup!!! It may be just a coincidence, but the salesperson who made my order quit a few weeks ago.............. haha (I was told she was getting married and moving, I'll stick with that story)

Cabo de Hornos

Right on the mark....that's the nub of the question devx.

Cabo de Hornos

The pieces are falling into place, but should have definitive answer sometime tomorrow, after sales manager checks with corporate higher ups.

Visited with our sales manager this evening, who gave me our VIN, and showed me key dates. Every indication is that we're falling into the "no camera bin" on our MY11 (Released for production on 5/10, assigned 5/16, inspected 5/23). In fact, our car is scheduled to be loaded onto what I believe will be Fidelio on 5/31, with departure scheduled for the next day. That means expected arrival Brunswick GA on 6/20 (the "slow boat" via Sweden, Belgium, England, Canada, NYC, and Baltimore).

I say "every indication" because of the production schedule he showed me versus the dates in the Audi memo. But he said he hadn't seen the memo (which I showed him)... a bit strange since he would be one of the addressees.

One hanging item is the wording of that particular sentence which leaves open the question of whether or not all vehicles in weeks 20-21 will not get the camera, or just some of them. Based on s_k_r's experience, Mr. Pessimist still gets the edge, but we'll see. The accommodation s_k_r described seems reasonable though, but our dealer was not aware of anything of this sort.

He did say though, that when Audi is unable to fill a request for a specific option, a credit marker would appear on the build status sheet (or I suppose it's a pre-invoicing sheet like the Order Configuration sheet) - and he cited a recent example of an issue with aluminum inlays not being on spec (can't recall which model he was referring to), with a resulting $ credit to the customer. Nothing like that appeared on the screen he showed me for our car. But we'll see, maybe that's because of the proposed accommodation s_k_r noted .

But we should hear further on this tomorrow. At least we've got a VIN to be thankful for (not obvious from the VIN as to which production week it was built, but the sequence of dates looks fairly convincing). So hopefully the volcanic ash from Iceland will not pit the propellers on Fidelio and she'll indeed come in a bit earlier than the dealer was originally thinking!!