That other car looks like its sitting outside, in a junk yard, by the amount of debris. You sure it's not been scrapped from a wreck?

 

It's not a junkyard, just lots of wind in NJ right now with fall leaves, heavy rain and all that.

 

As you can see, it's not junked.

 

What year is your car? Not that it may matter, but interested to know...

 

My car is a 2009, and the other car appears to be 2009 as well.

 

Have you sent certified mail to Audi? I'd get a lawyer to write a letter on your behalf. From what I can find on the internet, these are not isolated cases and I would imagine that if various Govt agencies were made aware of these failures, then there might be a course of action ammeniable to you.

 

First, I want to make sure my fellow drivers aren't at risk due to this defect, since I'm sure more than 5 R8 owners have made contact with a pothole in the last 3 years.

Second, I'll be having a discussion with an attorney tomorrow.

 

Thats like 10 out of 10 scary. Someone told me before that the car they had cracked I just thought they was making it up to worry me

Well thats put me of changing to a spyder maybe Its time for a change to a new brand.....

 

That was my point to someone I spoke with... what's to guarantee this won't happen on the other side of the car once it's fixed?

P.S. How do you like the 458? One of my friends has his TT from heffner. Epic ride!

 

only cars in the $1 million category compare to the 458 other than the dash display been a bit fiddly sometimes its stunning.

Does anyone know if audi changed the design on the cars in 2010 or 2011? All the cars they seem to have it are 2009 or below :S

I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to weld some bracing plates around that area before it cracks.not that you have to expect to to weld your $145,000 car

 

only cars in the $1 million category compare to the 458...

HAHAHA. Total hyperbole.

 

Well what about the 1985 Nissan Sentra SE, huh, huh, huh?

 

Is this area easy to get to to see if there are any cracks? I'm assuming that just by removing the internal plastic cover, that you will be able to view the area, but I'm probably wrong. Does it only affect the front of the car?

If this was an issue that actually causes complete failure or crashes I would have thought we would have heard more about it. R8 catching on fire due to fuel line rubbing was everywhere when it was known.

 

Yes, if you take off the plastic cover, you should be able to see the strut tower, which is the point where the cracks all happen.

 

Usually these things are not one offs.

There are always denials, and then the issue gets highlighted. If Audi were smart they would send polite emails asking to inspect cars and then make sure nothing happens. But that makes for adverse news so they will probably try to hold out until forced to do so. I also do not think it is a year of manufacture issue - unless they radically changed material, supplier or technology. It is probably more of an aging issue - that is why it is beginning to appear in older cars. Curious if they were higher mileage, or if they were kept in certain climes where other factors apart from mechanical loading contributed.

I go back a little to my grad school days at a premier engineering university in the US. Stress Corrosion cracking of metals is a huge issue in diverse areas from oil rigs, nuclear reactors, and airplanes to name a few things. As the name applies it is not just a mechanical issue (which is the "stress" bit of it). Rather it is the coupled corrosive element as well, which depends on the environment, the temperatures exposed etc. Ultimately all fractures are down to chemistry at the crack tip. It is not always predictable (microscopic cracks can propogate) but often a few failures provide a reasonable hint that something is unreliable.

There are also problems internally rest assured. Engineering teams would be in denial, and there would be much to and fro discussion - but only if pressure is brought forward, or there are a string of unavoidable failures. Anyone old enough to remember Challenger explosion in 1986? The rubber O rings did not seal under low temperatures, and for all the complex jargon from NASA and Morton Thiokol engineers, it took Richard Feynman, the iconic late physicist from Caltech, to expose the real issue during a simple experiment with ice water during congressional hearings. (See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rwcbsn19c0)

This will be a difficult issue to crack - no pun intended.

 

AN even better video (sorry going a bit off tangent, but point is this is going to be tough to get Audi to sit up and take notice).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCLgRyKvfp0

 

Opie, I just had my 2010 R8 serviced and had the Audi service guys look at my car's frame. I did not have the frame crack you described.

Several months ago, I too hit a big pothole (I live in central NJ) and it also slightly dented my tire rim (front passenger side). I had that rim fixed, but when I saw your post (and a few others like it), I had the Audi folks look at my frame at my next service visit. They took off the cover and I took the pic I posted below.

I'm guessing this isn't the datapoint you were looking for, but figured you'd want to know in any event. And thanks for the heads up and the pics - I used them to show my service tech exactly what I was looking for and the pics were very helpful.

I don't know if this notable, but at the exact point where the frame cracked in your car and the 2nd car, I noticed my car's frame has an extra bit of metal - almost like they bolstered that part with additional metal in the shape of a *kind of* square. You can see it in the pic if you look closely. Your car and the 2nd car you posted do not appear to have that piece of metal. Perhaps this is a change from older R8s? Mine is a 2010 and I am the original owner. Is yours older?

If your car is an older model year and I am right about that piece of metal, then the existence of that extra piece of metal may suggest that Audi knows about the design weakness of that part of the frame and moved to fix it in subsequent years after the initial runs of R8s.

 

Opie, I just had my 2010 R8 serviced and had the Audi service guys look at my car's frame. I did not have the frame crack you described.

Several months ago, I too hit a big pothole (I live in central NJ) and it also slightly dented my tire rim (front passenger side). I had that rim fixed, but when I saw your post (and a few others like it), I had the Audi folks look at my frame at my next service visit. They took off the cover and I took the pic I posted below.

I'm guessing this isn't the datapoint you were looking for, but figured you'd want to know in any event. And thanks for the heads up and the pics - I used them to show my service tech exactly what I was looking for and the pics were very helpful.

I don't know if this notable, but at the exact point where the frame cracked in your car and the 2nd car, I noticed my car's frame has an extra bit of metal - almost like they bolstered that part with additional metal in the shape of a *kind of* square. You can see it in the pic if you look closely. Your car and the 2nd car you posted do not appear to have that piece of metal. Perhaps this is a change from older R8s? Mine is a 2010 and I am the original owner. Is yours older?

If your car is an older model year and I am right about that piece of metal, then the existence of that extra piece of metal may suggest that Audi knows about the design weakness of that part of the frame and moved to fix it in subsequent years after the initial runs of R8s.

View attachment 5616

Awesome pic, I'm so glad yours isn't affected buy your image basically shows Audi was aware of something, and took pains to reinforce that structure. Thanks so much for your help!!!!

 

73vwbug, comparing your photo to those of the cars with cracks, your chassis appears to have a plate welded around the spot where the other cars show cracking. As your car is a 2010 and the others 2009 it's possible Audi have strengthened the area, or perhaps this is a repair? If Audi have strengthened the 2010 plus cars, where does that leave owners of earlier cars?

 

Rexus, what year is your car?
Maybe we can build up a correlation of year and welding features....

 

Mine is a 2010 - and I speculated the same in my earlier post: Audi likely knows about the weakness and moved to tweak the frame in later years.

Not sure where that leaves owners of earlier cars. I'm not a lawyer, but I imagine you'd have to find some sort of precedent of faulty design in earlier lawsuits. I know Honda had problems with the radiators in their Honda Odyssey from a few years ago that was ultimately found to be a design error (the initial design was very susceptible to flying rocks denting the radiator vanes in the front undercarriage.) Honda ended up having to issue refunds to all owners that had to repair the problem. If you Google this you can read about it pretty easily.

I'll admit I tend to wait a few years into a generation before I buy a car just for this kind of reason. It's just my $0.02, but I think all cars nowadays are just too complex for the manufacturers to have ironed out every possible flaw when a new generation or design is released. I specifically waited till model year 2010 to get mine even though I very much wanted to get it sooner. And, I am sure even my year probably still has a few flaws (I had the infamous squeaking brake light for example).

I'm definitely NOT trying to blame any owners of earlier R8s here cause that REALLY sucks and I'd hate it big time. As a fellow R8 driver, I definitely feel for you and hope Audi takes action to address your concerns. But just trying to place things in perspective.

The question is, is there sufficient evidence and legal precedent to support the consumer here.

 

Opie, bought mine in late 2008 I think it's a 2009 model year; has the white dashboard lighting. I haven't checked mine yet, will do so next week, but even if it's not showing any cracks, it does make me wonder if it will crack at some point. I'm in the UK by the way.

 

I'll be meeting with a lawyer friend soon to discuss what options I have.

By the way, I did confirm that the second car in the shop with the same crack is a 2009 from the VIN.

 

By the way, I just got a call back from a gentleman at Audi who will be looking into this issue.


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By the way, I just got a call back from a gentleman at Audi who will be looking into this issue.

Nice one, keep us posted, still haven't had chance to look to see if I'm affected.

 

Thanks for keeping this post alive and the rest of us informed ... good luck,

 

I would like to know if later cars i.e. 2012 cars have this fault as if potholes are doing it then track days and backroad runs are going to break the structs too.

Might give audi a call no doubt they will have no clue or have never heard of it......

 

Looks like the issue was fixed in 2010 cars, at least according to this image:

I'd encourage everyone to take a picture of your car's frame at this joint and post their model year to see if there is a discernible pattern.


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How much disassembly is required to access the impacted area?

 

Not much, just the removal of the plastic trim underneath the boot.

Barring that, you can inspect your strut tower by checking your wheel well for damage since that weld spot is where the cracks apparently originate from.

 

have you had any progress/response from audi on this?

this is my first post as i am looking at purchasing an 2009 V8 Manual Coupe here in the UK and i have never heard of this issues over here, or anywhere for that matter, before.

 

I am still waiting for some information back from Audi so stay tuned.