Volkswagen Group recalled 224,704 vehicles due to problems related to tire pressure sensors. The recall affects certain VW and Audi models, which may have faulty sensors that don’t register pressure loss under very strange and specific circumstances. Thus, this vehicle failed to meet the motor vehicle safety standards of the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Specifically, the recall applies to select 2019, 2020 and 2021 models including:
VW Tiguan LWB 2019
VW Golf Sportswagen A7 2019
Alltrack Golf VW 2019
VW Golf R GP 2019
Audi Q3 2019
Audi A3 Cabriolet 2019
VW Jetta NF 2019-2020
VW Jetta GLI 2019-2020
VW Golf GTI 2019-2020
VW Atlas 2019-2020
VW Golf A7 2019-2020
2019-2020 Audi A3
2020-2021 VW Atlas Cross Sport
2020-2021 VW Atlas FL
The wording of the recall is a bit odd, so be patient. There is no mention of a possible tire damage or explosion related to the problem, but rather how the sensors detect such a situation. In a letter to NHTSA, VW said the problem “does not pose an unreasonable safety risk, as any puncture (meaning rapid loss of tire pressure), as well as diffusion (meaning long-term pressure loss in multiple tires), will be detected.”
According to the recall, the tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) in these vehicles “may not detect a loss of air pressure in sufficient time when a flattening occurs between all four tires at the same timeIt’s an odd situation, as the driver probably doesn’t need the sensors to know all four tires have gone flat at the same time. But these conditions were enough to cause this vehicle to fail in the eyes of the US government.
A deeper investigation into the recall shows that the affected vehicle appears to have a hardware/software combination installed that includes a specific brake control unit. As such, the fix is a simple software update to TPMS, which VW dealers will perform for free.
VW will begin notifying owners of affected vehicles in December 2022. Owners can also call VW customer service at 800-893-5298 or Audi customer service at 800-253-2834.
