Audi is recalling 9,048 Q4 e-tron and Q4 Sportback e-tron electric SUVs in the United States after finding that defective high-voltage battery cells can trigger a fire when charged above 80 percent capacity.
Volkswagen Group of America filed the recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in a safety notice published Oct. 21 after discovering that certain Audi Q4 e-Tron and Audi Q4 Sportback e-Tron vehicles with a state of charge above 80% may trigger “thermal propagation,” or the spread of a rapid and uncontrolled temperature increase within the high-voltage battery.
What triggered the recall
The recalled Q4 e-tron vehicles were built from Dec. 4, 2023, to April 24, 2025, and the Q4 Sportback e-tron vehicles from Nov. 30, 2023, to April 22, 2025.
According to the NHTSA filing, the high-voltage battery may fail and cause a fire, and until a repair is available, owners are advised to charge their vehicles to no more than 80% of capacity.
The component involved is a high-voltage battery module (part number 0Z1.915.599.*), supplied by SK Battery Manufacturing Kft. of Komárom, Hungary , part of South Korea’s SK On. The defect involves certain high-voltage batteries that may not meet quality standards, where a state of charge above 80% may trigger thermal propagation.
The exact root cause remains under active investigation, though preliminary findings suggest manufacturing deviations occurred during battery production, leaving certain cell packs below required quality specifications.
How the problem surfaced
Audi started looking into the problem after Volkswagen found thermal runaway in some of its own batteries of the same type. Audi’s Product Safety Committee was informed on Sept. 21 of high-voltage battery thermal events in other Volkswagen Group vehicles that use similar battery technology.
On October 14, 2026, the committee opted to initiate a voluntary safety recall out of caution.
The Q4 e-tron shares its underlying platform with the Volkswagen ID.4, which Volkswagen recalled earlier this month over a similar charging-related fire risk, affecting 22,524 vehicles in the US. That recall involved cells from SK Battery America , a different SK On facility located in Commerce, Georgia.
Electrek later reported that a disclosure from Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority showed three recall campaigns cover 72,668 electric vehicles worldwide, including 9,881 vehicles in Germany , once the ID.3, ID.7, ID. Buzz and Cupra Born models are included alongside the ID.4.
Volkswagen’s internal investigation found that some battery cells manufactured during this period do not meet specifications, and the company links the issue to a supplier defect.
What happens next for owners
Audi has not issued a stop-drive order for the affected SUVs. Instead, the company is relying on the charge cap as an interim safeguard while it develops a permanent fix.
Audi has already carried out diagnostics of the batteries in Q4 e-tron vehicles, and owners of vehicles requiring an additional assessment must take them to a dealership for further testing, where an 80% charging limit will be temporarily set.
Owners are advised to only charge their vehicles to a maximum of 80% capacity until the repair has been completed. The remedy is currently under development, and interim letters notifying owners of the safety risk are expected to be mailed Dec. 18, 2026.
The filing estimates that 0.1% of the recalled vehicles have the defect. No Audi fires, crashes, injuries, or worse have been reported so far.
Why it matters for the EV market
The back-to-back recalls underscore how a single battery supplier’s manufacturing issues can ripple across multiple brands under one corporate parent, now touching tens of thousands of vehicles across Volkswagen, Audi and Cupra nameplates.
Battery fire risks remain among the most consequential categories of EV recalls because, unlike software glitches, they can carry a stop-drive order and require hardware repairs rather than a simple over-the-air patch.
The episode comes as automakers continue widening charging infrastructure and vehicle lineups, including larger public fast-charging buildouts aimed at reassuring EV buyers about reliability.
Owners can check whether their vehicle is affected using their VIN at NHTSA’s recall lookup tool or through Audi’s customer service line.
