2016 Audi A3 Sportback E-Tron

The 2016 Audi A3 Sportback e-tron has 3 recalls, the most serious involving the front passenger airbag inflator, which can explode during deployment and send metal fragments into the cabin, causing serious injury or death.

The remaining two recalls both affect the passenger seat occupant detection system, which is responsible for telling the car whether an adult is sitting in the front passenger seat. In one case, the system can malfunction and shut off the passenger airbag even when someone is seated there. In the other, a faulty electrical contact can cause the system to falsely read itself as broken and deactivate the airbag as a result. Either way, if the passenger airbag is off during a crash, the front passenger loses a critical layer of protection. Prior repair attempts did not fully resolve the issue, which is why two separate campaigns address the same fundamental problem with the occupant detection system.