E-Tron Battery/Hybrid Fault

Audi A3 E-tron Forum

Help Support Audi A3 E-tron Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

biggrim

New member
Joined
Aug 3, 2017
Messages
2
Hi there everyone.

First time poster but had my e-tron coming up a year. On my way to work this morning I got a warning message saying something along the lines of, "e-tron system failure. Contact Workshop". No mention of stopping immediately so carried on to work. When I got there, turned car off and back on again so I could get a picture of the error message, but another warning came up. This time, it was, "Drive System: system fault! Safely stop vehicle." Contacted fleet (company car) and an Audi tech was sent out. He has run a diagnostic scan and come up with the following fault:

POAA600 (or P0AA600) Hybrid/EV battery voltage system isolation fault logged in hybrid management control unit.

I've been told that the car is ok to drive in ICE mode and when my courtesy car has been arranged, I've to drop it in to my local Audi workshop. Has anyone else ever had this error? I do have pictures of the dash with the warning lights and second warning message but unable to post as I'm a new member (I think).

Thanks in advance,

G
 
I had a "system fault" twice. The car would not power up at all. The first time the dealership "reset" the car after consulting with engineers. They didn't fix anything, just reset it. A couple weeks later it happened again. They ended up replacing the battery.
 
UPDATE: The car has been with Audi almost a month. It's had E-tron specialists up from head office in Milton Keynes to assess & work on it after a period in quarantine. They have replaced the battery pack and associated ancillary parts. Just as well this is under warranty as the price for the battery is £5294 excluding VAT!!! £6353 all in. Now that's not including other parts and any labour so I dread to think what the total cost would be. They are keeping the car for a few more days to run some QA checks but hopefully I'll have it back by next week.
 
First ever "Drive system: system fault! Safely stop vehicle" message a few hours ago. e-tron coincidentally just booked in for 45,000 service in 3 days from now.
The only preceding event I can think is that I stopped in a driveway after reversing and then uncustomarily open driver door while power on. I mainly drive in Auto mode with 18km range on battery and full tank (640km) petrol.
I did the door lock/unlock x3 reset thing but no change.
Unable to power on
AudiCare (Australia) tell me likely to be an obligate tow-away to Audi Service
Not sure if anyone has similar triggers
Could have happened in trickier circumstances
 
I just had the same warning message: "Drive System: system fault! Safely stop vehicle". My situation was terrifying - first winter storm of the year, in the dark on Highway 401 (busiest highway in Canada), virtually no shoulder, and my propulsion (electric and ICE) completely shut down, so I was just coasting. I managed to get onto the shoulder, with the passenger side up against a guardrail and driver side wheels on the edge of the pavement, with big trucks whistling by at 100 km/h. After a few minutes, I managed to restart, and limp along the highway to the next exit, at which point the car completely died. Many errors flashed up on screen - brake failure, something with a gear symbol, and finally alternator not charging the battery. I've had it towed to the dealer, waiting to find out how steep the bill will be.

It has 46,000 km, is a 2016, and is 4 years and 11 months old. I have not had any issues until this. Curiously, I received a recall letter last week about an issue with the battery. I am sure it is all related.
 
2017 etron with 50k miles broken down left me stranded , no warning Drive System: system fault.. Audi want to charge 325 to upgrade the ECU software, If this is the problem why should I pay for something that was not fit for purpose ? anyone else broken down with this problem and did the ecu software upgrade fix it?
 
Well, this just hit me. 2016 with 40k miles. Went out to the garage to start up and saw this fault. At least I wasn't driving when it shut down. Not looking forward to having it towed to the dealer downtown. I was considering selling it before any electrical problems developed but guess I waited too long.
 
rfortson":2lwxpf8y said:
Well, this just hit me. 2016 with 40k miles. Went out to the garage to start up and saw this fault. At least I wasn't driving when it shut down. Not looking forward to having it towed to the dealer downtown. I was considering selling it before any electrical problems developed but guess I waited too long.

Okay, so here's my update. Car towed to Audi Central Houston on June 14. Authorized the replacement of the 12v battery for $900(!) a couple of days later. That didn't work, so authorized the replacement of the battery control module for another $1200. That didn't work either, so they had to wait a week for the hybrid batteries to safe themselves (discharge, I guess). Plus, they were bringing in an "expert" from outside the dealer to help them troubleshoot the problem. So the car sat for 2.5 week with nothing being done. Last Friday, July 9, the "expert" arrives. Turns out it's just some regional manager that told them they needed to bring in an "expert" to help them figure out the problem.

Needless to say, I'm livid. I called AudiUSA to file a complaint and at least that got the dealer talking to me. They still don't know what to do, but are looking at replacing the hybrid battery or replacing individual cells. My fear is that they will tell me parts need to come from Germany and have a 5-6 week lead time.

Can't wait to get this car running again so I can sell it and be done with Audi and this dealer (the closest one to me - 40 miles away). The car was great up until it wasn't. My greatest concern was a problem with the hybrid electronics since Audi sold so few of these cars they wouldn't know how to fix it. Turns out I was right to be concerned.
 
My 2018 e-tron had a different kind of failure. I was cruising along at about 65mph on the freeway under EV power, with a good charge, and the EV engine just stopped. I press on the pedal and... nothing. I coasted to a stop and the car switched into hybrid mode (or I did it... don't recall) and I was able to get going again. It couldn't switch it back into EV mode even though I had a good charge. After stopping and starting the car later I was able to use EV mode again. Typically, the dealer could find nothing wrong, which isn't surprising since they seem to know little to nothing about how this car works. Has anyone had this problem? It's only happened to me 2 times so far - once on the freeway and once in my driveway.
 
rfortson":3mkv2cgl said:
rfortson":3mkv2cgl said:
Well, this just hit me. 2016 with 40k miles. Went out to the garage to start up and saw this fault. At least I wasn't driving when it shut down. Not looking forward to having it towed to the dealer downtown. I was considering selling it before any electrical problems developed but guess I waited too long.

Okay, so here's my update. Car towed to Audi Central Houston on June 14. Authorized the replacement of the 12v battery for $900(!) a couple of days later. That didn't work, so authorized the replacement of the battery control module for another $1200. That didn't work either, so they had to wait a week for the hybrid batteries to safe themselves (discharge, I guess). Plus, they were bringing in an "expert" from outside the dealer to help them troubleshoot the problem. So the car sat for 2.5 week with nothing being done. Last Friday, July 9, the "expert" arrives. Turns out it's just some regional manager that told them they needed to bring in an "expert" to help them figure out the problem.

Needless to say, I'm livid. I called AudiUSA to file a complaint and at least that got the dealer talking to me. They still don't know what to do, but are looking at replacing the hybrid battery or replacing individual cells. My fear is that they will tell me parts need to come from Germany and have a 5-6 week lead time.

Can't wait to get this car running again so I can sell it and be done with Audi and this dealer (the closest one to me - 40 miles away). The car was great up until it wasn't. My greatest concern was a problem with the hybrid electronics since Audi sold so few of these cars they wouldn't know how to fix it. Turns out I was right to be concerned.

So, latest update. Audi has had my car since June 14. Late July, they decided to replace the hybrid battery. Current estimate is the battery will be delivered to the shop September 4. Let's hope that fixes it so I can dump this POS.
 
when you have such problems, it's best to find a passionate local ev shop who can diagnose the car properly.

Dealerships do not have the experience nor the patience required :(
 
On Friday night I went to charge my car (a 2017 a3 e-tron I bought a month ago), ready for a long drive on Saturday to visit my Dad for the 1st time for a year or so.

I can't remember if I had left the door open when I plugged in the charger, but my car pinged at me and gave me the

'Drive System fault! Safely stop vehicle.'

message, followed by

'Max. engine speed: 3000 rpm'

And the charger light on the car went red (the charging unit still said charging).

When I tried to start the car after unplugging the charger it would not go into ready mode. So effectively dead car.

Got my daughter to drive me down in her little suzuki, then Yesterday morning, I gave Audi Roadside Assistance a call, assuming after what I read here, It was likely to end up with my car being towed to a dealer.

An hour later Audi Roadside Assistance turned up. Plugged his computer in, and was puzzled that my car was not showing any fault code.

did some searching, and then said that it was a common fault with the ECU and that there was a patch to fix it.

He connected a battery pack to make sure it didn't run out of power half way through and spent 15 mins downloading and installing the patch.

After which he said, 'looks fixed, the hybrid battery is now charging you're 12v battery which it wasn't before'

And I now have a working car, so far everything seems fine, so will just have to see.
 
rfortson":1jv1vtid said:
rfortson":1jv1vtid said:
rfortson":1jv1vtid said:
Well, this just hit me. 2016 with 40k miles. Went out to the garage to start up and saw this fault. At least I wasn't driving when it shut down. Not looking forward to having it towed to the dealer downtown. I was considering selling it before any electrical problems developed but guess I waited too long.

Okay, so here's my update. Car towed to Audi Central Houston on June 14. Authorized the replacement of the 12v battery for $900(!) a couple of days later. That didn't work, so authorized the replacement of the battery control module for another $1200. That didn't work either, so they had to wait a week for the hybrid batteries to safe themselves (discharge, I guess). Plus, they were bringing in an "expert" from outside the dealer to help them troubleshoot the problem. So the car sat for 2.5 week with nothing being done. Last Friday, July 9, the "expert" arrives. Turns out it's just some regional manager that told them they needed to bring in an "expert" to help them figure out the problem.

Needless to say, I'm livid. I called AudiUSA to file a complaint and at least that got the dealer talking to me. They still don't know what to do, but are looking at replacing the hybrid battery or replacing individual cells. My fear is that they will tell me parts need to come from Germany and have a 5-6 week lead time.

Can't wait to get this car running again so I can sell it and be done with Audi and this dealer (the closest one to me - 40 miles away). The car was great up until it wasn't. My greatest concern was a problem with the hybrid electronics since Audi sold so few of these cars they wouldn't know how to fix it. Turns out I was right to be concerned.

So, latest update. Audi has had my car since June 14. Late July, they decided to replace the hybrid battery. Current estimate is the battery will be delivered to the shop September 4. Let's hope that fixes it so I can dump this POS.

Okay, final update. Audi finally got the hybrid batteries replaced the first week of October. No charge as it was covered under warranty. The 12v battery and battery controller ($900 and $1200 previously authorized) didn't fix the problem so I think they were replaced with the originals. The car seemed to run fine from the dealer to home. And that afternoon, it ran fine to CarMax and another local dealer. Got four quotes and wound up selling it to Carvana. Picked it up on a Monday and it was gone by Friday with a nice check from Carvana.

This car was great up until it wasn't. AFAIK, the battery replacement had the car running great again, though of course I have no idea of the longer term reliability. The dealer experience was always a drag. They were nice enough but having to drive downtown (30 minutes one way) for service got old. And since it's somewhat a unicorn, you can't find local shops that really know anything about these cars. Your friendly local EV mechanic doesn't exist in this world.

I replaced it with a Miata. Completely different car/experience so I won't even try to compare them. However, this experience has put me off electrified cars for now until they become more common and I'm not tied to a dealer for service.

Thanks for the forum. Lots of great info here which is very handy for a unique auto that you don't see very often.
 
4est":2rcrl7ca said:
when you have such problems, it's best to find a passionate local ev shop who can diagnose the car properly.

Dealerships do not have the experience nor the patience required :(

:lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Hi everyone,
I’ve just been through this experience myself, and have finally got my car back after almost 3 months of it living at the dealership. 2017 a3 etron technik with 84k kms.

Had to be towed, I got the same range of “everything is broken” from the dash out of the blue one day. First diagnosed as the small auxiliary battery failing, it quickly became apparent that the issue was much more severe. They attempted to replace the control module but ultimately had to replace the ev battery as well. Many delays and disappointments later I went in to pick up my beloved hybrid and return the a3 loaner that I’d gotten quite used to -except for the big gas tax.
In the end they tried to get me to pay for the auxiliary battery but I pushed back. I’m currently in limbo waiting on my Q4 order made back in the summer.. If I had gotten my vehicle as promised this issue would not have been mine. There is a silver lining though because I had definitely seen some range loss in the neighborhood of 15% but have returned to the kind of range I used to get a few years ago.

I’m starting to think this is a major defect possibly relating to the charging system. I noted a year or two ago, and have seen others on this forum also report the charging light continue to run well after the vehicle being fully charged. My car no longer does that, just like when I first got it.

Ian
 
Hello I have just got a "electrical system: fault" warning message. does anyone happen to know what this might be? Auxiliary battery? or?

Thanks

Daniel
 
Back
Top