2020 Audi A5 Electrical Problems

Owner reports

Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2020 Audi A5 owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).

The MMI screen in my 2020 Audi A5 Sportback randomly reboots while driving, with no consistent pattern. These reboots occur regardless of whether a phone is connected-via USB-C, Bluetooth, or not connected at all. The issue is highly distracting and often occurs during critical moments, such as while reversing (disabling the rear-view camera), when cross-traffic alerts are active, or while moving forward (disabling the parking sensors). What's particularly concerning is that the issue has become more frequent over time. Initially, it might happen once during a 30-minute commute. Now, it can occur 3-4 times in quick succession, making the system increasingly unreliable and disruptive. …

The car has a very loud sequence of high pitched beeps accompanying a "SOS EMERGENCY CALL FUNCTION MALFUNCTION" warning light that comes on and stays on. It is a major driving distraction when the warning beeps suddenly come on (up to six sustained times in a row). The diagnosis of this was that the antennae needs replacing due to water ingress with an estimate from dealership of $2500. Additionally, the MMI randomly powers off and then reboots every couple of minutes. This again causes major safely issues as navigation is suddenly gone when the screen turns black, and then loud music starts playing on the radio (which was not playing previously) when it automatically reboots. I have to try and turn off blaring music and readjust navigation in the midst of driving. There are also a number of screens I have to navigate answering after the reboot which again causes driving distraction. …

The Multi-Media Interface (MMI) randomly reboots and poses a safety hazard. Several times while reversing using my backup camera, the MMI has rebooted which causes the camera to go blank. This poses a risk to back up into an object or a person during this time. Also during this time, the Rear Cross Traffic Warning system is disabled until the system reboots. Also, while using navigation, the MMI has rebooted on me several times. It has occurred during critical times such as exiting freeways at high speeds. When this occurs it is terribly distracting and could cause an accident. The problem has been re-produced by my dealer. They said it needed a software upgrade and performed that. It worked better for a couple days but is now back to rebooting spontaneously. There were no warning lamps or messages indicating the fault will be occurring. …

The MMI which controls back up and 360 cameras, parking sensors, collision avoidance system, navigation, bluetooth, radio, etc reboots randomly without warning. There is no predictability and I have not been able to identify a trigger. There is no warning indicator on the dash or MMI before it happens. When it reboots the screen goes black and all associated MMI functions become inoperable for seconds to minutes. It then restarts and often makes me log back in before I am able to use it again. It happens multiple times, sometimes over a dozen in a short drive and often happens just several minutes apart. It has rebooted while I am pulling into my garage, parking, or backing up and actively using the cameras which poses a serious safety issue. It also occurs often when using bluetooth which can be a distraction, pulling my eyes off the road to grab my phone. …

MMI spontaneously reboots numerous times while driving. When the reboots happen, the screen goes black and key systems such as the backup camera, rear obstacle detection, and navigation, become unavailable until the reboot completes and the systems reload. Restoring functionality requires user input to get through the loading screens. The issue started in February/March 2025 and I requested my the Audi dealer to investigate while performing a 50,000 mile service in May 2025. This appears to be a widespread issue based on the numerous reports found on user forums online, affecting the same model year vehicles (for multiple examples, refer to [redacted] ). This should be considered a safety issue, as the reboots can happen in the middle of a reverse parking maneuver, and they render the backup camera and obstacle detection sensors completely inoperative until the system reloads. …

The Audi MMI system which is there in car infotainment and system management main frame. Has developed a habit of totally going blank, causing loss of phone connectivity, navigation continuity, as well as use of all of the manufacturer supplied safety systems. The system reboots itself, the driver must then struggle to regain navigation, phone connection etc generally at speed. The failures happen very sporadically, as much as 10x on a 7 mile drive and then not at all on the next drive. In an age where holding your phone while operating is illegal it is a very disturbing problem. The Audi fix is a software upgrade, at owners expense, ($458.00)that so far has eaten up 9 hours of my time and is still not done. I have had to upgrade systems like this in other vehicles I own and I am able to accomplish this on my own garage. …

The MMI/ radio shuts off and reboots at least 4-5 times within a 30 minute drive. When it comes back up, I get the error "user hasn't been detected for some time". I have had it go out while in reverse which is a safety concern. Every time it shuts off it is 30 seconds to a minute where nothing in my MMI is accessible. This began around April of 2025. No warning lights or error codes have been found. I have not taken it in for diagnosis, as it seems to be software related. [redacted] This link shows a lot of people that are experiencing the same issue and how it may be related to software updates, as the current software I have matches what is in the link and is incredibly outdated and old. Never once has it been addressed by the company. …

The entire infotainment screen spontaneously crashes leaving the screen completely black for 30 seconds to a minute while it resets. This happens randomly and quite frequently, on average every 5-10 minutes that the car is on. The whole infotainment system becomes unavailable including audio and, most dangerously, the backup camera. I have had incidents where I am reverse parking and I check my side mirrors and when I look back at my screen to see how close I am to the car behind me, the system is in the middle of rebooting and the screen is blank. I have taken the car to the dealer and have been told it's a known issue but there is no fix and nothing could be done. There is no warning as to when the system decides to reboot. I have also had it happen during a very important phone call and the Bluetooth was disconnected entirely until the system finished rebooting. …

The MMI/ radio shuts off and reboots at least 4-5 times within a 30 minute drive. When it comes back up, I get the error "user hasn't been detected for some time" or "A technical error has occurred. The user could not be loaded". I have had it go out while in reverse which is a safety concern. Every time it shuts off it is 30 seconds to a minute where nothing in my MMI is accessible. This began around April of 2025. No warning lights or error codes have been found. I have not taken it in for diagnosis, as it seems to be software related. It seems a lot of people are experiencing the same issue and how it may be related to software updates. It is very frustrating, and provides potential safety concerns as access to any GPS services, backup cameras, and any feature tied to the MMI go completely blank while driving or reversing.

Our 2020 Audi A5 experienced a module failure affecting SOS (Loud) audible alarm that sounds every 2-4 minutes when driving and also affects bluetooth connection for hands free phone. Told by Audi dealership there was a recall, then removed for this due to lack of available parts from Audi. This very loud alarm sounds every 2-4 minutes while driving and is variable so can easily scare driving/distract. Audi dealership said at least 5 other customers also have this present issue and have for months and they have no idea when Audi will send replacement modules. This is a driving hazard I would suspect impacting thousands of customers if 5 at one dealership is an indication. The first time this alarm sounded, my wife nearly drove off the road and then it is shockingly loud each subsequent time and still is startling.

Electrical complaints in other A5 years