# NHTSA recall 21V198000

A recall listed here may apply to a vehicle of this year, make and model. Only the manufacturer can say whether it applies to one vehicle: check the VIN with the official lookups.

- Published by: NHTSA \(United States\)
- Campaign number: 21V198000
- Manufacturer's number: 69BY
- Manufacturer: Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
- Reported: 2021\-03\-22
- Owners notified: 2021\-12\-23
- Component: AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION:FRONT PASSENGER; AIR BAGS:ON\-OFF SWITCH ASSEMBLY
- Units potentially affected: 153152
- Part numbers: 8V0898522

## What is wrong

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. \(Audi\) is recalling certain 2015\-2020 Audi S3 Sedan, A3 Sedan, 2016\-2018 A3 Etron, 2017\-2020 RS3 Sedan, and 2015\-2019 A3 Cabriolet vehicles.  The passenger occupant detection system \(PODS\) may malfunction and switch off the passenger air bag even when the seat is occupied.


## What can happen

A deactivated passenger air bag increases the risk of injury during a crash.


## The remedy

Dealers will replace the PODS sensor mat and update the PODS control module, free of charge.  Owners letters were mailed December 23, 2021.  Owners may contact Audi customer service at 1\-800\-253\-2834.  Audi's number for this recall is 69BY.


## Notes

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1\-888\-327\-4236 \(TTY 1\-800\-424\-9153\), or go to www.safercar.gov.


## Remedy progress the manufacturer reported

- Report: Annual report 2, for 2024 quarter 4 to 2025 quarter 3
- Filed with NHTSA: 2025\-10\-29
- Vehicles in the campaign: 153152
- Reported remedied: 111239 \(72%\)
- Reported unreachable: 1189
- Reported removed: 14

These are the manufacturer's totals for the whole campaign at the end of 2025 quarter 3, as filed with NHTSA. They do not say whether one vehicle has been remedied: check the VIN with the official lookups. The reports are from data as of 2026\-10\-19.

## Vehicles this campaign lists

- [2015 AUDI A3](/makes/audi/a3/2015/recalls.md)
- [2016 AUDI A3](/makes/audi/a3/2016/recalls.md)
- [2017 AUDI A3](/makes/audi/a3/2017/recalls.md)
- [2018 AUDI A3](/makes/audi/a3/2018/recalls.md)
- [2019 AUDI A3](/makes/audi/a3/2019/recalls.md)
- [2020 AUDI A3](/makes/audi/a3/2020/recalls.md)
- 2016 AUDI A3 SPORTBACK E\-TRON
- 2017 AUDI A3 SPORTBACK E\-TRON
- 2018 AUDI A3 SPORTBACK E\-TRON
- [2017 AUDI RS 3](/makes/audi/rs-3/2017/recalls.md)
- [2018 AUDI RS 3](/makes/audi/rs-3/2018/recalls.md)
- [2019 AUDI RS 3](/makes/audi/rs-3/2019/recalls.md)
- [2020 AUDI RS 3](/makes/audi/rs-3/2020/recalls.md)
- [2015 AUDI S3](/makes/audi/s3/2015/recalls.md)
- [2016 AUDI S3](/makes/audi/s3/2016/recalls.md)
- [2017 AUDI S3](/makes/audi/s3/2017/recalls.md)
- [2018 AUDI S3](/makes/audi/s3/2018/recalls.md)
- [2019 AUDI S3](/makes/audi/s3/2019/recalls.md)
- [2020 AUDI S3](/makes/audi/s3/2020/recalls.md)

## Bulletins for the same vehicles and component

A bulletin is the manufacturer's note to its dealers. It is not part of this recall.

- [DC\_Audi\_CF\_ Airbag](/bulletins/11030980.md), 2026-04-07, Other
- [A6924112056406\_5](/bulletins/11003002.md), 2024-07-02, Service bulletin
- [A6924112056406\_5](/bulletins/11002933.md), 2024-07-02, Service bulletin
- [970343](/bulletins/10250640.md), 2024-02-26, Service bulletin
- [990143](/bulletins/10242675.md), 2023-09-25, Service bulletin
- [A6923912056406\_4](/bulletins/10238396.md), 2023-07-10, Service bulletin
- [TRMDMV\_NM\_Audi](/bulletins/10233612.md), 2023-04-06, Service bulletin
- [A6922812056406\_3](/bulletins/10208209.md), 2022-03-04, Service bulletin
- [A6921692056406\_2](/bulletins/10201505.md), 2021-10-05, Service bulletin
- [A6921632061030\_3](/bulletins/10190282.md), 2021-05-06, Service bulletin

## Check a VIN

- [NHTSA recall lookup by VIN, United States](https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls)
- [Transport Canada recall search, Canada](https://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/7/VRDB-BDRV/search-recherche/menu.aspx?lang=eng)

JSON: [/v1/recalls/nhtsa/21V198000](/v1/recalls/nhtsa/21V198000)

[Report an error on this page](https://github.com/wenmar-pro/wenmar-open/issues/new?template=data_correction.yml&title=Data%20correction%3A%20NHTSA%20recall%2021V198000&page=https%3A%2F%2Fopen.wenmarpro.com%2Frecalls%2Fnhtsa%2F21V198000&vehicle=NHTSA%20recall%2021V198000)