Two Audi model years account for most of the trouble in this record. The Audi Q5 goes wrong in 2018, with 200 complaints and a score of 35, and again in 2021, with 140 complaints and a score of 33; the Audi Q7 goes wrong in 2017, with 319 complaints and a score of 29, the lowest figure on either table, and does not fully recover until 2020. The years to buy are the 2013 to 2017 Q5, which scores between 72 and 87 and never exceeds 106 complaints in a year, and the 2011 to 2015 Q7, which scores 86 to 88 on 23 to 45 complaints a year, though with evidence the site marks low.
The 2017 Q7
The Q7 was a new car for 2017, and the record shows it. The 2017 car logs 35.4 complaints per year on the road against 4.0 for the 2015 car, and its component list is led by something no other year on either table puts first: Exterior Lighting, with 133 complaints. Engine follows with 60, Electrical System with 53, Suspension with 32 and Unknown Or Other with 30. No campaign on record addresses the lighting, so it is something to inspect for rather than a recall to check.
The recall list for the 2017 car is long in a different direction: seven campaigns, six of them safety-critical. Campaign 16V519000, issued 8 July 2016, covers an air bag control module that could deploy the frontal air bags with more force than required; 16V648000, issued 8 September 2016, an electric power steering control unit that may short circuit; 16V642000 a software fault; 16V641000 a third-row seat back that may move forward under load; and 16V955000 the seat belt pretensioners. Two more arrived later: 19V035000, issued 16 January 2019, for fuel rails that may leak on 2016 to 2018 cars, and 20V149000, issued 16 March 2020, for a bolt between the steering shaft and steering gear that may loosen on 2017 to 2019 cars, with loss of steering control the stated risk.
The 2018 Q7 has 141 complaints and scores 43, still AVOID; Engine leads at 37 and Exterior Lighting is still second at 23. The 2019 car has 61 complaints and scores 62, CAUTION, with Steering and Suspension at 10 each on top, and carries 19V114000 for front shock absorber forks that may crack. The 2020 car, with 26 complaints and a score of 79, is the first Q7 since 2015 the site marks BUY.
The 2021 cars
Both nameplates fall over again in 2021. The Q5 has 140 complaints, 28.0 per year on the road, and eight recall campaigns, the most in its table; the Q7 has 71 complaints, 14.2 per year, and nine campaigns, the most in its. Electrical System leads both years, 52 on the Q5 and 43 on the Q7, and Forward Collision Avoidance appears in the top five of both, at 20 and 7. The campaigns are largely shared: 21V606000 for rear seat belt retractors, 22V742000 for the rear-view display, 22V034000 for tyres and 21V295000 for the rear axle assembly. The Q5 also carries 22V753000, issued 7 October 2022, for engine connecting rod bearings that may become damaged on 2021 to 2023 cars, with engine failure the stated result, and 25V080000 for a high-voltage battery that may overheat on 2021 to 2024 plug-in hybrids. The Q7 carries 25V201000, issued 31 March 2025, for an instrument panel display that may fail, and 20V749000 for a door crash sensor connector.
The 2018 Q5
The Q5's worst year is 2018, at 200 complaints and 25.0 per year on the road, more than five times the 2017 car's 4.7. Electrical System leads with 69, Unknown Or Other with 44, Engine with 31, Suspension with 24 and Service Brakes with 22. Two brake campaigns sit under that last figure: 18V369000, issued 1 June 2018, for brake caliper pistons with insufficient coating, and 19V277000, issued 8 April 2019, for a brake master cylinder casting that may be too short. The electrical figure has a campaign behind it too, 21V947000, issued 8 December 2021 for 2018 to 2022 cars, in which a liquid spill in the rear seat or water entering through a body seam can reach the body control module. The 2019 and 2020 Q5s drop to 49 and 24 complaints and score 78 and 84, but on low evidence.
Audi Q5: the record, year by year
| Year | Score | Verdict | NHTSA complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | — | DATA PENDING | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | — | DATA PENDING | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | — | DATA PENDING | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | — | DATA PENDING | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 33 | AVOID | 141 | 8 |
| 2020 | 84 | BUY | 24 | 6 |
| 2019 | 78 | BUY | 49 | 5 |
| 2018 | 35 | AVOID | 200 | 6 |
| 2017 | 87 | BUY | 42 | 5 |
| 2016 | 78 | BUY | 77 | 5 |
| 2015 | 72 | BUY | 98 | 6 |
| 2014 | 75 | BUY | 106 | 5 |
| 2013 | 80 | BUY | 92 | 5 |
| 2012 | 81 | BUY | 4 | 6 |
| 2011 | 69 | CAUTION | 143 | 5 |
Live from the federal record as of 2026-10-04; linked years have their own page. Full table and repair costs on the Audi Q5 model page.
The good Q5 years
From 2013 to 2017 the Q5 is a steady car. Complaints run 92, 106, 98, 77 and 42, scores 80, 75, 72, 78 and 87, and Engine is the top component every year, at 34, 36, 37, 26 and 19, with Steering second or third in each year through 2016 at 19, 17, 14 and 10. The campaigns on these cars are the ones to check by number. Two cooling system campaigns, 17V002000 and 18V229000, cover 2013 to 2017 cars with the 2.0-litre turbo engine; 17V298000, issued 3 May 2017, covers a fuel pump flange that may crack and leak on 2013 to 2017 Q5s and Q7s alike; 17V622000 covers corrosion in the auxiliary heater connector on 2013 to 2016 cars; and 17V001000, issued 3 January 2017, covers the sunroof drainage on every Q5 from 2011 to 2017, where water can soak the foam around the side head air bag inflator canister and corrode it. The 2017 car adds 17V297000, for a gearbox that may roll despite Park being selected.
The 2011 car is CAUTION at 69, with 143 complaints of which Air Bags account for 67, and it carries two driver air bag inflator campaigns, 16V078000 and 18V082000, and the earlier fuel pump flange campaign 16V660000 with its 2018 follow-up 18V818000.
The first Q7
The 2011 to 2015 Q7 never has more than 45 complaints in a year, and its top components are Fuel/Propulsion System and Engine in single or low double figures. The site marks the evidence low in every one of those years, so the scores of 86 to 88 describe a quiet record rather than guarantee one. The recalls are few and specific: the fuel pump flange campaigns 16V660000 and 18V818000 on 2011 to 2012 cars, 17V298000 on 2013 to 2015 cars, and 14V516000 for a check valve on the 2013 3.0-litre diesel. There is no 2016 Q7 in the record.
Audi Q7: the record, year by year
| Year | Score | Verdict | NHTSA complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 60 | CAUTION | 16 | 2 |
| 2024 | — | DATA PENDING | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 86 | BUY | 0 | 3 |
| 2022 | — | DATA PENDING | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 31 | AVOID | 71 | 9 |
| 2020 | 79 | BUY | 26 | 5 |
| 2019 | 62 | CAUTION | 61 | 4 |
| 2018 | 43 | AVOID | 141 | 3 |
| 2017 | 29 | AVOID | 319 | 7 |
| 2015 | 86 | BUY | 44 | 2 |
| 2014 | 87 | BUY | 45 | 2 |
| 2013 | 88 | BUY | 41 | 3 |
| 2012 | 86 | BUY | 29 | 4 |
| 2011 | 87 | BUY | 23 | 4 |
Live from the federal record as of 2026-10-04; linked years have their own page. Full table and repair costs on the Audi Q7 model page.
Ranking the two
The Q5 is the better used car on this record. It has five consecutive BUY years, 2013 to 2017, four of them with medium evidence. The Q7's first generation is quiet but thinly documented, and its second generation opens with the worst year on either table and needs three model years to reach CAUTION. Verdicts: Q5, buy 2013 to 2017, avoid 2018 and 2021; Q7, buy 2011 to 2015 with the caveat on evidence, avoid 2017, 2018 and 2021, treat 2019 as CAUTION. The 2023 and 2025 Q7 scores rest on 0 and 14 complaints and mean little. Everything from 2022 on the Q5 is DATA PENDING.
What to check before you buy
- On any 2011 to 2017 Q5, ask the dealer to confirm 17V001000 for the sunroof drains and 17V298000 or 16V660000 for the fuel pump flange are closed on the VIN, and look for water staining in the headliner.
- On a 2013 to 2017 Q5 with the 2.0-litre turbo, confirm 17V002000 and 18V229000, and 17V622000 on 2013 to 2016 cars.
- On a 2018 Q5, confirm 18V369000, 19V277000 and 21V947000, then check the rear footwells for damp and test every electrical function; Electrical System at 69 is the year's problem.
- On a 2017 to 2019 Q7, ask for 20V149000 by number and, on a 2017, 16V648000 and 16V519000. Test every exterior light on a 2017 or 2018.
- On a 2021 Q5, ask for 22V753000 on the engine bearings and, on a plug-in hybrid, 25V080000.
- On a 2021 Q7, ask for 25V201000 and 20V749000.
Summary
Avoid the 2018 Q5 (200 complaints, score 35), the 2021 Q5 (140, score 33), the 2017 Q7 (319, score 29), the 2018 Q7 (141, score 43) and the 2021 Q7 (71, score 31). Buy a 2013 to 2017 Q5, best of all the 2017 at 42 complaints, or a 2011 to 2015 Q7 if the low-evidence record is acceptable to you. The 2019 and 2020 cars of both nameplates look clean on small records.