Editing Audi (section)

===Audi 5000 unintended acceleration allegations===
Sales in the United States fell after a series of recalls from 1982 to 1987 of [[Audi 5000]] models<ref name="bus week">{{cite journal | title = Audi 1980s Scare May Mean Lost Generation for Toyota | journal=Business Week| date=4 February 2010|first1=Andreas|last1=Cremer|first2=Tom|last2=Lavell| url = http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-04/audi-s-1980s-scare-may-mean-lost-generation-for-toyota-sales.html| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100208162109/http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-04/audi-s-1980s-scare-may-mean-lost-generation-for-toyota-sales.html| archive-date = 8 February 2010| access-date=15 August 2010}}</ref> associated with reported incidents of [[sudden unintended acceleration]] linked to six deaths and 700 accidents.<ref name="bus week"/> At the time, NHTSA was investigating 50 car models from 20 manufacturers for sudden surges of power.<ref name="renamed">{{cite news | title = A Hard Sell for Audi | newspaper=The New York Times|first=John|last=Holusha|date=24 July 1988 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/24/business/a-hard-sell-for-audi.html?scp=14&sq=audi%20sudden%20acceleration&st=cse | access-date=25 April 2010}}</ref>

A ''[[60 Minutes]]'' report aired 23 November 1986,<ref name="debacle">{{cite web | title = The Audi 5000 Intended Unintended acceleration Debacle | publisher=The Truth About Cars | first = Paul | last = Niedermeyer | date = 7 March 2010 | url = http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/the-best-of-ttac-the-audi-5000-intended-unintended-acceleration-debacle/| access-date=15 August 2010}}</ref> featuring interviews with six people who had sued Audi after reporting unintended acceleration, showing an Audi 5000 ostensibly suffering a problem when the brake pedal was pushed.<ref name="huber">{{cite web|first=Peter|last=Huber|url=http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cjm_18.htm|title=Manufacturing the Audi Scare|date=January 1990|publisher=Manhattan Institute for Policy Research|access-date=15 August 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|publisher=Accuracy in Media|url=http://www.aim.org/media-monitor/the-cbs-cold-case-files/|title=The CBS 'Cold Case' Files|first=Sherrie|last=Gossett|date=13 May 2005|access-date=15 August 2010|archive-date=3 November 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081103082732/http://www.aim.org/media-monitor/the-cbs-cold-case-files/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Subsequent investigation revealed that ''60 Minutes'' had engineered the failure—fitting a canister of compressed air on the passenger-side floor, linked via a hose to a hole drilled into the transmission.<ref name="debacle"/>

[[File:Audi 100 C3 (1988–1991) (10629216834).jpg|thumb|[[Audi 100]] C3, sold as the [[Audi 5000]] in the U.S.]]

Audi contended, prior to findings by outside investigators,<ref name="renamed"/> that the problems were caused by driver error, specifically pedal misapplication.<ref name="renamed" /> Subsequently, the [[National Highway Traffic Safety Administration]] (NHTSA) concluded that the majority of unintended acceleration cases, including all the ones that prompted the ''60 Minutes'' report, were caused by driver error such as confusion of pedals.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=16 April 1989|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1185635.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102221624/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1185635.html |archive-date=2 November 2012 | title=Unfair at Any Speed|first=Brock |last=Yates|access-date=15 August 2010 }}</ref> CBS did not acknowledge the test results of involved government agencies, but did acknowledge the similar results of another study.<ref name="huber"/>

In a review study published in 2012, NHTSA summarized its past findings about the Audi unintended acceleration problems: "Once an unintended acceleration had begun, in the Audi 5000, due to a failure in the idle-stabilizer system (producing an initial acceleration of 0.3g), pedal misapplication resulting from panic, confusion, or unfamiliarity with the Audi 5000 contributed to the severity of the incident."<ref name="nhtsa2012">{{cite news | title = Pedal Application Errors | date = March 2012 | url = http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nti/pdf/811597.pdf | access-date = 3 December 2013 | archive-date = 4 December 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131204053204/http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nti/pdf/811597.pdf }}</ref>

This summary is consistent with the conclusions of NHTSA's most technical analysis at the time: "Audi idle-stabilization systems were prone to defects which resulted in excessive idle speeds and brief unanticipated accelerations of up to 0.3g [which is similar in magnitude to an emergency stop in a subway car]. These accelerations could not be the sole cause of [(long-duration) sudden acceleration incidents (SAI)], but might have triggered some SAIs by startling the driver.<ref name="audi1988">{{cite news | title = Study of Mechanical and Driver-Related Systems of the Audi 5000 Capable of Producing Uncontrolled Sudden Acceleration Incidents | date = September 1988 | url = http://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/H%20Appendices%20Merge.pdf | access-date = 3 December 2013 | archive-date = 8 June 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120608034952/http://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/H%20Appendices%20Merge.pdf }}</ref> The defective idle-stabilization system performed a type of [[electronic throttle control]]. Significantly: multiple "intermittent malfunctions of the electronic control unit were observed and recorded ... and [were also observed and] reported by Transport Canada."<ref name="audi1988" />

With a series of recall campaigns, Audi made several modifications; the first adjusted the distance between the brake and accelerator pedal on automatic-transmission models.<ref name="bus week"/> Later repairs, of 250,000 cars dating back to 1978, added a device requiring the driver to press the brake pedal before shifting out of park.<ref name="bus week"/> A legacy of the Audi 5000 and other reported cases of sudden unintended acceleration are intricate [[gear stick]] patterns and brake [[interlock]] mechanisms to prevent inadvertent shifting into forward or reverse. It is unclear how the defects in the idle-stabilization system were addressed.

Audi's U.S. sales, which had reached 74,061 in 1985, dropped to 12,283 in 1991 and remained level for three years,<ref name="bus week"/>—with resale values falling dramatically.<ref name="warranty">{{cite news | title = Audi Increases Warranty Plan | newspaper=The New York Times| date=27 July 1988 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/27/business/company-news-audi-increases-warranty-plan.html| access-date=15 August 2010}}</ref> Audi subsequently offered increased warranty protection<ref name="warranty"/> and renamed the affected models—with the ''5000'' becoming the ''100'' and ''200'' in 1989<ref name="renamed"/>—and reached the same sales levels again only by model year 2000.<ref name="bus week"/>

A 2010 ''BusinessWeek'' article—outlining possible parallels between Audi's experience and [[2009–2010 Toyota vehicle recalls]]—noted a class-action lawsuit filed in 1987 by about 7,500 Audi 5000-model owners remains unsettled and remains contested in [[Chicago]]'s [[Cook County, Illinois|Cook County]] after appeals at the Illinois state and U.S. federal levels.<ref name="bus week"/>