How One Scandal Nearly Destroyed Audi in America

The Audi 100 traces its roots to 1968, when the C1 generation (below left) launched, and it arrived in the U.S. in 1970. It was called the Audi 100 here as well, but when the C2 generation (below right) arrived in 1977, it was renamed the Audi 5000. The C2 would also spawn the Audi 200, which was a more upmarket version of the same base car with higher levels of luxury and more powerful engines, though they would all be called 5000s in the U.S., as Audi USA tried to distance its new flagship from the OG 100, which had a patchy reliability record. The 100/200 name would return in the late ’80s.



1974-1976 Audi 100 C1 facelift

Chase Bierenkoven

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Dr Piëch’s Technological Masterpiece


And this brings us to the C3, or Type 44, which launched in 1982 globally and as the second iteration of the 5000 in America in 1983. None other than Ferdinand Piëch led its development, then still an engineer at Audi, but later heading up the entire VW Group, and eventually one of the most influential figures in automotive history. The Type 44 was a huge advance over the C2, with a drag coefficient of just 0.30 in base form. Using the same basic engines, it was a lot faster and more efficient. The top Audi 5000 Turbo models had 217 hp and could reach 150 mph.



1988 Audi 5000S Quattro 5-Speed

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It was bigger but lighter than the C2, thanks to its advanced weight-saving measures, including rust-proof plastic for the spare wheel well and thinner, stronger glass; the curb weight of the base C3 in Germany was under 2,600 pounds – a remarkable result for a 188-inch midsize car. The doors were marvels of engineering. Their hinges carried the steel door skin, and on the inside of the skin a bolt-on lightweight magnesium-alloy structure held the door internals and extended upward to form the door frame. Pins went through holes in the glass and hooked into channels in the door frame to provide completely flush glazing, and the channels were hidden behind black shade bands in the glass. The window seal alone took three years to develop.


1991 Audi 200 Quattro Avant Turbo 5-Speed flush glazing
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Disaster Strikes


During the ’80s, “unintended acceleration” was on everybody’s mind. Several automakers were under investigation for cars that suddenly accelerated and caused accidents, with various reasons cited for these incidents. Audi became the focus in a November 1986 “investigative report” by 60 Minutes. Stories surfaced of Audi 5000s accelerating when people stepped on the brake, and accounts like that of Kristi Bradosky, who ran over her 6-year-old child in her Audi 5000, were headline news. What 60 Minutes viewers didn’t know is that the producers rigged the demonstration Audi they used to accelerate when you hit the brake, adding fuel to the fire. So was there anything wrong with the 5000 at all?

Three years later, in 1989, the NHTSA finally published its report, exonerating Audi. In fact, many of the instances of unintended acceleration in Audis and other brands were just people inadvertently stepping on the wrong pedal. It didn’t help that the 5000’s gas and brake pedals were quite close together, and that a failure in the Audi’s electronic idle-stabilization system could cause a rather high idling speed. This could produce a stronger-than-normal vehicle movement when the car was put into gear, which may have startled some drivers, who then hit the brake. Only, they hit the accelerator instead…



1988 Audi 5000CS Turbo Quattro Avant 5-Speed

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Nonetheless, Audi made changes to the cars, tweaking the pedal layout and linking the brake pedal to the shifter, so you couldn’t shift into gear unless your foot was on the brake. Audi also abandoned the 5000 name and reverted to the European 100/200 naming convention in the bid to distance themselves from the tainted model. But the damage was done. From a high point of nearly 75,000 sales in 1985, Audi sales crashed, and by 1991, annual sales were hardly breaching 12,000 units. Sales only returned to pre-scandal levels in 2000.

You Can’t Keep A Good Man Down


It was essentially the death knell for the Type 44 in the U.S., but elsewhere, things were quite different. Piëch’s technological marvel was a big success for Audi in international markets. It was the European Car of the Year in 1983 and was built in many factories across the world, as far afield as South Africa and China. Avant and sedan versions were produced, and the 100/200 would continue in production until 1992. But it was hardly the end of the line.



1988-1993 Audi V8

Audi

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A restyled Type 44 would be repurposed as the Audi V8 (above), Audi’s first full-size executive sedan – and the predecessor of the all-aluminum 1994 Audi A8. The spacious Type 44 shell already provided S-Class-like room for passengers, and with a restyle and a brand-new 3.6L V8 based on a doubled-up 1.8L Golf 2 16-valve engine with a new aluminum block, Audi’s flagship sedan from 1988 to 1993 would still be the good old Type 44 under the skin.

Through the VW Group’s FAW-Volkswagen joint venture, Type 44 production continued in China under the Audi brand until 1999, and under the Hongqi brand after that. Several Hongqi CA derivatives and the Hongqi Century Star parade cars, many of which were stretched limousines, were built and sold in China until 2005, a full 23 years after Type 44 production started. The Century Star (below right) even used the headlights from the C4 (Type 4A), the successor of the Type 44.



Hongqi CA7228L based on Audi C3 Type 44

China Car History

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And yet, it’s still not the end. The Type 4A C4 Audi 100/200 (below), the Type 44’s successor, which commenced production in 1990, was not an all-new car. So good was the Type 44’s basic design, and so advanced its technology, that the Type 4A was essentially just a heavy update of the existing car. It retained the same size, wheelbase, flush glazing, proportions, and design hard points of the old car, but with modernized crash structures, a stiffer body, new V6 and V8 engines to supplement the stalwart inline 5-pot, and fresh new looks. Under the skin, much of the groundbreaking Type 44 was still in evidence.



1993 Audi S4

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Final Thoughts


The Type 44 has a checkered history in the U.S., where it was almost responsible for the demise of Audi USA through no fault of its own. The Audi Unintended Acceleration debacle became a case study in how the excruciatingly slow NHTSA response and deceptive media coverage destroyed a good product with no inherent safety flaw. It didn’t help that people stepping on the wrong pedals is such a widespread phenomenon in America that the NHTSA was investigating 50 models from 20 automakers for the problem in the ’80s, which, in most cases, were just people hitting the gas when they meant to hit the brake. It still pops up frequently, even today.

It’s a shame that this scandal has cast a shadow on one of the most significant Audis in history. It might have flown beneath the radar compared to exciting products like the Audi Quattro sports car, but Ferdinand Piëch broke the mold with a car that would set the template for Audi’s reputation for innovation and technological leadership for decades to come. One of the most influential men in automotive history created one of the most influential Audis of the modern era, pioneering many of the features (such as flush glazing) and lightweight engineering that we now take for granted in modern cars.

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