D4 Seat & Steering Wheel Position Memory question

[Motegi]

I'm a new owner of a CPO D4 A8L with the Premium package and have a question.

I'm noticing that about 50% of the time when I get into the car and start the ignition the seat/steering wheel does not return to the preset memory position from the retracted "Easy Entry" position.

Sometimes it works like a charm and the steering wheel and seat position moves automatically to the Memory 1 position as soon as I hit the Start button. Other times nothing happens and the steering wheel remains retracted and angled up. I then have to manually push the Memory 1 button.

Is there something that I'm missing here?

Thanks in advance!

[MichaelC]

I've had exactly the same issue with my A7 and with the A6 Avant I had before that. Dealer always said it worked fine for them when I brought the cars in for it.

[Lazydog]

Check the buttons on the door and ensure that the OFF button is not depressed. This will cause the seat and wheel not to move.

[Motegi]

Check the buttons on the door and ensure that the OFF button is not depressed. This will cause the seat and wheel not to move.

I checked that first. Not the problem. Like I said the seat memory remains intact, its just that 50% of the time it fails to automatically return back to the preset position after the "Easy Entry" position. One must then physically press and hold the Memory 1 button to return to the preferred position. And while it's not a safety issue it is an annoyance that I've not experienced in any other brand or vehicle of this class.

As a fellow D4 owner does your A8L's steering wheel/seat position always return back to the preset position after retracting for "Easy Entry"?

As I said it this issue is intermittent and unpredictable. For example, last night when leaving the house for dinner and a movie with the wife it all worked fine. However when getting back into the car after the movie it didn't work.

I took it to my local dealer today to have them look at it. Of course it worked just fine when I tried to demonstrate for the service advisor and the service tech also said everything checked out OK. Amusingly they leant me a D4 A8L V6 loaner with 5000 miles on the ODO which exhibited the exact same issue twice today. Perhaps its just an intrinsic problem with the software design and not an isolated issue with my car specifically?

I also noticed one of the long-term test blog entries for the 2012 A8L review at Edmunds.com also mentioned this same intermittent functioning of the seating. They mentioned that they were going to look into it but unfortunately there was no follow up entry to that issue.
http://www.edmunds.com/audi/a8/2012/long-term-road-test/2012-audi-a8l-not-consistent.html

Does anyone have a contact at Audi USA who might be able to look into this?

[Motegi]

I've had exactly the same issue with my A7 and with the A6 Avant I had before that. Dealer always said it worked fine for them when I brought the cars in for it.

Yikes. Does not bode well for my hope for an easy solution to this issue.

Perhaps it is endemic to the Audi MMI/seat memory/Easy Entry software.

[Motegi]

UPDATE:

Got my car back. Now it seems like it only works about 10% of the time despite the dealer stating that everything looked OK.

The loaner also exhibited the same behavior but seemed to only occur a couple times while I had it.

I guess it's just a "Normal" issue with Audi...

[27litres]

You would think that if it was a "normal" problem, there would be a lot of complaints.
A problem with a lot of complaints usually leads to some sort of fix - probably a software patch...
Have you asked them if there's a softwoneare update available?

Also, have you linked the memory to any of your remotes? Perhaps the issue lies with the remote telling the computer something different to the button?

(Forgive me if it doesn't link that way, as I have no experience with convenience keys (keyless/buttonless entry))

[MichaelC]

I've had the same problem as the original poster and tried all the suggestions here. Since I've had the same issue intermittently with two different Audis, I have to conclude it's some kind of a software glitch. Two different dealers have tried to fix it on two occasions each, both reported it was fine, and in all cases the car resumed that bahavior intermittently after the dealers had them. I have a pal with a BMW who has experienced something similar.

[Motegi]

After days of experimentation and two different dealers stating that everything was OK I discovered something interesting.

If you open a door BEFORE turning off the ignition, then the Easy Entry will NOT return the steering wheel to the original position when getting back in.

If you turn off the ignition FIRST, before opening any doors, then the steering wheel WILL return about 90% of the time on reentry.

[A8_London]

It happened to me few times, but I think because my wife was in the car with her own key. Are you using always the same fob?

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk

[bturkel]

This is interesting my 2016 S8 Plus same issue

[itzk15h3n]

This is weird but try it. I had the same issue and i read on another forum that when exiting the vehicle if you use the steering wheel to help you get out it senses the weight and fails to return back to position. I have since stopped doing that and the steering wheel returns to its set stop almost all the time now.