Seat Belts In These Audis May Fail to Secure Child Seats In a Crash

Audi has issued a safety recall covering a wide range of its 2025 model-year vehicles after discovering a defect that can prevent rear seat belts from properly locking when used to secure a child safety seat.

The issue affects several gasoline and electric models, including the A5, A6, S5, and S6, along with the Q6 E-Tron and SQ6 E-Tron lineup and their Sportback variants. In total, the recall affects almost 28,000 vehicles.

According to the recall notice filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the problem involves the automatic locking retractor (ALR) in the rear seat belt assemblies. When functioning correctly, the ALR is designed to lock the belt once it is fully extended, a critical step when installing a child restraint using the seat belt rather than the LATCH anchors. In the affected vehicles, the retractor may fail to engage, allowing the belt webbing to extend beyond the allowable length even after locking. That condition puts the vehicle out of compliance with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards 208 and 209, which govern occupant crash protection and seat belt assemblies.

Audi traced the defect back to a manufacturing issue at the supplier level. A loose or misplaced pin inside the spring cassette of the retractor could allow the housing to deform during assembly. When that happens, the internal locking pawl may not engage as intended, defeating the child-seat locking function. The issue was first identified during an internal audit in September 2025, followed by a deeper investigation with the supplier and a compliance review that ultimately led Audi’s Product Safety Committee to authorize a recall in December.

The safety risk primarily affects owners who rely on the seat belt, rather than the LATCH system, to secure a child restraint. In those cases, a driver may notice that the belt does not stop extending once it has been pulled all the way out. If left unaddressed, the condition could increase the risk of injury to a child occupant in a crash.

Audi dealers will inspect both rear seat belt retractors and replace the assemblies if necessary, at no cost to the owner. Vehicles built after November 2025 are not affected.

This article was co-written using AI and was then heavily edited and optimized by our editorial team.

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