Volkswagen AG will recall an additional 144,092 Audi AG vehicles sold in the U.S. over malfunctioning passenger airbags.
According to documents from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the recall includes certain 2018 Audi S5 Cabriolet, S5 Sportback, S5 Coupe, S4 Sedan, A5 Cabriolet, A5 Sportback and A5 Coupe and 2017-2018 A4 Sedan and A4 Allroad vehicles.
The oxidation on the Passenger Occupant Detection System, or PODS, connecting cable in the vehicles may cause the software to misdiagnose a malfunction and disable the passenger air bag, according to the NHTSA report. The problem could increase the risk of injury in the event of a crash.
Volkswagen's U.S. arm, Volkswagen Group of America Inc., will start recalling the cars Sept. 15, to have dealers update the units' airbag control unit software for free.
The recall is an expansion of a previous recall notice in June, which covered 265,137 Audi vehicles. The carmaker will start recalling the previous wave of Audi cars Aug. 2.