Too few owners filed complaints about the 2012 A3 in its first three years to say whether it is a better or a worse year than the others.
Safety complaints filed by owners in the first three years, per 1,000 sold.
too few complaints to rank against its other years
Counted from 2 complaints filed in the first three years, of 43 ever. 95% lower bound 0.00.
This year’s generation (2004–2013) drew 1.51 complaints per 1,000 sold taken together, against 0.57 for the 2015–2020 generation.
The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters. The bar is how many complaints each rate rests on.
| Model year | Per 1,000 | Complaints | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 2.94 | 14 | |
| 2009 | 0.70 | 3 | |
| 2010 | 3.07 | 16 | |
| 2011 | 1.07 | 7 | |
| 2012 | 0.29 | 2 | |
| 2015 | 1.00 | 29 | |
| 2016 | 0.47 | 16 | |
| 2017 | 0.44 | 12 | |
| 2018 | 0.33 | 7 |
No phrase appears often enough in these complaints to describe them reliably.
Too few complaints record mileage for this model year to show a pattern. NHTSA largely stopped capturing mileage after 2021.
High-Pressure Fuel Pump Failure
Too few owners filed complaints about the 2012 A3 in its first three years to say whether it is a better or a worse year than the others. The typical year is the median across its model years.
The parts owners named most often in complaints filed to date: Air Bags (31), Electrical System (6), Exterior Lighting (5).
Complaint records cannot settle that on their own. They count safety problems owners chose to report to the federal government, not every repair. What they do show is how this year compares with the other A3 years: too few owners filed complaints about the 2012 A3 in its first three years to say whether it is a better or a worse year than the others.
No guide we read covers the A3.
Example records behind this page, each on NHTSA’s own site: