Undercover investigators have found that Audi salesmen in the UK have lied regarding the safety aspects of Audi cars. The investigators found that some salesmen at UK Audi dealers claimed the company's models scored high in the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) crash tests.
Investigators claim that 9 out of 10 Audi A5 dealers claimed that the car was Euro NCAP safety tested. Six dealers also claimed that the Audi A5 scored five stars in the test. However, neither the A5 nor other models, including the A7, A8 or the A9, are Euro NCAP tested.
According to a BBC report, BBC Watchdog conducted the undercover investigation after the safety issue was raised by Daniel Jenkins, who is the owner of a car rental business in the UK.
Jenkins says that in December 2012 he bought an Audi R8 supercar after a local Audi dealer said that the car has scored five stars in the Euro NCAP rating. After a few months, Mr. Jenkins' father had an accident while driving the car.
Mr. Jenkins agrees that the car's safety aspects were not responsible for the accident, but he decided to investigate the safety credentials of the car himself. Mr. Jenkins claims that he contacted 50 Audi dealers and 48 of them told him that the R8 scored a five star in the Euro NCAP rating. Mr. Jenkins contacted Audi's headquarters and in December 2013 he received a reply that the company is dealing with his claims seriously.
"Most of the car companies that we deal with have large marketing departments. These marketing departments understand full well what the safety ratings mean, and it's disappointing to find out that that information is not being filtered down to the point where it matters most... where people are selling cars to consumers," said Aled Williams, NCAP spokesman.
Williams added that as Euro NCAP is not a regulatory body it does not hold any legislative powers. However, he said that the agency can speak to Audi "at a high level" and encourage that the auto makers' dealers are well informed and trained about the safety ratings.
Audi has also issued a statement pointing out that its dealers do not have an intention to mislead customers.
"Audi UK wishes to emphasize that there has not been any deliberate intent to mislead on the part of its customer-facing staff where the Euro NCAP safety test performance of the Audi model range is concerned," per an Audi spokesman.
The company's spokesman said that it has started to review the training and communications procedures so that accurate test data information is provided to its customers. The spokesman added that Audi's customer service representatives and salesmen should be familiar with the Euro NCAP test results, especially the company's models that appear on the test register.
