2002 Audi S6 Avant Wagon 4-door 4.2l on 2040-cars

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Audi Q4 crossover starts production in 2019, Q8 in 2018

Audi's crossover line-up will be expanding in the next couple of years. The company announced production dates both for the already announced Q8 flagship, as well as its less-publicized Q4 compact. The Q8 will begin production next year at a plant in Slovakia that currently builds the Q7. The Q4 will start production in 2019 at a plant in Hungary that will also build the Q3. Audi has shown us concepts of the Q8 already, and we've seen prototypes undergoing testing. But Audi hasn't said much about the Q4 until now, and we haven't seen camouflaged examples running around yet. Audi says the Q4 will have a "coupe-style silhouette" and "be positioned between the Audi Q3 and Q5." Of course that second part you probably figured out based on the name. The description of its looks leads us to believe that this will be the production version of the Audi TT Offroad concept, pictured above, from a few years ago. However, don't expect the concept's 408-horsepower hybrid powertrain to be offered, at least not at the start. It's been a long time coming for this crossover. The TT Offroad was reportedly confirmed for production back in 2015. And last year, Audi secured the trademark for Q4 from Fiat Chrysler. With production starting in 2019, it will probably still be a while before we get a glimpse at the new SUV. Odds are, we'll see a concept early next year at the soonest, followed by the production model at the end of 2018. As for the Q8, we would expect to see the production model revealed at the end of this year, or possibly early next year. Related Video:

2015 Audi A3 gets augmented reality app in place of owners manual [w/video]

There have been a few, seemingly half-hearted, attempts at reinventing the owner's manual - that thick stack of bone-dry information that you only look at if you're well and truly stumped. Hyundai tried swapping in iPads with the Equus, which didn't really take, while Chrysler switched its owner's manuals to digital form in 2010. Chrysler subsidiary Dodge even released a smart phone app that included all the info contained in the paper manual.
Audi, though, may have taken things to their logical conclusion - augmented reality. While it'll likely be more practical once Google Glass and other wearable tech is adopted on a wide scale, augmented reality allows users to project information on scenes, usually through a phones camera, which is how Audi does it.
Called eKurzinfo, the app looks through your phones camera to identify and explain different parts of the car. According to Metaio, the app's developer, the app recognizes 300 different parts of the car. Our sister site, Engadget, provides the best example of the app's abilities - if you point it at the engine temperature gauge, the app tells you what the gauge measures, and if the reading is too high, eKurzinfo will even show you where to find the coolant tank.

Volkswagen pushed back against Takata airbag recall

Volkswagen and Audi will recall about 850,000 vehicles in the US to replace their Takata-supplied driver side airbag inflators, but the automaker doesn't believe the safety campaign is entirely necessary. In a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the company pushes the agency to re-evaluate the recall's scope because the parts are allegedly safe, it claims. VW asserted in the letter, which NHTSA posted online (as a PDF) with other documents about the company's safety campaign, that the vast majority of the automaker's recalled vehicles used Takata inflators from the supplier's factory in Freiburg, Germany. Only the US-built Passat had components from Takata's plant in Mexico. VW's argues to NHTSA that its recall is unnecessary because there are no reported airbag ruptures in the German-made parts, and the plant has better quality control than Takata's factories in the US and Mexico. In addition, the Mexico-manufactured components in the Passat are also allegedly safe because they come from a time after significant upgrades to the plant to address humidity and welding concerns. "We do not believe the facts known to date support the scope as defined in the Takata defect notification," VW's letter says. To be clear, VW is not refusing the Takata recall and plans to fix the affected vehicles. Instead, this letter shows the automaker expressing an opinion that NHTSA's scope for the campaign is too broad. VW now plans to do its own analysis on the inflators to strengthen that case, according to The Detroit News. "We respectfully request that, should such results be shown, the agency work with Volkswagen and other manufacturers to revisit the scope of these recalls," the letter said. Takata's recalled inflators use ammonium nitrate as a propellant, and experts believe that long-term exposure to high humidity can make the chemical more likely to cause a rupture during airbag deployment. The spray of metal shrapnel from the exploding parts has links to at least 10 deaths. Related Video: