My wife recently purchased a brand new Audi TT 2.0TFSI Coupe. After just 800 miles, a constant hissing noise developed from around the brake pedal. We took the car into the dealer we purchased it from, who, after replacing a brake vacuum pipe to no effect, has diagnosed a fault with the brake booster. They advise that the booster requires replacement. The replacement will take the best part of a full working week and will involve the disruptive removal of a large number of major engine components to gain access, which I am sure you would agree, one would prefer not to have to inflict upon a brand new, “factory fresh” car.

We are, frankly, very disappointed that such a major (and potentially dangerous) fault has developed given that the vehicle is brand new. We elected to pay a considerable premium for a new car, manufactured by a company that places such an emphasis on the technical quality and safety of its product offerings. We expected that a firm such as Audi would have implemented adequate quality control measures to have mitigated the risks of early failures of brand new, major, safety-critical components. Even if that was not the case, I would have expected that following the disastrous consequences upon Toyota’s sales of publicity surrounding their poor braking system design and quality control, Audi would have doubled its efforts in this area of car systems. I wondered whether you are aware of any similar issues with TT brake systems and whether you think I am being unreasonable in my conclusions?