I had the same problem! Feb 22 one of my tensioners gave out and destroyed my cylinder head. My Audi dealer told me the same thing, "Audi will stand by this defective tensioner." WRONG!!!! Audi does not want to have anything to do with my claim, they shut me down hard. Once it's out of warranty sell it cuz they wont back it. Audi is not practcing Due Dilligence with their products. If they would have let us know we should have changed the belt at 50,000mi I would have droped the $700 or so to do it, now i am out 5Gs.

What is the recommended timing belt interval in your owner's manual? How many miles did you have on the car when this happened?

If you know more people with the same problem, we can initiate a class action lawsuit. There was one against the A4 with the 1.8T engine, and Audi lost it.

I called the Audi customer relations today, and if they try to play any games, I will go the legal route.

Audi recommends that the timing belt is checked at 80,000 mi. Mine failed at 54,000 mi. So my argument to Audi, is that if they know they fail at 30 to 60 thousand miles they should have sent out a recall or the so called certified Audi dealers should warn customers when their cars are being serviced for other issues. I would have gladly payed to change my tensioners a long time ago if i would have know it would have saved me 5000 dollars. I am all for the class action lawsuit. Audi needs to step up. My car was in the shop a month ago for service and a MAF replacement and i was never informed that there might be a problem with the timing belt/components. Plus my car has always been serviced at a certified dealer. they should have know or said something.

I truly am mystified with Audi America, here in Australia, Audi recommend timing belt change out at 90,000klms (note Kilometres) which equates to approx 54,000 miles. They also recommend after 4 years, so not only does distance covered become a factor, but also age.
On previous discussions about this issue on this site, I pointed this out, but it seems to have fallen on blind eyes because no one has bothered to comment back.
My recently purchased 08/2000 build Quattro Roadster has only done 27,000klms (approx 16,000 miles) is now over 5 years old and I'll be asking to have the timing belt, tensioners and water pump changed out at the next service, despite the low distance covered.
I wonder why the recommendations from Audi USA and Audi Australia are so far apart?
Our market is so small by comparison, you'd think warranty damage bills in the bigger market would be far more damaging to Audi.
(and Australian's aren't big on going to court)

The last thing I want to do is have to take off from work, and spend time battling a major company in court, but I am preparing to go to small claims court (up to $5,000 in damages) which is apparently a much shorter process.

If anyone wants to start a class action lawsuit regarding the timing belt on the 1.8T engine, please feel free to contact me on (fadi999@hotmail.com)

I just spoke to the Audi Customer Relations representative and he said the dealer refuses to cover the damage to my car. I will make sure anyone thinking of buying an Audi knows about their problems and poor customer service.