SB-10045043-4914

Technical Service Bulletin
91 Rearview backup camera image quality complaints (distorted image)
91 12 42 2029903/1 June 20, 2012.
Model(s)

Year

A6

2011 – 2014

A8

2010 – 2014

Audi Q7

2009 – 2014

A5/A5
Cabriolet

2009 – 2014

A4

2009 – 2014

Audi Q5

2009 – 2014

A5/S5

2008 – 2014

VIN Range

Vehicle-Specific Equipment

All

Not Applicable

Condition
The customer complains about the picture quality of rearview backup camera image in the MMI screen. The
complaints can be one or all of the following:
• The picture is fuzzy or distorted.
• The picture looks too bright, too dark, or opaque in certain areas of the image.
• The colors of the objects in the image are incorrect or slightly off.
• The guide lines used for parking are fuzzy, distorted, or pixelated when compared with another vehicle.

Technical Background
Complaint 1: The picture is fuzzy or distorted.
Explanation: The wide angle backup camera lens (about 140°) provides a round or curved image (fish-eye). The
software inside the MMI must straighten out this “curved” image to fit the rectangular area of the MMI screen. As a
result, the picture from the camera shown in the MMI screen is less sharp or focused in the corners of the image
than compared to the center of the image. This is more noticeable in vehicles with a larger MMI screen because
the image is expanded or “blown up”.

© 2012 Audi of America, Inc.

Page 1 of 4

All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other intellectual property rights of
Audi of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior
expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Service Bulletin

Figure 1. Distorted or fuzzy corners of backup camera image in MMI.
Complaint 2: The picture looks too bright, too dark, or opaque in certain areas of the image.
AND
Complaint 3: The colors of the objects in the image are incorrect or slightly off.
Explanation: The backup camera adjusts the image in the MMI screen dynamically in response to the ambient
light and tries to find the optimal representation of brightness, contrast, and color (comparable to the exposure
control of a camera). As a result the overall brightness, contrast, and colors of the backup camera image in the
MMI may appear to be different than the actual color seen by the human eye.
The camera is not equipped with an infrared filter for night time viewing. This also leads to differences in
color. The brightness of the image can be adjusted in the MMI menu for the whole screen for all MMI menus, but
color and contrast cannot be changed.

© 2012 Audi of America, Inc.

Page 2 of 4

All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other intellectual property rights of
Audi of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior
expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Service Bulletin

Figure 2: Camera image in MMI screen (left) and actual color of objects as seen by human eye (right).
Complaint 4: The guide lines used for parking are fuzzy, distorted, or pixelated when compared with
another vehicle.
Explanation: For vehicles without the Peripheral View Camera (No Top View and No Corner View), the guide
lines are pre-stored images in the MMI memory which are overlaid on top of the rearview camera image at the
different steering angles (the guide line images are masked over the camera image). Due to the large size of
some of the MMI screens, the lines appear to be pixelated because they are “blown up” (Figure 3). For vehicles
with the Peripheral View Camera (with Top View and Corner View), the lines are dynamically generated as vector
graphics (scaled) and as a result the lines are sharper or more focused.

Figure 3. Guide lines of a vehicle without Peripheral View Camera (left) and guide lines of a vehicle with
Peripheral View Camera (right).

© 2012 Audi of America, Inc.

Page 3 of 4

All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other intellectual property rights of
Audi of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior
expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Service Bulletin
Production Solution
Not applicable.

Service
These are normal conditions and no replacements of the backup camera, MMI Screen, MMI Main unit, and the
Camera Control unit should be performed.

Warranty
This TSB is informational only and not applicable to any Audi warranty.

Additional Information
All parts and service references provided in this TSB are subject to change and/or removal. Always check with
your Parts Department and service manuals for the latest information.

© 2012 Audi of America, Inc.

Page 4 of 4

All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other intellectual property rights of
Audi of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior
expressed written permission of the publisher.