That speaks more of the stupidity of Audi management than of the U.S. legal environment.

I am always suspicious of these sorts of stories. Years ago BMW quit selling motorcycle helmets in the U.S. The story going around was that the German vendor of the motorcycle helmets refused to sell them to BMW for the U.S. market because of liability concerns. In actual fact, the newer version of the helmet could not pass the DOT tests and therefore could not be imported and sold. I often wondered if BMW started the "U.S. Legal Climate" rumor...