Page 137 of 316

Driving Safely ---------------=------------'-
& WARNING (continued)
• Never place or install floor mats or other floor coverings in the
vehicle that cannot be properly secured in place to prevent them
from slipping and interfering with the pedals or the ability to
control the vehicle .
• Never place or install floor mats or other floor coverings on top
of already installed floor mats. Additional floor mats and other
coverings will reduce the size of the pedal area and interfere with
the pedals.
• Always properly reinstall and secure floor mats that have been
taken out for cleaning.
• Always make sure that objects cannot fall into the driver foot
well while the vehicle is moving. Objects can become trapped
under the brake pedal and accelerator pedal causing a loss of
vehicle control . •
Stovving luggage
Loading the luggage compartment
All luggage and other objects must be properly stowed
and secured in the luggage compartment.
Loose items in the luggage compartment can shift
suddenly, changing vehicle handling characteristics. Loose items can also increase the risk of serious personal injury in
a sudden vehicle maneuver or in a collision.
- Distribute the load evenly in the lugg age compartment.
- Always place and properly secure heavy items in the
luggage compartment as far forward as possible.
Controls and equip
ment Safety first
Vehicle operation
& WARNING
Improperly stored luggage or other items can fly through the
vehicle causing serious personal injury in the event of hard braking or an accident. To help reduce the risk of serious personal injury:
• Always put objects, for example, luggage or other heavy items
in the luggage compartment .
• Always secure objects in the luggage compartment using the
tie-down eyelets and suitable straps.
& WARNING
Heavy loads will influence the way your vehicle handles. To help
reduce the risk of a loss of control leading to serious personal
injury :
• Always keep in mind when transporting heavy objects, that a
change in the center of gravity can also cause changes in vehicle
handling:
-Always distribute the load as evenly as possible.
- Place heavy objects as far forward in the luggage compart-
ment as possible.
• Never exceed the Gross Axle Weight Rating or the Gross
Vehicle Weight Rating specified on the safety compliance sticker on the left door jamb . Exceeding permissible weight standards
can cause the vehicle to slide and handle differently.
• Please observe information on safe driving=:>
page 128.
& WARNING
To help prevent poisonous exhaust gas from being drawn into the
vehicle, always keep the rear lid closed while driving .
• Never transport objects larger than those fitting completely
into the luggage area because the rear lid cannot be fully closed.
9J),
Vehicle care Do-it-yourself service Technical data
Page 138 of 316

• ....__D_ ri_v _i_n ..;;:g :;._ S_a_ f_ e_ l..:.y _______________________________________________ _
& WARNING (continued)
• If you absolutely must drive with the rear lid open, observe the
following notes to reduce the risk of poisoning:
-Close all windows,
- Close the folding top,
- Open all air outlets in the instrument panel,
- Switch off the air recirculation,
- Set the fresh air fan to the highest speed.
& WARNING
Always make sure that the doors, all windows, the folding top and
the rear lid are securely closed and locked to reduce the risk of
injury when the vehicle is not being used.
• After closing the rear lid, always make sure that it is properly
closed and locked .
• Never leave your vehicle unattended especially with the rear lid
left open. A child could crawl into the vehicle through the luggage
compartment and close the rear lid becoming trapped and unable
to get out. Being trapped in a vehicle can lead to serious personal
injury.
• Never let children play in or around the vehicle.
• Never let passengers ride in the luggage compartment. Vehicle
occupants must always be properly restrained in one of the
vehicle's seating positions.
[ i) Tips
• Air circulation helps to reduce window fogging. Stale air escapes
to the outside through vents in the trim panel, on the left side of the
luggage compartment. Be sure to keep these slots free and open.
• The tire pressure must correspond to the load -see the tire pres
sure sticker on driver 's side B-pillar. •
Reporting safety defects
If you believe that your vehicle has a defect
which could cause a crash or could cause
injury or death, you should immediately inform
the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminis
tration (NHTSA) in addition to notifying Audi of
America, Inc. If NHTSA receives similar complaints, it may open an investigation, and
if it finds that a safety defect exists in a group
of vehicles, it may order a recall and remedy
campaign. However, NHTSA cannot become involved in individual problems between you,
your dealer, or Audi of America, Inc.
To contact NHTSA, you may call the Vehicle
Safety Hotline toll-free at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY: 1-800-424-9153);
go to
http://www.safercar.gov;
or write to: Administrator, NHTSA, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590.
You can also obtain other information about motor vehicle safety from
http://www.safercar.gov. •
Page 139 of 316

Safety belts -----------------=-------
Safety belts
General notes
Always wear safety belts!
Wearing safety belts correctly saves lives!
This chapter explains why safety belts are necessary, how
they work and how to adjust and wear them correctly.
- Read all the information that follows and heed all of the
instruct ions and WARNINGS.
& WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them improperly increases
the risk of serious personal injury and death.
• Safety belts are the single most effective means available to
reduce the risk of serious injury and death in automobile acci
dents . For your protection and that of your passengers , always
wear the safety belts properly when the vehicle is moving.
• Pregnant women, injured, or physically impaired persons must
also use safety belts . Like all vehicle occupants, they are more
likely to be seriously injured if they do not wear safety belts . The
best way to protect a fetus is to protect the mother -throughout
the entire pregnancy. •
Number of seats
Your Audi TI Roadster has two seating positions. Each seating posi
tion has a safety belt.
Controls and equip ment Safety first
Vehicle operation
& WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them improperly increases
the risk of serious personal injury and death .
• Never strap more than one person, including small children,
into any belt. It is especially dangerous to place a safety belt over
a child sitting on your lap.
• Never let more people ride in the vehicle than there are safety
belts available.
• Be sure everyone riding in the vehicle is properly restrained
with a separate safety belt or child restraint. •
Safety belt warning light .4
Your vehicle has a warning system for the driver and front
seat passenger to remind you about the importance of
buck/ i ng-u p.
Before driving off, always:
Fig . 121 Safety belt
warning light in the
instrument cluster -
enlarged
- Fasten your safety belt and make sure you wear it prop-
erly.
1J,-
Vehicle care Do-it-yourself service Technical data
Page 140 of 316

___ S_a_ f_ e_ t-= y_ b_e_ l_ t _s _______________________________________________ _
- Make sure that your passengers also b uckle up and prop
erly wea r th eir sa fety belts.
Protect children wit h a child restraint system appropriate
for the size and age.
The warning light i in the instrument cluster lights up when the
ignition is switched on as a reminder to fasten the safety belts. In
addition , you will hear a warning tone.
After the ignition is switched on, the warning light in the instrument cluster will a lways come on for about 6 seconds and if the driver has
not fastened the safety belt, a warning tone will also sound for
about 6 seconds . As soon as the driver has fastened the safety belt,
the warning tone will stop and the warning light will go out .
If the driver or front seat passenger have not buckled -up within
about 10 seconds after the warning tone has stopped and the
vehicle is moving faster than about 15 mph, the warning tone will
sound again for about 6 seconds and then stop for 24 seconds and
then repeat this reminder sequence for a maximum of 2 minutes. At
speeds be low 5 mph, the warning tone will not sound.
Fa sten your safe ty belt and m ake su re that your p assengers also
properl y put on th eir s afet y belts .
& WARNING
• Safety belt s are the single mo st effective mean s available to
reduce th e risk of ser ious injur y and death in a utomobile acci
dent s. For your prote ction and th at of your pas senger s, alwa ys
c orre ctl y we ar safety belt s when t he vehicle is moving .
• Failure t o pay att ention to th e warning light that co me on,
c ould lead to per sonal injury .•
Why safety belts?
Frontal co11isions and the law of physics
Front al crashes create very strong forces for pe ople riding
in vehicles.
F ig. 122 U nbel ted
o cc up ants i n a ve hicle
he ading for a wa ll
Fi g. 123 T he vehi cle
c ras hes in to t he wa ll.
The physical principles are simple. Both the vehicle and the passen
gers possess energy which varies with vehicle speed and body
we ight . Engineers cal l this energy "kinetic energy ."
T he higher the speed of the vehicle and the greater the vehic le's
we ight, the more energy that has to be "absorbed" in the crash .
Vehicle speed is the most significan t factor. If the speed doubles
from 15 to 30 mph (25 to 50 km/h), the energy increases 4 times! .,
Page 141 of 316

Because the occupants in th is vehicle are not using safety belts
~ page 138, fig. 122, they will keep moving at the same speed the
vehicle was moving just before the crash, un til some thing stops
them -here, the wall ~ page 138 , fig . 123.
The same principles apply to people sitting in a vehicle that is involved in a frontal collision. Even at city speeds of 20 to 30 mph
(30 to 50 km/h) , the forces acting on the body can reach one ton
(2,000 lbs, or 1,000 kg) or more . At higher speeds , th ese forces are
even greater.
People who do not use safety bel ts are also not attached to their
vehicle. In a frontal collision they will also keep moving forward at
the speed their vehicle was travelling just before the crash . Of
course, the laws of physics don't just apply to frontal collisions, they
determine what happens in all kinds of accidents and collisions. •
What happens to occupants not wearing
safety belts?
In crashes unbelted occupants cannot stop themselves
from flying forward and being injured or killed. Always
wear your safety belts!
Fig . 124 A driver not
wearing a safety belt is
violently thrown
forward
Unbelted occupants are not able to resist the tremendous forces of
impact by holding tight or bracing themselves . Without the benefit
of safety restraint systems, the unrestrained occupant will slam
Safety first
Safety belts
violently into the steering wheel, instrument panel, windshield, or
whatever else is in the way ~ fig. 124 . This impact with the vehicle
interior has all the energy they had just before the crash.
Never rely on airbags alone for protection. Even when they deploy,
airbags provide only additional protection. Airbags are not
supposed to deploy in all kinds o f accidents. Although your Audi is
equipped with airbags, all vehicle occupants, including the driver,
must wear safety belts correctly in order to minimi ze the risk of
severe injury or death in a crash.
Remember too , that airbags will deploy only once and that your
safety belts are always there to offer protection in those accidents
in which airbags are not supposed to deploy or when they have
already deployed. Unbelted occupants can also be thrown out of the
vehicle where even more severe or fatal injuries can occur. •
Safety belts protect
People think it's possible to use the hands to brace the
body in a minor collision. It's simply not true!
Fig. 125 Driver is prop·
erly restrained in a
sudden braking
maneuver .
Safety belts used properly can make a big difference. Safety belts
help to keep passengers in their seats, gradually reduce energy
levels applied to the body in an accident, and help prevent the
uncontrolled movement that can cause serious injuries. In addition ,
safety belts reduce the danger of being thrown out of the vehicle. .,.
Vehicle care
I I Technical data
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• ....__S_ a_ fe_ t _y=-- b_ e_ lt_s ________________________________________________ _
Safety belts attach passengers to the car and give them the benefit
of being slowed down more gent ly o r "softly" through the "give" in
the safety belts, crush zones and other safety features engineered
into today's vehicles . By "absorbing" the kinetic ene rgy over
a
longer period of time, the safety belts make the forces on the body
more "tolerable" and less likely to cause injury.
Although these examp les are based on a frontal co llision, sa fety
belts can a lso substantially reduce the risk of injury in other kinds
of crashes . So, whether you're on a long trip or just go ing to the
corner store, always buckle up and make sure others do, too. Acci
dent statistics show that vehic le occupants properly wea ring safety
belts have a lower risk of being injured and a much better chance of
surviv ing an accident . Properly using safety belts also great ly
increases the abi lity of the supplementa l airbags to do their job in a
collision. For this reason, wearing a safety belt is legally required in
most countries includ ing much of the United States and Canada.
Although your Audi is equipped with airbags, you sti ll have to wear
t he safety be lts prov ided. Fron t ai rbags, for example, are act iva ted
only in some frontal coll isions. The front airbags are not activated in
a ll frontal co llisions, in side and rear c ollisions, in rol l overs or i n
cases where there is not enough dece leration through impact to the
fron t of the vehicle . The same goes for the ot her airbag sys te m s in
your Audi . So, a lways wear your safety belt and make sure every
body in your vehicle is prope rly restrained! •
Important safety instructions about safety
belts
Safety belts must always be properly positioned a cross
the s trongest bones o f your b ody.
- Always w ear saf ety belts as i llus trat ed and d escrib ed in
th is cha pter .
- M ake sure that your safety b elt s ar e always read y for use
and a re not d am ag ed.
& WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them improperly increases
the risk of serious personal injury and death . Safety belts can work
only when used co rrectly .
• Alway s fa sten your safety belt s corre ctly before driving off and
make sure all pa ssengers are properly restrained .
• For maximum protection , safety belts mu st always be posi
tioned correctly on the body .
• Never strap more than one person , including sm all children ,
into any single safety belt .
• Never pla ce a safety belt ove r a child sitting on your lap .
• Always keep feet in the footwell in front of the seat while the
v ehicle is being dri ven .
• Never let any person ride with feet on the instrument panel or
s ticking out the window or on the seat .
• Never remove a safety belt while the vehicle i s moving. Doing
so will incre ase your risk of being i njured o r killed.
• Never wear belt s twi sted .
• Never wear belts over rigid or breakable objects in or on your
clothing , such a s eye glasses , pens , key s, etc ., as the se may cau se
i njury .
• Never wear the shoulder part of the belt under your arm or
otherwise out of position .
• Several layer s of heavy clothing may interfere with correct po si
tioning of belts and reduce their effe ctiveness .
• Alway s keep belt bu ckles free of anyth ing th at may prevent the
buckle from latching securely.
• Never use comfort clips or devices that create slack in the
s houlder belt . H owever , special clips may be required for the
c orre ct use of some child re straint system s.
• Never allow safety belt s to become damaged by being caught
in door or seat ha rdware . .,_
Page 143 of 316

& WARNING !continue d)
• Torn or fr ayed safety b elt s can tear and damaged b elt hard
ware can bre ak in an ac cident. Inspect belt s regularly . If webb ing ,
bind ings , buckles , or retra ctors are d am aged , have belts repla ced
by an authori zed Audi dealer or qualified work shop.
• Safety belt s th at have been worn and lo aded in an accident
mu st be repl aced with the correc t replacement saf ety belt by an
autho riz ed Audi de aler o r qualified work shop . Repla cement may
be nece ssary even if d amage cannot b e clea rly seen. Anchorage s
that wer e loaded must also be inspe cted .
• Never rem ove, modif y, dis ass em ble , or tr y to r epa ir the safety
belts your self .
• Alway s keep the belt s cle an. Dirty belt s may not work properly
and can impair the fun ction of the inertia reel=>
page 212 , "Safety
belts ".•
Safety belts
Fastening safety belts
Seat first -everybody buckle up!
Safety first
Fig . 126 Belt bu ckle
a nd ton gue on th e
driv er's s eat
Safety b elts
To provid e ma ximum protec tion, sa fety belts m ust always
be pos itioned c orrect ly on the wear er's bod y.
- Adjust the front seat and head restraint properly
=> page 87, "General recommend atio ns".
- Hold the belt by the tongue and pull it evenly across the
c h es t and pelvis=> &.
- Inse rt the tongue into the correct buckle of your seat
unti l you hea r it latch securely => fig. 126 .
- Pull on t he b elt t o mak e sur e tha t it is se curely l atc hed in
t h e buckle .
Automatic safety belt retra cto rs
Every safety belt is equipped with an automatic be lt retractor on the
shoulder belt . This feature locks the belt when the belt is pulled out
f ast, during hard braking and in an accident. The be lt may a lso lock
when you drive up or down a steep hill or through a sharp curve.
During norma l d riving the belt lets you move free ly .
Safety be lt pretensioners
The safety belts are equipped with a be lt pretensioner that helps to
tighten the safety belt and remove slack when the pretensioner is
activated. T he funct io n of the pretensioner is mon itored by a
warning light =>
page 19, "Airbag system
t!! (USA models)/!,~ · (Canada models)".
Swit chable locking featur e
Every safety belt except the one on the driver seat is equipped with
a switchable locking feature that
must be used when the safety be lt
is used to attach a chi ld seat. Be sure to read the important info rma-
tion about this feature =>
page 177. ._
Vehicle care I I Technical data
Page 144 of 316

___ S_a_ f_ e_ t-= y_ b_e_ l_ t _s _______________________________________________ _
& WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can cause serious injury in an
accident =:> page
142, "Safety belt position".
• Safety belts offer optimum protection only when the seat back
is upright and belts are properly positioned on the body.
• Never attach the safety belt to the buckle for another seat.
Attaching the belt to the wrong buckle will reduce safety belt effectiveness and can cause serious personal injury.
• A passenger who is not properly restrained can be seriously
injured by the safety belt itself when it moves from the stronger
parts of the body into critical areas like the abdomen.
• Always lock the convertible locking retractor when you are
securing a child seat in the vehicle=:> page
179. •
Safety belt position
Correct belt position is the key to getting maximum
protection from safety belts.
Fig. 127 Head restraint
and safety belt posi
tion as seen from the side
Use the height adjustment to change the position of the shoulder
straps of the front seat safety belts.
& WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can cause serious personal
injury in an accident.
• The shoulder belt portion of the safety belt must be positioned
over the middle of the occupant's shoulder and never across the
neck or throat .
• The safety belt must lie flat and snug on the occupant's upper
body
=> fig. 127 . Pull on the belt to tighten if necessary.
• The lap belt portion of the safety belt must be positioned as
low as possible across pelvis and never over the abdomen. Make
sure the belt lies flat and snug => fig. 127. Pull on the belt to
tighten if necessary.
• A loose -fitting safety belt can cause serious injuries by shifting
its position on your body from the strong bones to more vulner
able, soft tissue and cause serious injury.
• Always read and heed all WARNINGS and other important infor
mation => page
140. •