-Driving
Safely ------=-------=----------------
& WARNING
(continued)
• Passengers must always sit in an upright position and never
lean against or place any part of their body too close to the area
where the airbags are located.
• Passengers who are unbelted, out of position or too close to the
airbag can be seriously injured by an airbag as it unfolds with
great force in the blink of an eye .
• Always make sure that there are at least 10 inches (25 cm)
between the front passenger's breastbone and the instrument
panel.
• Always make sure that there are at least 4 inches (10 cm)
between the front passenger's knees and the lower part of the
instrument panel .
• Each passenger must always sit on a seat of their own and
properly fasten and wear the safety belt belonging to that seat .
• Before driving, always adjust the front passenger seat and
head restraint properly.
• Always keep your feet on the floor in front of the seat. Never
rest them on the seat, instrument panel, out of the window, etc .
The airbag system and safety belt will not be able to protect you properly and can even increase the risk of injury in a crash .
• Never drive with the backrest reclined or tilted far back! The
farther the backrests are tilted back, the greater the risk of injury
due to incorrect positioning of the safety belt and improper
seating position.
• Children must always ride in child seats:::::,
page 168. Special
precautions apply when installing a child seat on the front
passenger seat=:>
page 146. •
Proper adjustment of head restraints
Correctly adjusted head restraints are an important part
of your vehicle's occupant restraint system and can help
to reduce the risk of injuries in accident situations.
Fig. 120 Correctly
adjusted head restraint
viewed from the side
The head restraints must be correctly adjusted to achieve
the best protection.
-Adjust the head restraint so that the upper edge of the
restraint is level with the top of your head, but no lower
than eye level and so it is as close to the back of your
head as possible~ fig. 120.
Adjusting head restraints=:> page 92.
& WARNING
Driving without head restraints or with improperly adjusted head
restraints increases the risk of serious injuries in a collision. To
help reduce the risk of injury :
• Always drive with the head restraints in place and properly
adjusted .
• Every person in the vehicle must have a properly adjusted head
restraint. .,_
Driving Safely -
----------------
& WARNING (continued)
• Always make sure each person in the vehicle properly adjusts
their head restraint. Each head restraint must be adjusted
according to occupants' size so that the upper edge is as even
with the top of the person's head, but no lower than eye level and so it is as close to the back of to the head as possible .
• Never attempt to adjust head restraint while driving.
If you
have driven off and must adjust the driver headrest for any reason,
first stop the vehicle safely before attempting to adjust the head
restraint.
• Children must always be properly restrained in a child restraint
that is appropriate for their age and size~
page 168. •
Examples of improper seating positions
The occupant restraint system can only reduce the risk of
injury if vehicle occupants are properly seated.
Improper seating positions can cause serious injury or
death. Safety belts can only work when they are properly
positioned on the body. Improper seating positions reduce
the effectiveness of safety belts and will even increase the
risk of injury and death by moving the safety belt to critical
areas of the body. Improper seating positions also increase
the risk of serious injury and death when an airbag deploys
and strikes an occupant who is not in the proper seating
position. A driver is responsible for the safety of all vehicle
occupants and especially for children. Therefore:
- Never allow anyone to assume an incorrect seating posi
tion when the vehicle is being used::::;,
&-
The following bullets list only some sample positions that will
increase the risk of serious injury and death . Our hope is that these
Controls and equip
ment Safety first Vehicle operation
examples will make you more aware of seating positions that are
dangerous.
Therefore, whenever the
vehicle is moving:
• never stand up in the vehicle
• never stand on the seats
• never kneel on the seats
• never ride with the seatback reclined
• never lie down on the rear seat
• never lean up against the instrument panel
• never sit on the edge of the seat
• never sit sideways
• never lean out the window
• never put your feet out the window
• never put your feet on the instrument panel
• never rest your feet on the seat cushion or back of the seat
• never ride in the footwell
• never ride in the cargo area
& WARNING
Improper seating positions increase the risk of serious personal
injury and death whenever a vehicle is being used.
• Always make sure that all vehicle occupants stay in a proper
seating position and are properly restrained whenever the vehicle
is being used. •
Vehicle care Do-it-yourself service Technical data
• ....__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. •
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
• ....__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 . .,_
___ A_ ir_ b_ a-g _ s_y _s_ t_ e_ m _________________________________________________ _
Airbag system
Important things to know
Importance of wearing safety belts and
sitting properly
Airbags are only supplemental restraints. For airbags to
do their job, occupants must always properly wear their
safety belts and be in a proper seating position.
For your safe ty a nd the safety of your passengers, before
driving o ff, a lways:
- Adjust the driver's seat and steering wheel properly
~ page 130,
-Adjust the front passenger's seat properly~ page 88,
- Wear safety belts properly~ page 140,
-Always properly use the proper child restraint to pro tect
children~
page 168 .
In a collision airbags must inflate within the blink of an eye and with
considerable force. The supplemental airbags can cause injuries if
the driver or the front seat passenger are not seated proper ly . There
fore in order to help the airbag to do its job, it is important, both as
a driver and as a passenger to sit properly at a ll times.
By keep ing room between your body and the steering wheel and the
front of the passenger compartment, the airbag can inflate fu lly and
comp letely and prov ide supplementa l protection in certain frontal
collisions =>
page 130, "Proper occupant seating positions". For
detai ls on the operation of the seat adjustment controls =>
page 88
and=> page 89.
It's especially important that chi ldren are proper ly restrained
=>
page 168.
There is a lot that the dr iver and the passenger can and must do to
help the individual safety features installed in your Audi work
together as a system.
P roper seating position is important so that the front airbag on the
driver side can do its job. I f you have a physical impairment or
condition that prevents you from sitting properly on the driver seat
with the safety belt properly fastened and reaching the pedals, o r if
you have concerns with regard to the function or operation of the
Advanced Airbag System, p lease contact your authorized Audi
dea ler or qua lif ied workshop, or call Audi Customer CARE at 1-800-
822 -2834 for possib le modifications to your vehicle.
When the airbag system deploys, a gas generator wi ll fill the
airbags, break open the padded covers, and inflate between the
steering wheel and the driver and be tween the instrument panel
and the front passenger. The airbags wil l deflate immediate ly after
deployment so that the front occupants can see through the wind
shield again without interruption.
A ll of this takes p lace in the b link of an eye, so fast that many people
don't even rea lize that the airbags have dep loyed . The airbags also
inflate with a great deal of force and nothing should be in their way
when they dep loy. Fron t airbags in combination wi th properly worn
safety belts slow down and limit the occupant's forward movement.
T ogether they he lp to prevent the driver and passenger from hitting
parts of the inside the vehic le while reducing the forces acting on
the occupant during the crash. In this way they he lp to reduce the
r isk of injury to the head and upper body in the crash. Airbags do not
protect the arms or the lower parts of the body .
Both front airbags w ill not inflate in al l fro ntal col lisions . The trig
gering of the airbag system depends on the vehic le deceleration
r ate caused by the colli sion and registe red by the electronic contro l
unit. If this rate is below the reference value programmed into the
cont rol unit, the airbags w ill not be t riggered, even though the car
may be bad ly damaged as a result of the collision. Vehicle damage, .,,,.
________________________________________________ A_ i_ r _b _a_, g:::.,_ s..., y'- s_ t_ e_ m ___ !II
repair costs or even the lack of vehicle damage is not necessari ly an
indication of whether an airbag should inflate or not.
It is not possible to define a range of vehicle speeds that will cover
every possible kind and ang le of impact that wil l always trigger the
airbags, since the circumstances wil l vary considerab ly between
one collision and another. Important factors include, for example,
the nature (hard or so ft) of the object which the car hits, the angle
of impact, vehicle speed, etc. The front airbags wi ll also not inflate
in side or rear co llisions, or in roll -overs .
Al way s rem ember : Airbags wi ll deploy only once, and on ly in certain
kinds of coll isions . Your safety belts are always there to offer protec
tion in those situat ions in wh ich airbags are not supposed to deploy,
or when they have already deployed; for example, when your vehic le
strikes or is struck by another a fter the first coll ision.
T his is just one of the reasons why an airbag is a supplementary
restraint and is not a substitute for a sa fety be lt. The airbag system
works most effectively when used with the safety be lts. Therefore ,
a lways prope rly wea r your safety belt s =>
page 137 .
& WARNING
Sitting too clo se to the steering wheel or in strument panel will
de crease the effect ivene ss of the airbags and will incr ease the risk
of personal injury in a collision.
• Never sit closer than 10 in ches (25 cm) to the steering wheel or
in strument panel.
• If you c annot sit more than 10 in ches (25 cm ) from the steering
wheel , inve stiga te whether adaptive equipment may be available
to held you reach the pedal s and in crease your se ating dist ance
from the steering wheel.
• If you are unrestra ined , leaning forward , sittin g side ways or out
of position in any way , your risk of injury i s much higher .
• You will also receive serious injur ies and could even be killed if
you are up again st the airba g or too clo se to it when it infl ates -
ev en with an Advanced Airbag .
Controls and equip ment Safety first
Vehicle operation
& WAR N IN G ( continued )
• To reduce the ri sk of injury when an airbag inflate s, alw ays
wear safety belt s prope rly~ page 141 , "S afet y belt s".
• If children are not properly re strained , they may be severely
injured or killed whe n an airbag inflates .
• Never let children ride unrestrained or improperly restrained in
the vehi cle . Adju st the front seats properly .
• Alway s sit a s far a s po ssible from the steering wheel or the
instrument panel~ page 1 30, "Proper occup ant se ati ng po si
tions ".
• Alwa ys sit upright with yo ur b ack again st the ba ckrest of your
s eat.
• Never place your feet on the instrument p anel or on the seat .
Alway s keep both feet on the floor in front of the seat to help
prevent serious injurie s to the leg s and hips if the airbag infl ate s.
& WARNING
Airbags that have deployed in a crash must be repla ced.
• U se on ly original equipment airbags app roved by Audi and
installed by a trained technici an who has the n eces sary tool s and
diagno sti c equipment to properly repl ace an y airb ag i n your
vehicle and assure sy stem effectivenes s in a crash .
• Ne ver permit salvaged or re cy cled airb ag s to be in stalled in
your vehicle . •
Child restraints on the front seat -some
important things to know
- Be sure to read the important info rmation a nd head the
WARNINGS for important details about c hildren and
Advanced Airbags~ page
168 . .-,
Vehicle care Do-it-yourself service Technical data
___ A_ ir_ b_ a-g _ s_y _s_ t_ e_ m _________________________________________________ _
The airbag on the passenger side makes the front seat a potentially
dangerous place for a child to ride. The front seat is not the safest place for a child in a forward-facing child safety seat . It can be a very
dangerous place for an infant or a child in a rearward-facing seat.
The Advanced Airbag System in your vehicle has been certified to comply with the Requirements of United States Federal Motor
Vehicle Safety Standard 208 as applicable at the time your vehicle
was manufactured.
The Standard requires the front airbag on the passenger side to be
turned off ("suppressed") if a child up to about one year of age restrained in one of the rear -facing or forward -facing infant
restraints listed in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 with
which the Advanced Airbag System in your vehicle was certified has
been installed on the front passenger seat. For a listing of the child
restraints that were used to certify compliance with the US Safety
Standard =>
page 170.
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light in the instrument panel tells you
when the front Advanced Airbag on the passenger side has been
turned off by the electronic control unit.
Each time you turn on the ignition, the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light will come on for a few seconds and:
• will stay on if the front passenger seat is not occupied,
• will stay on if there is a small child or child restraint on the front
passenger seat,
• will go off if the front passenger seat is occupied by an adult as
registered by the weight -sensing mat=>
page 157, "Monitoring the
Advanced Airbag System".
The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on when the control unit
detects a total weight on the front passenger seat that requires the
front airbag to be turned off.
If the total weight on the front passenger seat is more than that of
a typical 1 year-old child but less than the weight of a small adult,
the front airbag on the passenger side can deploy (the
PASSENGER
AIR BAG OFF
light does not come onl. If the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light does not come on, the front airbag on the passenger side
has not been turned off by the electronic control unit and can
deploy if the control unit senses an impact that meets the condi
tions stored in its memory.
For example, the airbag may deploy if:
• a small child that is heavier than a typical 1 year-old child is on
the front passenger seat (regardless of whether the child is in one
of the child safety seats listed =>
page 170), or
• a child who has outgrown child restraints is on the front
passenger seat .
If the front passenger airbag is turned off, the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
light comes on in the instrument cluster and stays on .
The front airbag on the passenger side may
not deploy (the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does not illuminate and stay litl even
if a small adult or teenager, or a passenger who is not sitting upright
with their back against a non-reclined backrest with their feet on the
vehicle floor in front of the seat is on the front passenger seat
=> page 130, "Proper seating position for the driver".
If the front passenger airbag deploys , the Federal Standard requires
the airbag to meet the "low risk" deployment criteria to reduce the
risk of injury through interaction with the airbag. "Low risk" deploy
ment occurs in those crashes that take place at lower decelerations
as defined in the electronic control unit=>
page 157, "PASSENGER
AIR BAG OFF light".
Always remember, a child safety seat or infant carrier installed on
the front seat may be struck and knocked out of position by the rapidly inflating passenger's airbag in a frontal collision. The airbag
could greatly reduce the effectiveness of the child restraint and
even seriously injure the child during inflation.
For this reason, and because the back seat is the safest place for
children -when properly restrained according to their age and size
- we strongly recommend that children always sit in the back seat
=>
page 168, "Child Safety" . .,