2009 AUDI S3 instrument cluster

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S tronic transmission
Ap plies to veh ic les: w ith S tronic®
Introduction
Your vehicle is equipped with a S tronic transmission, also called a
double -clutch system/transmission.
Power is transferred between the engine and the transmission by
means of two independent clutches. They replace the torque
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converter of conventiona l automatic transmissions and allow the
vehic le to acce lerate without a noticeable break in the power flow.
With the aid of
tiptronic , the gears can optionally be shifted manu­
ally => page 121. •
Ap plies to veh ic le s: w ith S troni c®
Selector lever positions
All the selector lever positions are explained in this
section.
Fig . 120 Display :
Selector lever posi ­
tion s
The se lector lever position is shown in the instrument cluster
display by highlighting the appropriate symbol.
Controls and equip ­
ment P
-Park lock
In this position the gears are mechanically locked .
The park lock must only be engaged with the veh icle
stationary
=> & .
To engage P and to remove the lever from this position, you must
depress the release button (button in the se lector lever handle)
and
simultaneously you must step on the brake pedal.
R -reverse
In this position, reverse is engaged.
Reverse gear must only be engaged with the vehicle
stationary and
the engine running at idle speed =>& .
To engage R, you have to depress the release button
and simulta­
neously step on the brake pedal. In the R position, the back -up lights
illuminate with the ignition on.
N -Neutral
The transmission is in neutral in this position .
D -Normal position for driving forward
In this position, the forward gears are automatically shifted up and
down, depending on engine load and vehicle speed.
To engage S from N, the brake pedal must be depressed at speeds
below 5 km/h or when the vehicle is stationary=>& .
In certain circumstances (driving in the mountains for example) it
can be beneficial to switch temporarily to the manua l shift program
=> page 121 in order to adjust the gear ratios to driving conditions
manually .
S -Sport setting
The S setting should be selected for sporting driving . The power
reserves of the engine can be fully exploi ted through later upshifts.
To engage S from N, the brake pedal must be depressed at speeds
below 5 km/h or when the vehicle is stationary =>& .
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I • •

-Tr
ansmi ssio n
..__ ______________ _
Applies to vehic les: with S Ironic® and with Tip tronic contro ls on the steering whee l
Steering wheel with Tiptronic ® controls
The selector paddles allow the driver to keep both hands
on the steering wheel when shifting gears.
Shifting up
Fig . 125 S port
s teer ing wheel w it h
se lector padd les
- Pu ll the right paddle, marked G) => fig . 125 briefly
towards you.
Shiftin g down
Pu ll the left paddle, marked O => fig. 125 briefly towards
you .
The selector paddles on the steering wheel are activated when the
selector lever on the center console is in
D, S, or in the manual posi ­
tion (Tiptronic mode).
You can also shift gears in the Tiptronic mode using the selector
lever on the center console.
[ i ] Tips
With the gear selector lever in either "D" or "S" the transmission wi ll
switch back to the automatic mode if you do not use the paddles
within approx . 30 seconds .•
Ap plies to vehicles: wi th S tronic®
Kick-down feature
The kick-down feature allows maximum acceleration .
If you depress the accelerator pedal fu lly beyond the full -throt tle
position, the transmission automatically downshifts one gear,
depending on vehic le speed and engine rpm. The upshift into the
next higher gear takes place as soon as the maximum specified
engine speed is reached.
& WARNING
Pleas e n ote t hat th e dr ive whee ls ca n sp in if th e kick -do wn i s used
o n a s mooth slipp ery road -ris k of skiddin g!•
Ap plies to vehic les: with S tron ic®
Launch Control Program
The Launch Control Program permits maximum accelera­
tion.
In order to use Launch Control, the ASR (Anti-Slip Regu la­
tion) must be disabled. When ASR is disabled, the ESP
warning/indicator light in the instrument cluster illumi ­
nates . So that Launch Control can be used, the engine must
be at operating temperature and the steering wheel must
not be turned.
- With the engine running, briefly press the ESP button.
The message "ASR off" appears in the instrument cluster
d isplay.
- Shift the gear lever to "S" or the tiptronic® position.
- Step on t he brake pedal with your left foot a nd keep the
brake pedal fully depressed fo r at least one second. _,,,

Transmission -_______________ ___.
- With your right foot, step on the accelerator to the wide­
open throttle position or Kickdown. The engine speed
settles at about 3,200 rpm.
Take your left foot off the brake.
The S tronic® in your vehicle is electronically controlled. A special
Launch Control Program provides the best acceleration from a
standing start.
& WARNING
• Always adapt your driving to the traffic flow.
• Only use Launch Control when road and traffic conditions allow
it and other drivers will not be endangered or annoyed by your
driving and the acceleration of the vehicle.
• Make sure that ESP remains enabled . With the ESP disabled,
the vehicle could brake away, particularly on a slick and slippery road -risk of skidding!
• Once acceleration is finished, switch ASR on again by briefly
pushing the ESP button. •
Applies to veh ic le s: w ith S t ron ic ®
Back -up program
In the event of a system ma/function, there is an back-up
program.
In the event of system malfunction, the automatic transmission
switches to the fail-safe mode. All of the selector lever position
displays for the automatic transmission are highlighted with a light
background in the instrument cluster display. In some cases you
cannot drive in the reverse gear any more.
If the transmission switches to fail-safe mode, you should take the
vehicle to an authorized Audi dealership as soon as possibl e to have
the condition corrected. •
Contro ls and eq uip­
ment
Ap plies to vehic les: w ith S tron ic ®
Emergency release for selector lever
If the vehicle's power supply fails, the selector lever can
be released in an emergency.
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-ti. ., m
Fig. 126 Selector lever :
Remove selector lever
sleeve
Fig . 127 Selectorlever :
emergency release
from the Park position
The emergency release mechanism is located on the right
front under the selector lever shift gate. The release proce­
dure requires professional dexterity. We recommend that
you seek assistance.
Removing the selector lever boot
- Engage the parking brake.
Vehicle care I I Technical data

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
correctly wear safety belts 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 has a total of five seating positions: two in the front and
three in the rear. Each seating position 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 ~
Your vehicle has a warning system for the driver and front
seat passenger (on USA models only) to remind you about
t he importance of buckling-up.
Before driving off, always:
Fig. 132 Safety belt
warning light in the
instrument cluster -
enlarged
- Fasten your safety belt and make sure you are wearing it
properly.
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Vehicle care Do-it-yourself service Technical data

___ 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. 13 3 Unbel ted
o cc up ants i n a ve hicle
he ading for a wa ll
Fi g. 13 4 The 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! .,

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Child restraints on the front seat -some
important things to know
- Be sure to read the important information and head the
WARNINGS for important details about children and
Advanced Airbags :=>
page 169.
Even though your vehicle is equipped with an Advanced Airbag
System, make certain that all children, especially those 12 years and
younger, always ride in the back seat properly restrained for their age and size . 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 171.
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,
Controls and equip­
ment Safety first Vehicle operation
•
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 158, "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 on). 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 171), 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 lit) 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 128, "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
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Vehicle care Do-it-yourself service Technical data

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& WARNING (continued)
the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does not come on and stay on,
immediately install the rear-facing child safety seat in a rear
seating position and have the airbag system inspected by your
authorized Audi dealer.
& WARNING
If, in exceptional circumstances, you must install a forward-facing
child restraint on the front passenger's seat:
• Always make sure the forward -facing seat has been designed
and certified by its manufacturer for use on a front seat with a
passenger front and side airbag.
• Never put the forward-facing child restraint up against or very
near the instrument panel .
• Always move the passenger seat into its rearmost position in
the seat's fore and aft adjustment range, as far away from the
airbag as possible, before installing the forward-facing child
restraint . The backrest must be adjusted to an upright position.
• Make sure that the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on
and stays on all the time whenever the ignition is switched on. •
Advanced Airbag System components
The front passenger seat in your vehicle has a lot of very important
parts of the Advanced Airbag System in it. These parts include the
weight-sensing mat, sensors, wiring, brackets, and more. The func­
tion of the system in the front passenger seat is checked by the elec ­
tronic control unit when the ignition is on. The control unit monitors
the Advanced Airbag System and turns the airbag indicator light on
when a malfunction in the system components is detected. The
function of the airbag indicator light is described in greater detail
below. Because the front passenger seat contains important parts
of the Advanced Airbag System, you must take care to prevent it from being damaged.
Damage to the seat may prevent the
Advanced Airbag for the front passenger seat from doing its job in
a crash .
The front Advanced Airbag System consists of the
following: • Crash sensors in the front of the vehicle that measure vehicle
acceleration/deceleration to provide information to the Advanced
Airbag System about the severity of the crash.
• An electronic control unit, with integrated crash sensors for front
and side impacts. The control unit "decides" whether to fire the
front airbags based on the informa tion received from the crash
sensors. The control unit also "decides" whether the safety belt
pretensioners should be activated.
• An Advanced Airbag with gas generator for the driver inside the
steering wheel hub .
• An Advanced Airbag with gas generator inside the instrument
panel for the front passenger.
• A weight-sensing mat under the upholstery padding of the front
passenger seat cushion that measures the total weight on the seat.
The information registered is sent continuously to the electronic
control unit to regulate deployment of the front Advanced Airbag on
the passenger side.
• An airbag monitoring system and indicator light in the instru ­
ment cluster => page 158.
• Th e PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on and stays on in the
center of the instrument panel=> page 159, fig. 146 and tells you
when the front Advanced Airbag on the passenger side has been
turned off.
• A sensor below the safety belt latch for the front seat passenger
to measure the tension on the safety belt . The tension on the safety
belt and the weight registered by the weight -sensing mat help the
control unit "decide" whether the front airbag for the front
passenger seat should be turned off or not=> page 149, "Child
restraints on the front seat -some important things to know". .,_

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the weight-sensing mat to measure more weight than is actual ly on
th e seat .
If the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light still does not come on and does
not stay on continuous ly (when the ignition is switched on),
• t ake the c hild res traint off t he front passe ng er seat a nd ins tall it
properly at one of the rear seat pos it ions. Have the a irbag system
ins pect ed by y our aut horize d Au di d eale r im me dia te ly.
• move the chi ld to a rear seat position and make sure that the
c h ild is pro pe rly restrai ned in a c hild restraint that is app ropriat e for
its size and age.
The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF l igh t sho uld NOT come on when the
ignition is on and an adult is sitt ing in a proper seating position on
the front passenge r seat . If the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
comes on a nd s tays o n or fl ashes for about 5 seco nds whi le d riving,
under these ci rcumstances, make sure that:
• the adu lt on the fron t pass enger sea t is pro perly seate d on the
cent er of the seat cushion with his or her back up against the back ­
rest an d the back res t is n ot recline d=> page 128, "Proper seati ng
position for the driver",
• t he ad ult is not ta king w eig ht o ff the sea t by hol ding o n to the
passenger assist hand le above the front passenger door or
su ppo rting their w eigh t on the arm res t,
• the safety be lt is being proper ly worn and that there is not a lot
o f sla c k in the sa fe ty b elt webbi ng,
• accessory seat covers or cushions or other things that may cause
an incorrect read ing o r impression on t he w eight -s e nsin g mat
under the upho lstery of the seat have been removed from the front
pass enger seat,
• a safety be lt extender has not been left in the safety be lt latc h for
th e fro nt passenger sea t.
In addition to the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF l ight in the center of the
instrument pane l, the mes sage
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF o r
PASSENGER AIR BAG ON will br iefly appear in the instrument cluster display. This is to inform the driver of the curren
t front passenger
air bag status .•
Important safety instructions on monitoring
the Advanced Airbag System
& WARNING
An airbag system that is not functioning properly cannot provide
supplemental protect ion in a frontal crash .
• If the airbag indicator l ight comes on , it means that there may
be something wrong with the Advanced Airbag System . It is
possible that the airbag will inflate when it is not supposed to, or
will not inflate when it should .
• Have the airbag system inspected immediately by your autho­
rized Audi dealer.
& WARNING
If the front airbag inflates, a child without a child restraint , or in a
rearward-facing child safety seat , or in a forward-facing child
restraint that has not been properly installed will be seriously
injured and can be killed .
• Even though your vehicle is equipped with an Advanced Airbag
System , make certain that all children , espec ially 12 years and
younger, always ride on the back seat properly restrained for their
age and si ze .
• Always install forward or rear -facing child safety seats on the
rear seat -even with an Advanced Airbag System .
• If you must install a rearward -facing child safety seat on the
front passenger seat be cause of exceptional cir cumstances and
the PASSENGER AIR BAG O FF light does not appear and stay on ,
immediately install the rear -facing child safety seat in a rear
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