If and when
266Towing and tow-startingTo w - s t a r t i n g
The use of jump leads is preferable to tow-starting.We recommend that you do not tow-start your vehicle. Jump-starting
is preferable ⇒ page 263.
However, if your vehicle has to be tow-started:
– Engage the 2
nd or the 3
rd gear.
– Keep the clutch pressed down.
– Switch the ignition on.
– Once both vehicles are moving, release the clutch.
– As soon as the engine starts, press the clutch and move the gear lever into neutral. This helps to prevent driving into the towing
vehicle.
WARNING
The risk of accidents is high when tow-starting. The vehicle being towed
can easily collide with the towing vehicle.
Caution
When tow-starting, fuel could enter the catalytic converter and damage it.
CommentsPlease observe the following points if you use a tow-rope:
Notes for the driver of the towing vehicle
– Drive slowly at first until the tow-rope is taut. Then accelerate gradually.
– Begin and change gears cautiously. If you are driving an auto- matic vehicle, accelerate gently.
– Remember that the brake servo and power steering are not working in the vehicle you are towing. Brake earlier than you
would normally, but with a more gentle pressure on the brake.
Notes for the driver of the towed vehicle
– Ensure that the tow-rope remains taut at all times when towing.Tow-rope or tow-bar
It is easier and safer to tow a vehicle with a tow-bar. You should only use a
tow-rope if you do not have a tow-bar.
A tow-rope should be slightly elastic to reduce the loading on both vehicles.
It is advisable to use a tow-rope made of synthetic fibre or similarly elastic
material.
Attach the tow-rope or the tow-bar only to the towing eyes provided or a
towing bracket.
Driving style
Towing requires some experience, especially when using a tow-rope. Both
drivers should be familiar with the technique required for towing. Inexperi-
enced drivers should not attempt to tow-start or tow away another vehicle.
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If and when267
Safety First
Controls and equipment
Practical tips
Technical Data
Do not pull too hard with the towing vehicle and take care to avoid jerking the
tow-rope. When towing on an unpaved road, there is always a risk of over-
loading and damaging the anchorage points.
The ignition of the vehicle being towed must be switched on to prevent the
steering wheel from locking and also to allow the use of the turn signals,
horn, windscreen wipers and washers.
As the brake servo does not work if the engine is not running, you must apply
considerably more pressure to the brake pedal than you normally would.
As the power assisted steering does not work if the engine is not running, you
will need more strength to steer than you normally would.
Towing vehicles with an automatic gearbox
•Put the selector lever into position “N”.•Do not drive faster than 50 km/h when towing a vehicle.•Do not tow further than 50 km.•If a breakdown vehicle is used, the vehicle must be towed with the front
wheels raised.Note
•Observe legal requirements when towing or tow-starting.•Switch on the hazard warning lights of both vehicles. However, observe
any regulations to the contrary.•For technical reasons, vehicles with an automatic gearbox must not be
tow-started.•If damage to your vehicle means that there is no lubricant in the gearbox,
you must raise the drive wheels while the vehicle is being towed.•If the vehicle has to be towed more than 50 km, the front wheels must be
raised during towing, and towing should be carried out by a qualified person.•The steering wheel is locked when the vehicle has no electrical power. The
vehicle must then be towed with the front wheels raised. Towing should be
carried out by a qualified person.
•The towing eye should always be kept in the vehicle. Please refer to the
notes on ⇒page 266.Trailer eyes
Fig. 183 The front right
section of the vehicle:
Fitting the front towing
eyeFig. 184 Fitting the
towing eye to the rear of
the vehicle
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If and when
268
Fitting the towing eye
– Take the towing ring from the onboard tool set.
– Remove the front cover by pressing down on its left-hand side.
– Remove the rear cover by pressing down on the right hand side, for FR and Cupra models. For all other versions, remove the rear
cover by pressing on the lower part.
– Screw the towing eye as shown by the arrow anti-clockwise to the
limit position in the front ⇒page 267, fig. 183 or rear
⇒ page 267, fig. 184 threaded hole.
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General notes on the technical data
272Towing a trailerTrailer weightsTrailer weights
The trailer weights and drawbar loads approved are selected in intensive
trials according to precisely defined criteria. The approved trailer weights are
valid for vehicles in the EU for maximum speeds of 80 km/h (in certain
circumstances up to 100 km/h). The figures may be different in other coun-
tries. All data in the official vehicle documents take precedence over these
data ⇒ .
Drawbar load
The maximum permitted weight exerted by the trailer drawbar on the ball joint
of the towing bracket must not exceed 75 kg.
In the interest of road safety, we recommend that you always tow
approaching the maximum drawbar load. The response of the trailer on the
road will be poor if the drawbar load is too small.
If the maximum permissible drawbar load cannot be met (e.g. with small,
empty and light-weight single axle trailers o r ta n d e m a x l e t r a i l e r s wi t h a n a x le
base of less than 1 metre), at least 4% of the actual trailer weight is a legal
stipulation for a drawbar load.
WARNING
•For safet y reas ons , d o not excee d the 8 0 k m/h limit . Th is is als o valid in
countries where higher speeds are permitted.•Never exceed the maximum trailer weights or the draw bar loading. If
the permissible axle load or the permissible total weight is exceeded, the
driving characteristics of the vehicle may change, leading to accidents,
injuries and damage to the vehicle.
WheelsTyre pressure, snow chains, wheel boltsTyre pressures
The sticker with the tyre pressure values can be found on the inside of the
tank flap. The tyre pressure values given there are for cold tyres. The slightly
raised pressures of warm tyres must not be reduced ⇒.
Snow chains
Snow chains may be fitted only to the front wheels.
Consult the chapter “wheels” of this manual.
Wheel bolts
After the wheels have been changed, the tightening torque of the wheel bolts
s ho uld b e che cke d as s o on as p ossible wit h a to rqu e w re nch ⇒ . The tight-
ening torque for steel and alloy wheels is 120 Nm.
WARNING
•Check the tyre pressure at least once per month. Checking tyre pressure
value is very important. If the tyre pressure is too high or too low, there is
an increased danger of accidents, particularly at high speeds.•If the torque of the wheel bolts is too low, they could loosen while the
vehicle is in motion. Risk of accident! If the tightening torque is too high,
the wheel bolts and threads can be damaged.Note
We recommend that you ask your Authorised Service Centre for information
about appropriate wheel, tyre and snow chain size.
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Index299
Curtain airbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Disabling front passenger airbag . . . . . . . . . 43
frontal airbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
side airbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Using child seats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Using seat belts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Safety system- safe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Seals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Seat adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129, 132
Seat belt position Pregnant women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Seat belts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Seat belt release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Seat belt warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Seat belts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Incorrectly fastened . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Not worn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Safety notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Seat belts cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Seat belts protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Seat heating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Seats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Selective opening* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Selector lever locking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Selector lever positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Service interval display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
servotronic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Shoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Side airbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Safety notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Side lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Sitting position Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Front passenger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Incorrect sitting position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Passengers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Sitting position, occupants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Sliding/tilting roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Snow chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239, 272
Soot accumulation in the diesel engine particulate filter
Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Spare wheel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Starting Petrol engines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Starting the engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158, 159 After the fuel tank has been run dry . . . . . . 159
Start-Stop deactivating and activating . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Steam jets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Steering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Steering lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Steering wheel audio controls audio + telephone version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
audio version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Steering wheel height adjustment . . . . . . . . . . 155 Stowage area
Other stowage areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Stowage compartment Front passenger side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Stowage compartments Front left hand side seat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Sun visors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Sunroof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Sunroof blind Sliding/tilting roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Switch Hazard warning lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Switches Electric windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Electrical exterior mirrors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Sliding/tilting roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Switching off the engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
TTailgate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Emergency opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Tank fuel level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
reserve indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
tank capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
TCS (Traction control system) Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Technical modifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
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Index
300The danger of not using the seat belt . . . . . . . . 21
Tightening torque of wheel bolts . . . . . . . . . . . 272
To fold down the seat back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Tow starting
Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Towing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Towing a trailer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Towing bracket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Towing bracket, fitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Towing eye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Tow-starting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Traction control system warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Trailer Trailer towing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Trailer eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Trailer turn signals Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Trailer weights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Turn signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78, 118
Type plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Tyre Mobility-System (Tyre repair kit) . . . . . . . 242
Tyre monitor indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Tyre pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 Loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Tyre pressure monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Tyre pressures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Tyre repair kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242, 247 Tyre-Mobility-System (Tyre repair kit) . . . . . . . 247
Tyres and wheels
Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Tyres service life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Tyres tread depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Tyres with directional tread pattern . . . . . . . . . 232
UUnderbody sealant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Unlocking and locking Personalisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96VVehicle battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Vehicle data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Vehicle identification data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Vehicle identification number . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Vehicle modifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Vehicle paintworkProducts for vehicle maintenance . . . . . . . 197
Waxing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Vehicle tools Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Vehicle wallet storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Vehicle washing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Ventilation slits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Volumetric sensor* Activation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Deactivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
WWarning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Warning lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Warning reports
Red . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Yellow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Warning texts in the display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Warning triangle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Washer fluid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Washing by hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Washing the vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Washing with high pressure cleaners . . . . . . . 199
Water warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Water in the windscreen washer tank . . . . . . . 224
Wear indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Wheel bolts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244, 272 Torque . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Wheel change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Wheel trims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Wheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232, 272
Why assume the correct sitting position? . . . . . 29
Why should head restraints be correctly adjusted? 13
Why to wear seat belts? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Why wear seat belts? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20, 29
Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Windscreen washer fluid Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
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