_____________________________________________ S_a _f _e _t _y_b _e_lt _ s __ _
& WARNING
• Only your authorized Audi dea ler should work on the system or
remove and in stalling system component s when performing other
work .
• The belt positioners could cause injury or damage if they pin ch
people or obj ects when extending or retracting .•
Fastening safety belts
Sea t fir st -everybod y buckle u p!
Fig. 19 3 Belt buc kle
and ton gue on t he
dr iv er's seat
To prov ide maxim um protection, sa fe ty be lts must a lways be
pos it io ned cor rect ly on t he wear er's bo dy.
- Ad just the front seat and head rest ra int p roper ly
=> page 77, "General recom mendatio ns" .
- Make sure the seat b ack of the rear sea t ben ch is in a n
u pright pos it ion and secu rely latche d in place before us ing
the belt=> &.
- Ho ld the belt by the to ngu e and pu ll it eve nly acros s the
ches t and pelvis=> &.
Controls and equip
ment Safety first Vehicle operation
- Ins
ert t he tong ue into the co rrect b uck le of your seat until
yo u h ear it latch securely=> fig. 193 .
- Pull o n th e be lt to make su re th at it is sec urel y la tched in
th e bu ckle.
Automatic safety belt retractors
Eve ry safety be lt is equipped w ith an automatic belt retracto r o n the
shoulder be lt. T his fea ture loc ks th e be lt when the bel t is pulled out
fast, during hard bra king and in an acc ident. The belt may also lock
w hen you dr ive up or down a steep hill or through a sharp curve.
During norma l dr iv ing the belt lets you move freely.
Safety belt pretensioners
The safety belts are eq uipp ed with a belt pretens ioner that he lps to
ti gh ten the safe ty bel t and r emove slack whe n the preten sio ner i s
act ivated . T he function of the pretensioner is monitored by a war ning
ligh t~
page 14 .
Switchable locking feature
Eve ry sa fety belt except t he one o n the driver sea t is eq uipp ed with a
switchab le locking feat ure that
must be used when t he safety be lt is
used to att ach a child sa fe ty seat . Be s ure to re ad th e im port ant inf or
mation about th is feature~
page 232.
& WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can cause serious injury in an
accident ~
page 196, "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 move s from the stronger
parts of the body into critical areas like the abdomen . .,
Vehicle care Do-it-yourself service Technical data
-Make sure the seat back of the rear seat bench is in an
upright position and securely latched in place before using
the belt.
- Hold the belt by the tongue and pull it evenly across the
chest and pelvis=> fig. 195, =>
&.
- Insert the tongue into the correct buckle of your seat until
you hear it latch securely=>
page 195, fig. 193.
- Pull on the belt to make sure that it is securely latched in
the buckle.
& WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can cause serious personal
injury in an accident.
• Expectant mothers must always wear the lap portion of the
safety belt as low as possible across the pelvis and below the
rounding of the abdomen.
• Always read and heed all WARNINGS and other important
information =>
& in "Fastening safety belts" on page 195. •
Safety first Vehicle OP-eration
Safety belts
Unfastening safety belts
Unbuckle the safety belt with the red release button only
after the vehicle has stopped.
Fig . 196 Releasing
the tongue from the
buckle
- Push the red release button on the buckle=> fig. 196. The
belt tongue will spring out of the buckle =>& .
- Let the belt wind up on the retractor as you guide the belt
tongue to its stowed position .
& WARNING
Never unfasten safety belt while the vehicle is moving. Doing so
will increase your risk of being injured or killed. •
Improperly worn safety belts
Incorrectly positioned safety belts can cause severe inju
ries.
Wearing safety belts improperly can cause serious injury or
death . Safety belts can only work when they are correctly
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 •
Vehicle care Do-it-yourselt service iTechnical data
_____________________________________________ S_a _f _e _t _y _b_ e_lt _ s __ _
& WARNING (co ntinued )
• The belt p retensioner system can be activated only once. If belt
preten sioners have been activated, the system must be replaced.
• Never repair, adjust, or change any parts of the safety belt
s ystem .
• Safety belt systems including safety belt preten sioners cannot
be repaired. Special procedures are requ ired for removal, installa
tion and dispo sal of this system.
• For any work on the safety belt system , we strongly recom
mend that you see your authorized Audi dealer or qualified tech
nician who has an Audi approved repair manual, training and
special equipment nece ssary .
For the sake of the environment
Undeployed airbag mo dules and p re tensioners might be class ified as
Perchlorate Material ·special handling may apply, see
www.dtsc .ca.gov/hazardouswaste/pe rchlorate. When the vehicle or
parts of t he rest raint system includi ng ai rbag modu les safety belts
with pretens ioners are sc rapped, all applicable laws and regulat ions
m ust be observe d. Yo ur author ized Au di dealer is f amiliar wi th these
requirements and we recommend that you have your dealer perform
t his servi ce fo r yo u. •
Controls and equip
ment Safety first Vehicle operation
Vehicle care Do-it-yourself service Technical data
_________________________________________________ A_ ir_ b_ a_,,g :;..__ s-=y '"- s_ t_ e_ m __ _
costs o r even t he lack of ve hicle damage is not necessarily an ind ica
t ion of w heth er an a irba g should inflat e or not.
It is not poss ible to define a range of ve hicle speeds t hat w ill cover
every possible k ind and a ngle of impact that will always trigger the
a ir bags, sin ce the cir cums ta nc es w ill vary con sid erab ly be twee n one
co llision and another . Important factors inclu de, for exam ple, the
n at ure (h ard or so ft ) of th e obje ct wh ich t he c ar hi ts, the an gle of
impact, vehicle speed, etc . T he front airbags w ill also not inflate in
s ide or rear co ll is io ns, or i n roll-o ve rs.
Always remember: Airbags w ill deploy only once, a nd only in certain
kinds of coll isions . Yo ur safety be lts are a lways there to offer protec
ti on in t hose situ ations i n w hich air bags are not s upposed to deploy,
or w hen they have alrea dy de ploye d; for examp le, w hen your ve hicle
st rike s or i s struc k by ano ther afte r the firs t collis io n .
T hi s is just one of the reasons w hy a n airbag is a s upplementary
res tra in t a nd i s no t a su bs titu te for a saf ety bel t. The air bag syste m
works most effective ly whe n used w ith the safety belts . Therefore,
always p rope rly wea r you r sa fety belts ~ page 19 0.
& WARNING
Sitting too close to the steering wheel or instrument panel will
decrease the effectiveness of the airbags and will increase the r isk
of personal injury in a collision.
• Never sit closer than 10 inches (25 cm ) to the steer ing wheel or
instrument panel.
• If you cannot sit more than 10 inches (25 cm ) from the
steering wheel, investigate whether adaptive equipment may be
available to help you reach the pedals and increase your seating
distance from the steering wheel.
• If you are unrestrained, leaning forward, sitting sideways or
out of pos ition in any way, your risk of injury is much higher.
• You will also receive serious injuries and could even be killed if
you are up against the airbag or too close to it when it inflates -
even with an Advanced Airbag .
Controls and equip
ment Safety first Vehicle operation
& WARNING
(co ntinued )
• To reduce the risk of injury when an airbag inflates, always
wear safety belts properly=>
page 194, "Safety belts ".
• Always make certain that children age 12 or younger always
ride in the rear seat. If children are not properly restrained, they
may be severely injured or killed when an airbag inflates.
• Never let children r ide unrestrained or improperly restrained in
the vehicle. Adjust the front seats properly .
• Never r ide with the backrest recl ined.
• Always sit as far as possible from the steering wheel or the
instrument panel=>
page 178.
• Always sit upright with your back against the backre st of your
seat .
• Never place your feet on the instrument panel or on the seat.
Always keep both feet on the floor in front of the seat to help
prevent serious injuries to the leg s and hips if the airbag inflates .
• Never recline the front passenger 's seat to transport objects .
Items can also move into the area of the side airbag or the front
airbag during braking or in a sudden maneuver. Objects near the
airbags can become projectiles and cause injury when an airbag
inflates .
& WARNING
Airbags that have deployed in a crash must be replaced.
• Use only original equ ipment airbags approved by Aud i and
installed by a trained technician who ha s the necessary tools and
diagnostic equipment to properly replace any airbag in your
vehicle and assure system effectiveness in a crash.
• Never permit salvaged or recycled airbags to be installed in
your vehicle. •
Vehicle care Do-it-yourself service Technical data
_________________________________________________ A_ ir_ b_ a_,,g :;..__ s-=y '"- s_ t_ e_ m __ _
defined in the electronic contro l unit~ page 212, "PASSENGER AIR
B A G OFF li ght ".
Always remember , a c hild safety seat or infa nt ca rr ie r i nstalled on th e
front seat may be str uck and k noc ked out of position by the ra pidly
in flating p assenge r's ai rbag in a frontal coll is io n. T he a irbag could
great ly reduce the effect iveness of the c hild restraint and even seri
o us ly i njur e the chi ld dur ing inflation.
For this reason, and because t he back seat is the safest place for chil
dren -whe n properly restrained according to their age an d size -we
st rong ly recommend t hat childre n always sit in the back seat
~ page 222, "C hild Safety" .
& WARNING
A child in a rearward-facing child safety seat installed on the front
passenger seat will be ser iously injured and can be killed if the
front airbag inflates - even with an Advanced Airbag System .
• The inflat ing airbag w ill hit the child safety seat or infant
carrier with great force and will smash the child safety seat and
child against the backrest, center armrest, door or roof .
• Always install rear-facing child safety seats on the rear seat .
• If you must install a rearward facing child safety seat on the
front passenger seat because of exceptional circumstances and
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.
• Forward-facing child safety seats installed on the front
pa ssenger 's seat may interfere with the deployment of the airbag
and cause ser ious personal injury to the child.
& WARNING
If , in exceptional circumstances , you must install a forward-facing
c hild restraint on the front passenger's seat:
Controls and equip ment Safety first Vehicle operation
& WARNING
(co ntinued )
• 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 ad justed 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.
& WARNING
To reduce the risk of serious injury, make sure that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light will be displayed whenever a child
re straint is installed on the front passenger seat and the ignition
is switched on.
• If the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does not stay on, perform
the checks described~
page 211, "Monitoring the Advanced
Airbag System ".
• Take the child restra int off the front passenger seat and install
it properly at one of the rear seat positions if the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does not stay on .
• Have the airbag system inspected by your authorized Audi
dealer immediately.
• Always carefully follow instructions from child restraint manu
facturers when installing child restraints .
& WARNING
If, in exceptional circumstances , you must install a forward or
rearward-facing child restraint on the front passenger's seat :
Vehicle care Do-it-yourself service Technical data
_______________________________________________ A_ ir_ b_ a_,,,g ~ s,,._y _s _t_ e _ m ___ _
& WARNING (co ntinued )
• Even when they deploy, airbags provide only supplemental
prot ection .
• Airbag work most effectively when u sed with p roperly worn
safety belts .
• Therefore, always wear your safety belts and make sure that
everybody in your veh icle is properly restrained.
& WARNING
A person on the front passenger seat , especially infants and small
c hildren, will re ceive serious injuries and can even be killed by
being too close to the airbag when it inflates.
• Although the Advanced Airbag System in your v ehicle is
designed to turn off the front passenger ai rbag if an infant or a
s mall child i s on the front passenger seat, nobody can ab solutely
guar antee that deployment under these special conditions is
impossible in all conceivable situations that may happen during
the useful life of your veh icle.
• The Advanced Airbag System can deploy in accordance with the
" low risk" option unde r the U .S . Federal Standard if a child that is
heavier than the typical one-year old child is on the front
passenge r seat and the other conditions for airbag deployment
are met.
• Accident statistics have shown that children are generally safer
in the rear seat area than in the front seating position.
• For their own safety, all children, especially 12 years and
younger, should alway s rid e in the back properly re strained for
their age and size. •
Controls and equip ment Safety first Vehicle operation
Advanced front airbag system
Your vehicle
is equipped with a front Advanced Airbag System in
co mpliance wit h United St ates Feder al Motor Vehicle S afety St andar d
208 as applicab le at the time your vehicle was manufactured .
Th e front A dvanced A irbag System supp lements the safety be lts to
prov ide addit ional protection for the dr iver's and front passenge r's
heads and upper bodies in frontal crashes. The airbags inflate o nly in
frontal i mpacts w he n t he vehicle de ce le ra ti on is high enoug h.
The front Advanced Airbag System for the front seat occupants is not
a s ubstitu te for your s afety be lts. R at he r, it is p art o f the ove rall occu
pant restrai nt system in your ve hicle. Always remembe r that the
air bag sys tem can on ly help to protect you, if yo u are s itting upr ight,
wearing your safety be lt and wear ing it properly . This is why you and
your passengers must always be p roper ly restra ined, not just beca use
the law requires you to be .
The Advanced Airbag System in your vehicle has been cert ified to
meet the " low r is k " requi remen ts for 3 and 6 ye ar-old childr en on the
passenger side and very sma ll adults on the driver side. The low risk
deployme nt criter ia a re in tended to he lp red uce the risk o f inju ry
throug h interaction with the fro nt a irbag tha t can occur, for examp le ,
by being too close to the stee ring wheel an d instr ument panel whe n
t he a irba g inflates.
In addit ion, the system has bee n certified to comply with the
"supp ression " requireme nts of the Safety Sta ndard, to turn off th e
front airbag for infants 12 mo nths old and you nger who are
re strai ned o n the fron t pa ssenge r sea t in child res tra ints that are
listed in the Standard=>
page 224, "Chil d restraints and Advanced
Air bag s".
" Supp ression" requ ires the front a irbag on the passenger side to be
turne d off if:
• a child up to a bout one year o f age is re stra ined on the fron t
passenger seat in one of the rear-facing or forward-fac ing infant
restr aints liste d in F ed er al M oto r Ve hicl e Sa fety S tandard 208 with
w hich the Advanced A irbag System in yo ur ve hicle was certified. For a ...
Vehicle care Do-it-yourself service Technical data
_______________________________________________ A_ ir_ b_ a_,,,g '--- s.:.y _s _t_ e _ m ___ lJ'II
& WARNING (co ntinued )
• The inflating airbag will hit the child safety seat or infant
carrier with great force and will smash the child safety seat and
c hild against the backrest, center arm rest , door, or roof .
• Always install rearwa rd-facing child restraints in the back seat.
• If you must install a rearward facing child safety seat on the
front passenger seat because of except ional circumstances and
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 except ional circumstances, you must install a forward-facing
child re straint on the front pa ssenger's seat:
• Always make sure the forward-facing seat has been designed
and certified by its manufacturer for us e on a front seat with a
passenger front and s ide airbag.
• Never put the forward-facing child restraint up again st 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 a s po ssible, before installing the forward-facing child
restraint. The backrest must be adjusted to an upr ight 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
Th e front passenger seat i n your ve hicle has a lot of very im portant
parts o f th e Ad van ced A irbag System in it. These parts include t he
we ight-sens ing mat, sensors, wir ing, brackets, and mo re . The func-
Controls and equip
ment Safety first Vehicle operation
tion of the system
in the front passenger seat is checked by the elec
t ronic contro l unit whe n t he ignit io n is on. The con tro l u nit mon itors
t he Advanced A irbag System and tu rns th e airbag indicator light on
when a malfunction in the system components is detected. The func
tion of the a irbag indicator light is descr ibed in greater deta il below.
Beca use the front passen ger seat contains importa nt parts of the
Advance d Ai rbag System, you mus t take care to p revent i t fro m be ing
dama ged. Damage to the seat may prevent t he Advance d Airbag for
t he front p assenge r seat fro m d oin g its job in a cra sh.
The front Advanced Airbag System consists of the
following:
• Cras h sensors in the front of the vehicle t hat measure vehicle
acc ele ra tio n/d ecele ration to prov ide info rmat io n t o the Adva nced
Airbag System about t he severity of the crash.
• An elec tron ic con tro l unit, w it h i nteg rated crash senso rs fo r front
and side impacts . The contro l unit " dec ides" w het her to fire the front
a irbag s base d on th e informa tion re ceived from t he cr ash sensors.
The control unit also "decides" whether the safety be lt pretens ioners
s ho uld b e activa ted.
• An Advanced Airbag with gas generator and cont rol va lve for the
dr ive r inside t he st eer ing whee l hub .
• An Advanced Air ba g with gas gene rator and control valve inside
t he inst rume nt pan el for the front pass enger.
• A weig ht-sensing mat unde r the upholste ry paddin g of the front
passenger seat c ushi on that measures the tota l weigh t on the seat .
T he information registe red is se nt co ntin u ously to the electronic
cont rol uni t t o reg ulate deployment of t he front Advanc ed A irbag o n
the passenger side .
• An a irbag mon itoring system and ind icator light in the inst rume nt
cluster =>
page 211.
• A sensor in each fro nt seat reg isters the distance between t he
res pective seat and the s teer ing whee l o r i nst rume nt pane l. The
information reg iste red is sent co ntin uously to the e lectro nic cont rol
uni t to reg ulate dep loyment o f the front Advanced Airbags . .,_
Vehicle care Do-it-yourself service Technical data
situations. Be sure to read the important information about safety
and heed the WARNINGS in this chapter.
Deployment of the Advanced A irbag System and the activation of the
safety belt pretensioners depend on the deceleration measured by
the crash sensors and registered by the electron ic control unit. T he
amount of inflation of the front airbags can a lso be adapted to the
front seat position, depending on the distance between the respec
tive front seat and the steering wheel or instrument panel as regis
tered by sensors in the seats. Crash severity depends on speed and
deceleration as well as the mass and stiffness of the vehicle or object
involved in the crash .
On the passenger side, regardless of safety belt use, the air bag w ill
be turned off if the weight on the passenger seat is less than the
amount programm ed in the electronic control unit . The front airbag
on the passenger side will also be turned off if one of the chi ld safety
seats that has been certified under Federal Motor Vehicle Safety
Standard 208 has been recognized on the seat. The
PASSENGER AIR
BAG OFF
light comes on and stays on to tell you when the front
Advanced Airbag on the passenger side has been turned off
=> page 202, "Child rest raints on the front seat -some important
things to know".
& WARNING
To reduce the risk of injury when an airbag inflates, always wear
safety belts properly.
• If you are unrestrained, leaning forward, sitting sideways or
out of position in any way, your risk of injury is much higher .
• You will also receive serious injuries and could even be killed if
you are up against the airbag or too close to it when it inflates •
even with an Advanced Airbag
=> page 200. •
Safety first Vehicle OP-eration
Airbag system
More important things to know about front
airbags
Fig. 199 Inflated
front airbags
Safety belts are important to help keep front seat occupants in the
proper seated position so that airbags can unfold properly and
prov ide supplemental protection in a frontal collision.
Th e front airbags are designed to provide additiona l protection for
the chest and face of the driver and the front seat passenger when:
• safety belts are worn properly,
• the seats have been positioned so that the occupant is properly
seated as far as possible from the airbag ,
• and the head restraints have been properly adjusted .
Because airbags inflate in the blink of an eye with great force, things
you have on your lap o r have placed on the seat could become
dangerous projectiles, and be pushed into you if the airbag inflates.
When an airbag deploys, fine dust is released. This is normal and is
not caused by a fire in the vehicle. This dust is made up mostly of a
powder used to lubricate the airbags as they deploy .
It could irritate
skin.
It is important to remember that while the supplemental airbag
system is desig ned to reduce the likelihood of serious injur ies, other
injuries, for example swell ing, bruising and m inor abrasions, can also
happen when airbags inflate. Airbags do not protect the arms or the •
Vehicle care Do-it-yourselt service iTechnical data