______________________________________________ D_ ri_v _ i_n _,,g ,c.._ S_a_ f_ e_ l..:: y __ _
& WARNING (continued)
to help reduce the risk of personal injury if the driver's airbag
inflates.
• Never hold the steering wheel at the 12 o'clock position or with
your hands at other positions inside the steering wheel rim or on
the steering wheel hub. Holding the steering wheel the wrong way can cause serious injuries to the hands, arms and head if the
driver's airbag deploys.
• Pointing the steering wheel toward your face decreases the
ability of the supplemental driver's airbag to protect you in a colli·
sion.
• Always sit in an upright position and never lean against or
place any part of your body too close to the area where the airbags
are located.
• Before driving, always adjust the front seats and head
restraints properly and make sure that all passengers are properly
restrained.
• Never adjust the seats while the vehicle is moving. Your seat
may move unexpectedly and you could lose control of the vehicle.
• 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 safety seats~
page 222.
Special precautions apply when installing a child safety seat on
the front passenger seat
~ page 200. •
Controls and equip
ment Safety first Vehicle operation
Proper seating position for the front
passenger
The
proper front passenger seating position is important
for safe, relaxed driving.
For your own safety and to reduce the risk of injury in the
event of an accident, we recommend that you adjust the seat
for the front passenger to the following position:
- Move the front passenger seat back as far as possible.
There must be a minimum of 10 inches (25 cm) between
the breastbone and the instrument panel=>& .
- Adjust the angle of the seatback so that it is in an upright
position and your back comes in full contact with it when
ever the vehicle is moving .
- Adjust the head restraint so that the upper edge is as even
with the top of your head as possible but not lower than
eye level and so that it is as close to the back of your head
as possible.
- Keep both feet flat on the floor in front of the front
passenger seat.
- Fasten and wear safety belts correctly =:>
page 194.
For detailed information on how to adjust the front passenger's seat,
see ~
page 77.
& WARNING
Front seat passengers who are unbelted, out of position or too
close to the airbag can be seriously injured or killed by the airbag
as it unfolds. To help reduce the risk of serious personal injury: .,
Vehicle care Do-it-yourself service Technical data
• ....__D_ r_iv _i_ n_, g=-- S_ a _ f_e _,Ly _ ______________________________________________ _
& 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.
• 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 safety seats~
page 222.
Special precautions apply when installing a child safety seat on
the front passenger seat
~ page 200. •
Proper seating positions for passengers in
rear seats
Rear seat passengers must sit upright with both feet on
the floor consistent with their physical size and be prop
erly restrained whenever the vehicle is in use.
To reduce the risk of injury caused by an incorrect seating
position in the event of a sudden braking maneuver or an
accident, your passengers on the rear bench seat must
always observe the following:
- Make sure that the seatback is securely latched in the
upright position ~
page 84.
- Keep both feet flat in the footwell in front of the rear seat.
- Fasten and wear safety belts properly ~
page 194.
- Make sure that children are always properly restrained in a
child restraint that is appropriate for their size and age
~ page 222.
& WARNING
Passengers who are improperly seated on the rear seat can be seri
ously injured in a crash.
• Each passenger must always sit on a seat of their own and
properly fasten and wear the safety belt belonging to that seat.
• Safety belts only offer maximum protection when the seatback
is securely latched in the upright position and the safety belts are
properly positioned on the body. By not sitting upright, a rear seat
passenger increases the risk of personal injury from improperly
positioned safety belts! •
• ....__D_ r_iv _i_ n_, g=-- S_ a _ f_e _,Ly _ ______________________________________________ _
examples will make you more aware o f seat ing pos itions that are
d ang erou s.
Therefore, whenever the vehicle is moving:
• never s tand u p in the ve hicle
• never stand on the seats
• nev er knee l on the seats
• never ride with t he se atb ack reclined
• never lie dow n on the rear seat
• neve r lean up agains t th e i nstr ument pane l
• never sit on the edge of the seat
• never sit s ideways
• never le an out the w indow
• never p ut your feet o ut the window
• never p ut your fe e t on th e ins trumen t panel
• never rest your feet on t he se at cushio n or back of the se at
• never ride in t he footwell
• neve r ride in t he 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 veh icle occupants stay
in a proper
seating position and are properly re strained whenever the vehicle
is being used. •
Driver and passenger side footwell
Applies to veh icles: w it h Knee a irbags
Important safety instructions
& WARNING
Always make sure that the knee airbag can inflate without inter
ference . Objects between yourself and the airbag can increase the
risk of injury in an accident by interfering with the way the airbag
deploys or by being pushed into you as the airbag deploys.
• No persons (children) or animals should ride in the footwell in
front of the passenger seat. If the airbag deploys, this can result in serious or fatal injuries.
• No objects of any kind should be carried in the footwell area in
front of the driver 's or passenger's seat. Bulky objects (shopping
bags, for example ) can hamper or prevent proper deployment of
the airbag. Small objects can be thrown through the vehicle if the airbag deploys and injure you or your passengers. •
Pedal area
Pedals
The pedal s must a lways be free to mov e and must never
b e in terfered wi th by a floor mat or any o ther objec t.
Make s ure tha t all pedals move freely wi thou t inte rference and t hat
nothing prevents them from returning to their or iginal pos it ions.
O nly use floor mats that leave the pedal area free and can be secure d
w it h floor mat fas tene rs.
lfa b rake circuit fails, inc reased brake pedal trave l is req uired to bring
th e ve hicl e to a full stop. .,
Active rollover protection system
Function
The rollover protection system helps protect vehicle occu
pants in the event of a rollover.
. .
! :'
Fi g. 182 Rear sea ts:
R oll bar d eploym ent
r an ge
Fig . 183 Rear seat s:
r o llba r deplo yed
Th e active rollover protect ion sys tem cons ists of :
• two rollbars
• t he safe ty be lts wi th belt ten sione rs
• the windshield frame
• the rollover se nsors
Safety first Vehicle OP-eration
Driving Safely
The active rollover protect io n system provides add itional safety .
Within m illiseconds, sensors dep loy two rollbars loc ated behi nd the
headrests in the rear seats=>
page 187, fig. 183.
T he ro llbars, reinforced windshie ld frame and belt tensioners he lp
protect front and rear passengers in the event of a rollove r.
T he rollover protection system functions when the power top is both
open and closed.
& WARNING
Do not u se the area behind the rear seat headr ests ::::> page 187 ,
fig. 182 as a storage area . Thi s is the area whe re the rollbars
depl oy . If the rollover protect ion sy stem i s triggered , object s
pla ce there can be propelled through the vehicle and make it more
difficult for the rollbar s to deploy. Thi s increases the risk for
serious or life-threatening injuries. •
When is rollover protection deployed?
Roll ove r pr otectio n depl oys in a collis ion or rollover .
Depending on the co llision, sensors thro ughout the vehicle and the
cont rol mo dule trigger the rollove r system to deploy .
For safety reasons, rollover protect ion a lso deploys during front, side
and rear collisions above a certain level of sever ity. •
Vehicle care Do-it-yourselt service iTechnical data
___ s_ a_ f_ e_ t_ y~ b_ e_ lt_s _____________________________________________ _
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
instructions 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 four seating positions: two in the front and
two in the rear. Each seating position has a safety belt.
& 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 (on
USA models only) front seat passenger to remind you
about the importance of buckling-up.
Before driving off, always:
Fig. 186 Safety belt
warning light in the
instrument cluster -
enlarged
- Fasten your safety belt and make sure you are wearing it
properly . ._
•--=S..:a :..:f..:e :..:t:= Y :....:: b:....:e:..: l:..: t :..::s _____________________________________________ _
Because the passengers of this vehicle are not using safety belts
=>
page 191, fig. 187, they will keep moving at the same speed the
vehicle was moving just before the crash, until something stops them
- here, the wall =>
page 191, fig. 188.
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 greater speeds, these forces are even
higher.
People who do not use safety belts 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 deter
mine 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. 189 A driver not
wearing a safety belt Is
violently thrown
forward Fig. 190 A
rear
passenger not wearing
a safety belt will fly
forward and strike the driver
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
violently into the steering wheel, instrument panel, windshield, or
whatever else is in the way=> fig. 189. 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 of accidents. Although your Audi is equipped
with airbags, all vehicle occupants, including the driver, must wear safety belts correctly in order to minimize 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.
It is also important for the rear passengers to wear safety belts
correctly . Unbelted passengers in the rear seats endanger not only
themselves but also the driver and other passengers=> fig. 190. In a
frontal collision they will be thrown forward violently, where they can
hit and injure the driver and/or front seat passenger. •
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 . 1 9 1 Driv er is
c or re ct ly re stra ine d in
a s udden bra k ing
m ane uv er
Safety belts used properly can make a big diffe rence. Safety belts
help to keep p assengers in the ir seats, gradually reduce energy leve ls
applied to the body in an accident, and help prevent the uncontrolled
movemen t that can cause serious injuries . In add ition, safety belts
reduce the danger of being thrown out of the vehicle.
Safety be lts attach passengers to the car and give them the benefit of
being slowed down mo re gent ly or "softly" through the "give" in the
safety belts, crush zones and other safety features engineered into
today 's vehicles. By "absorbing" the k ineti c ene rgy over a longe r
period of time, the safety belts make the forces on the body more
"tolerable" and less likely to cause injury.
Al though these exam ples are based on a frontal co llision, safety belts
can also substantia lly reduce the risk of injury in other kinds of
crashes. So, whethe r you're on a long tr ip or just go ing to the corner
store, always bu ckle up and make sure others do, too. Accident statis
ti cs show t hat vehicle occupants properly weari ng s afety belts have a
lower risk of being injured and a much better chance of surviving an
acc iden t. Prope rly usi ng sa fe ty belts a lso great ly increases the ab ility
of the supplemental a irbags to do their job in a collision. For this
reaso n, wearing a safety belt is lega lly requ ired in most countr ies
including much of the United States and Canada.
Safety first Vehicle OP-eration
Safety belts
Although your Audi is equipped with a irbags, you still have to wear
the safe ty belts provi ded. Fron t airbags, for ex ample, are activa ted
only in some frontal collisions. The front a irbags are not act ivated in
all fronta l co llisions, in side and rear co llisions, in roll overs or i n cases
whe re there is not enough decelerat ion through impact to the front
of the vehicle . The same goes for the ot her airbag systems in your
Audi. So, always wear your safety bel t and make sure eve rybody in
your vehicle is properly restrained! •
Important safety instructions about safety
belts
Safety belts must always be correctly positioned across
the strongest bones of your body.
- Always wear safety belts as illustrated and described in
this chapter.
- Make sure that your safety belts are a lways ready for use
and are not damaged .
& WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them improperly increases
the risk of seriou s personal injury and death. Safety belts can work
onl y when used correctly .
• Always fa sten your safety belts correctly before dr iving off and
m ake sure all passengers are correctly restrained .
• For ma ximum protect ion, safety belts must always be posi
tioned properly on the body .
• Never st rap more than one person , including small ch ildren,
into any belt.
• Never place a safet y belt over a child s itting on you r lap.
• Always keep feet in the footwell in front of the seat while the
veh icle is being driven. .,
Vehicle care Do-it-yourselt service iTechnical data
___ s_a_ f_ e_ t_y _ b_e _l_t _s ___________________________________________ _
& WARNING (continued)
• Never let any person ride with their feet on the instrument
panel or sticking out the window or on the seat .
• Never remove a safety belt while the vehicle is moving . Doing
so will increase your risk of being injured or killed .
• Never wear belt s twisted.
• Never wear belts over rig id or breakable objects in or on your
clothing, such as eye glasses, pen s, keys, etc ., a s these may cause
injury.
• Never allow safety belt s to become damaged by being caught
in door or seat hardware .
• Do not wear the shoulder part of the belt under your arm or
otherwise out of position.
• Several layers of h eavy clothing may interfere with correct
positioning of belts and reduce the overall effectiveness of the
sy stem.
• Always keep belt buckles free of anything that may prevent the
bu ckle from latching securely.
• Never u se comfort clips or devices that create slack in the
shoulder belt. However, special clips may be required for the
proper use of some child restraint systems.
• Torn or frayed safety belts can tear , and damaged belt hard
ware can break in an accident. Inspect belts regularly . If webbing,
bindings, buckles , or retractors are damaged, hav e belts replaced
by an authorized Audi dealer or qualified workshop.
• Safety be lts that have been worn and loaded in an accident
must be repla ced with the correct replacement safety belt by an
authorized Audi dealer. Replacement may be necessary even if
damage cannot be clearly seen. Anchorages that were loaded
must also be inspected.
• Never remove, modify , disas semble, or try to repair the safety
belts yourself .
& WARNING (co ntinued )
• Always keep the belts clean. Dirty belts may not work properly
and can impair the function of the inertia reel ::::>
page 272,
"Safety belts". •
Safety belts
Belt positioner
Th e driver and fr ont passenger se ats are e qui pp ed with
b elt pos itione rs.
Fig. 192 Driver 's seat:
Be lt positioner
Th e fron t seats a re equipped with belt posi tioners so it is easie r to
fasten the safety be lts. The belt posit ioners automatically extend
w hen the door closes and the igni tion swi tch es on=> fig. 192.
T he be lt pos it io ner returns to its starting posit ion aga in when
• the tong ue in the be lt latch engages or the belt was not fastene d
w it hi n 60 s eco nds .
• you switc h the ignition off .
• you open the door.