2011 AUDI TT ROADSTER steering

116 Airbag sys te m
angle of im pact that will always trig ger the
airbags, since the circumstances wi ll vary con­
siderably between one collision and another.
Important factors include, for example, the
nature (hard or soft) of the object which the
car h its, the angle of impact, vehicle speed,
etc. The front airbags will also not inflate in
side or rear collisions, or in roll-overs .
Always remember : Airbags will deploy only
once, and only in certa in kinds of collisions.
Your safety belts are always there to offe r pro­
tection in those s ituations in which airbags
a re not supposed to deploy, or when they have
a lready deployed; for example, when yo ur ve­
h icle strikes or is st ruck by another after the
first collision .
This is just one of the reaso ns why an a irbag is
a supplementary restra in t and is no t a s ubst i­
tute for a safety be lt. The airbag system
works most effective ly when used with the
safety be lts. Therefore, always properly wear
your safety belts¢
page 107.
A WARNING
Sitting too close to the steer ing wheel or
instrument panel will decrease the effec­
tiveness of the airbags and will increase
the risk of pe rsonal injury in a collision .
- Never sit closer than 10 inches (25 cm)
to the stee ring wheel or instr ument pan­
el.
- If you cannot sit more than 10 inches
(25 cm) from the steer ing wheel, investi­
gate whethe r adaptive equipment may
be available to held you reach the pedals
and incre ase your sea ting dis tance from
the steering wheel.
- If you are unrestrained, lean ing fo rward,
sitting sideways or out of posi tion in any
way, your risk of injury is much higher.
- Yo u w il l a lso receive serio us in juries and
co uld even be killed if you are up against
the airbag or too close to it when it in ­
flates -even with an Advanced Airbag.
- To reduce the r is k of i njury when an air ­
bag inf lates, a lways wear safety belts
properly
c::> page 110, Safety belts .
-If ch ildren are not properly restra ined,
they may be severely injured or killed
when an airbag inflates.
- Never let ch ildren ride unrestrained or
improperly restrained in the vehicle. Ad­
just the fro nt seats properly.
- Always sit as far as possible from the steer ing whee l or the instrument pane l
¢ page 99, Proper occupant seating po­
sitions.
- Always sit uprig ht with your back against
the backrest of your seat.
- Never p lace your feet on the instrument
panel or on the seat. Always keep both
feet on the f loor in front of the seat to
he lp prevent serio us in ju ries to the legs
a nd h ips if the airbag inflates.
A WARNING
A irbags that have deployed i n a crash must
b e repla ced.
- Use on ly or ig inal equipment airbags ap­
p roved by Aud i and installed by a trained
technici an who has the necessa ry too ls
an d diagnost ic equipment to properly re­
p lace any airbag in your vehicle an d as­
sure system effectiveness in a crash.
- Never permit salvaged or recycled air ­
bags to be installed in yo ur vehicle.
Child restraints on the front seat - some
important things to know
.. Be sure to read the important information
and head the WARNINGS for important de ­
tails about children and Advanced A irbags
¢page 136.
The airbag on the passenger side makes the
front seat a potentia lly dange rous place fo r a
c hi ld to ride. The front seat is not the safest
place fo r a child in a fo rward-facing child safe­
ty seat.
It can be a very d angerous p lace for a n
infant or a chi ld in a rearw ard-f acing seat.
T he Advanced A irbag System in you r vehicle
has been ce rtified to comply wit h the Require ­
ments of Un ited States Fede ral Motor Vehicle .,.

Front airbags
Description of front airbags
The airbag system can provide supplemental
protection to properly restrained front seat
occupants .
Fig. 119 Lo cation of dri ver airbag: in steering whee l
Fig. 120 Loca tion of front passe nger's ai rb ag : in the in­
strument panel
Your vehicle is equipped with an "Advanced
Airbag System" in compliance with United
States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
(FMVSS) 208 as applicable at the time your
vehicle was manufactured . The safety belts
for the front seats have "pretensioners" that
help to take slack out of the belt system. The
pretensioners are also activated by the elec­
tronic control unit for the airbag system.
The front safety belts also have load limiters
to help reduce the forces applied to the body
in a crash .
The airbag for the driver is in the steer ing
wheel hub¢
fig. 119 and the airbag for the
front passenger is in the instrument panel
¢
fig. 120. The general location of the airbags
is marked "AIRBAG".
There is a lot you need to know about the air­
bags in your vehicle . We urge you to read the
Airbag system 119
detailed information about airbags, safety
b elts and child safety in this and the other
chapters that make up the owner's literature .
Please be sure to heed the WARNINGS - they
are extremely important for your safety and
the safety of your passengers, especially in­
fants and small children.
A WARNING ,.;;
Never rely on airbags alone for protection .
- Even when they deploy, airbags provide
only supplementa l protect ion.
- Airbag work most effectively when used
with properly worn safety belts.
- Therefore, always wear your safety belts
and make sure that everybody in your ve­
hicle is properly restrained.
A WARNING
A person on the front passenger seat, es­
pecially infants and small children, will re­
ceive serious injuries and can even be kil­
led by being too close to the airbag when
it inflates .
- Altho ugh the Advanced Airbag System in
your veh icle is designed to turn off the
front passenger airbag if an infant or a
small child is on the front passenger
seat, nobody can absolutely guarantee
that deployment under these special
conditions is imposs ible in all conceiva­
ble situations that may happen during
the useful life of your vehicle .
- The Advanced Airbag System can deploy
in accordance with the "low risk" option
under the U .S. Federal Standard if a child
that is heavie r than the typical one-year
old child is on the front passenger seat
and the other conditions for airbag de­
ployment are met .
- Accident statistics have shown that chil ­
dren are generally safer in the rear seat
area than in the front seating position.
- For its own safety, a child should always
ride properly restrained for its age and
size.
-

-The inflating airbag will hit the child
safety seat or infant carrier with great
force and w ill smash the ch ild safety seat
and child against the backrest, center
arm rest, door or roof.
- If you must install a rearward facing
child safety seat on the front passenger
seat because of exceptional circumstan­ ces and the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light does no t come on and stay on, im­
med iately install the rear-facing child
safety seat in a rear seating position and
have the airbag system inspected by your
Audi dealer .
&_ WARNING
Objects between you and the airbag will
increase the risk of in jury in a crash by in­
terfering with the way the airbag unfolds or by being pushed into you as the a irbag
inflates.
- Never hold th ings in your hands or on
your lap when the vehicle is in use .
- Never transport items on or in the area
of the front passenger seat. Objects
could move into the area of the front air­
bags dur ing braking or other sudden ma­
neuver and become dange rous projec­
t il es that can cause serious personal in­
jury if the airbags inflate.
- Never place o r attach accessories or oth­
er objects (such as cup ho lders, tele­
phone brackets, large, heavy or b ulky ob­
jects) on the doors, over or near the area
marked "AIRBAG" on the steering wheel,
instrument panel, seat backrests or be­
tween those areas and yourself. These
objects could cause injury in a crash, es­
pecially when the airbags inflate.
- 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 dur ing braking or in a
sudden maneuver. Objects near the air­
bags can be come project iles and cause
injury, part icularly when the seat is re­
cl ined.
-
A irbag sys tem 125
&_ WARNING
The fine dust created when airbags deploy
can cause breathing prob lems fo r people
with a history of as thma or other breath­
ing cond itions.
- To reduce the risk of breath ing problems,
those with asthma o r other respiratory
conditions s hou ld get fresh air r ight
away by getting o ut of the veh icle or
open ing windows or doors.
- If you are in a collision in which airbags
deploy, wash your hands and fa ce with
mild soap and wate r before eating.
- Be ca reful not to get the dust in to your
eyes, o r into any c uts or sc ratches.
- If the residue should get into your eyes,
f lush them w ith wate r.
Monitoring the
Advanced Airbag System
fl~ Airbag monitoring indicator light
Two separate indicators monitor the function
of the Advanced Airbag System: the airbag
monitoring indicator light and the
PASSEN­
GER AIR BAG O FF
light.
T he Advanced A irbag System (includ ing the
electron ic co ntro l unit, sensor circu its and sys­
tem wiring) is monitored continuously to
make sure that it is function ing properly
whenever the ignition is on. Each time you
turn on the ignition, the airbag mon itoring in­
dicator light
I will come on for a few seconds
(self diagnostics).
Th e syste m mu st b e in spected when the
indicator light
I :
- does not come on when the ignition is
sw itched on,
- does not go out a few seconds after you
have switched on the ignit ion, or
- comes on while driving.
If an airbag system malfunction is detected,
the indicator light wi ll first start flashing to
catch the driver's attention and then stay on
llo-
•
•

128 Airbag system
-Even though your vehicle is equipped
with an Advanced Airbag System, make
certain that all children, especially 12
years and younger, always ride on the
back seat properly restrained for their
age and size.
- If you must install a rearward-facing
child safety seat on the front passenger
seat because of exceptional circumstan­
ces and the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light does not appear and stay on, imme­
diately install the rear-facing child safety
seat in a rear seating position and have the airbag system inspected by your Audi
dealer.
- A tight tether or other strap on a rear­
ward-facing child restraint attached to
the front passenger seat can put too
much pressure on the weight-sensing
mat in the seat and register more weight
than is actually on the seat. The heavier
weight registered can make the system
work as though an adult were on the seat
and deploy the Advanced Airbag when it
must be suppressed causing serious or
even fatal injury to the child.
- If, in exceptional circumstances, you
must install a forward-facing child re­
straint on the front passenger seat, al­
ways move the seat into its rearmost po­
sition in the seat's fore and aft adjust­
ment range, as far away from the airbag
as possible. The backrest must be adjust­
ed to an upright position . Make sure that
the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
comes on and stays on all the time when­
ever the ignition is switched on.
A WARNING
- If the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
does not go out when an adult is sitting
on the front passenger seat after taking
the steps described above, have the air­
bag system inspected by your Audi deal­
er before transporting anyone on the
front passenger seat.
-
(!) Tips
If the weight-sensing mat in the front pas­
senger seat detects an empty seat, the
front airbag on the passenger side will be
turned
off, and PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
will stay on.
Repair , care and disposal of the airbags
Parts of the airbag system are installed at
many different places on your Audi. Installing,
removing, servicing or repairing a part in an
area of the vehicle can damage a part of an
airbag system and prevent that system from
working properly in a collision.
There are some important things you have to
know to make sure that the effectiveness of
the system will not be impaired and that dis­
carded components do not cause injury or pol­
lute the environment.
A WARNING
-Improper care, servicing and repair proce-
dures can increase the risk of personal in­
jury and death by preventing an airbag from deploying when needed or deploying
an airbag unexpectedly:
- Never cover, obstruct, or change the
steering wheel horn pad or airbag cover
or the instrument panel or modify them
in any way.
- Never attach any objects such as cup
holders or telephone mountings to the
surfaces covering the airbag units.
- For cleaning the horn pad or instrument
panel, use only a soft, dry cloth or one
moistened with plain water. Solvents or
cleaners could damage the airbag cover
or change the stiffness or strength of the material so that the airbag cannot de­
ploy and protect properly.
- Never repair, adjust, or change any parts
of the airbag system.
- All work on the steering wheel, instru­
ment panel, front seats or electrical sys-
tem (including the installation of audio
II),

132 Airbag system
help to reduce the risk of injury to the lower
extremit ies.
All this takes place instantaneously, so fast
that many people don 't even realize that the
airbags have deployed. The airbags also in­
flate with a great deal of force and it is impor­
tant for occupant safety that nothing should be in their way when they deploy.
Fully inflated airbags in combination with
properly worn safety belts slow down and lim­
it the occupant's forward movement and help
to reduce the risk.
Important safety instructions on the
knee airbag system
Airbags are only supplemen tal res traints. Al­
ways wear safety belts correctly and ride in a
proper seating position.
The re is a lot tha t you and your passengers
must know and do to help the safety belts and
airbags to provide supplemental protection .
A WARNING
An inflating knee airbag can cause serious
injury. Wearing safety belts incorrectly and
improper seating positions increase the
risk of serious personal injury and death
whenever a vehicle is being used .
- The airbag system cannot protect you
properly if you are seated too close to
any of the airbag locations. When adjust­
ing their seat positions, it is important
that both the driver and the front pas­
senger keep their upper bodies and
knees at the following minimum safe
distances:
- 10 inches (25 cm) between the chest
and the steering wheel/instrument
panel.
- 4 inches (10 cm) between the knees
and the lower part of the instrument
panel.
- The risk of personal injury increases if
you lean forward or to the side, or if the seat is improperly positioned and you are
not wearing your safety belt. The risk in- creases even more should the airbag de­
ploy
.
- Always make sure that the knee airbag
can inflate without interference. Objects
between yourself and the airbag can in­
crease the risk of injury in an accident by
interfering with the way the airbag de­
ploys 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 de­
ploys, this can result in serious or fatal
injuries.
- No objects of any kind should be car­
ried in the footwell area in front of the
driver 's or passenger's seat . Bulky ob ­
jects (shopping bags, for example) can
hamper or prevent proper deployment
of the airbag . Small objects can be
thrown through the vehicle if the air­
bag deploys and injure you or your pas­
sengers.
- Make sure there are no cracks, deep
scratches or other damage in the area of
the instrument panel where the knee air­
bags are located.
- If children are incorrectly seated, their
risk of injury increases in the case of an
accident
c:> page 136, Child Safety.
Side airbags
Description of side airbags
T he airbag system can provide supplemen tal
protection to properly restrained front seat
occupants.
Fig. 12S S ide a irba g locatio n in the d river's seat

A 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.
-Always follow the manufacturer's in­
structions provided with the child safety
seat or carrier.
- 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 child restraint. The backrest must be
adjusted to an upright position.
- Always make sure that the
PASSENGER
AIR BAG OFF light comes on and stays
on all the time whenever the ignition is
switched on.
Advanced front airbag system and children
Your vehicle is equipped with an "Advanced
Airbag System" in compliance with United
States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
(FMVSS) 208 as applicable at the time your
vehicle was manufactured.
The Advanced Airbag system in your vehicle
has been certified to meet the "low-risk" re­
quirements for 3- and 6-year old children on
the passenger side and small adults on the
driver side. The low risk deployment criteria
are intended to reduce the risk of injury
through interaction with the airbag that can
occur, for example, by being too close to the
steering wheel and instrument panel when
the airbag inflates. In addition, the system has been certified to comply with the "sup­
pression" requirements of the Safety Stand­
ard, to turn
off the front airbag for infants up
to 12 months who are restrained on the front
passenger seat in child restraints that are list­
ed in the Standard.
Child Safety 137
Even though your vehicle is equipped with an
Advanced Airbag system, a child should al­
ways ride in theseat properly restrained for its
age and si ze . 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 larger child in a rear­
ward-facing seat.
Advanced Airbags and the weight­
sensing mat in the front seat
The Advanced Airbag System in your vehicle detects the presence of an infant or child in a
child restraint on the front passenger seat us­
ing the weight -sensing mat in the seat cush­
ion and the sensor below the safety belt latch
on the front passenger seat that measures the
tension on the safety belt.
The weight -sensing mat measures total
weight of the child and the child safety seat
and a child blanket on the front passenger
seat. The weight on the front passenger seat
is related to the design of the child restraint
and its "footprint", the size and shape of the
bottom of the child restraint as it sits on the
seat. The weight of a child restraint and its
"footprint" vary for different kinds of child re­
straints and for the different models of the
same kind of child restraint offered by child
restraint manufacturers .
The weight ranges for the individual types,
makes and models of child restraints that the
NHTSA has specified in the Safety Standard
together with the weight ranges of typical in­
fants and typical 1 year-old child have been
stored in the control unit of the Advanced Air­
bag System. When a child restraint is being
used on the front passenger seat with a typi­
cal 1 year-old child, the Advanced Airbag Sys­
tem compares the weight measured by the
weight sensing mat with the information stor­
ed in the electronic control unit.
The electronic control unit also registers the
tension on the front passenger safety belt. ..,. •
•

148 Intelligent technology
Intelligent technology Notice about data
recorded by vehicle
control modules
Your vehicle is not equipped with an Event Da­
ta Recorder (EDR), installed by some manu­
facturers fo r the express purpose of capturing
data for retrieval after an accident or crash
event . EDR's are sometimes called "crash re­
corders".
Some state laws restrict the retrieval or down­
loading of data stored by EDR's that were in­
stalled in a vehicle for the express purpose of
retrieving data after an accident or crash
event without the owner's consent.
A lthough your vehicle is not equipped with an
EDR, it is equipped with a number of electron­
ic control modules for various vehicle systems
such as, for example, engine function, emis­
sion control, as well as for the airbags and
safety belts .
These electronic control modules also record
vehicle-related data during normal vehicle op­
eration for diagnostic and repair purposes.
The recording capacity of the electronic con­
trol modules is limited to data (no sound is re­
corded) and only a small amount of data is ac­
tually recorded over a very limited period of
time and stored when a system fault or other
condition is sensed by a control unit. Some of
the data then stored may relate to vehicle
speed, direction, braking as well as restraint
system use and performance in the event of a
crash or other condition. Stored data can only
be read and downloaded with special equip­
ment.
Electronic Stabilization
Program (ESP)
General
The Electronic Stability Program increases
driving stability.
With ESP, control over the vehicle is increased
in situations when the vehicle is close to the
limits of grip, such as during acceleration and
in curves . ESP reduces the risk of skidding and
improves vehicle stability under all road con­
ditions.
It operates at all speeds.
The Anti -Lock Brake System (ABS), Electronic
Differential Lock (EDS) and Anti-Slip Regula­
tion System (ASR) are integrated in the Elec­
tronic Stability Program .
How ESP works
The ESP control unit processes the following
data from high-sensitive sensors : the rota­
tional speed of the vehicle about its vertical
axis , fore-and-aft and lateral acceleration
forces, brake pressure and steering angle.
Using steering angle and vehicle speed, the
direction the driver wishes to travel is deter­
mined and continuously compared with actual
vehicle behavior. If the two do not match, for
example when the vehicle begins to skid, ESP
brakes the appropriate wheel automatically.
The vehicle is stabilized again by the forces
acting on the wheel during braking. With an
oversteering vehicle (tendency for the rear end to skid out of the curve), the brake appli­
cation is mainly at the front wheel on the out­
side of the curve, with an understeering vehi­
cle (tendency to run wide in the curve) at the
rear wheel on the inside of the curve or addi­
tionally at the other wheels as needed. This
brake application is accompanied by noises.
ESP works in conjunction w ith ABS
~ page 153. If there is malfunction in the
ABS, ESP is also inoperative.

Anti-lock brake system (ABS)
ABS prevents the wheels from locking under braking.
The anti-lock brake system (ABS) makes a ma­
jor contribution to increasing active dr iving
safety. You should not expect that braking d is ­
tances will be
shortened under all circumstan­
ces with ABS. Braki ng d istance may even be­
come somewhat
longer, for example, on grav­
e l or in new snow on slippery g round, even if
you are driving care fully and s low ly.
ABS operation
When a vehicle speed of about 10 mph (20
km/h) is reached, an automatic test sequence
is run. Some noise from the pump may be au­
d ible.
I f the speed of a wheel slows down too much
r e lative to veh icle speed and it starts to lock,
brake pressure to this wheel is reduced. This
ad justment process can be felt as a
pul sin g
moti on of the br ake pedal , accompanied by
some noises. You as the driver are intentiona l­
ly being given the information that the whee ls
are tending to lock (ABS control range). In or ­
der for ABS to be able to operate optimally in
this range, you must keep the brake pedal de­ pressed - do not "pump the brakes ".
Brake a ssist ant
The brake power assist unit increases the
pressure that you generate with the brake
pedal. It works only w hen the eng ine is run­
ning .
Automatic full br ak ing
This function allows full brak ing in spite of
high brake pedal forces (e.g. when the brakes
are severely stressed because the vehicle is
fully loaded) . The driver notices th is function
throug h a reduction of pedal force and in ­
creased pedal travel. When the brake pedal is released, fu ll braking assist switches off again
automatically .
Intellig ent technolog y 153
If there is an ABS failure, the b rake assistant
and automatic fu ll braking assist are not avail­
able.
A WARNING
- ABS cannot suspend the laws of physics.
You should keep th is in mind in particu­
lar on an icy or wet road . If ABS control
of braking intervenes, you should adjust
your speed immed iately to road and traf­
fic conditions. Do not be tempted by the increased safety provided to take risks -
danger o f an accident .
- Please keep in mind tha t the risk of an
accident is increased by driving too fast,
particularly in bends and on icy or wet
roads, and by driving too close to the ve­
hicle ahead . The increased risk of an acci­
dent cannot be reduced by the brake as­
sistant - danger of an accident.
(D Tips
If a malfunction occurs in the ABS, this is
s ignalled by an indicator light, see
<=:> page 17.
Electro-mechanical
power assist
The electro-mechanical power assist helps
the driver when steering .
The degree of power assist is electronically
matched to vehicle speed.
The power steering system assists the driver
so that he can steer the vehicle with reduced physical effort .
Power steering will not work if the engine is
off . As a result, the steering wheel will be hard
to turn .
A WARNING
If the system develops a problem, you
must seek qualified professiona l assis­
tance.
•
•