2012 AUDI A5 COUPE towing

218 Trailer towing
Trailer towing
Driving with a trailer
General information
Your Audi was designed primarily for passen­
ger transportation .
If you plan to tow a trailer, p lease remember
that the additional load will affect durability,
economy and performance .
Trailer towing not on ly places more stress on
the vehicle, it also calls for more concentra­
tion from the driver.
For this reason, always fo llow the operating
and driving instructions provided and use
common sense.
Technical requirements
Trailer hitch Use a weight-carrying hitch conforming to the
gross trailer weight. The hitch must be suita­
ble for your vehicle and trailer and must be
mounted securely on the veh icle's chassis at a
technically sound location. Use only a trailer
hitch with a removable ball mount. Always
check with the trailer hitch manufacturer to
make sure that you are using the correct
hitch.
Do not use a bumper hitch.
The hitch must be installed in such a way that
it does not interfere with the impact-absorb­
ing bumper system . No modifications should
be made to the vehicle exhaust and brake sys­
tems . From time to time, check that all hitch
mounting bolts remain securely fastened.
When you are not towing a trailer, remove the
trailer hitch ball mount. This prevents the
hitch from causing damage should your vehi­
cle be struck from behind
¢ A.
Trailer brakes
If your trailer is equipped with a braking sys­
tem, check to be sure that it conforms to all
regulations . The trailer
hydraulic brake system must not be
direct ly connected to the vehicle's hydraulic
brake system
~ A.
Safety chains
Always use safety chains between your vehicle
and the trai le r.
Trailer lights
T railer lights must meet all regulations. Be
sure to check w ith your authorized Audi dealer
for correct wiring, switches, and relays.
Mirrors
If you are unable to see the traffic behind you
using the regular outside mirrors, then you
must install extended mirrors . It is important
that you
always have clear vis ion to the rear.
,8. WARNING
- If a trailer has electrical brakes please
note that these brakes are not activated
by the factory-fitted control unit -risk of
accident!
- Afte r removing the trailer hitch, do not
store it in your vehicle. In case of sudden
braking, the hitch could fly forward and
injure you or your passengers.
Operating instructions
Maximum trailer weight
-
A trailer for your vehicle is limited to a typical
class 1 or class 2 tra iler.
Trailer load distribution Be sure the load in the trailer is held secure ly
in place to prevent it from shifting forward,
backward or sideways.
Never allow a passenger to ride in a trailer
¢ A in Driving instructions on page 219.
Engine cooling system
T owing a trailer makes the engine work hard ­
er. It is important that the cooling system's
performance is up to the additional load.
Make sure that the cooling system has enough
fluid . .,..

Tire pressure
When towing a tra ile r, inflate the t ires of your
vehi cle to the co ld tire pressure listed under
"Full load" on the label located either on the
driver's side B-pillar (visible when the doo r is
open) or inside the f uel f iller flap. Inf late
trailer tires to trailer and tire manufact urers'
specifications .
Lights
The headlight settings should be chec ked w ith
the t railer attached before dr iv ing off. Check
to make sure both vehicle and trai ler lights
are working properly.
Safety chains
Be s ure trai le r sa fety chains are p roperly con ­
nected from the t railer to the hitch on the ve­
h icle. Leave enough s lack in the chains to per ­
mit turn ing corners . When you install safety
chains, make su re they w ill not drag on the
road when you are driving.
T he chains shou ld cross under the trai ler
tongue to prevent it from droppi ng in case of
separat io n from the hitch .
Driving instructions
Driving with a trailer always requires extra
care and consideration.
To obtain the best poss ible handling of vehicle
and trai ler, p lease note the following:
.,. Do no t tow a loa ded tra iler whe n your car i t­
self is no t loaded .
.,. Be especia lly careful when passing other ve ­
hicles.
.,. Observe speed limits.
.,. Do not drive at the maximum permissible
speed.
.,. Always apply brakes early .
.,. Monito r the t em perature gauge.
Weight distribution
Tow ing a loaded trai ler with an empty car re­
sults in a highly unstable distribution of
weight . If this ca nnot be avo ided, drive at very
Trailer towin g 219
low speeds on ly to avo id t he ris k of losing
steering cont ro l.
A "b alanced " rig i s ea sier to op erat e and con­
tr ol. T his means t hat t he tow vehi cle should
be loaded to the extent possible and permissi ­
ble, while keep ing the trai ler as light as possi­
ble under the c ircu mstances . Whenever poss i­
ble, transfer some ca rgo to the luggage com­
partment of the tow vehicle while obse rvi ng
tongue load requirements and vehicle load ing
cons idera tions .
Speed
The higher the speed, the more d iff icu lt it be­
comes for the driver to contro l the rig. Do not
drive at the maxim um permissib le speed. Re­
duce your speed even more if load, weather o r
wind conditions are unfavo rable -pa rticula rly
whe n going downhill .
Red uce ve hicle speed
immediately if the trail­
er shows the slig htest s ign of sway ing .
Do not
try to stop the swaying by accelerating .
Observe speed limits. In some areas, speeds
for vehicles tow ing tra ile rs are lowe r than for
regular ve hicles .
A lways apply brakes early. When driving
down hill, shift into a lowe r gear to use the en­
gine braking effect to s low the vehicle. Use of
the b rakes alone ca n cause them to overhea t
and fail.
Coo lant temperature
The coo lant temperat ure ga uge ¢ page 10
must be observed carefu lly. If the need le
m oves cl ose to t he upper end of t he scale, re­
duce speed immediately and/or turn off t he
a ir condi tioner .
If the coolant temperature warning light .
in the instrument cluster starts flashing, pull
off the road , stop and let the engine
i dle for
abo ut two minutes to prevent heat build-up .
A WARNING
Anyone no t properly restra ined in a mov­
in g ve hicle i s at a much gre ater r isk in an
a cci dent . N ever le t anyone rid e in yo ur car
-
•
•

220 Trailer towing
who is not properly wearing the restraints
provided by Aud i.
Trailer towing tips
Important to know
Your vehicle hand les different ly when towing
a trailer because of the additional weight and
different weight distribution. Safety, perform­
ance and economy wi ll greatly depend on how
carefully you load your trailer and operate
your rig.
Before you actually tow your trailer, practice
turning, stopp ing and backing up in an area
away from traffic. Keep practicing until you have become completely familiar with the way
your vehicle-trailer combination behaves and responds.
Backing up is difficult and requires practice.
Backing up with a trai ler genera lly requires
steering action opposite to that when backing up your vehicle without a trailer.
Maintain a greater distance between your ve­
hicle and the one in front of you. You will need
more room to stop. To compensate for the
trailer, you will need a larger than normal
turn ing radius .
When passing, remember that you cannot ac­
celerate as fast as you normally would be­
cause of the added load. Make sure you have
enough room to pass . After passing, allow
plenty of room for your tra iler before chang­
ing lanes aga in.
Avoid jerky starts, sharp turns or rapid lane
changes .
(D Tips
-Do not tow a tra iler during the break-in
period of your vehicle.
- If you tow a trailer, your Audi may re­
quire more frequent maintenance due to
the extra load
q page 293.
Parking on a slope
Do not park on a slope with a trailer . If it can­
not be avoided, do so only after doing the fol­ lowing:
When parking:
.. App ly the foot brake.
.. Have someone place chocks under both the
vehicle and the trailer wheels .
.,. With chocks in place, slowly release the
brakes until the wheel chocks absorb the
load.
.. Turn the wheels towards the curb.
.. App ly the parking brake.
.. Place an automatic transmission* in
P, re­
spectively a manual transmission in first or reverse gear.
When restarting after parking:
.. App ly the foot brake.
.. Start the engine.
.. Move the se lector lever to
D , respectively a
manual transmission in first gear .
.. Release the parking brake and slow ly pu ll
out and away from the wheel chocks.
.. Stop and have someone retr ieve the wheel
chocks .
(D Tips
If you move the selector lever of the auto­
matic transmission* to
P before applying
the parking brake and before blocking the
whee ls, you may have to use more force
lat er to move the lever out of the
P posi­
tion.

loaded traile r - does not make the
vehicle heavi er than the vehicle's G ross
Vehicle Weight Rat ing.
Determining correct load limit
Use the example below to cal­
culate the total weight of the
passengers and luggage or oth­
er things that you plan to trans­
port so that you can make sure
that your vehicle will not be
overloaded.
Steps for Determining
Correct Load Limit
1. Locate the statement "THE
COMBINED WEIGHT OF OC­
CUPANTS AND CARGO
SHOULD NEVER EXCEED XXX KG OR XXX LBS"on your vehi­
cle's placard (tire inflation
pressure label)
¢ page 256 ,
fig. 210 .
2. Determine the combined
weight of the drive r and pa s­
sengers that will be riding in
your vehicle.
3 . Subtract the combined
weight of the driver and pas­
sengers from
" XXX " kilo­
grams or
"XXX " pounds
shown on the sticker
¢page 256 , fig. 210.
4. The resulting figure equals
the available amount of car-
Tires and wheels 261
go and luggage load capaci­
ty. For exampl e, if the
"XXX"
amount equal s 1400 lbs.
and there will be five 150
lb s. passengers in your vehi ­
c le, the amount of available
c argo and lugga ge load ca­
pacity is 650 lb s. (1400-7 50
(5
X 150) = 650 lbs .)
5. Dete rmine the combined
weight of luggage and cargo being loaded on the vehi cle .
That weight may not safely exceed the available cargo
and luggage load capa city
cal culated in Step
4.
6 . If your vehi cle will be towing
a trailer , load from your trail­
er will be transferred to your
vehicle. Consult this manual
to determine how this re­ duce s the available cargo
and luggage load capacity of
your vehicle .
~ Check the tire sidewall
(¢ page 263 , fig. 214) to de­
term ine the designated load
rating for a specif ic t ire.
•
•
'

What do I do now?
Vehicle tool kit
The tools ore stored underneath the floor
panel in the luggage comportment.
F ig . 2 17 Lug gage compar tment: tool kit
When you need access to the veh icle tool kit
or jack*, you will need to take o ut the spare
tire* and cover¢
page 2 73.
The vehicle tool kit includes:
- Hook for removing wheel covers*
- Alignment pin for changing the whee l
- Screwdriver w ith reversible blade
- T ool for chang ing light bulbs
- Reversible bit (reve rsible Torx bit for chang-
ing light b ulbs)
- Rod for jack
- Jack*
- Lug wrench
- Towing eye
Some o f the ve hicle items listed above are
p rov ided o n certain models on ly or are opt ion­
a l extras.
Before returning the ja ck* to its place, ret ract
the jack a rm fully.
& WARNING
- Never use t he screw driver hex head to
tighten whee l bolts, since the bolts can­
not attain the necessary tightening tor ­
que if yo u use the hex head, potentially
caus ing an accident.
- The factory-supplied jack is intended on­
ly for your ve hicle model. Unde r no cir­
c u mstances should it be used to
lift
What do I d o now ? 273
heavy ve hicles o r other loads; yo u risk in­
juring yo urself.
- Never start the engi ne when the vehicle
is raised, which could cause an acc ident.
- Support the vehicle secu re ly wit h app ro­
priate stands if wor k is to be performed
underneath the vehicle; otherwise, there
is a pote ntia l risk for injury .
Space-saving spare tire
(compact spare tire)*
App lies to vehicles: wit h space-saving spare tire
The spore tire/wheel is located in the luggage
comportment under the cargo floor cover. It
is in tended for short -term use only.
Fi g. 2 18 Spa re tire
Removing the spare ti re
.. Lift
th e cargo floo r by the p lastic handle
r:!) fig. 218.
.. Hook the handle into the luggage compart­
ment weather strip.
.. Turn t he large screw¢
fig. 218 counter­
clockw ise .
.. Take out the spare tire .
.. Unhook the cargo floor befo re clos ing the
re ar l id.
Securing the repl aced tire
.. Place the wheel with tire in the spare wheel
we ll and secure the wheel with the large
screw.
.. Unhook the cargo floor befo re closing t he
re ar lid .
Using the spare tire (compact spare tire)
The compact spa re tire is only i ntended for
emergencies unt il you ca n reach a repa ir shop .
l)JI,

274 What do I do no w?
Replace it as quickly as possible with a stand ­
ard whee l and tir e.
There are some restric tions on the use of the
compact spare t ire . T he compact spare t ire
has been designed specifically fo r you r type of
vehicle . It must not be swapp ed with a com­
pact spare t ire from another type of veh icle .
Snow cha in s
For technical reasons, the use of snow chains
on the compact spare tire is
not p ermitt ed .
If you do have to dr ive with snow cha ins and a
front tire fails, mount the spare wheel w ith
tire instead of a rear t ire. Install the snow
cha ins on the rear t ire and use it to rep lace
the defective front tire .
A WARNING
-Never use the spare tire if it is damaged
or if it is worn down to the tread wear in­
dicators.
- If the spare tire is more than 6 years o ld,
use it only in an emergency and w ith ex­
treme caution and careful driving.
- The spare tire is intended only for tem­
porary and short-term use. It should be
replaced as soon as possib le w ith the
normal wheel and t ire .
- After mounting the compact spare tire,
the tire pressure must be checked as
soon as poss ible. The tire pressure of the
compact spare tire must be 4 .2 bar; oth­
erwise, you risk hav ing an accident.
- Do not drive faster than SO mph (80 km/
h) . You risk having an acc ident .
-Avoid full-throttle acce le rat ion, heavy
braking, and fast corner ing . You risk hav­
ing an acc ident.
- Never drive us ing more than one spare
wheel and tire . You risk having an acci­
dent .
- Normal summer or winte r tires must not
be mounted on the compact spare whee l
rim.
- For technical reasons, the use of tire
chains on the spare tire is not permitted.
If it is necessary to dr ive with tire chains, the spare wheel must be mounted on the
front ax le in the event of a flat in a rear
tire. The new ly available front wheel
must then be installed in place of the
rea r whee l w ith the flat tire . Installing
the t ire cha in before mounting the whee l
and tire is recomme nded .
- Loose items in the passenger compa rt­
ment can cause se rious personal injury
du ring hard bra king or in a n accident.
- Never store the inflatable spare ti re or
jack and too ls in the passenger com ­
partment.
- Always store all jacking equipment,
tools, and the inflatable spare t ire in
the luggage compartment.
-Tighten the knurled retaining screw for the inflatable spare tire securely .
Changing a wheel
· Before changing a wheel
Observe the following precautions for your
own and your passenger's safety when chang­
ing a wheel.
" After you experience a t ire failure, pull the
car well away from mov ing traffic and try to
reach
l evel ground before you stop ¢ A_.
" All passengers should leave th e car and
move to a safe location ( for ins tance, behind
t he guardrail) ¢&_ .
" Engage the
pa rking brake to prevent your
vehicle from rolling unintentionally¢&_ .
" Shift into
1st gear on veh icles with manual
transmiss ion, or move the
selector leve r to
the P posit ion
on vehicles w it h automatic
transmiss io n*.
" If you are towing a trailer : unhitch the trail­
er from you r vehicle.
" Take the
ja ck ¢ page 2 73 and the spare tire
¢ page 2 73 o ut o f the luggage compart­
ment .

284 Emergency situations
Emergency situations
General
This chapter is intended for trained emer­
gency crews and working personnel who
have the necessary tools and equipment to perform these operations.
Starting by pushing or
towing
Q;) Note
Vehicles with an automatic transmission
cannot be started by pushing or towing.
Starting with jumper
cables
If necessary , the engine can be started by
connecting it to the battery of another vehi­
cle.
If the engine should fail to start because of a
discharged or weak battery, the battery can be
connected to the battery of
another vehicle,
using a
pair of jumper cables to start the en­
gine .
Jumper cables
Use only jumper cables of sufficiently
large cross section to carry the starter current
safely. Refer to the manufacturer's specifica­
ti ons.
Use only jumper cables with
insulated termi­
nal clamps which are distinctly marked :
plus(+) cable in most cases colored red
minus (-) cable
in most cases colored black .
A WARNING
Batteries contain electricity, acid, and gas.
Any of these can cause very serious or fatal
injury. Follow the instructions below for
safe handling of your vehicle's battery.
- Always shield your eyes and avoid lean­
ing over the battery whenever possible. -
A discharged battery can freeze at tem­
peratures just below
32 °F (0 °(). Before
connecting a jumper cable, you must
thaw the frozen battery completely, oth­
erwise it could explode.
- Do not allow battery acid to contact eyes
or skin . Flush any contacted area with
water immediately .
- Improper use of a booster battery to
start a vehicle may cause an explosion.
- Vehicle batteries generate explosive gas­
es . Keep sparks, flame and lighted ciga­
rettes away from batteries .
- Do not try to jump start any vehicle with
a low acid level in the battery .
- The voltage of the booster battery must
also have a 12-Volt rating. The capacity
(Ah) of the booster battery should not be
lower than that of the discharged bat­
tery . Use of batteries of different voltage
or substantially different "Ah" rating
may cause an explosion and personal in­
jury.
- Never charge a frozen battery. Gas trap­
ped in the ice may cause an explosion.
- Never charge or use a battery that has
been frozen. The battery case may have
be weakened.
- Use of batteries of different voltage or
substantially different capacity (Ah) rat­
ing may cause an explosion and injury.
The capacity (Ah) of the booster battery
should not be lower than that of the dis­
charged battery.
- Before you check anything in the engine
compartment, always read and heed all
WARNINGS¢
page 230, Engine com­
partment.
@ Note
- Applying a higher voltage booster bat­
tery will cause expensive damage to sen­
sitive electronic components, such as
control units, relays, radio, etc.
- There must be no electrical contact be­
tween the vehicles as otherwise current
could already start to flow as soon as the
positive(+) terminals are connected. ..,.

28 6 Em ergency sit uat ions
-Jumper cables must be long enough so
that the vehicles do not touch.
- When connecting jumper cables, make
sure that they cannot get caught in any
moving parts in the engine compart­
ment.
- Do not bend over the batteries -danger
of chemical burns!
- The battery ce ll locking screws must be
tightened securely .
- Before you check anything in the engine
compartment, always read and heed all
WARNINGS 9
page 230, Engine com­
partment.
(D Note
Improper hook-up of jumper cables can ru­
in the generator.
- Always connect POSITIVE( +) to POSI­
TIVE(+), and N EGATIVE( -) to NEGATIVE
( - ) ground post of the battery manager
control unit.
- Check that all screw plugs on the battery cells are sc rewed in firmly . If not, tighten
plugs prior to connecting clamp on nega­
tive battery terminal.
- Please note that the procedure for con­
nect ing a jumper cable as described
above applies spec ifically to the case of
your vehicle being jump started . When
you are giving a jump start to another ve­ hicle, do
not connect the negat ive (-) ca­
ble to the negative( -) terminal on the
discharged battery@9fig.
231. In ­
stead, securely connect the negative(-)
cab le to either a solid metal component
that is firmly bolted to the engine block
or to the engine block itse lf. If the bat­
tery that is being charged does not vent
to the outside, escaping batte ry gas
could ignite and explode!
Emergency towing
with commercial tow
truck
General hints
Your Audi requires special handling for tow­
ing.
T he following information is to be used by
commercial tow truck operators who know
how to operate their equipment safely.
- Nev er tow y our Audi , tow in g will cau se
damage t o the engi ne and tr an smi ssion .
- Ne ver wrap th e safety chain s or winch ca­
bl es around the b rak e lin es.
- To pre vent unne ce ss ary dam age, your Audi
mus t be tr an sp o rt ed with a flat bed t ruck.
- To load th e vehicle on to th e flat b ed, use
th e t owing l oop found in th e vehicle too ls
a nd a ttac h to th e front or rea r a nchor age
c;,poge 287 and c;,page 287 .
& WARNING
= -
A vehicle being towed is not safe for pas­
sengers. Never allow anyone to ride in a
vehicle being towed, for any reason.