2012 AUDI A5 COUPE Owners Manual

_& WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can
cause serious personal injury in an acci­
dent.
- The shoulder belt po rtion of the safety
belt must be pos it ioned over the m iddle
of the occupant's shoulder and neve r
across the neck or throat.
- The safety belt must lie flat and snug on
the occupant's upper body¢
fig. 172.
Pull on t he belt to t ighten if necessa ry.
- The lap belt port ion of the safety be lt
must be positioned as low as possible
across pe lvis and never ove r the abdo­
men. Ma ke s ure the be lt lies fla t and
snug¢
fig. 172 . Pull on the belt to tight ­
en if necessary .
- A loose-fitt ing safety be lt can cause ser i­
o us injuries by shifting its position on
your body from the strong bones to more vulnerab le, soft tissue and cause serious
injury.
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other important information
¢page 157.
Pregnant women must also be correctly
restrained
The best way to protect the fetus is to make
sure that expectant mothers always wear
safety belts correctly -throughout the preg­
nancy .
Fig. 173 Safety belt positio n during pregnancy
To provide maximum protection, safety belts
must always be posit ioned correct ly on the
wearer's body
¢ poge 158 .
Safety belts 159
.. Adjust the front seat and head restraint cor­
rectly ¢
page 61, General recommenda­
tions.
.. Make sure the seatback of the rear seat
bench is in an upright position and securely
latched in place before using the belt .
.. Hold the belt by t he tongue and pull it
even ly across the chest a nd pelv is
¢ fig. 173, ¢ .&_.
.. Insert the tongue into the correct buc kle of
your seat unti l you hear it latch secu rely
Qpoge 157, fig . 171 .
.. Pull on the belt to make sure that it is se­
curely latched in the buck le.
_& WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can
cause ser ious personal injury in an acc i­
dent.
- Expectant mothers must always wear the
lap portion of the safety belt as low as
possible across the pelvis and below the
round ing of the abdomen.
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other impo rtant information¢ .&.
in Fas­
tening safety belts on page 158.
Unfastening safety belts
Unbuckle the safety belt with the red release
button only after the vehicle has stopped.
F ig . 1 74 Releas ing the tongue from the buck le
.. Push the red release b utton on the buckle
Q fig. 174. T he be lt 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 . .,.

160 Safety belts
_& WARNING
Never unfasten safety belt while the veh i­
cle is moving . Doing so will increase your
r isk of being injured or killed.
Improperly worn safety belts
Incorrectly positioned safety belts can cause
severe injuries.
Wear ing safety belts improperly can cause se­
rious in jury or death. Safety belts can only
work when they are correct ly positioned on
the body. Improper seating positions reduce
the effect iveness of safety belts and will even
increase the risk of injury and death by mov­
ing the safety belt to critical areas of the
body. Improper seating positions also in­
crease the risk of serious injury and death
when an airbag deploys and str ikes an occu­
pant who is not in the correct seating posi­
tion . A driver is responsib le for the safety of
a ll vehicle occupants and especially for chi l­
dren. Therefore:
• Never permit anyone to assume an incorrect
s itting position in the veh icle wh ile traveling
Q 8_ .
_& WARNING
Improperly worn safety belts increase the
risk of serious personal injury and death
whenever a vehicle is being used.
- Always make sure that all vehicle occu-
pants are correct ly restrained and stay in
a correct seating position whenever the
vehicle is be ing used.
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other important information
Qpage 157.
Safety belt preten­
sioners
How safety belt pretensioners work
In front, side and rear-end collisions above a
particular severity, safety belts are tensioned
automatically.
T he safety belts are equipped with safety belt
pretensioners. The system is activated by sen­
sors in front, side and rear-end collisions of
great severity. This tightens the belt and takes
up belt slack
Q & in Service and disposal of
safety belt pretensioner on page 161.
Taking
up the slack helps to reduce forward occupant
movement during a collision.
([) Note
Never let the belt remain over a rear seat­
back that has been fo lded forward.
(D Tips
The safety belt pretensioner can only be
activated once.
-In minor frontal and side collisions, in
rear-end collisions, in a rollover and in
accidents involving very little impact
force, the safety belt pretensioner are
not activated .
- In the case of a side crash, the safety
belt pretensioners will activate on the
driver's or front passenger's sides only,
depending on which side of the veh icle
the crash occurs.
- When the safety belt pretensioners are
act ivated, a fine dust is released. This is
normal and is not caused by a fire in the
vehicle.
- The relevant safety requ irements must
be observed when the vehicle or compo­
nents of the system are scrapped. An au­
thorized Audi dealer or qualified work­
shop is familiar with these regulations
and wi ll be pleased to pass on the infor­
mation to you.

-Be sure to observe all safety, environ­
mental and other regulations if the vehi­
cle or individual parts of the system, par­
ticularly the safety belt or airbag, are to
be disposed. We recommend you have
your authorized Audi dealer perform this service for you .
Service and disposal of safety belt
pretension er
The safety belt pretensioners are parts of the
safety belts on your Audi. Installing, remov­ ing, servicing or repairing of belt pretension­
ers can damage the safety belt system and
prevent it from working correctly in a colli­
sion.
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 env ironment.
A WARNING
Improper care, servicing and repair proce­
dures can increase the risk of personal in­
jury and death by preventing a safety belt
pretens ioner from activating when needed
or activating it unexpectedly:
- The belt pretensioner system can be acti­
vated on ly once. If belt pretensioners
have been activated, the system must be
replaced.
- Never repair, adjust, or change any parts
of the safety belt system.
- Safety belt systems including safety be lt
pretensioners cannot be repaired. Spe­
cial procedures are required for removal,
installation and disposal of this system.
- For any work on the safety belt system,
we strongly recommend that you see
your authorized Audi dealer or qualified
technician who has an Audi approved re­ pair manual, training and special equip­
ment necessary .
Safety belts 161
@:) For the sake of the environment
Undeployed airbag modules and preten­
sioners might be classified as Perchlorate
Material -special handling may apply, see
www. dtsc. ca.gov/hazard o u swa ste/ per-
ch lo rate. When the veh icle or parts of the
restraint system including airbag modules
safety be lts with pretensioners are scrap­
ped, all applicable laws and regulations
must be observed. Your authorized Audi
dealer is familiar with these requirements
and we recommend that you have your
dealer perform this service for you.
•
•

162 Airbag sys tem
Airbag system
Important things to know
Importance of wearing safety belts and
sitting properly
Airbags are only supplemental restraints. For
airbags to do their job , occupants must al­
ways properly wear their safety belts and be
in a proper seating position.
F or your safety and the safety of your passen­
gers, before driving off, a lways:
• Adjust the dr iver's seat and steering wheel
properly ¢
page 145,
• Adjust the front passenger's seat properly
¢page 62,
• Wear safety be lts properly ¢ page 15 7,
• Always properly use the proper child re-
stra int to protect children¢
page 186.
In a collision airbags must inflate within the
blink of an eye and with considerable force .
The supplementa l airbags can cause injuries if
the dr iver or the front seat passenger is not
seated properly . Therefore in order to he lp the
a irbag to do its job, it is important, both as a
d river and as a passenge r to sit properly at all
times.
By keeping room between your body and the
steering wheel and the front of the passenger
compartment, the airbag ca n inflate fully and
comp letely and provide supp lemental p rotec­
tion in ce rtain frontal collisions¢
page 145,
Proper occupant seating positions .
For detai ls
on the operat ion of the seat adjustment con­
trols ¢
page 63.
It's especially important that children a re
properly restrained ¢
page 186.
There is a lot that the driver and the passen­
gers can and must do to help the individua l
safety features ins talled in your A udi work to­
gether as a system.
Prope r seat ing pos ition is important so that
the front airbag on the driver s ide can do i ts
job. If yo u have a physical impa irment or con- dition that prevents you from sitting properly
on the driver seat with the safety belt properly
fastened and reaching the peda ls , spec ial
modifications to your vehicle may be necessa­
ry.
Contact your a uthorized Audi dea ler, or call
Audi C ustomer Re lations at 1-800-822-2834 .
When the airbag system dep loys, a gas gener­
ator will f ill the ai rbags, break open the pad­
ded covers, and inf late between the steering
whee l and the dr iver and between the instru ­
ment pane l and the front passenger. The air­
bags will deflate immediately after dep loy­
ment so that the front occupants can see
th rough the w indshield aga in without inter­
ruption .
All of th is take s place in the blink of an eye, so
fast that many people don't even realize that
the a irbags have dep loyed . The airbags also
inflate with a g reat dea l of force and nothing
shou ld be in their way when they deploy.
F ront a irbags in combination with properly
worn safety bel ts slow down and lim it the oc ­
c u pant's forward movement. Together they
help to prevent the drive r and front seat pas­
senger from hitting parts of the inside the ve­
hicle while reducing the forces acting on the
occupant dur ing the crash. In this way they
help to reduce the risk of injury to the head
and uppe r body i n the c rash . A irbags do not
protect the a rms or the lower parts of the
body.
Both front a irbags w ill not i nflate in all fronta l
collisions . The t rigge ring of the a irbag system
depends on the vehicle dece lerat ion rate
c aused by the co llision and reg istered by the
elect ron ic cont ro l u nit. If t his rate is below
the re ference value programmed into the con­
trol unit, the airbags will not be trigge red ,
even though the car may be bad ly damaged as
a res ult of the collision . Veh icle damage, re­
pair costs or even the lack of veh icle damage
is no t necessarily an indication of whether an
airbag should inflate or not .
It is not possib le to define a range of vehicle
speeds that w ill cover every possib le kind and .,.

angle of impact that will always trigger the
airbags, since the circumstances will vary con­
siderably between one collision and another.
Important factors include, for example, the nature (hard or soft) of the object which the
car hits, the angle of impact, vehicle speed,
etc. The front airbags will also not inflate in
side or rear collisions, or in ro ll-overs .
Alwa ys rem ember : Airbags will deploy only
once, and only in certa in kinds of collisions .
Your safety belts are always there to offer pro­
tection in those s ituations in which airbags
are not supposed to deploy , or when they have
a lready deployed ; fo r example , when yo ur ve­
h icle strikes or is struck by another after the
first collision .
This is just one of the reasons why an a irbag is
a supplementary restra int and is not a s ubst i­
tute for a safety belt . The airbag system
works most effectively when used with the
safety belts. Therefore, always properly wear
your safety belts
¢ page 154.
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 co llision .
- Never sit closer than
10 inches (25 cm)
to the stee ring wheel or instrument pan­
el.
- If you cannot sit more than
10 i nches
(25 cm) from the steer ing wheel, investi­
gate whether adaptive equipment may
be available to help you reach the pedals
and increase your seating dis tance from
the steering wheel.
- If you are unrestrained, lean ing fo rward,
sitting sideways or out of position in any
way, yo ur risk of inj ury is much highe r.
- You w il l also receive serio us inju ries and
cou ld 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 isk o f injury when an air ­
bag inflates, a lways wear safety belts
proper ly ¢
page 157, Safety belts .
Airbag system 163
-Always make certain that chi ld ren age 12
or younger a lways ride in the rear seat. If
children are not properly restrained, they may be severe ly inju red or killed when an
airbag inf lates .
- Never let ch ildren ride unrestra ined or
improperly restrained in the vehicle . Ad ­
just the front seats prope rly.
- Never ride with the backrest reclined.
- Always sit as far as possible from the
steer ing whee l or the instrument pane l
¢page 145.
-Always sit upright 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 juries to the legs
a nd h ips if the airbag inflates.
- Never recline the front passenger 's seat
to tra nsport objects. Items can a lso
move i nto the area of the s ide a irbag or
the front a irbag du ring bra king or in a
sud den maneuve r. Obje cts ne ar the air­
bags can become projectiles and cause
injury when an airbag inflates.
_&. WARNING ~
A irbags that have de ployed in a crash must
be replaced.
- Use on ly original equipment airbags ap­
proved by Audi and installed by a trai ned
technician who has the necessary too ls
and d iagnost ic equipment to properly re­
place any airbag in your vehicle and as­
sure system effectiveness in a crash .
- Never perm it salvaged or recycled air­
bags to be installed in your vehicle .
Child restraints on the front seat - some
important things to know
.,. Be su re to read t he important information
and head the WARNINGS fo r important de­
tails about children and Advanced Airbags
¢ page 186. ..,.
•
•

164 Airbag sys te m
Even though your vehicle is equipped with an
Advanced Airbag System, make certain that
all c hildren, especially those 12 years and
younger, a lways ride in the back seat properly
restra ined for their age and size. The airbag
on the passenger side makes the front seat a potentially dangerous place for a ch ild to r ide.
The front seat is not the safest place for a
child in a fo rward-facing ch ild safety seat. It
can be a very dangerous place for an infant or
a child in a rearward-facing seat.
The Advanced Airbag System in your veh icle
has been certified to comp ly with the Requ ire­
ments of United States Federa l Mo tor Veh icle
Safety Standard 208 as applicable at the time
your vehicle was manufactured.
The Standard requires the front a irbag on the
passenger side to be turned off ("sup­
pressed") if a ch ild up to about one year of
age restrained in one of the rear -facing or for ­
ward -facing infant restraints listed in Federal
Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 with which
the Advanced A irbag System in your vehicle
was certified has been installed on the front passenger seat . For a listing of the child re ­
strai nts that we re used to certify compliance
with the US Safety Standard
r=v page 188.
The PASSENGE R AIR BAG OFF light in the in­
strument panel te lls you when the front Ad­
vanced A irbag on the passenger side has been
turned off by the e lectronic control unit.
Each t ime you turn on the ignition, the
PAS ­
SENGER AIR BA G OFF
light will come on for a
few seconds and:
- will stay on if the front passenger seat is not
occupied,
- wi ll stay on if there is a small child or child
restraint on the front passenger seat,
- wi ll go off if the front passenger seat is oc ­
cupied by an adult as registered by the
weight-sensing mat
r=v page 173, Monitor­
ing the Advanced Airbag System .
The PASSENGE R AIR BAG OFF light comes on
when the control un it detects a total weight
on the front passenger seat that requires the
front airbag to be turned off.
If the total weight on the front passenge r
seat is more than that of a typica l 1 year -old
chi ld but less than the weight of a small
adult, the front airbag on the passenger side
can deploy (the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
li ght does not come on). If the PAS SENGER
AI R BAG OFF
light does not come on, the
front a irbag on the passenger side has not
been tu rned off by the elect ronic con trol unit
and can deploy if the control unit se nses an
impact that meets the cond itions stored in its
memory .
For exampl e, th e airbag ma y deploy if:
-a small ch ild that is heav ier than a typical 1
year-old ch ild is on the front passenger seat
( r egard less of whether the child is in one of
t he child safety seats listed
r=v page 188), or
- a child who has outgrown ch ild restraints is
on the front passenger seat.
If the front passenger airbag is turned off, the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on in
the instrument cluster and stays on.
The front airbag on the passenger s ide may
not deploy (the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light does not illum inate and stay lit) even if a
small adult or teenager, or a passenger who is
not sitt ing up rig ht w ith their back against a
non- recl ined ba ck res t w it h thei r feet on the
vehicle floor in front of the sea t is on the front
passenger seat
r=v page 145, Proper seating
position for the driver.
If the front passenger a irbag dep loys, the
F ede ra l Standard req uires the airbag to meet
the "low risk" dep loyment criteria to reduce
the risk of injury t hro ugh interaction wit h the
airbag. "Low risk" dep loyment occ urs in those
crashes that take place at lower dece lerat ions
as defined in the electronic control unit
r=v page 173, PASSENGER AIRBAG OFF light.
Always remember, a ch ild safety seat or infant
carr ier installed on the front seat may be
struck and knocked out of posit ion by the rap­
idly inflat ing passenger's airbag in a fronta l
collision . T he a irbag could greatly reduce the
effectiveness of the ch ild restraint and even
seriously injure t he ch ild during inflation .

For this reason, and because the back seat is
the safest place for children - when properly restrained according to their age and size - we
strongly recommend that children always sit in the back seat
Q page 186, Child Safety.
A WARNING
-
A child in a rearward-facing child safety
seat installed on the front passenger seat
w ill be seriously injured and can be k illed if
the front a irbag inflates - even with an Ad­
vanced Airbag System.
- T he inflating a irbag w ill hit the child
safety seat or infant carrier w ith great
force and w ill smash the ch ild safety sea t
and child against the backrest, cente r
armrest, door or roof .
- Always install rear -facing child safety
seats on the rear seat.
- If you mus t inst all a rearward facing
child safety seat on the front passenger
seat beca use of exceptional circumstan­
ces and the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light does not come on and stay on , im­
med iately install the rear-facing child
safety seat in a rear seating posit ion and
have the a irbag system inspected by your
authorized Aud i dealer .
- Forward-fac ing ch ild safety seats instal­
led on the front passenger's seat may in­
terfe re with the deployment of the air­
bag and cause se rious personal injury to
the ch ild.
A WARNING
If, in exceptional c irc umstances, you mus t
install a forwa rd-facing child restra int on
the front passenger's seat:
- Alw ays make sure the forw ard -fac ing
sea t has been des igned and certified by
its manufacturer for use on a front seat
with a passenger front and side airbag.
- Never put the forward -facing child re ­
straint up aga inst or very near the instru­
ment pane l.
- Always move the passenger seat into its
rearmost position in the seat's fore and
A irbag system 165
aft ad justment range, as far away from
the airbag as possible before installing
the forward-fac ing ch ild restraint. The
backrest must be adj usted to an upright
position .
- Make sure that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
li ght comes on and stays on all the
time wheneve r the ignit ion is switched
on.
A WARNING
T o reduce the risk of ser ious injury, make
su re that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light w ill 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 s tay on, per form the checks de ­
scribed
Q page 17 3, Monitoring the Ad ­
vanced Airbag System.
- Take the chi ld restraint off the front pas­
senger seat and install it properly at one
of the rear seat positions if the
PASSEN ­
GER AIR BAG Off light does not stay on.
- Have the airbag system inspected by
your author ized Audi dealer immed iate­
ly .
-Always carefu lly follow instr uctions from
child restraint manufacturers when in­
stall ing ch ild restra ints .
A WARNING
If, in except iona l circumstances, you must
install a forward or rearward-facing child
restra int on the front passenger's seat :
- Improper instal lation of ch ild restraints
can reduce their effectiveness o r even
prevent them from providing any protec­
tion.
- An improper ly installed ch ild restra int
can interfere with the airbag as it de­
ploys and seriously i njure o r even kill the
child -even with an Advanced Airbag
System.
- Always carefu lly follow the manufact ur­
er 's ins tructions p rov ided with the ch ild
safety seat or carrier . •
•

166 Airbag system
-Never place additiona l items on the seat
that can increase the total weight regis­
tered by the weight-sensing mat and can
cause injury in a crash.
Front airbags
Description of front airbags
The airbag system can provide supplemental
protection to properly restrained front seat
occupants.
F ig . 175 Location of driver airbag: in steer ing whee l
Fig. 176 Location of front passenger's airbag: in the in ­
strument panel
Your veh icle is equipped with an "Advanced
A irbag System" in compliance with United
States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard ( FM VSS) 208 as app licab le at the time your
ve hicl e was manufac tured. The system senses
the position of the front seats and controls
front airbag inflation with a valve, depending
on the distance between the respect ive seat
and the steering wheel or instrument panel.
The safety belts for the seats have "preten­
sioners" that he lp to take slack out of the belt
system . The pretensioners a re also activated
by the electron ic cont ro l unit for the ai rbag
system. T
he front safety belts also have load limiters
to help reduce the forces applied to the body
i n a crash .
T he airbag for the drive r is in the stee ring
whee l hub¢
fig. 175 and the airbag for the
front passenger is in the instrument panel
~ fig. 176. The general locat ion of the a irbags
is marked "AIRBAG".
T here is a lot you need to know about the ai r­
bags in your vehicle. We urge you to read the
detailed information about airbags, safety
belts and child safety in this and the other
chapters that make up th e owner's literature.
P lease be sure to heed the WARNINGS -they
are extremely importa nt for your safety and
the safety of your passengers, especially in­
fants and small chi ldren.
_&. WARNING
Neve r rely on airbags alone for p rotection.
- Even w hen they deploy, airbags provide
only s upplement al pro te ctio n.
- Airbag work most effect ive ly when used
with p roperly wor n safety bel ts.
- Therefore, always wea r you r safety belts
a nd make sure tha t eve rybody in your ve­
h icle is properly res trained.
_&. WARNING
A pe rson on the front passenger seat, es­
pe cial ly infa nts and sm all ch ildren, w ill re­
ceive serio us inju ries and can even be kil­
l ed by being too close to the airbag when
it inflates .
- Although t he Advanced Airbag System in
your veh icle is designed to tur n off the
front passenger airbag if an infant or a
small child is on the front passe nger
seat, nobody can absolutely guarantee
that deployment under these special
conditions is imposs ible in all conceiva­
b le sit uat ions that may happen dur ing
the useful life of your vehicle.
- The Advanced Airbag System can dep loy
i n acco rdance with the "low risk" option
unde r the U.S . Feder al Standa rd if a child
th at is heav ie r than the typical one -year
-
.