2012 AUDI A5 COUPE steering wheel adjustment

Seats and storage
General recommen­
dations
Why is your seat adjustment so important?
The safety belts and the airbag system can
only provide maximum protection if the front
seats are correctly adjusted.
There are various ways of adjusting the front
seats to provide safe and comfortable support
for the driver and the front passenger. Adjust
your seat properly so that :
- you can easily and quick ly reach all the
switches and controls in the instrument
panel
- your body is properly supported thus reduc­ ing physical stress and fatigue
- the safety belts and airbag system can offe r
maximum protection
¢ page 162.
In the following sections, you will see exactly
how you can best adjust your seats .
There are special regulations and instructions
for installing a child safety seat on the front passenger's seat. Always follow the informa­
tion regard ing child safety provided in
¢ page 186, Child Safety.
A WARNING
Incorrect seating position of the driver and
all other passengers can result in serious
personal injury.
- Always keep your feet on the f loor when
the vehicle is in motion -never p ut your
feet on top of the instrument panel, out
of the w indow or on top of the seat cush­
ion. Th is applies especially to the passen­
gers . If your seating position is incorrect,
you increase the r isk of injury in the case
of sudden braking or an acc ident. If the
airbag inflates and the seating position
is incorrect, this could result in persona l
injury or even death.
- It is important for bo th the driver and
front passenger to keep a distance of a t
Seat s an d sto rage 61
least 10 inches (25 cm) between them­
selves and the steering wheel and/or in­
strument panel. If you're s itting any
closer than th is, the airbag system can­
not protect you properly. In addition, the
front seats and head restraints must be
adjusted to your body height so that t hey
can give you maximum protect ion.
- Always try to keep as much distance as
possible between yourself and the s teer­
ing wheel o r instrument pane l.
- Do not adjust the driver's or front pas­
senger's seat whi le the vehicle is moving.
Your sea t may move unexpected ly, caus­
ing sudden loss of vehicle cont rol and
personal injury . If you adjust yo ur seat
while the veh icle is moving, yo u are out
of posit ion.
Driver's seat
The correct seat position is important for safe
and relaxed driving.
We recommend that you adjus t the dr iver's
seat in the fo llowing manner:
.,. Adjust t he seat in fore and aft direction so
that you can easily push the peda ls to the
floor wh ile keeping your knees s lightly bent
i:::> A in Why is your seat adjustment so im­
portant? on page 61.
.,. Adjust the seatback so that when you sit
w ith your back against the seatback, you can
still grasp the top of the steering wheel.
.,. Adjust the head restraint so the upper edge
is as even as possible with the top of your head . If that is not poss ible , try to adjust
the head res traint so that it is as close to
this pos ition as possib le
i:::> page 67.
A WARNING
Never place any objects in the dr iver's foot­
well. An object could get into the pedal
area and interfere with pedal funct ion . In
case of sudden braking or an acc ident, you
wo uld not be able to brake or accelerate.

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 .,.

-If you must install a rearward facing
child safety seat on the front passenger
seat in exceptional circumstances and
the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does
not come on and stay on, immediately
install the rearward-facing child safety
seat in a rear seating position and have
the airbag system inspected immediately by your authorized Audi dealer.
,& 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.
@ Tips
Always replace child restraints that were
installed in a vehicle during a crash. Dam­
age to a child restraint that is not visible
could cause it to fail in another collision
situation.
Advanced front airbag system and children
Your vehicle is equipped with a front "Ad­
vanced Airbag System" in compliance with
United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety
Standard (FMVSS) 208 as applicable at the
time your vehicle was manufactured .
Child Safety 187
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.
Even though your vehicle is equipped with an
Advanced Airbag system, all children, espe­
cially those 12 years and younger, should al­
ways ride in the back seat properly restrained
for their age and size . The airbag on the pas ­
senger 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 for­
ward-facing child safety seat. It can be a very
dangerous place for an infant or a larger child
in a rearward-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 ..,. •
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This automatic adjustment process will cause
a
slight vib ra tion of the brake pedal and some
noises to alert you that vehicle speed must be
adapted to existing road and traffic condi­
tions.
A WARNING
Although the ABS is very effective, always
remember that braking capability is limit­
ed by t ire traction . A lways adjust your dr iv­
ing speed according to the road and t raff ic
conditions. Do not let the extra sa fety af­
forded by the ABS tempt you into taking
extra risks. The ABS cannot overcome the
laws of physics .
(D Tips
-If ABS is not functioning properly, a
warning light will come on . See
~ page 16.
-If a fault occu rs in the ABS, the EDL is al­
so not functioning . This is indicated by
the ABS warning light .
Brake assist
Brake assist is designed to achieve the opti­
mum broking effect.
Brake assist helps to increase the effective
brak ing power and thus to achieve a shorter
stopping distance. If the driver presses the
brake peda l very quick ly, brake assist auto­
mat ica lly boosts the braking force to the max­
imum level, up to the point where the anti­
lock brake function (ABS) intervenes to stop
the wheels from locking . You should then
keep the brake pedal pressed u ntil the vehicle
has braked to the required speed . Brake ass ist
sw itches itself off as soon as you release the
b rake peda l.
A WARNING
Please remembe r that the accident r is k al­
ways increases if yo u drive too fast, espe ­
cially in corners or on a s lippery road, or if
you fo llow the vehicle ahead of you too
close ly. Increased risk of an accident can-
Int ellig ent technolog y 209
not be compensated for even by brake as­
sist, so always maintain a safe speed.
S .
®
ervotron1c
-
advanced power
steering system
The power steering systems uses the power of
the running engine to allow precise steering
with little effort.
T he advanced Servotronic ® power steer ing
system senses the road speed and elect ron i­
ca lly adjusts power assistance to provide com­
fortab le and safe ste ering response exact ly
matched to the vehicle speed .
Power steering will not work i f the engine is
off. As a result, the stee ring wheel will be hard
to turn .
T he power steering fluid level is checked d ur­
ing the schedu led maintenance services .
(D Note
If there is an e lectronic malfunction, ser ­
votronic
will s till function like a conven­
tiona l power steering system, providing a
constant steering support force that is no
l onger proportionate to the vehicle speed.
This is most noticeable when turning the
steering wheel at low speeds (for example
when parking), -more effort w ill be re­
q uired than usual.
- Be aware of the different than usual
steering response and adjust your steer ­
ing force acco rdingly .
- Have the problem checked and set right
by an Audi dealer as soon as possible.
(D Tips
-Whe n the engine is running, never hold
the steering w heel turned all the way to
the rig ht or to the left for longer t han 15
seconds. The powe r steering pump will
overheat the hydraulic fluid if you keep
holding the stee ring wheel turned all the
way. This is likely to damage the power
steering system .
IJI>
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