2012 AUDI A6 ignition

By pressing the I START ENGINE STOPI button
without depressing the brake peda l, the igni­
tion is on and switched
off by pressing it
again.
After a cold engine is started, the re may be a
brief period of increased noise because oil
pressure must first bui ld up in the hydraulic
va lve adjusters. This is normal and not a cause
for concern.
If the engine should not start immediately,
the starting process is automatically stopped
after a short time. Repeat starting procedure.
Driv er m essag e in th e in strument clu ste r
disp lay
Pr ess br ak e p ed al to start engin e
This message appears if you press the
I START ENGINE STOP ! button to start the en ­
g ine and do not depress the brake peda l. The
engine can on ly be started if the brake pedal
is depressed.
!!I C o nv enience ke y: I s ke y not in th e vehi­
cle ?
This message appea rs a long with the !!I sym­
bol if the maste r key is removed from the ve­
hicle with the engine r unning . It is intended
to remind you (e .g . when changing drivers)
not to continue the journey witho ut the mas­
ter key.
I f the master key is no longer in the vehicle,
you cannot sw itch on the ignition after stop­
ping the engine and yo u also cannot start the
engine again. Moreover, you cannot lock the
veh icle from the outside with the key.
Shift to P , other wis e vehicle c an roll away.
Doo rs do not lock if le ver i s not in P.
This message appears for sa fety reasons
a long with an audib le warning tone if the
P
selector lever position is not engaged when
stopping the eng ine with the
I STAR T ENGINE STOP ! button. Select the P se­
lector lever posit ion. Otherwise the veh icle
could roll and it can not be locked .
On th e ro ad 71
Ke y not r ecogni sed . Hold bac k of ke y again st
ma rked area. See owne r's manual.
If the indica tor l ight turns on and this mes­
sage appears, there is a malf unct ion
¢ page 72.
Steering lock
The steering locks when you turn the engine
off using the I START ENGINE STOP ! button
and open the d river's doo r. T he locked steer ­
i ng helps p revent vehicle theft.
& WARNING ~
- Never allow the engine to run in confined
spaces -danger of asphyxiation .
- Never turn
off the engine un til the vehi­
cle has come to a complete stop .
- The brake booster and power steering
only work when the eng ine is r unning . If
the engine is
off, you have to use more
force when steering or braking. Because
you cannot steer and brake as you usual­ ly would, this cou ld lead to crashes and
serious injuries.
(CT) Note
- Avo id h igh engine rpm, full thrott le and
heavy engine loads until the engine has
reached operating temperature -other­
w ise you risk engine damage .
- The engine cannot be started by pushing
or towing the vehicle.
- If the engine has been under heavy load
for an extended per iod, heat builds up in
the engine compa rtment afte r the e n­
gine is switched
off -there is a risk of
damaging the engine. Allow the engine
to run at idle fo r about 2 minutes before
switching it
off.
(D Tips
- If you open the d river 's doo r with the ig­
nition on, a buz ze r sounds and the mes­
sage
Ignition i s on appears in the instr u­
ment cl uste r display . Sw itch the ignition
off . Ill-

7 2 On the road
-If yo u leave the vehicle wi th the ignition
switched on, the ignition will switch off
after a certa in period of time . Please
note that e lectrica l equipment such as
exter ior lights w ill switch off as well
when that happens .
Stopping the engine
.,. Bring your vehicle to a complete stop .
.,. Move the selector lever to the
P o r N posi­
t ion.
.,. Press the
!S TAR T ENGINE S TOPI button
9 page 70, fig. 72 .
Emergency off
If necessary, the eng ine can be sw itched off
with the selector leve r in the
R or D /S posi­
tion . The engine stops if you press the
I START ENGINE STOP! button at speeds below
6 mph (10 km/h) and press the brake pedal.
A WARNING
- Never turn off the engine unti l the vehi ­
cle has come to a complete stop.
- The brake booster and power steering
only work when the engine is running. If
the engine is off, you have to use more
force when steering or braking. Because
you cannot steer and brake as you usua l­
ly wou ld, this could lead to crashes and
serious injur ies.
- For safety reasons, you should always
park your vehicle with the selector lever
in P. Othe rwise, the veh icle could inad­
vertent ly roll away.
- After the engi ne has been switched off,
the radiator fan can continue to run fo r
up to 10 m in utes - even with the ig nitio n
swit ched off.
It can a lso switch on ag ain
afte r some time if the coolant tempera"
t u re rises as the result of a heat buildup
or if the engine is hot and the engine compartment is addit ionally heated by
the sun's rays.
(D Note
Do not stop the eng ine immediately after
hard or extended driving . Keep the engine
running for approximate ly two minutes to
prevent excessive heat bu ild-up .
Starting the engine if there is a
malfunction
It may not be possible to start the engine un ­
der certain circumstances, for example if the battery in the vehicle key is drained, if inter­
ference is affe cted the key or if there is a sys­
tem malfunction.
F ig. 73 Center co nsole/master key: start ing the eng ine
i f there is a malfunct io n
Requ irement: The message Key not r ecog­
nized . H old back of key ag ainst marked are a.
See owner 's manual.
must appear and the in­
dicator light
m must swi tch on.
.,. Ho ld the mas ter key vertically in the loca­
tion indicated
y >l) 9 fig. 73.
.,. Press t he b rake pedal ~ .&. in Starting the
engine on page 71 .
... Press the ..., IS"'T :,-,A -,,R "'T ,.., E"" N...,..,,, G""IN ,-,-: E-,s"'T ,...,O ,.., P,..,I button .
The engine wi ll start.
.,. Dr ive to your authorized Audi dea ler imme­
diately to have the malfunction corrected.
(D Tips
You can v iew the message again by press ­
ing the
I STAR T ENGINE STOP ! button.

Electromechanical
parking brake
Operation
The electromechanical parking brake replaces
the hand brake.
Fig. 74 Center conso le: Park ing brake
.. Pull on the switch<®> Q fig. 74 to apply the
parking brake. The indicator light in the
switch illuminates.
.. Step on the brake pedal or the accelerator
pedal and press the switch
(®) at the same
t ime to release the parking brake. The indi­
cator light in the switch goes out.
Your vehicle is equipped with an electrome ­
chan ical park ing brake . The parking brake is
designed to prevent the vehicle from rolling
un intent ionally and rep laces the hand brake.
In addition to the normal functions of a tradi ­
tional hand brake, the electromechan ical
parking brake provides var ious convenience
and safety functions.
When starting from rest
-The integral starting assist helps you when
driving by automat ically releasing the park­
ing brake ¢
page 74, Starting from rest.
-When starting on inclines, the starting as ­
sist prevents the vehicle from unintentional­
ly rolling back . The braking force of the
parking brake is not released until suff icient
driv ing force has been built up at the
wheels.
On the road 73
Emergency brake function
An emergency brake ensures that the vehicle
can be slowed down even if the
normal brakes
fail ¢
page 75, Emergency braking.
Indicator lights
-If the parking brake is closed with the ign i­
tion
switched on the indicator lights come
on - (USA mode ls)/ . (Canada models)
in the instrument cluster and in the switch.
- If the parking brake is closed with the ign i­
tion
switched off the indicator lights come
on - (USA mode ls)/ . (Canada models)
in the instrument cluster and in the switch
for about 20 seconds.
A WARNING
Do not press the accelerator pedal inadver­
tently if the veh icle is stationary but the
engine is running and a gear is selected .
Otherwise the vehicle w ill start to move
immediately and could result in a crash.
(D Note
If the symbol . in the display or the indi­
cator light
1111 (USA models)/ . (Cana­
da models) in the instrument cluster flash­
es, there is a malf unction in the brake sys­
tem. Please refer to the deta iled desc rip­
tion of the indicat or lights¢
page 14.
-If the ind icator light - (USA mod-
els)/ . (Canada models) or
I.I turns
on, there may be a ma lfunction in the
parking brake
Q page 16.
(0 Tips
-Yo u can apply the parking brake at any
time -even with the ignition switched
off. The ignition must be on in order to
release the parking brake.
- Occasional noises when the parking
brake is applied and released are normal
and are not a cause for concern .
- When the vehicle is parked, the parking
brake goes through a self-test cycle at
regu lar intervals. Any associated noises
are normal.

74 On the road
Parking
Various rules apply to prevent the parked ve­
hicle from rolling away accidentally.
P a rking
.. Stop the vehicle with the foot brake .
.. Pu ll the switch <®l to apply the park ing
brake.
.. Se lect the
P se lector lever position
~ page 101.
• Turn the eng ine off ~.&.
In addition on incline s and grade s
.. Turn the steering wheel so that your vehicle
will roll against the curb in case it should
start to move .
A WARNING
-When you leave your veh icle - even if on­
ly b rief ly - always take the ignition key
with you. This app lies par ticu la rly when
children remain in the veh icle . Otherw ise
the ch ildren could start the engine, re ­
lease the parking brake or ope rate e lec­
trical equipment (e.g. power windows) .
There is the risk of an accident .
- When the vehicle is locked, no one - par­
t icu larly not ch ildren should remain in
the vehicle. Locked doors make it more
difficult for emergency workers to get in­
to the vehicle -putt ing lives at risk .
Starting from rest
The starting assis t function ensures tha t the
parking brake is released automatically upon
starting .
Stopping and appl ying park ing br ake
.. Pull the switch(®) to apply the parking
brake.
Starting and automatically releasing the par king brake
.. When you start to drive as usua l, the park­
ing brake is automatically re leased and your
vehicle begins to move. When stopping at a traffic signal or stopping
in city t raffic, the parking brake can be ap­
plied . T he vehicle does not have to be he ld
with the footbrake . The parking brake elimi ­
nates the tendency to creep w ith a dr ive range
engaged . As soon as you d rive off as usual,
the pa rking brake is released automat ically
and the vehicle starts to move .
Starting on slopes
When starting on inclines, the starting assist
prevents the vehicle from u nintent ionally roll­
ing back . The braking force of the parking
brake is not released until suff ic ient driving
force has been built up at the wheels .
(D Tips
For safety reasons, the parking brake is re ­
leased automatically o nly when the d riv­
er's safety belt is engaged in the buckle.
Starting off with a trailer
To prevent rolling back unintentionally on an
incline, do the following:
.. Keep the sw itch <®l pulled and depress the
accelerator. The parking brake stays applied
and prevents the vehicle from roll ing back­
ward .
.. You can release the switch
<®l once you are
sure that you are developing enoug h for­
ward momentum at the whee ls as you de­
press the acce lerator .
Depend ing on the we ight of the rig (vehi cle
and t railer) and the severity of the incline, yo u
may ro ll backwards as yo u start . You can pre ­
vent rolling backwards by holding the parking
brake switch <®l pulled out and accelerating -
just as you wou ld when starting on a hill with
a conventiona l hand brake.

pass someone. The speed you saved ea rlier
will resume as soon as you release the acceler­
ator peda l.
I f, however, yo u exceed your saved speed by
6 mph (10 km/h) for longer than 5 min utes,
the cruise contro l will turn off temporarily.
The green symbol
iB;O)~i~ (US mode ls) ;l'I
(Canad ian models) in the display will go out
but the saved speed remains the same.
Presetting your speed
App lies to vehicles: with cr uise contro l
You con preset your desired speed while the
vehicle is not moving.
~ Switch on the ignition.
~ Pu ll lever into position CD ¢ page 76,
fig. 75.
~ Press the lever in the 0 or 0 direction to
i ncrease or decrease your speed.
~ Release the lever to save that speed.
This funct ion makes it possible, for example,
to save the speed you want before driving on
the highway . Once on the highway, activate
the c ruise control by pull ing t he lever towa rd
(D .
Switching the system off
App lies to vehicles: with c ruise con tro l
Temporary deactivation
~ Press the brake peda l, or
~ Press the lever i nto pos ition @ (not clicked
in to p lace)
¢ page 76, fig. 75, or
~ Drive for longer than 5 minutes at more
than 5 mph (10 km/h) above the stored
speed.
Sw itching off completely
~ Press leve r into position @(clic ked into
pla ce), o r
~ Switch the ignition off.
The system reta ins the saved speed if you de­
activa te the cru ise con tro l temporarily. To re­
sume the saved speed, release the brake ped ­
a l and pull the lever to position
(D .
On th e ro ad 77
Switching the ignition off e rases the saved
speed.
A WARNING
You shou ld only ret urn to the saved speed
if it is not too fast for the c urrent traffic
conditions -risk of an accident!

84 Adapti ve crui se control and bra king guard
@ Tips
- Di sta nce 3 is set automatically each time
you switch the ignition on.
- Your standard settings are automatically
stored and assigned to the remote con­
trol key being used.
Audi braking guard
Description
Ap plies to vehicles: with a daptive cruise co ntrol
Fig. 86 Inst rument cluster: app roach wa rning
Aud i braking guard uses radar sensors and a
video camera. It is act ive at speeds above
about 6.2 mph (10 km/h) and also works
within system limits when adaptive cruise contro l is switched off.
On vehicles with adapt ive cruise control and
Aud i side assist (Audi p re sense plus), system
functions also engage when a co llision is im­
minent
¢ page 187.
What c an Audi br aking gu ard do?
When detected in time, the system can assess
situations when a vehicle ahead brakes sud­
denly or if your own veh icle is trave ling at a
h igh speed and approachi ng a veh icle up
ahead that is moving more slowly . A udi brak­
i ng guard does not react if it ca nnot detect
the sit uat ion .
The system advises you of various situations:
- The
distan ce w arn ing is given if you are too
close to the vehicle ahead for a long time . If
the vehicle ahead brakes sharply, you will not be able to avoid a coll is ion . The ind icator
ligh t
I in the disp lay comes on. Take imme- diate action to avoid the collision and in­
crease the distance to the vehicle up ahead
.
- The
appr oach warning is given when a de­
tected vehicle up ahead in your lane is mov­
ing much more slowly that you are or if it
brakes sharp ly. When this warning is given,
it may only be possible to avo id a co llision
by swerving or brak ing sharp ly. The indicator
light
I and the symbol in the display will
warn you about the danger¢
fig. 86. You
w ill also hear an acoustic signal.
If you do not react fast enough or do not react
at all to the situation, Aud i braking guard w ill
intervene by braking and the message
br aking
guard interv ention
w ill appear.
- If a collis ion is imminent, the system will
first provide an
a cute warning by braking
sharply .
- If you do not react to the acute warning, Au­
di braking guard will brake w ith increased
force in severa l stages to reduce the speed
in a poss ible coll is ion. O n veh icles with
adapt ive cr uise con tro l a nd Aud i side assist
(Audi pre sense plus), the system can brake
w it h increas ing fo rce up to max imum dece l­
eration shortly before a sensed collision
¢page 187.
- If
the Audi braking guard senses that you
are not braking hard enough when a colli­
sion is imminent, it can increase the braking
force.
Audi braking guard takes the driver's reaction
time into consideration in order to provide
t imely warnings. The system reaction time de­
creases automat ically in some situations, for
example when it detects acce lerator pedal use
or steering input. The Audi braking guard in ­
tervent io n stops in certa in situations, for ex­
amp le if you p ress the accele ra to r pedal to
pass the vehicle moving a head of you in your
lane.
Which function s can be controlled?
You can switch Aud i brak ing guard and the
distance/approach warning on or off in the
MM I ¢page 85, Settings in the MMI.

-they are not in an upright position, for
examp le if they are s itting, crouching
or lying down and/or
- if the outline in the display is incom­
p lete or interrupted, for example be­
cause the person is partially hidden by
a parked veh icle .
(D Tips
-Pedestrian detection and the pedestrian
warming are lim ited to objects that are
detected as pedestr ians. The system
does not detect animals . Even though
the shape and warmth radiated by each
object det ected is evaluated, the system
does have lim itations and it can give in­
correct warnings.
- Fo r techn ical reasons , the image pauses
in split second interva ls.
Switching on and off
Appl ies to vehicles: with night vision assistant
Fig . 103 Area a round the light switch: n ight v ision as ­
sistant button
.. Switch the ignition on and turn the light
switch to the
AUTO position or io.
.. To switch night vision assistant on, press
the
EJ button Q fig. 103. The image from
the night vision camera appears in the in­
strument cluster d isplay.
.. Press the button
EJ again to switch night vi ­
s ion assistant off .
Night vision assistant 99
Settings in the MMI
Applies to vehicles: with night vision assistant
Fig. 104 Display : exa mple of pedest rian detectio n and
warn ing to n e switched off
.. Select: I CAR I function button > Car systems
cont rol button > Driver assist > Night vision
assist.
Highlight pedestrians -
You can switch pedes­
trian detect io n
on and off . If you switch pe­
destrian detection off, the pedestrian warning
tone also switches off . The symbols
I) and r2J
appear in the upper right area of the instru­
ment cluster disp lay ¢
fig. 104.
Warning tone -You can switch the tone for
the pedestrian warning
on and off. When the
warning tone is sw itched off, a yellow symbol
for the deactivated warning tone with a line
through it appears in the upper right of the in­
strument cluster display¢
fig. 104.
Contrast -When the night vision assistant is
switched on and the image is visib le in the in­
strument cluster display, you can adjust the
contrast in the image from
Min to Max .
Driver messages
Applies to vehicles: with night vision assistant
Night vision assistant: system malfunction!
The system cannot work properly and is
switched off. See your authorized Audi dealer
for assistance.
Night vision assistant: not available
The system cannot detect properly under cur­
rent conditions and is switched off temporari-
~ ~

102 Autom atic Tran smi ssi on
-When the selector lever is in a driving
position, the veh icle may creep, even at
id le speed. Therefore do not release
the park ing brake or foot brake until
you are ready to move, because power
is transmitted to the wheels as soon as
a driving posit ion is engaged.
- Do not accelerate while selecting a
driving position. At this time the en­
g ine must be at idle speed so that un­
d ue stress is no t placed on the clutches
in the t ransmission.
- Remembe r: Even when stopped briefly
with the automatic transmission in D/S
or R, engine power is being transmit ­
ted to the whee ls. Yo ur vehicle could
"creep" forward or backward . When
stopped, keep the brake peda l fully de­
pressed and use the parking brake if
necessary to keep the vehicle from roll­
ing .
-If the selector lever is unintentionally
moved into N wh ile you are driving, take
yo ur foot off the accele rator pedal and
wa it for the engine to return to idle
speed befo re selec ting a drivi ng position.
- Never shift into R or P when the veh icle is
in mo tion.
- Never get out of the dr iver's seat when
the engine is runn ing.
- If you must get out of the vehicle, move
the se lector lever securely into the P po­
si ti on a nd apply the park ing brake fi rm ly.
- If the eng ine must remain running, never
have any driv ing pos ition engaged when
chec king under the hood. Make sure the
selector lever has securely engaged and
is locked in P with the parking brake
firmly set¢
page 214, Engine comport­
ment .
Otherwise, any increase in engine
speed may set the vehicle in mot ion,
even with the parking brake applied.
Selector lever positions
Applies to vehicles: wit h mult itronic
This section describes the selector lever posi­
tions and driving ranges.
F ig . 106 Display in th e inst rument cluster: se lector
l ever positio n
The selector lever position engaged appears
next to the selector lever as well as in the in­
strument cluster d isplay.
P - Par k
In this se lector lever position the transm is­
sion is mechanically locked . Engage
P only
when the vehicle is
completely stopped¢.&
in Driving the automatic transmission on
page 101 .
To shift in or out of posit ion P , you must first
press and hold the brake pedal and then press
the re lease button in the selector lever handle
whi le moving the selector lever to o r from
P .
You can shift out of th is position only with the
ignition on.
You must release the parking lock manually before towing the vehicle ¢
page 106.
R - Reverse
Se lect R only when the vehicle is at a full stop
and the engine is running at idle speed¢.& in
Driving the automatic transmission on
page 101.
Before you move the selector lever to R , press
both the button in the hand le of the se lector
lever
and the brake pedal at the same t ime.
When the ignition is on, the backup lights i llu ­
minate when the selector lever is moved into
R . 1111-