2012 Seat Exeo ST roof

Table of Contents
Manual structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Safety First . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Safe driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Brief introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Proper sitting position for occupants . . . . . . . . . 10
Pedal area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Storing objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Seat belts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Brief introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Why wear seat belts? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Seat belts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Seat belt tensioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Airbag system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Brief introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Front airbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Knee airbag* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Side airbags* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Curtain airbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Deactivating airbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Child safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Brief introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Child seats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Securing child seats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Operating Instructions
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Cockpit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Warning and indicator lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Driver information system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Auto-check system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Speed warning*  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Onboard computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Menu display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Tyre pressure monitoring* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Steering wheel controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Multifunction steering wheel* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Unlocking and locking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Remote control keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Central locking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Rear lid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Childproof lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Remote control key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Anti-theft alarm system* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Electric windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Sliding/tilting sunroof* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Lights and visibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Interior lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Visibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Windscreen wipers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Rear view mirrors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Seats and storage compartments . . . . . . . . . . 135
Manual adjustment of the front seats . . . . . . . . . 135
Electric adjustment of front seats* . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Lumbar support* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Driver seat memory* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Head restraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Armrests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Luggage compartment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Roof rack / roof rails* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Drink holder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Ashtray*, cigarette lighter* and electric sockets* . .154
Compartments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Air conditioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
2C-Climatronic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Steering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Ignition lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Starting and stopping the engine . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Start-Stop function* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Handbrake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Parking aid acoustic system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Cruise speed* (Cruise control system) . . . . . . . . 183
Manual gearbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Automatic gearbox* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Practical Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Intelligent technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Electronic Stability Control (ESC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Brakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Power steering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Servotronic* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Driving and the environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Running-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Exhaust gas purification system . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Economical and environmentally friendly driving 203
Driving abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
3
Table of Contents

30Airbag system
WARNING (Continued)
● To reduce the risk of injury from an inflating airbag, always wear the
seat belt properly ⇒ page 19.
● Always adjust the front seats properly.

The danger of fitting a child seat on the front passenger
seat
Rear-facing child seats must never be used on the front pas-
senger seat when the front passenger airbag is enabled. The front passenger airbag is a serious risk for a child if it is activated. The
front passenger seat is life threatening to a child if he/she is transported in
a rear-facing child seat. Children up to 12 years old should always travel on
the rear seat.
If a rear-facing child seat is secured to the front passenger seat, an inflating
airbag can strike it with such force that it can cause critical or fatal injuries.
Therefore we strongly recommend you to transport children on the rear
seats. That is the safest place for children in the vehicle. Alternatively, the
front passenger airbag can be disabled with a key-operated switch
⇒ page 45. When transporting children, use a child seat appropriate to
the age and size of each child ⇒ page 47.
For those vehicles that do not include a key lock switch to disconnect the
airbag, the vehicle must be taken to a Technical Service.
WARNING
● If a child seat is secured to the front passenger seat, the risk to the
child of sustaining critical or fatal injuries in the event of an accident in-
creases.
● Never secure a rear-facing child seat to the front passenger seat if the
front passenger airbag is enabled. The child can suffer critical or fatal in-
juries if the front passenger airbag is triggered.
● An inflating front passenger airbag can strike the rear-facing child
seat and hurl it with great force against the door, the roof or the back-
rest.
● If, under special circumstances, it is necessary to transport a child in
a rear-facing child seat on the front passenger seat, it is absolutely es-
sential that you observe the following safety measures:
–Deactivate the front passenger airbag ⇒ page 45, Deactivating
airbags.
– The child seat must be approved by the child seat manufacturer for
use on a front passenger seat with front or side airbag.
– Follow the installation instructions given by the child seat manu-
facturer and observe the safety instructions ⇒ page 47, Child safe-
ty.
– Before properly installing the child seat, push the front passenger
seat completely backwards so that the greatest possible distance to
the front passenger airbag is ensured.
– Ensure that no objects prevent the front passenger seat from being
pushed completely back.
– The backrest of the front passenger seat must be in an upright po-
sition.


44Airbag system
WARNING (Continued)
● Any work on the curtain airbag system or removal and installation of
the airbag components for other repairs (such as removal of the roof lin-
ing) should only be performed by a specialised workshop. Otherwise,
faults may occur during the airbag system operation.
● Do not attempt to modify components of the airbag system in any
way.
● The side and head airbags are managed through sensors located in
the interior of the front doors. To ensure the correct functioning of the
side and head airbags neither the doors nor the door panels should be
modified in any way (e.g. fitting loudspeakers). If the front door is dam-
aged, the airbag system may not work correctly. All work carried out on
the front door must be made in a specialised workshop.


101
Unlocking and locking
– Insert the new battery. Make sure that the “+” symbol on the
battery is facing downwards. The correct polarity is indicated on
the cover.
– After inserting the battery, align the cover and key and press
the two parts together.
For the sake of the environment
Used batteries must be disposed of at an appropriate waste facility or
through an authorised service, given that their components can affect the
environment.
Note
● The system must be re-synchronised after each battery replacement to
be able to lock and unlock the vehicle using the remote control
⇒ page 109.
● The new battery must be of the same type as the original. 
Electronic immobiliser
The electronic immobiliser is designed to prevent unauthor-
ised persons from starting up the vehicle.
There is an electronic chip inside the key which automatically deactivates
the immobiliser when the key is inserted into the ignition lock. The electron-
ic immobiliser is enabled automatically when the ignition key is removed
from the ignition lock after coming to a stop.
If an uncoded key is used, the message SAFE will appear in the trip recorder
display.
Note
● The engine can only be started using an original SEAT key with the cor-
rect code.
● It may not be possible to start the engine with the key if there is another
ignition key from a different make of vehicle on the same key tab. 
Central locking Description
The central locking system enables you to lock and unlock
all the doors, the rear lid and the tank flap together.The central locking system on your vehicle locks and unlocks all the doors
and the tank flap simultaneously. The rear lid is unlocked when the vehicle
is opened. However, the handle must be used to open it. The vehicle can be
locked and unlocked using the remote control ⇒ page 108 or by turning the
key in the lock in the driver door.
The windows can also be centrally opened or closed using the central lock-
ing system ⇒ page 114. The sunroof* can be closed but not opened using
the central locking system.
The central locking system is combined with an anti-theft security system.
If the vehicle is locked with the key from the outside, the interior opening
levers stop working, which prevents unauthorised persons from entering
the vehicle.
Should the central locking system fail to work, you can activate all the locks
individually. 
Safety FirstOperating InstructionsPractical TipsTechnical Specifications

103
Unlocking and locking
● This will lock all the doors and the rear lid.
● The interior lights are switched off, provided the light switch is in the
courtesy light position.
● The windows and the sunroof* will close as the key is held in the locking
position.
● The anti-theft security system will be enabled immediately.
Locking the vehicle without activating the anti-theft security system
With the anti-theft security system enabled, it is more difficult to break into
the vehicle. If the anti-theft security system has been enabled, the inside
door handles and the central locking switch will not work ⇒ 
.
If you are leaving passengers in the vehicle while it is parked, it is possible
to lock the vehicle without activating the anti-theft security system.
To do so, turn the key in the driver door twice in quick succession to posi-
tion B
⇒ Fig. 70.
WARNING
Do not leave anyone (especially children) in the vehicle if it is locked from
the outside and the anti-theft security system is enabled, as the doors
and windows cannot then be opened from the inside. Locked doors could
delay assistance in an emergency, potentially putting lives at risk.
CAUTION
If the driver door is locked using the key while open, the vehicle will be au-
tomatically immobilised and the alarm triggered.
Note
● Please note that when the vehicle is locked without activating the anti-
theft mechanism, the anti-theft alarm* remains operative. You should there-
fore switch off the interior monitoring* before locking the vehicle, as other-
wise the alarm* could be triggered unintentionally.
● The driver door cannot be locked using the central locking system when
it is still open. The door must be locked separately after it has been closed.
This helps to prevent you from being locked out of the vehicle. 
Central locking switch
The central locking system can be enabled from inside the
vehicle using the central locking switch on the driver door.
Fig. 71 Detail of the
driver door: Central lock-
ing switch
Locking the vehicle
– Press button 

⇒ 
Fig. 71 ⇒ . 
Safety FirstOperating InstructionsPractical TipsTechnical Specifications

105
Unlocking and locking
Locking the doors manually if the central locking fails to
work
Should the central locking system fail to work at any time
(for instance if there is no electrical power supply), each
door will have to be locked separately.
Fig. 72 Manual lock-
ing device
Fig. 73 Activating
manual locking A manual locking device is provided on the front passenger door
and the rear doors (only visible when the door is open).
–
Open the door.
– Use the key ⇒ Fig. 72 to turn the cap slightly and then fold it
downwards.
– Insert the key into the slot inside ⇒ Fig. 73 and turn it as far as
the stop, i.e. about 90 degrees to the right (doors on right side)
or to the left (door on the left side).
Once the door has been closed it can no longer be opened from the outside.
The door can be opened from the inside by pulling the door handle. If the
childproof lock is engaged on one of the rear doors, the door can be opened
by pulling the inside door handle once and then opening the door from the
outside. 
Safety FirstOperating InstructionsPractical TipsTechnical Specifications

107
Unlocking and locking
Unlocking the rear lid manually
The rear lid can be released manually if it will not open in
the normal way.
Fig. 75 Detail of the rear
seats and luggage com-
partment: access to the
emergency release mech-
anism
Fig. 76 Detail of the rear
lid: emergency unlocking
mechanism
– Fold down both rear backrests 1
⇒ Fig. 75. –
Lean into the luggage compartment.
– Lift the cover ⇒ Fig. 76 (arrow).
– Insert the screwdriver into the opening ⇒ Fig. 76 (arrow) and
push it in the direction of the arrow in order to release the rear
lid. 
Childproof lock Childproof locks on rear doors
The childproof lock prevents the rear doors from being
opened from the inside.
Fig. 77 Childproof lock
on the rear doors
The rear doors are equipped with childproof locks. These can be
operated using the ignition key. The childproof locks are only visi-
ble with the doors open. 
Safety FirstOperating InstructionsPractical TipsTechnical Specifications

108Unlocking and locking
Activating the childproof lock
–Turn the key in the direction of the arrow ⇒ Fig. 77.
Deactivating the childproof lock
– Turn the key in the opposite direction of the arrow.
When the childproof lock is enabled, the inside door handle will not work
and the door can only be opened from the outside. 
Remote control key Description
The remote control key will lock and unlock the vehicle with-
out having to insert the key in the lock. The following functions are available:
● Locking and unlocking the vehicle
● Unlocking the rear lid
All the turn signals will flash as confirmation when the vehicle is locked or
unlocked. Furthermore, the interior lights will automatically light up when
the vehicle is unlocked and go out when the vehicle is locked, provided that
the switches are in the courtesy light position.
The remote control transmitter and the battery are integrated into the han-
dle of the key. The receiver is in the interior of the vehicle. The maximum
range depends on different circumstances. The range is reduced when the
battery starts to lose power.
The remote control incorporates a foldaway key that can be used to manual-
ly lock or unlock the vehicle, as well as to start the engine. If the receiver has been repaired or replaced, or if a replacement key is
used, the system will need re-programming by a specialised workshop. Only
then will you be able use the remote control again.
The remote control meets all relevant authorisation requirements and has
been approved by the Federal Approvals Office for Telecommunications of
the Federal Republic of Germany. All components are marked in accordance
with the current legal requirements. This certification forms the basis for of-
ficial approval for use in other countries.
Note
● The remote control is automatically disabled when the ignition is switch-
ed on.
● The function of the remote control may be impaired by interference from
other nearby radio signals (e.g. from a mobile phone or TV transmitter) if
these are in the same frequency range. 
Locking and unlocking the vehicle
Fig. 78 Remote control
key: Control buttons 