2012 Seat Mii clutch

48Ensuring you are correctly and safely seated
Ensuring you are correctly and safely seated
Adjusting the seat position
Introduction
Number of seats
The vehicle has a total of 4 seats: 2 front seats and 2 rear seats. Each seat is
equipped with a seat belt.
Additional information and warnings:
● Seat functions ⇒ page 55
● Seat belts ⇒ page 57
● Airbag system ⇒ page 67
● Child seats (accessories) ⇒ page 76
WARNING
An incorrect sitting position in the vehicle can lead to severe injuries or
death in the event of sudden braking or manoeuvres, collision or acci-
dents or if the airbag deploys.
● Before the vehicle moves, assume the proper sitting position and
maintain it throughout the trip. This also includes fastening the seat
belt.
● Never transport more people than there are seats with a seat belt
available in the vehicle.
WARNING (Continued)
● Children must always be protected with an approved child restraint
system suited to their height and weight ⇒ page 76, ⇒ page 67.
● Always keep your feet in the footwell while the vehicle is in motion.
Never, for example, put your feet on the surface of a seat or on the dash
panel and never put them out of a window. Otherwise the airbag and seat
belt offer insufficient protection and the risk of injury in the event of an
accident is increased.
WARNING
Before every trip, adjust the seat, the seat belt and the head restraints
and instruct your passengers to fasten their seat belts properly.
● Move the front passenger seat back as far as possible.
● Adjust the driver seat so that there is at least 25 cm distance between
your chest and the hub of the steering wheel. Adjust the driver seat so
that you are able to press the accelerator, brake and clutch pedals to the
floor with your knees slightly angled and that the distance between your
knees and the dash panel is at least 10 cm. If your physical constitution
prevents you from meeting these requirements, contact a Specialised
workshop to make any modifications required.
● Never drive with the backrest tilted far back. The further the backrests
are tilted to the rear, the greater the risk of injury due to incorrect posi-
tioning of the belt web or to the incorrect sitting position.
● Never drive with the backrest tilted forwards. Should a front airbag
deploy, it could throw the backrest backwards and injure the passengers
of the rear seats.
● Sit as far away as possible from the steering wheel and the dash pan-
el. 

50Ensuring you are correctly and safely seated
Correct sitting position
Fig. 28 The proper dis-
tance between driver and
steering wheel
Fig. 29 Correct seat belt
web and head restraint
positions
The correct sitting positions for the driver and passengers are shown below.
If your physical constitution prevents you from maintaining the correct sit-
ting position, contact a Specialised workshop for help with any special devi-
ces. The seat belt and airbag can only provide optimum protection if a cor- rect sitting position is adopted. SEAT recommends visiting a Technical Serv-
ice.
For your own safety and to reduce the risk of injury in the event of an acci-
dent or sudden braking or manoeuvre, SEAT recommend the following posi-
tions:
Valid for the driver:
●
Adjust the backrest to an upright position so that your back rests com-
pletely against it.
● Adjust the seat so that there is a distance of at least 25 cm between the
steering wheel and your chest ⇒ Fig. 28 and so that you can hold the steer-
ing wheel with both hands on the outside of the ring at the 9 o'clock and 3
o'clock positions with your arms slightly bent.
● The adjusted steering wheel must face your chest and not your face.
● Adjust the driver seat forwards or backwards so that you are able to
press the accelerator, brake and clutch pedals to the floor with your knees
slightly angled and the distance between your knees and the dash panel is
at least 10 cm ⇒ Fig. 28.
● Adjust the height of the driver seat so that you can easily reach the top
of the steering wheel.
● Keep both feet in the footwell so that you have the vehicle under control
at all times.
● Adjust and fasten your seat belt correctly ⇒ page 57.
Valid for the passenger:
● Adjust the backrest to an upright position so that your back rests com-
pletely against it.
● Move the front passenger seat back as far as possible for optimum pro-
tection should the airbag deploy.
● Always keep your feet in the footwell while the vehicle is in motion.
● Adjust and fasten your seat belt correctly ⇒ page 57.

121
Starting, changing gears, parking
WARNING
Unsuitable or careless use of the vehicle key could result in serious in-
jury.
● Always take all the keys with you whenever you leave the vehicle. The
engine could accidentally be started and electrical equipment such as
the windows could accidentally be operated resulting in serious injury.
● Never leave children or disabled people alone in the vehicle. They
could be trapped in the vehicle in an emergency and will not be able to
get themselves to safety. For example, depending on the time of the
year, temperatures inside a locked and closed vehicle can be extremely
high or extremely low resulting in serious injuries and illness or even
death, particularly for young children.
● Never remove the key from the ignition if the vehicle is in motion. The
steering may lock and it will not be possible to turn the steering wheel.
Note
● If the key is left in the ignition lock with the engine off for long periods,
the vehicle battery will run flat.
● For automatic gearbox vehicles the key can only be removed from the ig-
nition lock if the gear selector lever is in position P. In this case, press and
release the selector lever locking button. 
Starting the engine
Complete operations only in the sequence given.
1.Press the brake pedal and keep pressed until step 5 has been completed.
1 a.In vehicles with a manual gearbox: Press the clutch pedal all
the way and keep pressed until the engine starts.
Complete operations only in the sequence given.
2.Put the gearbox lever in neutral or the selector lever in posi- tion P or N.
3.Turn the key in the ignition lock to position ⇒ Fig. 83 2; do
not press the accelerator.
4.When the engine has started, release the key in the ignition lock.
5.If the engine does not start, stop the process and try again af-ter one minute.
6.Release the handbrake when you want to begin driving⇒ page 134.
WARNING
Never leave the vehicle unattended if the engine is running. The vehicle
could move off suddenly, especially if it is in gear, resulting in an acci-
dent and serious injury.
WARNING
Cold start sprays could explode or cause a sudden increase in the engine
speed.
● Never use start boosters.
CAUTION
● An attempt to start the engine while driving or starting the engine imme-
diately after turning it off can cause damage to the engine or starter motor.
● When the engine is cold, avoid high revs and heavy acceleration and do
not make the engine work hard.
● Do not push or tow start the engine. Sunburnt fuel could damage the
catalytic converter. 
Vehicle diagramPrior to a journey...While drivingCare, cleaning and mainte-
nanceIf and whenTechnical Data

127
Starting, changing gears, parking
Pedals
Fig. 84 Pedals in vehi-
cles with a manual gear-
box: 1
accelerator; 2brake; 3 clutch
Fig. 85 Pedals in vehi-
cles with an automatic
gearbox: 1
accelerator;
2 brake
Do not allow floor mats or other objects to obstruct the free passage of the
pedals.
Floor mats should leave the pedal area vacant and unobstructed and be cor-
rectly secured in the footwell zone. In the event of failure of a brake circuit, the brake pedal must be pressed
harder than normal to brake the vehicle.
WARNING
Objects falling into the driver's footwell could prevent use of the pedals.
This could lead the driver to lose control of the vehicle, increasing the
risk of a serious accident.
● Make sure the pedals can be used at all times, with no objects rolling
underneath them.
● Always secure the mat in the footwell.
● Never place other mats or rugs on top of the original mat supplied by
the factory.
● Ensure that no objects can fall into the driver's footwell while the ve-
hicle is in motion.
CAUTION
The pedals must always have free and unobstructed passage to the floor.
For example, in case of a fault in the brake circuit, the brake pedal will need
to be pressed further to stop the vehicle. To press the brake pedal down fur-
ther will require more force than usual. 
Vehicle diagramPrior to a journey...While drivingCare, cleaning and mainte-
nanceIf and whenTechnical Data

128Starting, changing gears, parking
Manual gearbox: Engaging gears
Fig. 86 Gear shift pat-
tern of a 5-speed manual
gearbox
The position of each of the gears is shown on the gear stick ⇒ Fig. 86.
● Keep the clutch pedal pushed all the way down.
● Move the gearbox lever to the required position
⇒ 
.
● Release the clutch pedal to engage clutch.
In some countries, it is necessary to press the clutch pedal to the floor to
start the engine.
Selecting reverse gear
● Engage reverse gear only when the vehicle is stopped.
● Keep the clutch pedal pushed all the way down
⇒ 
.
● Move the gear lever into the neutral position.
● Move the gear stick to the right and then backwards to reverse gear R
.
● Release the clutch pedal to engage clutch. Shifting down a gear
Shifting down a gear while driving must be carried out gear by gear, i.e. to
the gear immediately preceding the current gear and at an engine speed
that is not excessive
⇒ 
. At high speeds, or high engine speeds, skipping
one or various gears when shifting down a gear can cause damage to the
clutch and the gearbox, even if the clutch is not engaged during the process
⇒ 
.
WARNING
When the engine is running, the vehicle will start to move as soon as a
gear is engaged and the clutch released.
● Never engage the reverse gear when a vehicle is moving forward.
WARNING
As a consequence of shifting down a gear incorrectly, you may lose con-
trol of the vehicle and cause an accident with serious consequences.
CAUTION
If, at high speeds or high engine speeds the gear lever is shifted down to a
gear that is too low, serious damage can be caused to the clutch and gear-
box. This also applies if you press the clutch pedal and it does not engage.
CAUTION
To prevent damage and avoid premature wear, please observe the follow-
ing:
● While driving, do not leave your hand resting on the gear stick. The pres-
sure applied by your hand is transmitted to the gearbox selector forks.
● Always ensure that the vehicle is completely stopped before engaging
the reverse gear. 

129
Starting, changing gears, parking
● When changing gear, always make sure the clutch pedal is pushed right
to the floor.
● Never hold the vehicle “on the clutch” on hills. 
Automatic gearbox: engaging a gear
Fig. 87 Automatic gear-
box selector lever
Fig. 88 Automatic gear-
box diagram of gears
To move the gear selector lever from the position N to D or to R, first press
and hold the brake pedal.
In the instrument panel display, with the ignition switched on, the selected
gear range or the gear engaged in the gearbox is shown.
Selector lever positionsDenominationMeaning ⇒ 
Reverse gearReverse gear is selected. Engage only
when the vehicle is stopped.
NeutralThe gear box is in neutral. No movement
is transmitted to the wheels and the en-
gine does not act as a brake. 
Vehicle diagramPrior to a journey...While drivingCare, cleaning and mainte-
nanceIf and whenTechnical Data

133
Starting, changing gears, parking
For the sake of the environment
Selecting the most appropriate gear for the situation will help you to save
fuel.
Note
The recommended gear display is switched off when the clutch pedal is
pressed.
Note
On the display of the Portable Navigation System (supplied by SEAT)
⇒ page 222 the recommended gear can also be seen. 
Vehicle diagramPrior to a journey...While drivingCare, cleaning and mainte-
nanceIf and whenTechnical Data

137
Starting, changing gears, parking
To park the vehicle
Complete operations only in the sequence given.
● Park the vehicle on a suitable surface ⇒ 
.
● Press and hold the brake pedal until the vehicle comes to a standstill.
● Apply the handbrake firmly ⇒ page 136.
● For an automatic gearbox, move the selector lever to position P.
● Switch off the engine and release the brake pedal.
● Remove the key from the ignition.
● If necessary, turn the steering wheel slightly to lock the steering.
● With a manual gearbox, engage the 1st gear on flat ground and slopes,
or even the reverse gear on hills, and release the clutch pedal.
● Ensure that all passengers leave the vehicle, especially children.
● When leaving the vehicle, take all keys with you.
● Locking the vehicle.
Additional information for steep slopes and hills
Before switching off the engine, rotate the steering wheel so that if the vehi-
cle should move then it will be held by the kerb.
● On slopes, turn the front wheels so that they are against the edge of the
kerb.
● Uphill, turn the wheels towards the centre of the road.
WARNING
The components of the exhaust system reach very high temperatures.
This could cause a fire and considerable damage.
● Always park your vehicle so that no part of the exhaust system can
come in contact with flammable materials (such as wood, leaves, spilled
fuel, dried grass, etc).
CAUTION
● Special care should be taken when parking in areas with high kerbs or
fixed barriers. Objects protruding from the ground may damage the bumper
or other parts of the vehicle during manoeuvres. To avoid damage, stop be-
fore the wheels touched the barrier or kerb.
● Special attention is required when driving through entrances, over
ramps, kerbs or other objects. The vehicle underbody, bumpers, mudguards
and running gear, and the engine and exhaust system could be damaged as
you drive over these objects. 
Information about the brakes
For the first 200 to 300 km (120 to 190 mph), the new brake pads have not
yet reached their maximum braking capacity, and need to be “run in” first
⇒ 
. The slightly reduced braking effect can be compensated for by in-
creasing pressure on the brake pedal. While running in, the full braking dis-
tance or emergency braking distance is larger then when the brake pads
have been run in. While running in, avoid full power braking or situations
requiring braking performance. For example, in heavy traffic.
The rate of wear of the brake pads depends to a great extent on the condi-
tions in which the vehicle is used and the way the vehicle is driven. If the
vehicle is used frequently in city traffic or for short trips or driven sport style,
visit a Specialised workshop regularly more frequently than advised in the
Maintenance Programme to have the brake pads checked.
If you drive with wet brakes, for example, after crossing areas of water, in
heavy rainfall or even after washing the vehicle, the effect of the brakes is
lessened as the brake discs are wet or even frozen (in winter). At higher
speed, “dry” the brakes as quickly as possible by braking gently several
times. Only do this without endangering vehicles behind you or any other
road users ⇒ 
. 
Vehicle diagramPrior to a journey...While drivingCare, cleaning and mainte-
nanceIf and whenTechnical Data