2012 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF ESP

PASSENGER BAG light burns out, lhe
airbag monitoring indicator light come on and
signal a malfunclion of the Advanced Airbag tem. Although the burn ed-out bulb not change
the way the front airbag on the passenger side
works , it
SENGER BAG
tem inspected immediat ely by your authorized
V olkswagen dealer or autho rized Volkswagen
Service
Faci lit y.
vehic le occupants and especially dren must be restra in ed properly wheneve r
riding in a vehicle. An unrestrained or properly r estrained child could be injured by striking the interior or by being ejected from the vehicle during a sudden maneuver or
bag .
A child in a rea rward -facing child seat on the front passenger seat will be
The inflating airbag
seat and the child against the seat backrest, center armrest , door, or roof.
restraint properly ins talled and u se d at on e of the rea r seating position s provides the highes t degre e of protection for infants and children in most accident situations.
Fo r their own safety,
a child restraint, always the manufacturer' s
To reduce the risk of serious injury, make
sure that the PASSENGER light come s on and stays on whenever a child restraint is insta lled on the front passenger sea t and the ignition is switched on. T ake the child restraint off the front passenger seat and it properly at one of t he seat ing positions on the rea r seat if the BAG light does not stay on.
H ave the airbag system insp ec ted immediate­ly by an authorized Volkswage n dealer or an
authorized Volksw agen Facility.
you must u se a child restraint on the front passeng er seat and the child restraint manufa cturer's instructions require the use of a towel, foam cushion or som ething similar to properly position the re strain t, make certain that the BAG light comes on and stays when ever the child restrain t is installed on the front passenger
sea t.
Otherwise , the tem on the rear sea t!
Changes in weight on the passenger seat while driving can switch the passenger front airbag on or off so that it does not deploy when it should or deploys when it should not,
r esulting in an increa sed risk of se riou s sonal injury.
Do not carry anything on your lap or transport things on the passeng er sea t. Things on the passenger seat can influence the weight registered by the weight-se nsing mat, sending the wrong information to the
airbag control unit. These objects can als o
ca use serio us personal injury if the airbag
g er door, supporting body weight on the rest, or by holding the grab handle on the stru m ent pane l.
Always mak e sure that a child res traint ha s bee n reg istered by the the status of the Advan ce d Airbag changes while the vehicle is moving, the light blinks for about 5 seco nds to catch the driv-er's attention . this happen s, alway s s top as soon as it is sa fe to do so and chec k to mak e

sure that the airbag on/off status is correct for the passenger riding on the front passen-ger seat. Side airbags
Fig. 61 the padding on the outboard side of the fro nt seat backrests : locat ion an d deployment zone of the side airbags (B).
on page 82.
T he side airbags are in the backrest padding of the
driver and passenger seats 61 B. The is shown by the word The
area marked in red (dotted lines) indicates the
ployment zone of the side airba gs.
a side collision, the side airbag in the sea t rest can and reduce the risk of injury to
the drive r or the front seat passenger.
T he side airbags
for the front seating
duce the risk of injury that can be caused by bags when they pant sitting next to it is not seated properly.
Th e s i
de airbag for the front passenger seat can
be used with properly restraints . ways read and heed whenever using a child restraint in the
vehicle: 69 , 82, Airbag
system , Child safety and child in The dangers of using child straints on the fron t seat on page in
A n electronic control module and side impact
sensors.
airbags in the front seat backrests.
An airbag system monitoring indicator light in the instrument cluster
the side airbag between the vehicle
occ upant and the door. The side airbag system
supplements the safe ty and can to duce the risk of injury to the occupants' upper so.
provide th is additional p ro tection,
the side airbag must
especially to 103.
Th e airbag system is mon ito red
to make sure it is working properly at times. E very
time you turn on the igni tion , the airbag syst em come on for a few seconds
( functio n ch eck) .

The airba g system is not a substitute for your Rather, it is part of the occ upa nt straint sys tem in your vehicle
is import ant to remem ber that the side airbag
s ys tem is desig ned t o help re duce the like lihood of
ser io us injury . H owever , it is importa nt to ber th a t a deploying airbag may also cau se other
i njur ies, su ch as bruisin g, fric tio n burns ,
a nd abr asions . A lso re m ember th a t side airbags
if the ignit ion is sw itch ed off when a crash
in side ured by the sensor is too tow,
in fron t-en d co llisio ns,
in rear -e n d
in rollove rs , unless the deployme nt th reshold
fo r dep loyment stored in the co ntrol unit is met.
so me t ypes of accide nts the fron t airbags , Curtai n Protection ® airbags and side airb a gs ma y
b e t rigge re d t ogether.
An inflating side airbag can cause serious or even fatal injury.
To help reduce the risk of injury when the
supplemental side airbag inflates ,
-
Always sit in an upright position and do not lean against the area where the side
airbag is located.
- Never
let a child or anyone else rest their head against the side trim panel in the area where the side airbag inflates.
-
Always make sure that safety belts are worn correctly.
- Nev er
let anyone sitting in the front seat put their hand out of the window.
on the seat backrests
gerously through the passenger ment and cause serious Injury if the mental side airbag inflates.
any children or other passengers to ride in that space.
coat hooks for thing but lightweight clothing. Never leave any heavy or sharp-edged objects in the pockets.
sonal injury a
Improper use, repair , or disassembly of the driver and front passenger seats can prevent side airbags from working property and result in severe injuries.
seat covers or
ests that have not been specifically
ately by an authorized Volkswagen dealer or authorized Volkswagen
ing damaged by heavy objects hitting the sides of the seat backre sts or force being put on the seat backs, especially in the area
where the side airbag module is located .

safety instructions for using
babies or ride in a of ano ther ger .
on page
seats or other kind of acci­
dent!
seat for each use it
seat manufactur­
er's instructions on how to route the safety through the in the seat.
When using
the to a
prevent the seat from moving
seat down with your tight so that the seat
a
a restraint on the front circumstances, be sure
to read and heed the important information and warn in gs in the sections of this 104 .
There are
the safety is enough to restraint manufacturer's instructions
Move the fron t passenger seat to the highest
restra int and make sure the backrest is in the
upright position
is
equipped with an Advanced Airbag System , especially those 12 years and younger,
must ride in the back seat restrain­ed for their age and size.
be injured and can
be
even with an Advanced Airbag
against the backrest, center armrest, door or roof.
seat, using the wrong restraint increases the risk of serious or other emergency situation.
dren must be restrain ed
and

Whenever a the safety must
be webbing cannot you restraint can be
goes around a corner.
restraint on a seat, prefe rably
o n a rear sea t
the restraint on a rear seat
restraint in your
Route the safety
as specified by the res tra int manufactur­er.
insert the
Make sure that the red
Remove from the it
Push the
installed with the safety
Activate the feature 117 , Activating the switchable locking fea­
ture .
on the safety is properly fastened and tight.
Check the restraint at the place where the restraint.
The
r estraints i f th e restraint must be installe d on the front seat
restraint manufac­
turer's instructions when installing a restraint in your
the restraint on a seat, prefe rably
o n a re ar seat in exceptio n al circum­s ta nces you must install the
Make sure the front seat backrest is in the right position .
Move the front passenger seat to the rearmost
position in the seat's fore and aft adjustment range,
as far away from the airbag as
height juster so that safety install the restraint.
Route the safety
as specified by the
the tongue into the for that
seating position.
Make sure that the red button faces
away from the
Remove from the and straint.
Push the weight to make sure that the restraint be installed with the safety
Make sure the safety is not so tight that it
causes the weight-sensing mat to measure more
weight than is actually
on the seat.
Activate the belt's switchable feature
Check the restraint at the where the restraint.
T he seat
After checking to make sure that the
restraint is correctly recognized by the weight­
sensing mat inside the front passenger seat, so that the front passenger airbag status is
GER BAG be sure to read
the additional important information and heed the
about the Advanced Airbag
BAG
especially those 12 years and younger ,
must restrain -
ed for their age and size.

Lights and vision
Lights
lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Turn signal lever and high beam switch . . . . . 123
Switching li ghts on and off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
lights and Vision functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
and reading lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
A lways obey loca l ve
hicle lighting laws.
The drive r is always responsible for the correct
headlight settings.
More information:
Exterior views
Volkswagen
Changing a light bulb
Headlights that are aimed too high and
an d distract other drive rs. This can lea d to a crash and serious personal injuri es .
Always make sure that are properly adjusted .
or distrac t other drive rs . on p age 122.
Lights up Possible cause
or more driving lights not wor king .
. Adaptive Front lighting ma l-
function.
Fog lig hts switched on (ind icator light on the
headlight switch).
L eft
or right turn signal. The indicator light blinks twice as fast if a turn
signal is not working on the vehicle or the
t r a iler .
Daytime running lights
High beams switched on or headl ight nashers
i n u se.
When the ignit io n is sw itched on, several warning
and indicator lights come on
122 Before driving Prope
r response
Replace burn ed out bulb
all light bulb s are
Fa cility .
125
123.

Adaptive Front Lighting
The Adaptive Front Lighting works only
with the low beams switched on and only at
speeds above about 6 mph
improve road
vehicles equipped with the Adaptive Front
Lighting the feature is switched on and off
via the Assistant menu
the roadway. Th e headlights re­
t urn to their original position after a delay , depend­
in g on the speed of the
Crashes and other accidents can happen when you cannot see the road ahead and when you cannot be seen by other motorists.
not be able to see
f a r enough ahead for safety, especially at dusk or when it is dark . Always switch on the low-beam headlights at dusk or when it is dark.
The taillights do not come on when the daytime running lights are switched on. Ave­hicle without
cool or hum id weather, th e insides of th e headlights , th e rea r li ghts, and turn signals
can temporarily fog up. This is normal and does
not affect the service life
of the vehic le's lightin g
system. tory information and h ee d the WARN­on page 122.
Instrument panel lighting
Whe n the lights are on, the brightness of the in­
strument panel lighting is ad justed by turning the
thumbwhee l
Instrument cluster brightness
Whe n t he lights are sw itched on, you can adjust
the brightness of the in strument cluster li ghting by turning the thumbw hee l
Before driving
some vehicles with daytime running lights
(DRL), the instrument lighting switches on
need to
switch the head lights on
turn on
the headlight range is
Headlights that are aimed to o high because of the way the vehicle is loaded can blind and distract other drivers. This can lead to a
crash and serious per sonal injuries.
Always adjust headlights to loading condi-tions so that they do not blind others.

Mirrors
this section find informa tio n about:
mirr ors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
More information:
Exte rio r views page 6
Personal comfort settin g in the Volksw age n fo rmation
17 1
179
Auto-dimming mirrors conta in an electrolyte
ken . Electrolyte fluid can irritate the skin, eyes, and respiratory system.
trolyte can irritate the respiratory tem, especially among people with asthma or other respiratory conditions. Get fresh air
the
way .
adjustab le ins ide m irro r.
tory information a nd heed the on page 134.
Adj ust
the i nside mirror to make sure that there is
good visibilit y thr ough the rea r window .
ele c trolyte fluid gets into the ey es, flush them thoroughly with large amounts of clean water for at least 15 minutes; med ical tion is recommended .
electrolyte fluid contacts skin, fected area with clean water for at least 15
ed. Thoroughly wash affecte d clothing and
shoes before reuse.
swallowed , and the person is conscious, rinse mouth with w ater for at leas t 15 nute s. Get medical attention immediately. Do not induce vomiting unless instructed to do so by a medical professional.
Broken glass in the auto-d imming mirrors can
cause electrolyte lyte leaked from a broken mirror g lass
Fi g. 81 Auto-dimming inside mirror (if appl icable) .
Manually adjustable inside mirror
Home position : Lever on th e bottom edge of the mirror poin ts forward .
To adjust to visibil ity , move the leve r
so that it points backward