2013 AUDI A6 towing capacity

192 Intelligent technology
Intelligent technology
Notice about data
recorded by vehicle
control modules
Your veh icle is not equipped with an Event Da­
ta Recorde r (EDR), ins talled by some manu­
facture rs fo r the express p urpose of capturing
data for retrieval after an accident or cras h
event . EDR's are sometimes ca lled "crash re­
corders".
Some state laws restr ict the retr ieval or down­
loading of data stored by EDR's that were in­
stalled in a vehicle for the express purpose of retrieving data after an accident or crash
event without the owner's consent.
A ltho ugh yo ur vehicle is not equ ipped wit h an
EDR, it is equipped with a number of electron­
ic control modules for various vehicle systems
such as, for examp le, eng ine f unction, em is­
sion control, as well as for the airbags and
safety belts.
These electronic contro l modules also record
vehicle-re lated data during norma l vehicle op­
erat ion for diagnostic and repa ir purposes.
The recording capacity of the electronic con­
trol modules is limited to data (no sound is re­
corded) and only a small amount of data is ac­
tually recorded ove r a ve ry limited pe riod of
time and stored when a sys tem faul t or o ther
cond ition is sensed by a cont ro l u nit. Some of
the data then stored may re late to vehicle
speed, direction, braking as we ll as restraint
system use and performance in the event of a
crash or other condit ion. Stored data can only
be read and downloaded w ith special equip­
ment.
Electronic Stabilization
Control (ESC)
Description
ESC helps to improve road holding and vehicle
dynamics to help reduce the probability of
skidd ing and loss of ve hicle control. It works
only when the eng ine is running. ESC detects certain difficult driving situat
ions, including
when the vehicle is beginning to spin (yaw)
o ut of control and he lps you to get the veh icle
back under control by se lectively braking the
whee ls, and/or reducing eng ine power and
providing steer ing ass istance to he lp hold the
vehicle o n the dr iver's intended course. The in­
dicator light
G) in the inst rument cluster
blinks when ESC is ta king action to help yo u
control the veh icle.
ESC has limitations.
It is importa nt to remem­
ber that ESC cannot overcome the laws of
physics. It wi ll not always be able to help out
under a ll cond it ions you may come up aga inst.
F or example, ESC may not always be able to
help you master situations where there is a
s u dden change in the coefficient of friction of
the road surface. When there is a section of
dry road that is sudden ly covered w ith water,
s lush or snow, ESC cannot perform the same
way it wou ld on the dry surface . If the ve hicle
hydroplanes (rides on a cushion of water in­
stead of the road surface), ESC will not be
able to help you steer the vehicle because con­
tact with the pavement has been in terrupted
and the vehicle cannot be braked or steered .
D uring fast cornering, particularly on winding
roads, ESC cannot always deal as effectively
with difficult driving situations than at lower
speeds. When towing a trailer, ESC is not able
to help you regain control as it would if you
were not tow ing a trailer.
Always adjust your speed and driving style to road, traffic; and weather condit ions. ESC can­
not override the vehicle's physical limits, in­
crease the availab le tract ion, or keep a ve hicle
on the road if road departure is a result of
drive r inattent io n. Instead, ESC imp roves the
poss ibil ity of keeping the vehi cle under con ­
trol and on the road during ex treme maneu­
vers by using the d river's steering inputs to
help keep the vehicle going in the intended di­
rection . If you are traveling at a speed that
ca uses you to run off the road before ESC can
provide any assistance, you may not experi­
ence the benefits of ESC.

250 Tires and wheels
6. If your vehicle will be towing
a trailer, load from your trail­
er will be transferred to your
vehi cle. Consult thi s manual
to determine how this re­
duces the available car go
and luggage lo ad capacity of
y o ur vehicle .
.,. Check the tire sidewall
(9 fig . 195) to de termine the
de signated load rating for a
s pe cifi c tir e.
Tire service life
The s ervi ce life of tires dep ends on a lot of
different things including proper installation
and balancing, correc t tire pressu re and driv­
ing style.
Fig. 193 T ire tread: tread wea r ind icators ( TWI)
( ,------- ')
l"-------
Fi g. 1 94 Rotat ing t ires fo r m ore eve n wear
Tread W ear Indicator (TWI)
The o rigi na l t ires o n your ve hicle have
1/16 inch (1.6 mm) high "wear indicators" ¢
fig. 193 r
u nning across the tread. Depend­
ing on the make, t here will be six to e ight of
them even ly placed aro und the tire. Marks on
the tire sidewall (for examp le "TWI" or other
symbols) ind icate the positions of the tread
wear indicato rs . Wor n tires must be rep laced.
D iffere nt f igures may apply in othe r countr ies
Q ,&. .
Tire pressure
Incorrect t ire pressure ca uses premature wear
and can cause sudde n tire blow-out. For this
reason, tire pressure must be checked at least
o nce a month ¢
page 246.
Driving style
Driving fast around c urves, heavy acce lerat ion
and hard braking increase tire wear .
Rotating tires for more even wear
Fo r all four tires on your ve hicl e to have the
same service life, we recommend that the
front and rear t ires a re rotated according to
the tire manu fact urer's suggested tire rota­
tion intervals. Please remember the follow­
ing :
- Tire rotation intervals may differ from t he
veh icle service interva ls outlined in your
Warranty
& M aintenance booklet.
- The longer one tire is used in one location
o n t he vehicle, the more it wears at certain
points; theref ore, we recommend t hat y ou
follow the tire manufacturer's suggested
tire rotation int ervals .
- Veh icles w ith front-wheel dr ive experience
more tread wear on the fro nt wheels com­
pa red to a ll-wheel d rive ( quattro ®).
- Please rotate tires as shown¢
fig. 194.
- Extra care must be taken when rotating di-
rection-specific tires ¢
page 268.
Wheel balancing
The wheels on new ve hicles are balance d.
Howeve r, various s ituations during everyday
dr iv ing can cause them to become unba l­
anced, resulti ng in vibrations you can usually
feel th rough the steer ing wheel.
liJJ,-

2 7 4 Emergency situations
Emergency situations
General
This chapter is intended for trained emer­
gency crews and working personnel who
have the necessary tools and equipment to
perform these ope rations.
Starting by pushing or
towing
Q;) Note
Vehicles w ith an automatic transmission
cannot be started by pus hing o r tow ing.
Starting with jumper
cables
If necessary, the engine can be started by
connecting it to the battery of another vehi­
cle.
If the engine should fail to start because of a
discharged or weak battery, the battery can be
connected to the battery of
another veh icle,
using a
pair of jumpe r cables to start the en­
g ine .
Jumper cables
Use only jumper cables of sufficiently large
cross section to carry the starter current safe­
ly. Refer to the manufacturer's specif ications.
Use only jumper cables with
insulated termi­
na l clamps which are distinctly marked:
plus(+) cable in most cases colored red
minu s(-) cable
in most cases colored black .
A WARNING
Batteries contain electricity, acid, and gas.
Any of these can cause very serious or fatal
inju ry. Follow the instructions below for
safe handling of your veh icle's battery.
- Always shield you r eyes and avoid lean­
ing over the battery whenever possible.
- A discharged battery can freeze at tem­
peratures just be low 32 °F (0 °C). Before connecting a
jumper cable, you must
thaw the frozen battery complete ly, oth­
erwise it could explode.
- Do not allow battery acid to contact eyes
or skin . Flush any contacted area with
water immediately .
- Improper use of a booster battery to start a vehicle may cause an explosion.
- Vehicle batteries generate explosive gas­
es. Keep sparks, flame and lighted ciga­
rettes away from batteries.
- Do not try to jump start any vehicle with a low acid level in the battery.
- The vo ltage of the booster battery must
also have a 12-volt rating. The capacity
(Ah) of the booster battery should not be
lower than that of the discharged bat­
tery . Use of batteries of d ifferent voltage
or substantially different "Ah" rating
may cause an exp losion and personal in­
jury.
- Never charge a frozen batte ry. Gas trap­
ped in the ice may cause an explosion.
- Never charge or use a battery that has
been frozen. The battery case may have
be weakened.
- Use of batter ies of different voltage or
substantially different capacity (Ah) rat­
ing may cause an exp losion and injury.
The capacity (Ah) of the booster battery
should not be lower than that of the dis ­
charged battery.
- Before you check anything in the engine
compartment, always read and heed a ll
WARNINGS
¢page 219, Engine com­
partment.
«I) Note
-Applying a higher voltage booster bat­
tery will cause expensive damage to sen­
sitive electronic components, such as
contro l units, relays, rad io, etc .
- There must be no electrical contact be­
tween the vehicles as otherwise current
could already start to flow as soon as the
positive(+) terminals are connected. ..,_