2013 AUDI A8 height

134 Driving Safel y
Driving Safely
General notes
Safe driving habits
Please remember -safety first!
This chapter contains important information,
tips, instructions and warnings that you need
to read and observe for your own safety, the
safety of your passengers and others . We have
summarized here what you need to know
about safety belts, a irbags, ch ild restra ints as
well as child safety. Your safety is for us
priori­
ty number 1.
Always observe the info rmat ion
and warn ings in th is sect ion -fo r yo ur own
safety as well as that of your passengers .
The information in this se ction app lies to all
model ve rsions of your veh icle . Some of the
feat ures desc ribed in this sec tions may be
standard equipment on some models, or may
be optional equipment on others . If you are
not sure, ask your authorized Aud i dealer.
A WARNING
- Always make sure that you follow the in­
struct ions and heed the WARNINGS in
this Manual. It is in your interest and in
the inte rest of you r passengers.
- Always keep the complete Owner's Liter­
ature in your Audi when you lend or sell
yo ur vehicle so that this important info r­
mation will always be ava ilable to the
dr iver and passengers.
- Always keep the Owner's literature handy
so that you can find i t eas ily if you have
ques tions.
Safety equipment
The safety features are part of the occupant
restraint system and work together to help
redu ce the risk of injury in a wide variety of
accident situations.
Your safety and the safety of your passenge rs
should not be left to chance. Advances in
technology have made a varie ty o f fea tures
avai la bl e to he lp re duce the risk of inj ury in an accident
. The following is a list of just a few of
the safety features in your Audi:
- sophis tic ated s afety be lts for d rive r and a ll
passenger sea ting pos it ions,
- s afety belt prete nsio ners ,
- safety belt force lim ite rs fo r the front seats,
- safety belt he ight ad justment systems for
the front seats ,
- front airbags,
- knee airbags for the front seats
- side airbags in the front seats a nd outer rear
seats,
- side c urtai n airbags ,
- specia l LATCH anchorages for child re-
straints,
- he ad restr aints for each sea ting pos ition,
- ad justab le s teer ing colum n.
These ind iv idual safety features, can work to­
ge ther as a system to help protect you and
you r passengers in a wide range of accidents .
T hese features canno t wo rk as a system if
they are not always cor re ct ly adjusted and co r­
rect ly used.
Safety is ev erybody' s responsibility!
Important things to do before driving
Safety is everybody 's job! Vehicle and occu ­
pant safety always depends on the informed and careful driver .
For your safety and the safety of your passen ­
gers,
befor e driv ing always:
.. Make s ure that all lig hts and signa ls are op­
erating correctly.
.. Make sure that the tire pressure is correct .
.. Mak e sur e that all windows are clean and
afford good v is ibility to the outside .
.. Se cu re a ll luggage a nd o ther items carefu lly
<:!) page 69, ¢page 74.
.. Ma ke s ure that noth ing can interfere wi th
the peda ls .
.. Adjust front seat, head restraint and mir ­
rors correctly for your height.
.. Instruct passengers to adjust the head re-
straints according to the ir height . .,..

should alwaysfitsnugly¢fig.162. Pull
on the belt to tighten if necessary.
- A loose-fitting safety belt can cause seri­
ous injuries by shifting its position on
your body from the strong bones to more vulnerable, soft tissue and cause serious
injury .
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other important information
¢page 147.
Pregnant women must also be correctly
restrained
The best way to protect the fetus is to make
sure that expectant mothers always wear
safety belts correctly -throughout the preg­
nancy.
Fig. 163 Safety belt pos it io n during p regnancy
To provide maximum protection, safety belts
must always be positioned correctly on the
wearer's body
c> page 148.
.,. Adjust the front seat and head restraint cor­
rectly ¢
page 5 7, General recommenda­
tions.
.,. Hold the belt by the tongue and pull it
evenly across the chest and pelvis
¢ fig . 163, ¢ &_ .
.,. Insert the tongue into the correct buckle of
your seat until you hear it latch securely
¢ page 147, fig. 161.
.,. Pull on the belt to make sure that it is se­
curely latched in the buckle.
Safety belts 149
A WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can
cause serious personal injury in an acc i­
dent.
- Expectant mothers must always wear the
lap portion of the safety belt as low as
possible across the pelvis and below the
round ing of the abdomen.
-Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other important information¢
& in Fas­
tening safety belts on page 148.
Unfastening safety belts
Unbuckle the safety belt with the red release
button only a~er the vehicle has stopped .
Fig. 164 Releas ing the tong ue fro m the buckle
.,. Push the red release button on the buckle
o:::> fig. 164. The belt tongue will spring out
of the buckle
¢ .&_ .
0 .... N 9 I ;&
.,. Let the belt wind up on the retractor as you
guide the belt tongue to its stowed position .
A WARNING
=
Never unfasten safety belt while the vehi-
cle is moving . Doing so will increase your
risk of being injured or killed.
Adjusting safety belt height
You can adjust the height of the driver's and
front passenger 's safety belts.
The safety belt height adjustors for the front
seats can be used to adjust the height of the
shoulder portion of the safety belt so that it is
positioned correctly . .,,..

150 Safety belts
The s hou lder belt should lie as close to the
center of the collar bone as possib le and
should fit well on the body¢
A in Safety belt
position on page 148.
P ower saf ety belt h eight adju stment *
You can ad just the height of the safety belts
using the mu ltifunction button on the driver
or front passenge r seat ¢
page 59.
A WARNING
Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other important informat ion¢
page 147.
You can also adjust the height of the front
seats to change the position of the safety
be lts.
Improperly worn safety belts
Incorrectly positioned safety belts can cause
severe injuries.
Wear ing safety be lts imprope rly can cause se ­
rio us inj ury or death. Safety be lts can on ly
wo rk when they are correct ly positioned on
the body. Improper seating positions reduce
the effect iveness of safety belts and will even
increase the r isk of injury and death by mov­
ing the safety belt to cr itical areas of the
body. Imprope r seat ing pos it ions also in­
crease the risk of serious in jury and death
when an air bag deploys and str ikes a n occu­
pant who is not in the correct seating posi­
tion . A driver is responsib le for the sa fety of
all vehicle occupants and especially for chi l­
dren. Therefore:
~ Never permit anyone to ass ume an incorrect
sitting position in the vehicle w hile traveling
¢&_ .
A WARNING
Imprope rly worn safety belts increase the
r isk of serious personal injury and death
whenever a veh icle is being used. -
Always make sure that all vehicle occu­
pants are correctly restrained and stay in
a correct seating position whenever the
veh icle is being used .
- Always read and heed all WAR NINGS and
other important information
¢ page 147.
Safety belt preten­
sioners
How safety belt pretensioners work
In front, side and rear -end collisions above a
particular severity and in a rollover , safety
belts are tensioned automatically.
Reversible safety belt tensioners
T he safety belts on the fro nt sea ts ar e e qui p­
ped with powe r reversib le tensioners . The fo l­
lowing functions a re ava ilab le when the driv ­
er's/front passenger's safety belts are fas­
tened :
- Automatic tens ioners : at the start of a drive,
the safety belts automat ica lly adjust to the
passenger after a certain time period or ve ­
hicle speed. To switch the automatic ten­
sioners off, select the following in the MMI:
! CARI function button> Car systems > Vehi­
cle settings > Seats > Driver's seat or Pas­
s enger's seat
> Automatic belt t ensioner >
Off .
-In certain dr iv ing s ituations, the safety belts
may tighten w ith a revers ible tens ion ing
fu nction
¢ page 196.
-The safety be lts may a lso t ighten with th is
reve rsible tensioning function in minor co lli­
sion s.
Pyrotechnic safety belt pretensioners
The safety belts are equ ipped with safety belt
pretensioners . The system is act ivated by se n­
sors i n front, s ide and rear-end co llisions of
great severity and in a rollover. This tig htens
t h e belt and t akes up belt slack¢.&.
in Service
and disposal of safety belt pretensi oner on
page 151.
Taking up the slack helps to reduce 1111>

and safety belts with pretensioners are
scrapped, all applicable laws and regula­
tions must be observed. Your authorized
Audi dealer is familiar with these require­
ments and we recommend that you have
your dealer perform this service for you .
Other things that can affect Advanced
Airbag performance
Changing the vehicle's suspension system can
change the way that the Advanced Airbag Sys­
tem performs in a crash. For example, using
tire-rim combinations not approved by Audi,
lowering the vehicle, changing the stiffness of
the suspension, including the springs, suspen­
sion struts, shock absorbers etc. can change
the forces that are measured by the airbag
sensors and sent to the electronic control
unit. Some suspension changes can, for exam­ ple, increase the force levels measured by the
sensors and make the airbag system deploy in
crashes in which it would not deploy if the
changes had not been made. Other kinds of
changes may reduce the force levels meas­
ured by the sensors and prevent the airbag
from deploying when it should.
The sensors in the safety belt buckle for the
driver and front passenger seat tell the elec­
tronic control module if the safety belt is
latched or not. If the safety belt is being used,
the front airbag will deploy at a slightly high­
er rate of vehicle deceleration than if the safe­
ty belt is not being used. Therefore, in a par­
ticular collision, it is possible that an airbag
will not deploy at a seating position where the safety belt is being used but will inflate at the
position where the safety belt is not being
used . It is important that nothing interfere
with the safety belt buckles so that the sen­
sors can send the correct information about
safety belt use to the electronic control unit.
A WARNING
Changing the vehicle's suspension includ­
ing use of unapproved tire-rim combina­
tions can change Advanced Airbag per-
Airbag system 167
formance and increase the risk of serious
personal injury in a crash.
- Never install suspension components
that do not have the same performance characteristics as the components origi­nally installed on your vehicle.
- Never use tire-rim combinations that have not been approved by Audi.
A WARNING
Items stored between the safety belt buckle and the center console can cause
the sensors in the buckle to send the
wrong information to the e lectronic con­
trol module and prevent the Advanced Air­
bag System from working properly.
- Always make sure that nothing can inter­
fere with the safety belt buckles and that
they are not obstructed.
Knee airbags
Description of knee airbags
The knee airbag system can provide supple­
mental protection to properly restrained
front seat occupants.
Fig . 169 Driver 's knee airbag
The driver knee airbag is in the instrument
panel underneath the steering wheel
¢ fig . 169, the airbag for the passenger is at
about the same height in the instrument pan­
el underneath the glove compartment.
The knee airbag offers additional protection
to the driver 's and passenger's knees and up­
per and lower thigh areas and supplements
the protection provided by the safety belts.
Ill-

184 Child Safet y
to the backrest on the veh icle seat. Ad­
just the rear seat head restraint if it is difficult to install the child seat w ith the
head restraint in place <=>
page 138. Driv­
ing with head restraints that are not
properly ad justed increases the risk of
serious o r fa tal neck injury dramatically.
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS
whenever using a child restrained in ave­
hicle is being use d
¢page 144, Safety
belts,
¢ page 152, Airbag system and
¢ page 176, Important things to know.
_& WARNING
If except ional circumstances requ ire the
use of a forward-facing child restraint on
the front passenger's seat, the ch ild's safe­
ty and well -being require that the follow­
ing special precautions be taken :
- Make sure the forward-facing seat has
been designed and certif ied by its manu­
facturer for use on a front seat with a
passenger front and side a irbag.
- Always follow the manufacturer's in­
struct ions provided with the child safety
seat or infant carrier .
- Always move the front passenger seat in­
to the rearmost posit ion of the passen ­
ger seat's fore and aft adjustment range,
and as far away from the airbag as possi­ ble before installing the child restraint .
- Always make su re that noth ing prevents
the front passenger's seat from being
moved to the rearmost position in its
fore and aft adjustment range.
- Always make sure the backrest is in an
upr ight position .
- Make sure that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
light comes on and stays on all the
t ime whenever the ignition is switc hed
on.
- If the light does no t stay on, pe rform the
chec ks
¢ page 163, Monitoring the Ad­
vanced Airbag System.
- T ake the child restraint off the front pas ­
senger seat and install it properly at one
of the rear seat positions if the
PASSEN· GER AIR BA
G OF F
light does not stay on
whenever the ignit ion is switched on.
Booster seats and safety belts
Properly used booster seats can help protect
children weighing between about 40 lbs. and
80 lbs. (18 kg and 36 kg) who are less than 4
ft. 9 in . (57 in ches/1.45 meters) tall.
:e N 0 ±
i'il
F ig. 179 Rea r seat: c hild p roperly rest rai ned in a boos ­
ter se at
T he vehicle 's safety belts a lone will not fit
most children until they are at least 4 ft. 9 in.
(57 inches/1.45 meters) tall and weigh about
80 lbs. (36 kg). Booster seats raise these chil­
dren up so that the safety belt will pass prop ­
erly over the stronger parts of the ir bodies
and the safety be lt can he lp protect them in a
c rash .
.,. Do not use the convertible lock ing retractor
when us ing the vehicle's safety belt to re­
strain a ch ild on a booster seat .
.,. The shou lde r belt must lie as close to the
center of the ch ild's collar bone as possible
and must lie flat and snug on the upper
body. It must never lie across the throat or
neck. The lap be lt must lie across the pelvis
and never across the stomach or abdomen .
Make sure the belt lies flat and snug. Pull on
the belt to tighten if necessary .
.,. If you must transport an older child in a
booster seat on the front passenger seat,
you can use the safety be lt height adjust­
ment to help adj ust the shou lder portion
properly .
.. Secure unused safety belts on the rear seat
¢page 181. ..,_

192 Child Safe ty
- Never mount more than one chi ld re­
straint to a single tether or to a lower an­
chorage point. Attaching two child re­
straints to a single anchorage point can cause the anchorage to fail and cause se­
rious personal inju ry in a crash.
(D Note
- Remove the guidance fixtures before
fold ing the rear seatback to prevent
damaging the seat cushion.
- To attach the child restraint secure ly, the
seat must be moved to the farthest rear pos ition, the seat height set to the low­
est posit ion and the head restra int must
be adjusted to the verti cal position
¢page 60.
-If you leave the guidance fixtures instal­
l ed for several days, they could leave a
mark on the upho lstery o n the sea t cush ­
i on and backrest in the a rea that the
guidance fixtures were insta lled . The up­
ho lstery would also be permanently
stretched around the guidance fixtures.
This applies especially to leather seats.
Installing a child restraint with LATCH
lower anchorages
Whenever you install a child restraint always
follow the child restraint manufacturer's in­
structions.
F ig. 1 85 Lower a nchorages: proper mounting
Mounting
"" Make sure the sea tba ck of the rear sea t
bench is in the upright position and sec urely
l atched in place. ""
Attach both hook -on connectors with the
spring catch release on the child safety seat
onto the LATCH lower anchorage so that the
connectors lock into place¢
fig. 185.
"" Pull on the connector attachments to make
sure they are p roper ly attached to the LATCH
lower anchorage .
"" Pull straps tight fo llow ing the child re­
straint manufacture r's instructions.
Releasing
"" Loosen the tension on the straps following
the ch ild restra int manufacturer's instruc ­
tions .
"" Depress the spring catches to release the
anchorage hooks from the lowe r anchorag­
es.
Remember: Use tether straps to help keep the
ch ild restra int fi rm ly in pla ce.
.&_ WARNING
Improper use of the LATCH system ca n in­
crease the risk of serious pe rsonal injury
and death in a n accident.
- These ancho rs were deve loped on ly for
child safety seats using the "LA TCH" sys ­
tem .
- Never at ta ch other ch ild safety sea ts,
be lts or other objects to these anchors.
- Always make sure that you hear a click
when latch ing the seat in place . If you do
not hear a click the seat is not secure and
could fly forward and hit the interior of
the vehicle, or be e jected from the vehi­
cle .
.&_ WARNING
-
Improper installat ion of child restra ints
will increase the r isk of injury i n an acci­
dent.
- Always follow the child restraint system
manufacturer's instruct ions for proper
i n stallation of the ch ild restra int system
and p roper use of teth er straps as well as
the lower anchorages or safety bel ts in
-
your veh icle. Ii-

-Always read and heed the important in­
formation and WARNINGS about child
safety and the installation of child re­
straint systems
c:> page 176, Child Safe­
ty.
(D Note
On vehicles with power adjustable rear
seats* some criteria must be observed
when attaching the child restraint using the
LATCH system:
- To attach the child restraint securely, the
seat must be moved to the farthest rear
position, the seat height set to the low­
est position and the head restraint must be adjusted to the vertical position
¢ page 60.
-If a child safety seat is attached to one of
the rear seats, this seat must not be ad­
justed using the power controls under
any circumstances. The
Entry assistance
for this seat must also be deactivated in
the MMI
¢ page 63. The child safety seat
as well as the rear seat can be damaged by the adjustment process.
Tether anchors and tether straps
Fig. 186 Tether an cho rs: reces s fl ap s b ehin d th e re ar
seatbacks
The tether anchors for the two* /three rear
seating positions are located in recesses in the
rear window shelf ¢
fig. 186. Vehicles with
two rear seating positions* are equipped with two tether anchors .
A tether is a straight orV-shaped strap that
attaches the top part of a child restraint to
special anchorage points in the vehicle.
Child Safety 193
The purpose of the tether is to reduce the for­
ward movement of the child restraint in a
crash, in order to help reduce the risk of head
injury that could be caused by striking the ve­
hicle interior .
Forward facing child restra ints manufactured
after September 1, 1999, are required by U.S.
federal regulations to comply with new child
head movement performance requirements.
These new performance requirements make a
tether necessary on most new child safety
seats .
.&_ WARNING
Improper installation of child restraints
will increase the risk of injury and death in
a crash.
- Always follow the instructions provided
by the manufacturer of the child re­
straint you intend to install in your Audi.
- Improper use of child restraint anchors
(including tether anchors) can lead to in­
jury in a collision . The anchors are de­
signed to withstand only those loads im­
posed by correctly fitted child restraints .
- Never mount two child restraint systems
on one LATCH lower anchor point.
- Never attach two child restraint systems to one tether strap or tether anchorage.
- Never attach a tether strap to a tie-down
hook in the luggage compartment.
- Never use child restraint tether ancho­
rages to secure safety belts or other
kinds of occupant restraints.
- Never secure or attach any luggage or
other items to the LATCH lower ancho­ rages or to the tether anchors .
- If a tether or other strap is used to at­
tach a child restraint to the front passen­ ger seat, make sure that it is not so
tight, that it causes the weight -sensing
mat to measure more weight than is ac­
tually on the seat .
- The heavier weight registered can make
the Advanced Airbag System work as
though an adult were on the seat and de -
ploy the Advanced Airbag when it must ..,

212 Trailertowing
Trail er load dis tr ibut ion
Be sure the load in the trai ler is held securely
in place to prevent it from shifting forward,
backward or sideways.
N eve r all ow a p assenger to rid e in a trailer
~.&. in Driving instructions on page 213.
Engine cooling sy stem
Towing a tra iler makes the eng ine work hard­
er . It is important that the cooling system's
performance is up to the addit ional load .
Make sure that the cooling system has eno ugh
flu id.
Tir e pressure
When tow ing a tra iler, inflate the t ires of your
vehicle to the co ld tire pressure listed under
" Full load " on the label loca ted o n the dr iver's
side B-pillar (v is ible when the door is open).
I nflate trailer tires to tra iler and tire manufac­
turers' specifications.
Lights
Check to make sure both veh icle and trailer
l ights are wor king p roperly.
Safe ty chain s
Be sure tra iler safety cha ins are properly con­
nected from the trailer to the hitch on the ve ­
h icle . Leave enough slack in the chains to per­
mit turning corners . When you install safety
cha ins, make su re they w ill not drag on the
road when yo u are driving.
The chains shou ld cross under the tra iler
tongue to prevent it from dropping in case of
separat ion from the hitch .
Adjusting the Audi drive select
Make sure the vehicle is on a level surface be­
for e
hitching up the tra iler and b efor e adjust ­
ing the tongue weight . The vehicle must be i n
auto or comfort driving mode and not raised
~ page 109, ~CD .
Make sure that the vehicle is lowered . In Info ­
tainment, select:
I CARI function button > Low­
e r
control button . If you must drive under poor road conditions,
you can raise the vehicle
afte r coupling the
trailer or
a fter adjust ing the tongue we ight
~ page 111.
(D Note
-Changes in temperature or load can af­
fect the height of the vehicle .
- Always select auto or comfort mode .
Otherw ise, the tongue load specified for
your vehicle will no longer be applicable.
Driving instructions
Driving with a trailer always requires extra
core and consideration.
T o obtain the best possible hand ling of vehicle
and trailer, please note the fo llowing:
.. Do not tow a loaded t railer when you r ca r it­
self is not loaded .
.. Be especially carefu l when passing other
vehicles.
.. Observe speed limits.
.. Do not drive at the maximum permissible
speed .
.. Always apply brakes early .
.. Monitor the temperature gauge .
Weight di stribut ion
T owing a loaded trailer with an empty car re ­
su lts in a highly unstable d istribution of
weight. If this cannot be avoided, drive at very
l ow speeds only to avoid the risk of losing
steering control.
A "balanced" rig is easier to operate and con­
trol. This means that the tow vehicle should
be loaded to the extent possible and permissi­
ble , while keep ing the trailer as light as possi­
ble under the ci rcumstances. Whenever poss i­
ble , transfer some ca rgo to the luggage com ­
partment of the tow vehicle while obse rv ing
tong ue load requi rements and vehicle load ing
considerations .
Speed
The higher the speed, the more d ifficu lt it be­
comes fo r the driver to cont rol the rig. Do not
1111>