2013 AUDI Q7 towing

chains, make sure they will not drag on the
road when you are driving.
The cha ins shou ld cross under the trai le r
tongue to prevent it from dropping in case of
separation from the hitch.
(D Note
If you are going to tow a trailer, you must
activate the trailer operation mode
¢page 159, Towing a trailer.
Driving instructions
Driving with a trailer always requires extra
core and consideration.
To obtain the best poss ible handling of vehicle
and traile r, p lease note the following:
.,. Do not tow a loaded tra iler whe n your car it­
self is not loaded.
.,. Be especially careful when passing other
vehicles .
.. Observe speed limits.
.. Do not d rive at the maximum permissible
speed.
.. Always apply brakes early.
.. Monitor the temperature gauge.
Weight distribution
Tow ing a loaded trai ler with an empty ca r re­
sults in a high ly unstable distribution 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 permiss i­
ble, while keeping the trailer as light as possi­
ble under the circumstances. Whenever possi­
ble, transfer some cargo to the luggage com­
partment of the tow vehicle wh ile observing
tongue load requirements and vehicle loading
considerations .
Speed
The higher the speed, the more difficult it be­
comes for the driver to control the rig . Do not
drive at the maximum permissible speed. Re-
Trailer towing 243
duce your speed even more if load, weather or
wind conditions are unfavorable - particularly
when going downhill.
Red uce veh icle speed
immediately if the trail­
er shows the slightest sign of sway ing.
Do not
try to stop the swaying by accelerating.
Observe speed limits. In some areas, speeds
f or vehicles towing trailers are lower than for
regular vehicles.
Always apply brakes early. When driving
downh ill, shift into a lowe r gear to use the en­
gine braking effect to slow the vehicle. Use of
the brakes alone can cause them to overheat
and fail.
Coolant temperature
The coolant temperature gauge¢ page 10
must be observed carefully. If the need le
moves close to the upper end of the scale, re­
duce speed immediately and/or turn off the
air conditioner.
If the coolant temperature warning light in
the instrument cluster starts flashing ., pull
off the road, stop and let the engine
idle for
about two minutes to prevent heat build -up .
A WARNING
Anyone not properly restrained in a mov­
ing vehicle is at a much greater risk in an
accident. Never let anyone ride in your car
who is not properly wearing the restraints
prov ided by Audi .
Trailer towing tips
Important to know
-
Your vehicle handles differently when towing
a trai ler because of the additional weight and
different weight distr ibution. Safety, perform­
ance and economy will great ly depend on how
carefully you load your trailer and operate
your rig.
Before you actua lly tow your tra iler, practice
turning, stopping and backing up in an area
away from traffic. Keep practicing until you
•
•

244 Trailer towing
have become comp lete ly familiar with the way
your vehicle-trailer combination behaves and responds.
Backing up is difficult and requires practice.
Backing up with a trai ler genera lly requires
steering action opposite to that when backing
up your veh icle without a trailer .
Maintain a greater distance be tween your ve­
hicle and the one in front of you. You will need
more room to stop. To compensate for the
trailer, you will need a larger than normal
turning radius.
When passing, remember that you cannot ac­
celerate as fast as you normally would be­
cause of the added load. Make sure you have
enough room to pass . After passing, allow
plenty of room for your trailer before chang­
ing lanes again .
Avoid jerky starts, sharp turns or rapid lane
changes.
- Do not tow a trailer during the break-in
period of your vehicle.
- If you tow a trailer, your Audi may re­
quire more freq uent maintenance due to
the extra load
c> page 325.
Parking on a slope
Do not pork on a slope with a trailer. If it can­
not be avoided, do so only after doing the fol ­
lowing:
When parking:
.. Apply the foot brake .
.. Have someone place chocks under both the
vehicle and the trai ler wheels .
.. With chocks in p lace, slowly re lease the
brakes until the wheel chocks absorb the
load .
.. Turn the wheels towards the curb .
.. Apply the parking brake .
.. Move the selector lever to
P.
When restarting after parking:
.. Apply the foot brake. ..
Start the engine.
.. Move the se lector lever to
D.
.. Release the parking brake and s low ly pull
out and away from the wheel chocks.
.. Stop and have someone retr ieve the wheel
chocks .
(D Tips
If you move the selector lever of the auto­
matic transmission to
P before applying
the parking brake and before blocking the
wheels, you may have to use more fo rce
l ater to move the lever out of the
P posi­
tion.

other things that you plan to
transport so that you can make sure that your vehicle will not
be overloaded.
Steps for Determining
Correct Load Limit
1. Locate the statement "THE
COMBINED WEIGHT OF OC­
CUPANTS AND CARGO
SHOULD NEVER EXCEED XXX KG OR XXX LBS"on your vehi­
cle's placard (tire inflation
pressure label)
¢ page 284,
fig. 251.
2.
Determine the combined
weight of the driver and pas­ sengers that will be riding in
your vehicle.
3. Subtract the combined weight of the driver and pas­sengers from
"XXX" kilo­
grams or
"XXX" pounds
shown on the sticker
¢ page 284, fig. 251 .
4. The resulting figure equals
the available amount of car­
go and luggage load capaci­
ty . For example, if the
"XXX"
amount equals 1400 lbs.
and there will be five 150
lbs. passengers in your vehi­
cle, the amount of available
cargo and luggage load ca-
Tires and wheels 289
pa city is 650 lbs. (1400-7 so
(5 X 150) = 650 lbs.)
5. Determine the combined
weight of luggage and cargo
being loaded on the vehicle .
That weight may not safely exceed the available cargo
and luggage load capacity
calculated in Step
4.
6. If your vehicle will be towing
a trailer, load from your trail ­
er will be transferred to your
vehicle. Consult this manual
to determine how this re­
duces the available cargo
and luggage load capacity of
your vehicle.
~ Check the tire sidewall
( ¢ page 291 , fig. 255) to de­
termine the designated load rating for a specific tire.
•
•
'

What do I do now?
Jack, tools and
inflatable spare tire
Tools
The tool kit is located in the luggage com­
partment under the cargo floor cover.
F ig . 257 Luggage compa rtme nt: ve hicle tool ki t
The on board tool kit includes:
- Hook for removing wheel covers*
- Plastic hook to remove wheel bolt cove rs*
- Wheel bolt wrench
- Alignment pin for changing wheels
- Screwdriver with reversible blade
- 10 x 13 open ended wrench
- Towing eye
@ Tips
Some of the onboard items listed above
are prov ided on certa in models only or are
optional extras .
What do I d o now ? 301
Jack and folding chocks
The jack and the folding chocks are located in
the luggage compartment under the cargo
floor cover.
F ig . 258 Luggage compar tme nt ve hicle jack and fold ·
i ng chocks
--------
F ig. 259 Opening fo ldi ng chocks
Vehi cle jack
The jack is located under the tool kit
¢ fig . 258. Before storing the jack, make sure
it is wound back down as far as it will go.
Folding chocks
Two unassembled fo lding c hocks are attached
to the foam section at the front with the jack
¢fig . 258.
Re lease the two hook-and-loop fasteners, and
remove the two chocks. To use the chocks, you
first have to raise the support plate
¢ fig . 259 (D and then insert the locking plate
with the two "tabs" into the elongated ho les
in the base plate @¢.&. .
A WARNING
-The chock cannot fulfill its function and
may lose its stability if the "tabs" on the
support p late are not inse rted co rrectly
into the elong ated holes in the base

302 What do I do now ?
plate. If this happens, the vehicle may
start to move while a wheel is being changed.
- Never use the folding chocks if they are
damaged or if they have not been assem­
bled correctly.
A WARNING
Improper use of the vehicle jack can cause
ser ious persona l injuries.
- Never use the jack supplied with your
Audi on anothe r vehicle, particularly on a
heavier one. The jack is only suitable for
use on the vehicle it came w ith.
- Us ing a bumper jack to raise the vehicle
will damage the bump er system. The
jack may slip, causing in jury.
- Never support your veh icle on cinder
blocks, b ricks or other objec ts. These
may no t be ab le to suppor t the load and
c ou ld cau se injury whe n they fail.
- Never start o r run the engine while the
vehicle is supported by the j ack.
- If you must wo rk under the vehicle, al­
ways use safety stands specifically de­
signed for this purpose.
- Always make su re the inf latable spare
ti re and even a flat tire a re se cu red in
pla ce and not loose, otherwise t hey
c ou ld f ly forward, causing personal in jury
to passengers in the veh icle in an acc i­
dent o r sudden mane uver.
Removing bass box
Applies to vehicles: with bass box
Before the inflatable spare tire can be taken
out, the bass box must be removed .
Fig. 260 Spare wheel well: Bass box
Removing bass box
" Squee ze the locking tabs ¢ fig. 260 (!) of
the connector .
" Disconnect the connector @and place the
lead to one side.
" Turn t he large screw counter-clockwise.
" Carefully
remove the bass box.
Installing bass bo x
" Carefully place t he bass box in the wheel.
The insc ription "FRO NT" on the bass box
m ust face forward .
" Reconnect the connector that was removed.
" Secure the bass box with t he large screw.
· Inflatable spare tire
The inflatable spare tire expands to its full di­
ameter when it is inflated.
Fi g. 2 61 In flatable spare t ire w ith compressor
Removing inflatable spare tire
" Lift up the cargo floor us ing the handle .
" Tu rn the large screw¢
fig. 261 co unter-
clockwise.
" Remove the bass box as required
¢page 302.
" Take out the inflatable spare tire .
" Always sto re the vehicle tool kit, the jack
and the replaced tire in the luggage com­
partment
¢page 171.
Stowing the inflatable spar e tire
" Release the air by unscrewing the valve
stem.
" Screw the valve stem back in afterwards .
" Wait a few hours befo re p lacing the wheel
in the spare whee l we ll
r=:, _.&.
" Install the bass box as required r=:, page 302 . ..,.

304 What do I do now?
Changing a wheel
Before changing a wheel
Observe the following precautions for your
own and your passenger's safety when chang ­
ing a wheel .
• After you experience a tire failure, pull the
car well away from moving traffic and try to
reach
level ground before you stop ¢,& .
• All passengers should
leave the car and
move to a safe location (for instance, behind
the guardrail) ¢
A-
.. Engage the parking brake to prevent your
vehicle from rolling unintentionally ¢,& .
• Move
selector lever to position P <=> ,&.
• If you are towing a trailer: unhitch the trail­
er from your vehicle.
• Block the diagonally opposite wheel wi th
the folding chocks or other objects.
• Take the
jack and the inflatable spare tire
out of the luggage compartment
¢page 301.
11. WARNING
=
You or your passengers could be injured
while changing a whee l if you do not fol­
low these safety precautions :
- If you have a f lat tire,
move a safe dis­
tance off the road . Turn off the engine,
turn the emergency flashers on and use
other warning devices to alert other mo­
torists .
- Make sure that passengers wait in a safe
place away from the vehicle and well
away from the road and traff ic.
- To help prevent the vehicle from moving
suddenly and possibly slipping off the
jack, always fully set the parking brake
and block the wheel diagonally opposite
the wheel being changed with the fold­
ing chocks or other objects. When one
front whee l is lifted off the ground, plac­
ing the Auto mat ic Transmission in "P"
(Park) will
not prevent the vehicle from
moving .
-
-Before you change a wheel, be sure the
ground is level and firm. If necessary,
use a sturdy board under the jack.
- After installing the inflatable spare tire,
make sure that you replace the flat tire/
wheel in its storage area properly and
tighten the knurled retaining screw se ­
curely .
' Changing a wheel
When you change a wheel , follow the se­
quence described below step-by-step and in
exactly that order .
l. Activate the vehicle jack mode (only
vehicles with Adaptive Air Suspension)
¢ page 159.
2. Remove the decorative wheel cover* . For
more details see also ¢
page 305, Deco­
rative wheel covers
or ¢ page 305,
Wheels with wheel bolt caps.
3. Loosen the wheel bolts¢ page 305.
4. Locate the proper mounting point for the
jack and align the jack be low that point
¢ page 306.
5. Lift the car with the jack¢ page 306.
6. Remove the wheel with the flat tire and
then install the
inflatable spare tire
¢page 307 .
7. Tighten all whee l bolts lightly.
8.
Lower the vehicle with the jack .
9. Use the wheel bolt wrench and
firmly
tighten all wheel bolts¢ page 305.
10. Rep lace the decorative wheel cover*.
11. Deactivate the vehicle jack mode (only
vehicles with Adaptive Air Suspension)
¢page 159.
A WARNING
Always read and follow all WARNINGS and
inf ormat ion¢ .&.
in Raising the vehicle on
page
307 and ¢page 308.

314 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 operations.
Starting by pushing or
towing
Q;) Note
Your vehicle is equipped with an automatic
transmission. Consequently, the engine
cannot be started by pushing or towing.
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 vehicle,
using a
pair of jumper cables to start the en­
gine .
Jumper cables
Use only jumper cables of sufficiently large
cross section to carry the starter current safe­
ly. Refer to the manufacturer's specifications.
Use only jumper cables with
insulated termi­
nal clamps which are distinctly marked:
plus(+) cable in most cases colored red
minus(-) cable
in most cases colored black .
A WARNING
Batteries contain electricity, acid, and gas.
Any of these can cause very serious or fatal
injury. Follow the instructions below for
safe handling of your vehicle's battery.
- Always shield your eyes and avoid lean­
ing over the battery whenever possible. -
A discharged battery can freeze at tem­
peratures just below 32 °F (0 °C). Before
connecting a jumper cable, you must
thaw the frozen battery completely, 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 voltage 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 different voltage
or substantially different "Ah" rating
may cause an explosion and personal in­
jury.
- Never charge a frozen battery. 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 batteries of different voltage or
substantially different capacity (Ah) rat­
ing may cause an explosion 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 all
WARNINGS¢
page 255, Engine com­
partment.
@ Note
- Applying a higher voltage booster bat­
tery will cause expensive damage to sen­
sitive electronic components, such as
control units, relays, radio, 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. ..,.

316 Emergency sit uat ions
-Jumper cables must be long enough so
that the vehicles do not touch.
- When connecting jumper cables, make
sure that they cannot get caught in any
moving parts in the engine compart­
ment.
- Before you check anything in the engine compartment, always read and heed all
WARNINGS c>
page 255, Engine com­
partment.
({D Note
Improper hook-up of jumper cables can r u­
in the generator.
- Always connect POSITIVE( +) to POSI­
TIVE(+), and NEGATIVE( -) to NEGATIVE
( - ) ground post of the battery manager
control unit.
- Check that all screw plugs on the battery
cells are screwed in firmly. If not, tighten
plugs prior to connecting clamp on nega­
tive battery terminal.
- Please note that the procedure for con­
nec:t i ng a jumper cable as described
above applies spec ifically to the case of
you r vehicle being jump started. When
you are giving a jump star t to anothe r ve­
hicle, do
not connect the negat ive (-) ca­
ble to the negat ive (-) terminal on the
discharged battery@c>
fig. 2 74. In­
stead, securely connect the negative(-)
cable to e ither a solid metal component
that is firmly bolted to the engine block
or to the engine block itse lf. If the bat­
te ry that is being charged does not vent
to t he outside, escaping batte ry gas
could ignite and explode!
Emergency towing
with commercial tow
truck
General hints
Your Audi requires special handling for tow­
ing.
T he following information is to be used by
commercial tow truck operators who know
how to operate their equipment safely.
- Nev er tow your Audi , towing will cau se
damage to the engine and tr an smi ssion .
- Ne ver wrap th e safety chain s or winch ca­
ble s around the brak e lines.
- To pre vent unne ce ss ary damage, your Audi
mus t be tr an sp o rt ed with a flat bed tru ck.
- To load th e vehi cle on to th e flat b ed, use
the towing l oop found in the ve hicle to ols
an d att ach to th e front or rea r a ncho rage
i=> page 317 and c> page 317 .
& WARNING
--==
A vehicle being towed is not safe for pas-
sengers. Never allow anyone to ride in a
vehicle be ing towed, for any reason.
-