-Always make sure the forward-facing
seat has been des igned and certified by
its manufacturer for use on a front seat
with a passenger front and side airbag.
- Never put the forward-facing child re
straint up aga inst or very near the instru
ment panel.
- Always move the passenger seat into its
rearmost position in the seat's fore and
aft adjustment range, as far away from
the a irbag as poss ible, before insta lling
the fo rward -facing child restraint. T he
b ackres t m ust be adjus ted to an upr igh t
posit ion.
- Make su re that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
light comes on and s tays on all the
t ime whenever the ignition is switched
on .
Advanced Airbag System components
The front passenger seat in your vehicle has a
l ot of very important parts of the Advanced
Airbag System in it. These parts include the
weight-sens ing mat, sensors, wiring, brack
ets, and more . The function of the system in
the front passenger seat is checked by the
e lectronic control un it when the ign it ion is on .
The control un it mon itors the Advance d Air
bag Sys tem and turn s the a irbag i ndica tor
light on when a ma lfunction in t he system
compo nents is detected . The function of the
ai rbag indicator light is described in greater
deta il below. Because the front passenger
seat contains important parts of the Ad
va nced A irbag System, you must take care to
prevent it from being damaged . Damage to
the seat may p revent the Advanced A irbag for
the front passenger seat from doing its job in
a crash .
The front Advanced Airb ag System
consists of the following:
- Crash senso rs in the front of the veh icle that
measu re ve hicle accelera tion/decele ra ti on
to provide info rm ation to the Advanced Air
bag System abo ut the severity of the crash.
A irbag system 159
-An elect ron ic cont ro l unit, with integrated
crash sensors for front and side impacts .
The control un it "decides" whether to f ire
the front a irbags based on the informat ion
received from the crash sensors. The control
unit also "decides" whether the safety belt
prete nsione rs shou ld be act iva ted.
- An Advanced A irbag w it h gas generator and
cont ro l valve for the d river ins ide the steer
ing wheel h ub.
- An Advanced A irbag w ith gas generator and
cont ro l valve inside the instrument pa ne l for
the front passenger .
- A weight -sensing mat unde r the upho lstery
padding of the front passenge r seat cushion
that measures the to tal weight o n the seat.
The info rmat ion reg iste red is sent continu
ously to the elect ronic con trol u nit to regu
la te deployment of the front Advanced Air
bag on the passenger side .
- An airbag moni tor ing sys tem and ind icator
light in the instr ument cluster
¢ page 163.
-A sen sor in each fron t seat regis ters the dis
t ance betwee n the respec tive seat and the
steering whee l or instrument panel. The i n
formation registered is sent cont inuo usly to
the electron ic contro l unit to regulate de
ployment of the front Advanced A irbags .
- The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes
on and stays on in the center o f the instr u
ment panel¢
page 163, fig. 168 and tells
you whe n the front Advanced Airbag on the
passe nger side has been tu rned off.
- A sensor below the safety belt latch for the
front seat passenger to measure t he tension
on the safety belt. The tension o n the safety
be lt and the weight regis tered by the
weigh t-sensi ng mat he lp the cont rol uni t
"de cide" whe ther the front airbag fo r the
front passenge r seat should be turned off or
not
~ page 154, Child restraints on the
front seat -some important things to
know.
- A sensor in t he safety be lt latch fo r the d riv
er and for the front seat passenger that
senses w hethe r th at safety belt is latched or
not and transmits this information to the
electronic control unit.
•
•
Monitoring the
Advanced Airbag
System
I ( USA models) /!{ (Canada models )
Airbag monitoring indicator light
Two separate indicators monitor the function
of the Advanced Airbag System: the airbag
monitoring indicator light and the
PASSEN
GER AIR BAG OFF
light.
The Advanced Airbag System (including the
electronic control un it, sensor circuits and sys
tem wiring) is monitored continuously to
make sure that it is functioning properly
whenever the ignit ion is on. Each time you
switch on the ignition, the airbag monitoring
indicator light
I (USA models)/ m (Canada
models) will come on for a few seconds (self
diagnost ics).
The system must be inspected when the
indicator light
I (USA models)/fll
(Canada models):
-does not come on when the ignition is
switched on ,
- does not go out a few seconds after you
have switched on the ignition, or
- comes on while driving.
If an airbag system malfun ction is detected,
the indicator light will first start flashing to
catch the driver's attention and then stay on
continuously to serve as a constant reminder
to have the system inspected immediately.
If a malfunction occurs that turns the front
airbag on the passenger side
off, the PASSEN
GER AIR BAG OFF
light will come on and stay
on whenever the ignition is on.
A WARNING
An airbag system that is not funct ioning
properly cannot provide supplemental pro
tection in a frontal crash.
- If the airbag indicator light
c:> page 18
comes when the vehicle is be ing used,
have the system inspected imm ediately
by your autho rized Audi dealer.
It is pos-
Airbag system 163
sible that the airbag will inflate when it
is not supposed to, or will not inflate
when it should.
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
Fig. 168 Sect io n from the instrument pane l: PASSEN·
GER AIR BAG OFF light
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light is located
in the center of the instrument panel
c:>fig . 168.
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light will come
on and stay on to tell you when the front Ad
vanced Airbag on the passenger s ide has been
turned
off by the electron ic control unit. Each
time you switch on the ignition, the
PASSEN
GER AIR BAG OFF
light will flash for a few
seconds and:
- will stay on if the front passenger seat is not
occupied,
- will stay on if there is a small ch ild or child
restraint on the front passenger seat,
- w ill go out if the front passenger seat is oc·
cupied by an adult as registered by the
weight-sensing mat.
The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF l ight must
come on and stay on
if the ignition is on and
- a car bed has been installed on the front seat, or
- a rearward-facing child restraint has been
installed on the front passenger seat, or
- a forward-facing child restraint has been in·
stalled on the front passenger seat, or