
-Never put the forward-facing child re
straint up against 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 airbag as possible, before installing
the forward-facing child restraint . The
backrest must be adjusted to an upright
position.
- Make sure that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
light comes on and stays on all the
time whenever the ignition is switched
on.
Advanced Airbag System components
The front passenger seat in your vehicle has a
lo t 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
electronic control unit when the ignition is on.
The control unit monitors the Advanced Air
bag System and turns the airbag indicator
light on when a malfunction in the system
components is detected. The function of the
airbag indicator light is described in greater
detail below. Because the front passenger
seat contains important parts of the Ad
vanced Airbag System, you must take care to
prevent it from being damaged. Damage to
the seat may prevent the Advanced Airbag for
the front passenger seat from doing its job in
a crash .
The front Advanced Airbag System
consists of the following:
- Crash sensors in the front of the vehicle that
measure vehicle acceleration/deceleration
to provide information to the Advanced Air
bag System about the severity of the crash.
-An electronic control unit, with integrated
crash sensors for front and side impacts .
The control unit "decides" whether to fire
the front airbags based on the information
r eceived from the crash sensors. The control
Airbag system 115
unit also "decides" whether the safety belt
pretensioners should be activated.
- An Advanced Airbag with gas generator for
the driver inside the steering wheel hub.
- An Advanced Airbag with gas generator in
side the instrument panel for the front pas
senger.
- A weight-sensing mat under the upholstery
padding of the front passenger seat cushion
that measures the total weight on the seat.
The inform ation registered is sent continu
ously to the electronic control unit to regu
late deployment of the front Advanced Air
bag on the passenger side.
- An airbag monitoring system and indicator
light in the instrument cluster
c:;. page 119.
-The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes
on and stays on in the center of the instru
ment panel
c:;. page 119, fig. 107 and tells
you when the front Advanced Airbag on the
passenger side has been turned off.
- A sensor below the safety belt latch for the
front seat passenger to measure the tension
on the safety belt. The tension on the safety
belt and the weight registered by the
weight-sensing mat help the control unit
"decide" whether the front airbag for the
front passenger seat should be turned off or
not
c:;. page 110, Child restraints on the
front seat -some important things to
know.
- A sensor in the safety belt latch for the driv
er and for the front seat passenger that
senses whether that safety belt is latched or
not and transmits this information to the
electronic control unit .
.&_ WARNING
Damage to the front passenger seat can
prevent the front airbag from working
properly.
- Improper repair or disassembly of the
front passenger and driver seat will pre
vent the Advanced Airbag System from
functioning properly.
- Repairs to the front passenger seat must
be performed by qualified and properly
-
trained workshop personnel. 111>
•
•

-If the residue should get into your eyes,
flush them with water.
Monitoring the
Advanced Airbag System
~ Airbag monitoring indicator light
Two separate indicators monitor the function
of the Advanced Airbag System : the airbag
monitoring indicator light and the
P ASS EN
GER AIR BA G 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 functioni ng properly
whenever the ignit ion is on . Each time you
turn on the ignition , the airbag monitoring in
d icator light
I will come on fo r a few seconds
(self diagnos tics) .
The system mu st be inspect ed when the
indicator light
I :
- does not come on when the ignit ion is
switched on,
- does not go out a few seconds after you
have switched on the ignition, o r
- comes on wh ile driving .
If an airbag system malfunction 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 tur ns the front
a irbag on the passenger side off, the
P A SSEN
GER AIR BAG OFF
li ght will come on and stay
on whenever the ignition is on.
_& WARNING
An airbag system that is not funct ioning
properly cannot provide supp lemental pro
tection in a frontal crash .
- If the airbag indica tor light comes on, it
means that there may be someth ing
wrong wit h the Advanced Ai rbag System.
-
A irba g sy stem 119
It is possible that the airbag wi ll inflate
when it is not supposed to, or will not in
flate when it should.
- Have the airbag system inspected imme
diate ly by your Audi dealer.
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
F ig . 107 Sect io n fro m t he in str ument pa nel: PASSEN
GER AIR BAG O FF lig ht
The PAS SENGER AIR BAG OFF light is located
in the center of the instrument panel
~ fig . 107 .
The PASS ENGER 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
t ime you turn on the ignit ion , the
PA SS EN
GER A IR BAG OFF
light will f lash for a few
seco nds and:
- will stay on if the front passenger seat is not
occup ied,
- w ill stay on if the re is a small ch ild or child
restrai nt on the front passenger seat,
- will go out if the front passenger seat is oc
cupied by an adult as registered by the
we ight-sensing mat .
The
PAS SENGER AIR BAG OFF l ight must
come on and sta y 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 chi ld restraint has been in-
stalled on the front passenger seat, or ..,.