72 Seats and stor age
Seats and storage
General recommen
dations
Why is your seat adjustment so
important?
The safety belts and the airbag system can
only provide maximum protection if the front
seats are correctly adjusted.
There are various ways of adjusting the front
seats to provide safe and comfortable support
for the driver and the front passenger. Adjust
you r seat prope rly so that :
- you can easily and quickly reach all the
switches and controls in the instrument
panel
-your body is properly supported thus reduc
ing physical stress and fatigue
- the safety be lts and airbag system can offer
maximum protection
¢ page 183 .
In the following sections, you will see exactly
how you can best adjust your seats .
There are special regulations and instructions
for installing a child safety seat on the front
passenger's seat. Always follow the informa
tion regarding child safety provided in
¢ page 204, Child Safety.
A WARNING
Incorrect seating position of the driver and
all other passengers can result in serious
personal injury.
- Always keep your feet on the floor when
the vehicle is in motion -never put your
feet on top of the instrument panel, out
of the window or on top of the seat cush
ion . This applies especially to the passen
gers .
If your seating position is incorrect,
you increase the risk of injury in the case
of sudden braking or an accident.
If the
airbag inflates and the seating position
is incorrect, this could result in personal
injury or even death.
- It is important for both the driver and
front passenger to keep a distance of at least 10
inches (25 cm) between them
selves and the steering wheel and/or in
strument panel. If you're sitting any
closer than this, the airbag system can not protect you properly . In addition, the
front seats and head restraints must be
adjusted to your body height so that they
can give you maximum protection.
- Always try to keep as much distance as
possible between yourself and the steer
ing wheel or instrument panel.
- Do not adjust the driver's or front pas
senger's seat while the vehicle is moving.
Your seat may move unexpectedly, caus
ing sudden loss of vehicle control and
personal injury. If you adjust your seat
while the vehicle is moving, you are out
of position.
Driver's seat '
The correct seat position is important for safe
and relaxed driving.
We recommend that you adjust the driver's
seat in the following manner :
.,. Adjust the seat in fore and aft direction so
that you can easily push the peda ls to the
floor wh ile keeping your knees slightly bent
i::::> A in Why is your seat adjustment so im
portant? on page 72.
.. Adjust the seatback so that when you sit
with your back against the seatback, you can
still grasp the top of the steering wheel.
.. Adjust the head restraint so the upper edge
is as even as possible with the top of your
head . If that is not poss ible , try to adjust
the head restraint so that it is as close to
this position as possible
c:::> page 77.
A WARNING
Never place any objects in the driver's foot
well. An object could get into the pedal
area and interfere with pedal function. In
case of sudden braking or an accident, you
would not be able to brake or accelerate .
102 Warm and cold
Heated rear seats [i]
Applies to vehicles: with heated rear seats
The seat cushions and seatbacks of the two
outer rear seats can be heated electrically.
Fig. 114 Center console rea r: Heated seats
lo
=" ..,
---- ------- ------,,;g
Fig. 115 Cente r console rea r: Seat heat ing wit h fou r
zone automatic comfort
air cond it io nin g*
Rear seat heating
.. Rotat e the thumb wheel ¢ fig. 114 @to
turn on and adjust the heating for the left
rear seat .
• Rotate the thumb wheel® to turn on and
adjust the heating for the r ight rear seat.
Rear seat heating with four- zone
automatic comfort air conditioning*
.. Press the~ button.¢ fig. 115 .
.. Rotate the regulator to the desired setting .
In position O the heating for the seats is
turned off. The range of adjustment is be
tween 1 and 6.
A WARNING
Individuals with reduced sensitivity to pain
or temperature could develop burns when
using the seat heating function. To reduce
the risk of injury, these individuals should
not use seat heating.
(D Note
To avoid damage to the heating elements
in the seats, do not kneel on the seats or
place heavy loads on a small area of the
seat.
Steering wheel heating~
Applies to vehicles: wit h stee ring wheel heat ing
The steering wheel can be heated electrically.
Fig. 1 16 Stee ring whee l: butto n for steer ing w heel
h e atin g
.. Press the [ii button to turn the steering
wheel heat ing on and off
¢fig. 116 . The
message
Steering wheel heating on ! or
Steering wheel heating off! appears in the
instr umen t cluster disp lay.
A nearly constant temperature is maintained
when the steering wheel heating is switched
on.
T he last setting se lected for the steering
whee l heating (on or off) is automatically
saved when the vehicle is shut off and is as
s igned to the remote key .
On the road
Steering
Manually adjustable steering wheel
Applies to vehicles: with manu ally adjustable steering
w hee l
The height and reach of the steering wheel
can be adjusted.
Fig. 117 Lever under the steer ing column
First, adjust the driver's seat correctly .
.. Pull the lever
q fig. 117 -Arrow-q ,A.
.. Move the steering wheel to the desired posi
tion.
.. Push the lever against the steering column
until it locks.
There must be at least 10 inches (25 cm) be
tween your chest and the center of the steer
ing wheel.
If you cannot sit more than 10 in
ches (25 cm) from the steering wheel, see if
adapt ive equipment is available to help you
reach the pedals and increase the distance
from the steering wheel.
For detailed information on how to adjust the
driver's seat, see
¢page 73.
& WARNING
Improper use of steering wheel adjust
ment and improper seating position can
cause serious personal injury.
- Adjust the steering wheel column only
when the veh icle is not moving to pre
vent loss of vehicle control.
-
-Adjust the driver's seat or steering wheel
so that there is a minimum of 10 inches
(25 cm) between your chest and the
steering wheel
¢ page 165, fig. 193. If
On the road 103
you cannot maintain this minimum dis
tance, the airbag system cannot protect
you properly.
- If physical limitations prevent you from
sitting 10 inches (25 cm) or more from
the steering wheel, check with your au
thorized Audi dealer to see if adaptive
equipment is available.
- If the steering wheel is aligned with your
face, the supplemental dr iver's a irbag
cannot provide as much protection in an
accident. Always make sure that the
steering wheel is aligned with your
chest.
- Always hold the steer ing wheel w ith your
hands at the 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock posi
tions to reduce the risk of personal injury
if the driver's airbag dep loys .
- Never hold the steering wheel at the 12
o'clock position or with your hands inside
the steering wheel rim or on the steering
wheel hub. Holding the steering wheel
the wrong way can cause serious injuries
to the hands, arms and head if the driv
er's airbag deploys.
Electrically adjustable steering wheel
App lies to vehicles: with electrically adjustable steering
w heel
The height and reach of the steering wheel
can be electrically adjusted to suit the driver.
Fig. 118 Switch for stee ring wheel adjustment
First, adjust the driver's seat correctly.
Height adjustment
.. Push the switch @up or down <=> fig. 118.
The steering wheel height changes for as
long as you press the sw itch.
Airbag system Important things to know
Importance of wearing safety belts and
sitting properly
Airbags are only supplemental restraints. For
airbags to do their job , occupants must al
ways properly wear their safety belts and be
in a proper seating position.
For your safety and the safety of your passen
gers, before driving off, always:
"" Adjust the driver's seat and steering wheel
properly
¢ page 165,
"" Adjust the front passenger's seat properly
¢ page 73 ,
""Wear safety be lts properly r::::> page 177,
""Always properly use the proper child re-
straint to protect chi ldren
r::::> page 204.
In a collision, airbags must inflate within the
blink of an eye and with considerable force .
The supplemental airbags can cause injuries if
the driver or the front seat passenger is not
seated properly . T herefore in order to help the
a irbag to do its job, it is important, both as a
driver and as a passenge r to s it properly at all
times.
By keeping room between your body and the
steer ing whee l and the front of the passenger
compartment, the airbag can inflate fully and
comp lete ly and provide supp lemental protec
tion in certain frontal collisions
r::::> page 165,
Proper occupant seating positions.
F or detai ls
on the operation of the seat adjustment con
trols ¢
page 73.
It's especially important that children a re
properly restrained
r::::> page 204.
There is a lot that the driver and the passen
gers can and must do to help the individual
safety features installed in your Aud i work to
gether as a system.
Prope r seat ing pos ition is important so that
the front airbag on the driver side ca n do its
job. If you have a physical impa irment or con-
A irbag system 183
dition that prevents you from sitting properly
on the driver seat with the safety belt properly
fastened and reaching the pedals, or if you
have concerns with regard to the function or
operation o f the Advanced Airbag System,
please contact your author ized Audi dealer or
qualified workshop, or call Audi Customer Re
l ations at 1-800-822-2834 for poss ible modi
ficat io ns to your veh icle.
When the airbag system dep loys, a gas gener
ator will fill the a irbags, break open the pad
ded covers, and inflate between the steer ing
whee l and the dr iver and between the instru
ment panel and the front passenger. The a ir
bags will deflate immediately after dep loy
ment so that the front occupants can see
through the windshield again witho ut inter
ruption .
A ll of th is takes place in the blink o f an eye, so
fast that many people don't even realize that
the airbags have deployed. The airbags a lso
inflate with a great dea l of force and nothing
should be in their way when they deploy.
Front a irbags in combinat ion with properly
worn safety belts slow down and lim it the oc
cupant's forward movement . Together they
help to prevent the driver and front seat pas
senger from h itti ng pa rts of the inside of the
vehicle while reducing the forces acting on the
occupant during the crash . In this way they
help to reduce the risk of injury to the head
and upper body in the crash. Airbags do not
protect the arms or the lower parts of the
body.
Both front airbags will not inflate in all fronta l
collisions . The triggering of the airbag system
depends on the vehicle de ce lerat ion rate
caused by the collision and regis te red by the
elec tron ic control unit. If th is rate is below
the reference value programmed into the con
trol unit, the airbags will not be trigge red,
even though the car may be bad ly damaged as
a res ult of the co llision . Ve hicl e damage, re
pair costs or even the lack of ve hicle damage
is not necessarily an indication of whether an
airbag should inflate or not . •
•
-Always install rear-facing child safety
seats on the rear seat.
- If you must install a rearward facing
child safety seat on the front passenger
seat in exceptional circumstances and
the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does
not come on and stay on, immediately
install the rear-facing child safety seat in
a rear seating position and have the air
bag system inspected immediately by
your Audi dealer.
_& WARNING
If, in exceptional circumstances, you must
install a forward-facing child restraint on
the front passenger's seat:
- Always make sure the forward-facing
seat has been designed and certified by its manufacturer for use on a front seat
with a passenger front and side airbag.
- Always follow the manufacturer's in
structions provided with the child safety
seat or carrier.
- 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 child restraint. The backrest must be
adjusted to an upright position .
- Always make sure that the
PASSENGER
AIR BAG OFF
light comes on and stays
on all the time whenever the ignition is
switched on.
(D Tips
Always replace child restraints that were
installed in a vehicle during a crash. Dam
age to a child restraint that is not visible
could cause it to fail in another collision
situation.
Advanced front airbag system and children
Your vehicle is equipped with an "Advanced
Airbag System" in compliance with United
States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
Child Safety 205
(FMVSS) 208 as applicable at the time your
vehicle was manufactured.
The Advanced Airbag system in your vehicle
has been certified to meet the "low-risk" re
quirements for 3- and 6-year old children on
the passenger side and small adults on the driver side. The low risk deployment criteria
are intended to reduce the risk of injury
through interaction with the airbag that can
occur, for example, by being too close to the
steering wheel and instrument panel when
the airbag inflates . In addition, the system
has been certified to comply with the "sup
pression" requirements of the Safety Stand
ard, to turn off the front airbag for infants up
to 12 months who are restrained on the front
passenger seat in child restraints that are list
ed in the Standard.
Even though your vehicle is equipped with an
Advanced Airbag system, all children, espe cially those 12 years and younger, should al
ways ride in the back seat properly restrained
for their age and size. The airbag on the pas
senger side makes the front seat a potentially dangerous place for a child to ride . The front
seat is not the safest place for a child in a for
ward-facing child safety seat. It can be a very
dangerous place for an infant or a larger child
in a rearward-facing seat .
Advanced Airbags and the weight
sensing mat in the front seat
The Advanced Airbag System in your vehicle
detects the presence of an infant or child in a
child restraint on the front passenger seat us
ing the weight -sensing mat in the seat cush
ion and the sensor below the safety belt latch
on the front passenger seat that measures the
tension on the safety belt.
The weight -sensing mat measures total
weight of the child and the child safety seat
and a child blanket on the front passenger seat. The weight on the front passenger seat
is related to the design of the child restraint
and its "footprint", the size and shape of the
bottom of the child restraint as it sits on the ..,.
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