2014 AUDI R8 SPYDER child seat

Safety belts
General notes
Always wear safety belts!
Wearing safety belts correctly saves lives!
This chapte r exp lains why safety be lts a re nec ­
essary, how they work and how to adjust and
wear them correctly.
~ Read a ll the informat ion that fo llows and
heed all of the inst ruct ions and WARNINGS.
A WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them
improperly increases the risk of ser ious
personal in jury and death .
- Safety belts are the sing le most effective
means availab le to red uce the r isk of se­
rious injury and death in a utomob ile acci­
de nts . For your prot ecti on and that of
yo ur passenge rs, always co rrec tly wear
sa fe ty bel ts when the ve hicle is mov ing.
- P re g nant women, injured, or physically
imp aired perso ns must also use safe ty
belts. L ike a ll vehicle occup ants, they are
more like ly to be ser ious ly injure d if they
do not wea r safety be lts . The best way to
protect a fet us is to protect the mother -
thro ughout the entire pregnancy.
Number of seats
Your Audi R8 has two seating posit ions in the
front. Each seating position has a safety belt.
A WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them
im proper ly increases the risk of ser ious
personal in ju ry and death.
- Never st rap more than one person, in­
clu ding small ch ild ren, into any belt. It is
especially dangerous to place a safety
belt over a child s itting on yo ur lap.
- Never let mo re people ride in the ve hicle
t h an t he re are safety be lts ava ilable.
Sa fety belts 103
- Be s ure everyone riding in the vehicle is
properly restrained w ith a separate sa fe­
ty belt or child restra int.
4 Safety belt warning light
Your vehicle has a warning system for the
driver and front seat passenger to remind you
about the importance of buckling up .
Fig. 1 08 Safety be lt warn ing lig ht in the instr ume nt
cl uster -enla rged
Befor e driv ing off, always :
~ Fasten your sa fe ty belt and make su re you
wear it p roperly.
~ Make s ure that yo ur passenge rs a lso buck le
up and wear their safety belts properly.
~ Protect children with a child rest raint sys-
tem appropriate for the size and age .
The wa rning light . in the inst rument cluster
li ghts up w hen t he ig nit ion is switched on as a
remi nder to fasten the safety belts. In addi­
tion , you will hear a warning tone for a certa in
per iod of t ime .
Fasten your safety belt and make sure that
your passengers also put on the ir safety
belts proper ly.
A WARNING
- Safety b elts are the s ingle most effect ive
means ava ilable to reduce t he risk of se­
r io us inju ry and death in au tomobile a cci­
dents. Fo r yo ur protecti on and tha t of
your passengers, a lways wear safety
be lts cor rectly when the vehicle is mov­
ing . •
•

106 Safety belts
-For maximum protection, safety belts
must always be positioned correctly on
the body.
- Never strap more than one person, in­
cluding small children, into any single
safety belt.
- Never place a safety belt over a child sit­
ting on your lap.
- Always keep feet in the footwell in front
of the seat while the vehicle is being driv­
en .
- Never let any person ride with feet on
the instrument panel or sticking out the
window or on the seat.
- Never remove a safety belt while the ve­
hicle is moving. Doing so will increase
your risk of be ing injured or killed.
- Never wear belts twisted.
- Never wear belts over rigid or breakable
objects in or on your clothing, such as
eye glasses, pens, keys, etc., as these
may cause injury.
- Never wear the shoulder part of the belt
under your arm or otherwise out of posi­
t ion .
- Several layers of heavy clothing may in­
terfere with correct positioning of belts and reduce their effectiveness .
- Always keep belt buckles free of anything
that may prevent the buckle from latch­
ing securely .
- Never use comfort clips or devices that
create slack in the shoulder belt. Howev­
er, special clips may be required for the
correct use of some child restraint sys­
tems.
- Never allow safety belts to become dam­
aged by being caught in door or seat hardware.
- Torn or frayed safety bel ts can tear and
damaged belt hardware can break in an
accident. Inspect belts regularly. If web ­
bing, bindings, buckles, or retractors are
damaged, have belts replaced by an au­
thorized Audi dealer or qualified work­ shop.
- Safety belts that have been worn and
loaded in an accident must be replaced with the correct replacement safety belt
by an authorized Audi dealer or qualified
workshop. Replacement may be necessa­
ry even if damage cannot be clearly seen .
Anchorages that were loaded must also
be inspected .
- Never remove, modify, disassemble, or
try to repair the safety belts yourself.
- Always keep the belts clean. Dirty belts
may not work properly and can impair
the function of the inertia reel
¢ page 165, Safety belts.
Safety belts
· Fastening safety belts
Seat first -everybody buckle up!
Fig. 113 Be lt buck le and to ngue o n th e drive r's se at
To provide maximum protection, safety belts
must always be positioned correctly on the
wearer 's body.
.. Adjust the front seat and head restraint
properly ¢
page 5 7, General recommenda­
t ions .
.. Hold the belt by the tongue and pull it even­
ly across the chest and pelvis ¢
_&..
.. Insert the tongue into the correct buckle of
your seat until you hear it latch securely
¢fig. 113 .
.. Pull on the belt to make sure that it is se-
curely latched in the buckle.
Automatic safety belt retractors
Every safety belt is equipped with an automat-
ic belt retractor on the shoulder belt. This fea­
ture locks the belt when the belt is pulled out
fast, during hard braking and in an accident. ..,.

The belt may also lock when you drive up or
down a steep hill or through a sharp curve.
During normal driving the belt lets you move
freely .
Safety be lt pretensioners
The safety belts are equipped with a belt pre­
tensioner that helps to tighten the safety belt
and remove slack when the pretensioner is ac­
tivated . The function of the pretensione r is
monitored by a warning light ¢
page 14.
Switchable locking feature
Every safety belt except the one on the driver
seat is equipped with a switchable locking fea ­
ture that
must be used when the safety belt is
used to attach a child seat. Be sure to read the important information about this feature
¢page 140.
A WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can
cause serious injury in an accident
¢ page 107, Safety belt position .
-Safety belts offer optimum protection
only when the seatback is upright and
belts are properly positioned on the
body.
-
- Never attach the safety belt to the buck­
le for another seat. Attaching the belt to
the wrong buckle will reduce safety belt
effect iveness and can cause serious per­
sonal injury.
- A passenger who is not properly restrain­
ed can be seriously injured by the safety
belt itself when it moves from the stron­
ger parts of the body into critical areas
like the abdomen.
- Always lock the convertible locking re­
tractor when you are securing a child
seat in the vehicle
r:::> page 142.
Safety belts 107
Safety belt position
Correct belt position is the key to getting
maximum protection from safety belts .
Fig. 114 Safety belt position
;;;
9 r ., a,
Standard features on your vehicle help you ad­
just the position of the safety belt to match
your body size.
- height-adjustable front seats.
A WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can
cause serious personal injury in an acci­
dent.
-
- The shoulder belt should lie as close to
the center of the collar bone as possible
and should fit well on the body. Hold the
belt above the latch tongue and pull it
evenly across the chest so that it sits as
low as possible on the pelvis and there is
no pressure on the abdomen . The belt
should always fit snugly
r:::> fig . 114. Pull
on the belt to tighten if necessary.
- The lap belt portion of the safety belt
must be positioned as low as possible
across pelvis and never over the abdo­
men . Make sure the belt lies flat and
snug ¢
fig. 114. Pull on the belt to tight­
en 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
r:::> page 105.

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 94,
"" Adjust the front passenger's seat properly
¢page 95,
""Wear safety be lts properly ¢ page 105,
""Always properly use the proper child re-
straint to protect children
r::::> page 132.
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 are not
seated properly . Therefore in order to help the
airbag to do its job, it is important, both as a
driver and as a passenger 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 supplemental protec­
tion in certain frontal collisions
r::::> page 94,
Proper occupant seating positions.
F or details
on the operation of the seat adjustment con­
trols ¢
page 58.
It's especially important that children a re
properly restrained
r::::> page 132.
There is a lot that the driver and the passen­
ger can and must do to help the individua l
safety features installed in your Audi work to­
gether as a system.
Proper seating pos ition is important so that
the front airbag on the driver side can do its
job. If you have a physical impairment or con-
Airbag system 111
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 of the Advanced Airbag System,
please contact your authorized Audi dealer or
qualified workshop, or call Audi Customer Re­
lations at 1-800-822-2834 for poss ible modi­
fications to your vehicle.
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 driver and between the instru­
ment panel and the front passenger. The air­
bags will deflate immediately after deploy­
ment so that the front occupants can see
through the windshield again without inter­
ruption.
All of this takes place in the blink of 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 airbags in combination with properly
worn safety belts slow down and lim it the oc­
cupant's forward movement. Together they
help to prevent the driver and passenger from
hitt ing parts of the inside the vehicle while re­
ducing the forces acting on the occupant dur­
ing 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 dece leration rate
caused by the co llision and registered by the
electronic control unit. If th is rate is below
the reference value programmed into the con­
trol unit, the airbags will not be triggered,
even though the car may be badly damaged as
a result of the collision . Ve hicl e damage, re­
pair costs or even the lack of veh icle damage
is not necessarily an indication of whether an
airbag shou ld inf late o r not.
It is not possib le to define a range of vehicle
speeds that w ill cover every possible kind and ..,. •
•

112 Airbag system
angle of impact that will always trigger the
airbags, since the circumstances will vary con­
siderably between one collision and another.
Important factors include, for example, the
nature (hard or soft) of the object which the
car hits, the angle of impact, vehicle speed,
etc. The front airbags will also not inflate in
side or rear collisions, or in roll-overs.
Always remember: Airbags will deploy only
once, and only in certain kinds of collisions .
Your safety belts are always there to offer pro­
tection in those situations in which airbags
are not supposed to deploy , or when they have
already deployed; for example , when your ve­
hicle strikes or is struck by another after the
first collision.
This is just one of the reasons why an airbag is
a supplementary restraint and is not a substi­
tute for a safety belt. The airbag system
works most effectively when used with the
safety belts. Therefore, always properly wear
you r safety belts¢
page 103 .
A WARNING
Sitting too close to the steering wheel or
instrument panel will decrease the effec­
tiveness of the airbags and will increase
the risk of personal injury in a collision .
- Never sit closer than 10 inches (25 cm)
to the steering wheel or instrument pan­ el.
- If you cannot sit more than 10 inches
(25 cm) from the steering wheel, investi­
gate whether adaptive equipment may
be available to help you reach the pedals
and increase your seating distance from
the steering wheel.
- If you are unrestrained, leaning forward,
sitting sideways or out of position in any
way, your risk of injury is much higher.
- You will also receive serious injuries and
could even be killed if you are up against
the airbag or too close to it when it in­
flates -even with an Advanced Airbag.
- To reduce the risk of injury when an air­
bag inflates, always wear safety belts
properly
c::> page 106, Safety belts.
- Never let children ride unrestrained or
improperly restrained in the vehicle. Ad­
just the front seats properly . If children
are not properly restrained, they may be
severely injured or killed when an airbag
inflates .
- Never ride with the backrest reclined.
- Always sit as far as possible from the
steering wheel or the instrument panel
¢ page 94, Proper occupant seating po­
sitions .
-Always sit upright with your back against
the backrest of your seat.
- Never place your feet on the instrument
panel or on the seat. Always keep both
feet on the floor in front of the seat to
help prevent serious injuries to the legs
and hips if the airbag inflates.
- Never recline the front passenger's seat
to transport objects. Items can also
move into the area of the side airbag or
the front airbag during braking or in a
sudden maneuver. Objects near the air­
bags can become projectiles and cause
injury when an airbag inflates.
A WARNING
-Airbags that have deployed in a crash must be replaced.
- Use only original equipment airbags ap­
proved by Audi and installed by a trained
technician who has the necessary tools
and diagnostic equipment to properly re­
place any airbag in your vehicle and as­
sure system effectiveness in a crash .
- Never permit salvaged or recycled air ­
bags to be installed in your vehicle .
Child restraints on the front seat - some
important things to know
.,. Be sure to read the important information
and head the WARNINGS for important de­
tails about children and Advanced Airbags
c::> page 132.
The airbag on the passenger side makes the
front seat a potentially dangerous place for a ..,_

child to ride. The front seat is not the safest
p lace for a child in a forward-facing child safe­
ty seat . It can be a very dangerous place for an
infant or a child in a rearward-facing seat.
The Advanced Airbag System in your vehicle has been certified to comply with the Require­
ments of United States Federa l Motor Veh icle
Safety Standard 208 as applicable at the time
your veh icle was manufactured.
The Standard requires the front airbag on the passenger side to be turned off ("sup­
pressed") if a ch ild up to about one year of
age restra ined in one of the rear-facing or for­
ward-facing infant restra ints listed in Federal
Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 with w hich
the Advanced Ai rbag System in your vehicle
was certified has been installed o n the front
passenger seat. For a list ing of the child re­
straints that were used to certify compliance
with the US Safety Standard
r::tv page 134 .
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light in the in­
s trument panel te lls you when the front Ad­
vanced Airbag on the passenger side has bee n
turned off by the e lectronic control unit .
E ach t ime yo u tur n on the ignition, the
PAS ­
SENGER AIR BAG OFF
li ght w ill come on for a
few seconds and :
- will stay on if the front passenger seat is not
occup ied,
- will stay on if there is a small child o r child
rest raint on the front passenger seat,
- will go off if the front passenger seat is oc­
cup ied by an adult as registe red by the
weight-sensing mat
r::tv page 121, Monitor­
ing the Advanced Airbag System.
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on
when the control un it detects a total weight
on the front passenger sea t that requires the
fr ont airbag to be tu rned off.
If the total we ight on the front passenger
seat is mo re than that of a typical 1 year-o ld
child but less than the weight of a sma ll
ad ult, the front airbag o n the passenge r side
can dep loy (the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
lig ht does not come on). If the PASSENGER
A irbag system 113
AIR BAG OFF light does not come on, the
front airbag on the passenger side has not been t urned off by the elect ronic contro l un it
and can deploy if the control unit senses an
impact that meets the cond itions stored in its
memory .
For example , the airb ag may deplo y if:
-a small ch ild tha t is heav ier t han a typical 1
year -old chi ld is on the fron t passenger seat
(regard less of whether the child is i n one of
the child safety seats listed
r:!> page 134), or
- a child who has outgrown chi ld restraints is
on the front passenger seat .
If the fron t passenger a irbag is turned off, the
PA SS ENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on in
the instr ument pane l and stays on.
T he front airbag on the passenge r side may
not deploy (the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light does not illum ina te a nd stay lit) even i f a
small ad ult o r teenager, or a passenger who is
not sitting uprig ht with their back against a
non-recl ined backrest w ith their feet on the
vehicle floor in front of the seat is on the front
passenger seat
r:!> page 94, Proper seating po­
sition for the driver .
If the front passenger airbag dep loys, the
Federa l Standard requ ires the airbag to meet
the "low risk" dep loyment criteria to reduce
the risk of injury th rough interact ion w ith the
a irbag . "Low risk" dep loymen t occ urs in those
c rashes that ta ke place at lower dece le rat ions
as defined in the e lectronic control unit
r::tv page 1 22, PASSENGER AIR BAG O FF ligh t.
Always remember, a c hild safety seat or infant
ca rr ie r installed on the front seat may be
stru ck and knoc ked ou t of po sit io n by the rap ­
idly i nflat ing passenger 's airbag in a front al
collision. The ai rbag co uld g reat ly reduce the
effectiveness of the chi ld restrai nt and even
seriously injure the child during inflation.
A WARNING
A child in a rearward-fac ing ch ild safety
seat installed on the front passenger seat
-
will be ser ious ly injured and can be killed if .,.. •
•

114 Airbag sys te m
the front airbag inf lates -even with an Ad­
vanced Airbag System.
- The inflating airbag will hit the child
safety seat or infant carrier with great
force and w ill smash the ch ild safety seat
and child against the backrest, door or
roof.
- Never install a rearward facing child
safety seat on the front passenge r seat
unless the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light comes on and stays on . If the PAS­
SENGER AIR BAG OFF
light does not
come on and stay on the infla ting airbag
wi ll hi t the child safe ty seat or infant car­
rie r with great force and will smash the
child safety seat and child against the
backrest, door or roof . Have the airbag
system inspected immediately by your
authorized Audi dealer .
- Forward-fac ing ch ild safety seats instal­
led on the front passenger's seat may in­
terfere with the deployment of the air­
bag and cause serious personal injury to
the ch ild.
A WARNING
If, in exceptional c ircumstances, you must
install a forwa rd-facing child restra int on
t he fron t passenger's seat:
- Always make sure the forward-fac ing
sea t has been des igned and certified by
i t s manufac turer for use on a fro nt sea t
with a passenger front an d side airbag.
- Never put the forwa rd-f acing child re­
s t rain t up aga inst or very near the inst ru ­
ment pane l.
- Always move t he passenger seat into i ts
rearmost position in the seat 's fore and
aft adjustment ran ge, as far away from
the a irbag as poss ible before installing
the forward-facing child restraint . The
backrest must be adjusted to an upr ight
posit ion.
- Make sure that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
light comes on and stays on all the
t ime whenever the ignition is switched
on .
A WARNING
To reduce the risk of serious injury, make
sure that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light w ill be displayed whenever a child re­
straint is insta lled on the front passenger
sea t and the igni tion is sw itched on .
- If the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
does not stay on, perform the checks de­
s cri bed
~ page 121, Monitoring the Ad­
vanced Airbag System.
- Have the airbag system inspected by
your Aud i dea le r i mmedia tely .
- Always carefu lly follow instr uctions from
child res tra in t manufacture rs whe n in­
s tall ing c hild restr aints .
A WARNING
If, in except iona l circumst ances, yo u m ust
i nst all a forward or rearwa rd -f acing child
r estraint on t he front passenger's seat :
- I mp roper ins tallation o f ch ild restra ints
can reduce their effectiveness o r even
prevent them from providing any protec­
tion .
- An improper ly installed c hild restra int
can interfere with the airbag as it de­ p loys and seriously injure or even k ill the
child -even with an Advanced Airbag
System .
- Always carefully follow the manufactur­
er 's instructions prov ided with the chi ld
safety seat or carrier .
- Never p lace add itiona l items on the seat
that ca n increase the total weight reg is­
tered by the weig ht-sensing mat and can
cause injury in a crash.

Front airbags
Description of front airbags
The airbag system can provide supplemental
protection to properly restrained front seat
occupants .
Fig. 117 Loca tion of driver airbag: in steering whee l
Fig. 118 Locatio n of front passe nger 's ai rb ag : in th e in­
st rument panel
Your vehicle is equipped with an "Advanced
Airbag System" in compliance w ith United
States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
(FMVSS) 208 as app licable at the time your
veh icle was manufactured . The safety be lts
fo r the front seats have "pretensioners" that
h e lp to take s lack out of the belt system. The
pretensioners are also activated by the elec ­
tronic control unit for the airbag system.
The fron t safety belts a lso have load limiters
to help reduce the forces applied to the body
in a crash.
The airbag for the driver is in the steer ing
wheel hub¢
fig. 117 and the airbag for the
fro nt passenger is in the instrumen t panel
¢ fig . 118. The genera l location of the airbags
is marked "AIRBAG".
There is a lot you need to know about the air­
b ags in your veh icle. We urge you to read the
A irba g sy stem 115
detailed information about airbags, safety
belts and child safety in this and the other
chapters t hat make up t he owner's literature .
Please be sure to heed the WARNINGS - they
are extremely important for your safety and
the safety of your passengers, especially in ­
fants and small child ren.
A WARNING ,.;;
Neve r rely on airbags alone for protection .
- Even when they deploy, airbags provide
only s upplementa l protect ion.
- Airbag work most effective ly when used
with properly wor n safety belts.
- Therefore, always wear your safety belts
and make sure that everybody in your ve­
hicle is p roperly restrained.
A WARNING
A person on the front passenger seat, es­
pec ia lly infants and sma ll children, will re­
ceive serious i njuries and can even be kil ­
l ed by being too close to the ai rbag when
it inflates .
- Al tho ugh the A dvanced Airbag Sys tem in
your veh icle is designed to tur n off the
front passenger airbag if an infant or a
sma ll child is on t he front passenger
seat, nobody can absolutely guarantee
that deployment under these special
conditions is imposs ible in all conceiva­
ble situat ions that may happen during
the useful life of your veh icle .
- The Advanced Airbag System can dep loy
in acco rdance with the "low risk" option
unde r the U .S. Fede ral Standa rd if a child
that is heav ie r than the typical one-year
old c hild is on the front pas senge r seat
and the other condi tions for airbag de­
p loyment are met .
- For its own safe ty, a c hild sho uld always
ride proper ly restrained for its age and
size .
Advanced front airbag system
-
Your vehicle is equipped with a front Advanced
Airbag System in compliance with United
Ill>