124 Airbag system
with the safety belt buckles so that the sen
sors can send the correct information about
safety belt use to the electron ic control unit.
,&. WARNING
Changing the vehicle 's suspension includ
ing use of unapproved tire-rim combina
tions can change Advanced Airbag per
formance and increase the risk of serious personal injury in a crash.
- Never install suspens ion components
that do not have the same performance
characteristics as the components origi
nally insta lled on your vehicle.
- Never use ti re-rim combinat ions that
have not been approved by Audi.
,&. WARNING
-
Items stored between the safety belt
buckle and the center console can cause
the sensors in the buckle to send the
wrong information to the electronic con
trol modu le and prevent the Advanced A ir
bag System from working properly.
- Always make sure that nothing can inter-
fere with the safety belt buckles and that
they are not obstructed.
Knee airbags
Description of knee airbags
The knee airbag system can provide supple
mental protection to properly restrained
front seat occupants.
Fig. 116 Driver's airbag
The driver knee airbag is in the instrument
panel underneath the steering wheel
~ fig. 116, the airbag for the passenger is at
about the same height in the instrument pan
el underneath the glove compartment .
T he knee airbag offe rs addi tional p rotec tion
to the driver 's and passenger's knees and up
per and lower thigh areas and supplements
the protection by the safety belts.
If t he front a irbags dep loy, the k nee a irbags
also dep loy in frontal collisions when the de
ployment threshold stored in the control unit
is met
~ page 118, More important things to
know about front airbags .
In addition to their normal sa fety function,
safety belts help keep the driver or front pas
senger in position in a fronta l collision so that
the a irbags can provide supplemental protec
t ion.
The airbag system is not a substitute for your
safety belt. Rather, it is part of the overa ll oc
cupant restraint system in your vehicle. A l
ways remember that the airbag system can
only he lp to protect you if you are wearing
you r safety belt and wea ring it properly. This
is why you should a lways wear your safety
belt, not just because the law requi res you to
do so~
page 101, General notes.
The safety belt buckle for the driver and front
seat passenger have switches that tell the air
bag control module if the safety bel t is being
u sed or not .
If the safety belt is be ing used,
t h e knee a irbag w ill deploy at a s light ly h igher
rate of dece leration than if the belt is not be
ing used. Therefore, in a particular co llision, it
is possib le that an airbag will not dep loy at a
seating position where the safety belt is being
used but will inflate at the position where the
safety belt is not being used .
Remember too, airbags will deploy on ly once
and only in certa in kinds of accidents - your
safety belts are always there to offer protec
t ion in those accidents in which airbags are
not supposed to deploy o r whe n they have al
ready dep loyed, for example when your vehi
cl e s trikes or is st ru ck by ano ther after the
first collision . ..,.
