2014 Seat Altea power steering

203
Intelligent technology
Note
● If the power steering should fail at any time or the engine is switched off
(for instance when being towed), the vehicle can still be steered. However,
more effort will be required to turn the steering wheel.
● If the system is leaking or malfunctioning, please take the vehicle to a
specialised workshop as soon as possible.
● The power steering system requires a special hydraulic fluid. The con-
tainer is located in the engine compartment (front left). The correct fluid lev-
el in the reservoir is important for the power steering to function properly.
The hydraulic fluid level is checked at the Inspection Service. 
Safety FirstOperating instructionsPractical TipsTechnical Specifications

290If and when
Towing and tow-starting
Tow-starting
The use of jump leads is preferable to tow-starting.
We recommend that you do not tow-start your vehicle. Jump-start-
ing is preferable ⇒ page 287.
However, if your vehicle has to be tow-started:
– Engage the 2nd or the 3rd gear.
– Keep the clutch pressed down.
– Switch the ignition on.
– Once both vehicles are moving, release the clutch.
– As soon as the engine starts, press the clutch and move the
gear lever into neutral. This helps to prevent driving into the
towing vehicle.
WARNING
The risk of accidents is high when tow-starting. The vehicle being towed
can easily collide with the towing vehicle.
CAUTION
When tow-starting, fuel could enter the catalytic converter and damage it. General notes
Please observe the following points if you use a tow rope:
Notes for the driver of the towing vehicle
–
Drive slowly at first until the tow rope is taut. Then accelerate
gradually.
– Begin and change gears cautiously. If you are driving an auto-
matic vehicle, accelerate gently.
– Remember that the brake servo and power steering are not
working in the vehicle you are towing. Brake sooner than nor-
mal and pressing the pedal gently.
Notes for the driver of the towed vehicle
– Ensure that the tow rope remains taut at all times when towing.
Tow rope or tow bar
It is easier and safer to tow a vehicle with a tow bar. You should only use a
tow rope if you do not have a tow bar.
A tow rope should be slightly elastic to reduce the loading on both vehicles.
It is advisable to use a tow rope made of synthetic fibre or similarly elastic
material.
Attach the tow rope or the tow bar only to the towline anchorages provided
or a towing bracket.
Driving style
Towing requires some experience, especially when using a tow rope. Both
drivers should be familiar with the technique required for towing. Inexper-
ienced drivers should not attempt to tow. 

291
If and when
Do not pull too hard with the towing vehicle and take care to avoid jerking
the tow rope. When towing on an unpaved road, there is always a risk of
overloading and damaging the anchorage points.
The ignition of the vehicle being towed must be switched on to prevent the
steering wheel from locking and also to allow the use of the turn signals,
horn, windscreen wipers and washers.
As the brake servo does not work if the engine is not running, you must ap-
ply considerably more pressure to the brake pedal than you normally would.
As the power assisted steering does not work if the engine is not running,
you will need more strength to steer than you normally would.
● The vehicle must not be towed faster than 50 km/h (31 mph).
Towing vehicles with an automatic gearbox
● Put the selector lever into position “N”.
● Do not drive faster than 50 km/h (31 mph).
● Do not tow further than 50 km.
● If a breakdown vehicle is used, the vehicle must be towed with the front
wheels raised.
Note
● Observe legal requirements when towing or tow-starting.
● Switch on the hazard warning lights of both vehicles. However, observe
any regulations to the contrary.
● For technical reasons, vehicles with an automatic gearbox must not be
tow-started.
● If damage to your vehicle means that there is no lubricant in the gear-
box, you must raise the driven wheels while the vehicle is being towed.
● If the vehicle has to be towed more than 50 km (30 miles), the front
wheels should be raised during towing, and towing should be carried out by
a qualified person. ●
The steering wheel is locked when the vehicle has no electrical power.
The vehicle must then be towed with the front wheels raised. Towing should
be carried out by a qualified person.
● The towline anchorage should always be kept in the vehicle. Please refer
to the notes on ⇒ page 290, Tow-starting. 
Safety FirstOperating instructionsPractical TipsTechnical Specifications

Gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Safety instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Cornering lights Dynamic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Correct adjustment of front seat head re- straints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Correct adjustment of rear seat head restraints In-use and non-use positions . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Correct sitting position front passenger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Incorrect sitting position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
passenger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Cruise control Complete system deactivation . . . . . . . . . 195
Control lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Cruise control system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Cruise speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Control lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Curtain airbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Safety notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
D Danger of fitting a child seat on the front pas- senger seat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Dash panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Dash panel cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Daytime driving lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Activating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Deactivating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 daytime running lights
Nordic countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Deactivating front passenger airbag Safety notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Deactivating the airbag Front passenger front airbag . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Diesel engine Winter driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Diesel engine particulate filter . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Differential lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Differential lock fault (EDL) control lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Digital clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Dipped beam headlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Display (without warning or information texts) 61
Disposal Airbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Seat belt tensioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Door lock cylinders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Door release lever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Doors Childproof locks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
control lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Drawer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Driver see Correct sitting position . . . . . . . 10, 11, 12
Driveshaft differential XDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Drive wheel traction control system (ASR) . . . 197 Driving
Driving abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Economical/Environmentally friendly . . . . 206
With a trailer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Driving abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Headlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Driving programmes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Driving safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Driving with automatic gearbox/DSG automatic gearbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Duplicate keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Dust filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Dynamic headlight range control . . . . . . . . . . 119
E
Economical driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
EDL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 control lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Electric power steering Control lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Electronic differential lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 control lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Electronic immobiliser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89, 174
Electronic Stability Control . . . . . . . . . . . . 88, 198 description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Emergency braking warning . . . . . . . . . . 121, 196
Emergency manual locking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Emergency opening Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Emission control system control lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
311
Index

Manual gearbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Manual mode2C-Climatronic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
MEDIA-IN connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
MFI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Mirrors Exterior mirrors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Interior rear vision mirror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Vanity mirrors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Mobile phones and two-way radios . . . . . . . . 227
Multi-purpose mobile storage compartment Closing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Multi-purpose mobile storage compartment* Fitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Multifunction display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
N
Number of seats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
O
Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Octane number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Odometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Oil change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Oil properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 One-touch opening and closing
Electric windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Opening and locking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Outside temperature indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Overview control lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Control lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Dash panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
warning lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Warning lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
P Paintwork Polishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Parking aid acoustic system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Parking lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Parking system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Parking System Plus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Passenger see Correct sitting position . . . . . . . 10, 11, 12
Pedals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Petrol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 Driving abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Petrol additives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Physical principles of a frontal collision . . . . . . 21
Plastic parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Plastic parts cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Pollen filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Pollution filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Power sockets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Power steering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Products for vehicle maintenance . . . . . . . . . . 214
R Radio frequency remote control . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Changing the battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Radio navigation controls on the steering wheel
Audio + telephone version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Rain sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Rear cup holder Armrest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Rear fog light control lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82, 115
Control lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Rear interior lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Rear lid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 control lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Emergency opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Rear reading lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Rear seats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Rear shelf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Storage compartment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Rear window automatic wiper/washer . . . . . . 130
Rear window wiper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Recommended gear display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Refuelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Registration light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285, 286
314 Index