2015 AUDI A3 light

of a typical 1 year-old, but less than the
weight of a small adult, the front airbag on
the passenger s ide may deploy (the
P A SSEN·
GER AIR BA G OFF
light does not come on).
For example, the a irbag may depl oy if:
- a small child that is heavier than a typical 1
year-o ld child is on the front passenger seat
(regardless of whether the child is in one of
the chi ld seats listed
page 168),
-a ch ild who has outgrown child rest raints is
on the front passenger seat.
I f the front passenger airbag is turned off, the
PA SSENGER AIR BAG OFF light in the center
of the inst rument panel w ill come on and stay
on.
If the front passenger airbag deploys, the
Federal Standard requires the a irbag to meet
the " low ris k" deployment criteria to help re ­
d uce the risk of injury through interaction
with the airbag . "Low risk" deployment occurs
in those crashes that take place at lower de­
celerations as defined in the electronic control
un it
r:::> page 152.
Alw ays remember : Even though your vehicle
is equipped with Advanced Airbags, the safest
p lace for children is properly restrained on the
back seat. Please be sure to read the impor­
tant information in the sect ions that follow
and be sure to heed all of the WARNINGS .
A WARNING
To reduce the risk of injury when an airbag
inflates, always wear safety belts prope rly.
- If you are unrestrained, lean ing forward,
sitting sideways or out of position in any
way, your risk of injury is much higher.
- You w ill also receive serious injuries and
cou ld even be killed if you are up against
the a irbag or too close to it when it in­
fla tes - even with an Advanced Airbag
page 140 .
A WARNING ,~
A child in a rearward -facing child seat in -
stalled on the front passenger seat will be
-
A irbag system 147
seriously injured and can be killed if the
front airbag inflates - even w ith an Ad­
vanced A irbag System.
- Altho ugh the Advanced Airbag System in
your veh icle is designed to turn off the
front airbag when a rearward-facing child restraint has been installed on the
front passenge r seat, nobody can abso­
lutely guarantee that dep loyment is im­
possible in all conceivable s ituations that
may happen dur ing the usefu l life of your
veh icle.
- The infla ting airbag will h it the ch ild seat
or infant carrier with g reat force and will
smash the child seat and child against
the backrest, center armrest, door, or
roof.
- Always install rearward-facing chi ld re­
straints on the rear seat.
- If you must install a rearward fac ing
child seat on the front passenger seat because of exceptional circumstances
and the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
does not come on and stay on, immed i·
ately insta ll the rear-fac ing child seat in a
rea r seat ing pos ition and have the airbag
system inspected by you r Audi dealer .
A WARNING
If, in except iona l circumstances, you must
install a forward-facing child restraint on
the front passenge r's seat:
- Always ma ke sure the forward-facing
seat has been designed and cer tified by
its manufacture r for use on a front se at
with a passenger fron t and s ide a irbag .
- Never put the fo rward-facing child re­
straint up against or ve ry near the instru­
ment panel.
- Always move the passenge r seat into its
rea rmost pos ition in the seat's fore and
aft ad justment range, as fa r away from
the airbag as possible, before installing
the forward-fac ing chi ld restraint. The
backrest must be adjusted to an upright
position .
...
•
•
•

148 Airbag system
-Always make sure that there is nothing
on the front passenger seat that will
cause the capacitive passenger detection
system in the seat to signal to the Airbag
System that the seat is occupied by a
person when it is not, or to signal that it
is occupied by someone who is heavier
than the person actually sitting on the
seat. The presence of additional objects
could cause the passenger front airbag
to be turned on when it should be off, or
could cause the airbag to work in a way
that is different from the way it would have worked without the object on the
seat.
- 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
lot of very important parts of the Advanced
Airbag System in it. These parts include the
capacitive passenger detection system, wir­
ing, brackets, and more. The control unit
monitors the system on the front passenger
seat when the ignition is switched on and
turns the airbag indicator light on when a
malfunction in the one of the system compo­
nents is detected
¢ page 153. Because the
front passenger seat contains important parts
of the Advanced Airbag System, you must
take care to prevent it from being damaged.
Damage to the seat may prevent the Ad­
vanced Airbag System 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
received from the crash sensors. The control
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 capacitive passenger detection system un­
derneath the front passenger seat cover.
This system measures the electrical capaci­ tance of the person in the seat. The informa­
tion registered is sent continuously to the
electronic control unit to regulate deploy­ ment of the front Advanced Airbag on the
passenger side.
- An airbag monitoring system and indicator
light in the instrument cluster
¢page 152 .
-A sensor in each front seat registers the dis­
tance between the respective seat and the steering wheel or instrument panel. The in­
formation registered is sent continuously to
the electronic control unit to regulate de­
ployment of the front Adv a need Airbags.
- The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes
on and stays on in the center of the instru­
ment panel
¢ page 210 and tells you when
the front Advanced Airbag on the passenger
side has been turned off.
- 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 .
A 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.
~

-Never remove the front passenger or
driver seat from the vehicle.
- Never remove the upholstery from the
front passenger seat.
- Never disassemble or remove parts from
the seat or disconnect wires from it.
- Never carry sharp objects in your pockets
or put them on the seat. The capacitive passenger detection mat in the front
passenger seat will not function properly
if it is punctured .
- Never carry things on your lap or carry
objects on the front passenger seat.
Such objects can influence the capaci­
tance registered by the capacitive pas­ senger detection system, so that incor­
rect information is provided to the airbag
control unit.
- Never store items under the front pas­
senger seat. Parts of the Advanced Air­
bag System under the passenger seat
could be damaged, preventing them and
the airbag system from working proper­
ly.
- Never place seat covers or replacement
upholstery that have not been specifical­
ly approved by Audi on the front seats.
- Seat covers can prevent the Advanced
Airbag System from recognizing child re­
straints or occupants on the front pas­
senger seat and prevent the side airbag
in the seat backrest from deploying prop­
erly .
- If a seat heater has been retrofitted or
otherwise added to the front passenger
seat, never install any child restraint sys­
tem on this seat.
- Never use cushions, pillows, blankets, or
similar items on the front passenger
seat. The additional layers prevent the
capacitive passenger detection system
from accurately measuring the capaci­
tance of the child safety seat and/or the
person on the seat and thus keep the Ad­
vanced Airbag System from working properly.
- Never place or use any electrical device
(such as a laptop, CD player, electronic
Airbag system 149
games device, power inverter or seat
heater for child seats) on the front pas­
senger seat if the device is connected to
the 12-volt socket or the cigarette light­
er socket. Such devices can influence the
capacitance registered by the capacitive passenger detection system, so that in­
correct information is provided to the air­
bag control unit.
- If you must use a child restraint on the
front passenger seat and the child re­
straint manufacturer's instructions re­
quire the use of a towel, foam cushion or
something else to properly position the
child restraint, make certain that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes
on and stays on whenever the child re­
straint is installed on the front passen­
ger seat.
- If the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
does not come on and stay on, immedi­
ately install child restraint in a rear seat­
ing position and have the airbag system
inspected by your Audi dealer.
.&_ WARNING
If the front passenger seat gets wet, dry it
immediately.
- If liquid soaks into the front passenger
seat, this can keep the airbag system
from working properly and may, for in­
stance, deactivate the passenger frontal
airbag. If this happens, the
PASSENGER
AIR BAG OFF
light will come on and stay
on together with the airbag indicator light
fl in the instrument cluster.
- If liquid is pooled on the seat, but has
not soaked in, this may also keep the air­
bag system from working properly and
cause the passenger frontal airbag to be
enabled (turned on), even though there is a properly installed child restraint sys­
tem on the seat . Wet towels or other wet
things on the seat cushion can have the
same effect. If the front passenger fron­
tal airbag is turned on, the
PASSENGER
AIR BAG OFF
light will go out .
•
•
•

150 Airbag system
How the Advanced Airbag System
components work together
The front Advanced Airbag System and the
side airbags supplement the protection of­
fered by the front three-point saf ety be lts
with pretensioners and load limiters and the
adjus table head restr aints* to help reduce the
risk of injury in a wide range of acc ident and
crash situat ions. Be sure to read the impor­
tant information about safety and heed the
WARNINGS in this chapter .
Deployment of the Advanced Airbag System
and the activat ion of the safety belt preten­
sioners depend on the decelerat ion measured
by the crash senso rs and regis tered by the
e lectronic control u nit. Crash sever ity depends
on speed and deceleration as well as the mass
and stiffness of the vehicle or object involved
in the crash.
On the passenger side, regard less of safety
be lt use, the front passenger fronta l airbag
will be turned off i f the e lectrical capac itance
measured by the capacitive passenger detec­
tion system on the front passenge r seat is less
than the amount programmed in the electron­ ic control unit. The front passenger frontal air­
bag will also be turned off if the capacitance
measured by the system for the front passen­
ge r seat equa ls that of an infant of abo ut one
yea r of age i n one of the child sea ts that was
used to cer tify the Advanced Airbag System
under Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
208 . The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OF F light
comes on and stays on to tell you when the
front Advanced A irbag System on the passen­
ger s ide has been turned off¢
page 153.
A WARNING
To reduce the risk of injury when a n airbag
inflates, a lways wear safety belts properly .
- If you are unrestrained, leaning forward,
sitting sideways or out of position in any
way, your risk of inj ury is much higher.
- You wi ll also receive serious injuries and
could even be killed if you are up against
the a irbag or too close to it when it in- flates
-even w ith an Advanced A irbag
¢ page 140.
More important things to know about
front airbags
Fi g. 1 24 Inflated f ro nt a irba gs
-...
q :r:
iZ
Safety be lts are important to he lp keep front
seat occupants in the proper seated position
so that a irbags can unfold proper ly and pro­
vide supplemental protect ion in a frontal col­
lis ion .
The front airbags are designed to provide ad­ ditional protection for the chest and face of
the driver and the front seat passenger when :
- safety belts are worn proper ly,
- the seats have been positioned so that the
occupant is properly seated as far as poss i­
b le from the airbag ,
- and for ad justab le head restraints : the head
restraints have been properly adj usted .
Bec ause airbags inflate in the bli nk of an eye
with great force, th ings you have on your lap
or have p laced on the seat co uld become dan ­
gerous pro jecti les, and be p ushed into you if
the a irbag inf lates .
When an airbag deploys, fine dust is re leased.
T his is no rma l and is not caused by a fi re in
the vehicle . This dust is made up mostly of a
powder used to lubricate the airbags as they
deploy . It could irr itate skin .
It is important to remembe r that while the
supplementa l airbag system is designed to re­
duce the like lihood of serious injur ies, other
injur ies, for examp le swelling, bruising and
minor abrasions, can also happen when air-
bags inflate . A irbags do not protect the arms
IIJI,

or the lower parts of the body. Front airbags
supp lement the three-point safety belts only
in some frontal collisions in which the vehicle
dece leration is high enough to deploy the air­
bags.
F ront airbag s will no t deplo y:
- if the ignition is switched off when a crash
occurs,
- in side collisions,
- in rear-end collisions,
- in rollovers,
- when the crash deceleration measured by
the a irbag system is less than the m inimum
threshold needed for airbag deployment as
registered by the electronic control unit.
The f ront pas seng er airbag al so will n ot
deploy:
- when the front passenger seat is not occu­
pied,
- when the electrical capac itance measured by
the capacitive passenger detect io n system
for the front passenger seat indicates that
the passenger side frontal airbag must be switched off by the electronic control unit
(the
P AS SENGER A IR BA G OFF light
c:> page 153 and how they work comes on
and stays on).
A WARNING
Sitting in the wrong position can increase
the risk of serious injury in crashes.
- To reduce the r isk of injury when the air­
bags inflate, the driver and passengers
must always sit in an upright posit ion,
must not lean against or place any part
of the ir body too close to the area where
the a irbags are located.
- Occupants who a re unbelted, out of posi­
t ion or too close to the airbag can be se­
riously injured by an airbag as it unfolds
with great force in the blink of an eye
c:> page
142 .
A WARNING
A child in a rearward-facing child seat in­
stalled on the front passenger seat will be
-
A irbag system 15 1
seriously injured and can be killed if the
front airbag inflates -even w ith an Ad­
vanced A irbag System.
- The inflating airbag will hit the ch ild seat
or infant carrier with great force and will
smash the child seat and child against
the backrest, center armrest, door or
roof.
- Always install rear-fac ing ch ild seats on
the rear seat.
- If you must install a rearward fac ing
child seat on the front passenger seat because of exceptional circumstances
and the
P A SSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
does not come on and stay on, immed i­
ately insta ll the rear-fac ing child seat in a
rear seating position and have the airbag
system inspected by your A udi dealer.
A WARNING
r---------
O b j e cts between you and the airbag will
increase the risk of injury in a crash by in­
terfering with the way the airbag unfolds
or by be ing pushed into you as the airbag
inflates.
- Never hold things in your hands or on
your lap when the veh icle is in use.
- Never transport items on or in the area
of the front passenger seat. Objects
could move into the area of the front air­ bags during braking or other sudden ma­
neuvers and become dangerous projec­
tiles that can cause ser ious personal in­
jury if the a irbags inflate.
- Never p lace or attach accesso ries o r oth­
er objects (such as cup holders, te le­
phone b rac kets, large, heavy or bulky ob ­
jects) on the doors, over o r near the area
marked "AIRBAG" on the steering wheel,
instrument panel, seat backrests or be­
tween those areas and yourself . These
objects could cause injury in a crash, es­ pecially when the airbags inflate.
- Never recline the front passenger's seat
to transport objects. Items can also
move into the area of the s ide a irbag or
the front a irbag during braking or in a
•
•

152 Airbag sys te m
sudden maneuver. Objects near the
air bags can become projectiles and cause
injury, particularly when t he s eat is re­
cl in ed .
- Never place or trans port objects on the
front passenger seat. Obj ects on the
front passenger seat could cause the ca­
pacitive sensor in the seat to s ignal to
airbag system that the seat is occupied
by a person when it in fa ct is not, o r th at
the person on the sea t is he avie r than he
or she actually is. The change in electric
capacitance because of such objects can
cause the passenger front airbag to be
t u rned on when it sho uld be off, or can
cause the airbag to work in a way that is
different from the way it wou ld have
worked w ithout objects on the seat.
- Always make sure that there is nothing
on the front passenge r seat that will
cause the capaci tive passenger detection
system in the s eat to s ignal to the A irbag
System that the seat is occupied by a
person when it is not, or to sign al that it
is occupied by someone who is heavier
than the person actually sitting on the seat . The prese nce of an object co uld
cause the passenger front a irbag to be
t u rned on when it sho uld be off, or co uld
cause the airbag to work in a way that is
differe nt from the way it wou ld have
worked w it h out the object on the seat.
.&, WARNING
The fine dust created when a irbags deploy
can ca use b reathing problems for peop le
w ith a hi story of ast hma o r othe r brea th ­
ing conditions.
- T o redu ce the r is k of breathing p rob lems,
th ose w it h asthma or o ther resp iratory
condit ions shoul d ge t fresh a ir right
away by gett ing out of the vehicle o r
opening windows or doo rs .
- If you are in a coll is ion in which a irbags
dep loy, wash yo ur hands and face w ith
mild soap and water befo re eating. -
Be ca reful not to get the dust into your
eyes, or into any c uts or scratches.
- If the resid ue s hould get into your eyes,
f lush them w ith wate r.
Monitoring the
Advanced Airbag
System
tli Airbag monitor ing indicator light
Two separate indicators monitor the function
of the Advanced Airbag System: the airbag
monitoring indicator light and the
PASSEN­
GER AIR BAG OFF
light.
The Advanced Airbag System as well as the
s ide airbags and side curta in a irbags w ith
eject ion mit igat ion features (including the
electron ic contro l unit, se nsors a nd system
wiring) are all mon itored continuously to
make su re that they are functioning p roperly
whenever the ignition is on. Eve ry time you
tu rn o n the ignition, the a irbag sys tem indica ­
tor light II will come on fo r a few seconds
(funct ion check) .
The system must be inspected when the
indicator light
II:
- does not come on when the igni tion is
sw itched on,
- does not go out a few seconds after you
have switched on the ignit ion, or
- comes on while driv ing .
If an airbag system malfunction is detected,
the indicator lig ht w ill first sta rt flashing to
catch t he d rive r's attent io n and the n stay on
conti nuously to serve as a constant rem inder
to have the sys tem inspected immed iate ly.
If a malfunction occurs that tu rns the front
airbag on the passenge r side off, the
PASSEN ­
GER AIR BAG OFF
light will come on and stay
o n wheneve r th e ign it io n is on.

_& WARNING
An airbag system that is not functioning
properly cannot provide supplemental pro­
tection in a frontal crash.
- If the airbag indicato r light¢
page 21
turns on when the vehicle is being used,
have the system inspected immediately
by you r auth o riz ed Aud i dea le r. It is pos­
sible that the airb ag will inf late when it
is not s upposed to, or w ill not inflate
when it sho uld .
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
Fig. 125 Center console: passenger a irbag off warnin g
light
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OF F light is located
in the center of the instrument panel
¢fig. 125.
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light will come
on and stay on to tell yo u when the front Ad­
vanced A irbag on t he passenger side has bee n
turned off by the e lectronic control unit. If the
bulb for the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
burns out, the a irbag indicator light
fl w ill
come on to signal a malfunction in the Ad­
vanced A irbag System . Although the bur ned­
out b ulb will not cha nge the way the front
passenger's frontal airbag wor ks, it w ill no
l onge r be possib le to use the
PASSENGER AIR
BAG
OFF light to make sure that the airbag
on/off stat us is correct for the occupant on
the front passenger seat. Have the airbag sys­
tem inspected immed iate ly by your author­
ized Audi dealer.
The PASSENGER AIR BAG O FF light will blink
for about 5 seconds when :
Airba g sy stem 153
- the ignition is sw itched on and
- t he capaci tive passenger detec tion system,
which switches the front seat passenger's
frontal Advanced Airbag on and off, detects a change in the status of the front passen­
ger seat.
As soon as the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light stops blink ing, a lways make sure that
the ai rbag status (on or off) as shown by the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light is proper for
the age, size and electrical capacitance of the
person occupying the front passenger seat.
Always make sure that the safety belt for the
front passenger seat is properly fastened.
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF l ight will
show the status of the front sea t passenger 's
fronta l Advan ced Airbag a fe w se conds after
th e ignition i s sw itched on and th e airbag in­
dicator light goes off. The PASSENGER AIR
BAG
OFF light :
- will stay on if the front passenger seat is not
occupied;
- will stay on if the electrical capacitance
meas ured by the capacitive passenge r de­
tect io n system for the fron t passenger s eat
equa ls the comb ined capacitance of an in­
fa nt up to about one year of age and one of
t he rearwa rd- facing or forward-fa cing ch ild
restraints listed in Fede ral Motor Vehicle
Safety Standard 208 with which the Ad­
vanced Airbag System in your vehicle was
cert ified; For a listing of the child restraints
that were used to certify your vehicle's com­
pliance w ith the U.S. Safety Standard
~page 168 .
-will go out if the fro nt passenge r seat is oc­
cupied by an adult as registered by the ca­
pacitive passenger detection system .
- The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light must
come on and stay on if the ignition is on
and ...
- a car bed has been installed on the front passenger seat, or
- a rearwa rd-facing child rest ra int has been
installed on the front passenger seat, or
- a forward-facing child restrai nt has been in-
stalled on the front passenger seat, .,,.

154 Airbag sys te m
- and i f th e e lec trica l capacitance registered
on the front passenger seat is equal to or
l ess than t he combined capacitance of a ty p­
ical 1 year-old infant and one of the rear ­
ward-facing o r forward-facing child re­
stra ints listed in Federal Motor Ve hicle Safe ­
ty Standard 208 w ith whic h the Adva nce d
Airbag System in your vehicle was ce rtified .
If the front passenger seat is not occupied,
the front airbag will not deploy, and the
PAS ­
SENGER AIR BAG OFF
li ght w ill stay on . Nev­
e r i nsta ll a rearwa rd-fac ing ch ild restra int on
the front passenger seat, the safest place fo r
a child in any kind of child restraint is at o ne
of the seat ing positions on the rear seat
¢ page 142, Child restraints on the front seat
- some important things to know
and
¢ page 166, Child Safety .
If the PASSENGER AIR BAG light comes
on ...
If the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes
on when one of the cond itions listed above is
met , be sure to check the light regularly to
make certa in that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
light stays on cont inuous ly whenever the
ignit io n is on . If t he
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
l ight does not appear on and does not
stay o n all the time, s top as soon as it is safe
to do so a nd
- react ivate the system by turning the ignition
off for more than 4 seconds and then tu rn­
i ng it on agai n;
- remove and re install the chi ld restraint.
Make su re that the child res traint is properly
insta lled and that the safety be lt fo r the
fron t passenger seat has been correct ly
ro uted throug h the child restrain t as descri ­
bed in t he chi ld restraint man ufact urer 's in­
structions;
- make sure that the convertible locking fea ­
ture on the safety be lt fo r the front passen ­
ger seat has been activated and that the
safety belt has been pulled tight.
- ma ke sure that no e lectrica l device (such as
a laptop, CD playe r, electronic games device,
power inverter or seat heater for child seats)
is p laced or used on the front passenger seat
if the dev ice is connected to the 12-volt
socket or the cigarette lighter soc ket;
- ma ke s ure that no seat heater has been ret ­
rofitted or otherwise added to the front pas­
senger seat;
- ma ke s ure that no thing can interfere with
the safety belt buck les an d that they are not
obstructed ;
- make sure that there are no wet objects (such as a wet towe l) and no water or other
liquids on the front passenger seat cushion.
If the PASSENGER AIR BAG light still
does not c ome on ...
If the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light still
does not come on and does not stay on con ­
t in uous ly (when the ignition is switched on),
- t ake the child restraint off the front passen -
ge r seat and install it proper ly at o ne of the
rear seat positions. Have the airbag system
inspected by yo ur Audi dealer immed iately.
- move the child to a rear seat position and
make sure t hat the c hil d is properly restra in­
ed in a c hild restra int that is appropriate for
its size and age .
The PASSENGER AIR BAG light should
NOT come on . ..
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light should
NOT come on when the ignit ion is on and an
adult is s itting in a proper seating position on
the front passenger seat. If t he
PASSENGER
AIR BAG OFF
light comes o n and s tays on o r
flashes fo r about S seconds w hile d riving, un ­
der these circumstances, make sure tha t:
- t he adult on the front passenge r sea t is
prope rly seated on the cente r of the seat
cushion wi th his o r her back up aga inst the
backrest and the backrest is no t re cli ned,
- t he adult is not tak ing we ight o ff the sea t by
holding on to the passenger assis t handle
above the front passenger door or s upport ­
ing their weight on the armrest ,
- t he sa fe ty belt is be ing properly wo rn and
t ha t the re is not a lot o f slack in the safety
be lt webbing,
- t here are no aftermar ket sea t covers or
cushions or other things (such as blankets) .,..