2015 AUDI A3 parking brake

2 Table of contents Vehicle literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5
About this Owner's Manual . . . 6
Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Cockpit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Overview illustration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Instruments and indicator
lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1 0
Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Indicator lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Driver information system . . . 26
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Efficiency program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
On-Board Diagnostic system (OBD) . . . 29
Opening and closing . . . . . . . . . . 31
Central locking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Luggage compartment lid . . . . . . . . . . 37
Child safety lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Power windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Panorama sunroof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
40
Lights and Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2
Exterior lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Inter ior light ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
V1s 1on . .. ............... .. .. .. . .
Windshie ld wipers .......... .. ... .
Mirrors ......... ......... ... ... .
Digital compass ............ .. ... .
Seats and storage ....... .... . .
General information ....... ... ... .
Front seats ............... ... ... .
Head restraints ............ .. ... .
Socket . ................. .. .. ... .
Storage .............. ........ .. .
Roof rack .. ................ ... . .
Luggage compartment
Warm and cold ............... .
C limate control system .... .. .. .. . .
46
46
48
so
5 2
52
53
55
56
57
59
60
64
64
Driving ....... .. .......... ... ... 70
Steering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Ig nition lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Starting and stopping the engine
(vehicles with an ignition lock) . . . . . . 70
Starting and stopping the engine
(vehicles w ith a convenience key) . . . . 73
Driver messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
El ectromechani cal parking brake . . . . 76
Hill hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Speed warning system . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Cruise control system . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Audi adaptive cruise control .. 82
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Adaptive cruise control . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Driver messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Audi pre sense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
General information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Audi pre sense basic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Audi pre sense front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Driver messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Audi active lane assist . . . . . . . . 94
Lane assist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Audi side assist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
S ide assist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Audi drive select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Driving settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Automatic transmission . . . . . . 105
S tronic -transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Parking systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
General information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Rear parking system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Parking system plus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Rearviewcamera .............. .. . 116
Adjusting the display and the warning
tones.... ..... .. .. ..............
120
Error messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

CD
@
®
©
®
Power windows
Door handle
Aud i side assist ........ .... .
Centra l locking switch ... .. .. .
Powe r exter ior rearview m irror
adjuster .................. .
@ Light switch .... .... ... .. .. .
(J) Vents
® Leve r fo r:
- Turn signal and high beam ..
- Audi act ive lane assist ... .. .
® Steer ing whee l w ith horn and
- Drive r's airbag ........... .
- Buttons for the on-board com-
puter .. ................. .
- Buttons for the MMI, tele­
phone, navigation and voice
recognition system
- Sh ift padd les for t ipt ronic
mode (automatic t ransm is-
sion) .. .. .. ........... .. .
@ Instrument cluster : .. ... .. .. .
@ Leve r for the w indshield w iper/
washer
....................
@ Steering column with:
- Emergency operation of the ig­
nition ( in ve hicles w ith a con -
venience key) ............ .
- Ignit io n (in veh icles with a me-
chanical ignition) ......... .
@ Adjustable s teer ing column
~ Depending on equipmen t: 38
98
35
48
42
64
44
94
1
4 4
27
1 10
10
46
75
70
70
- Cru ise cont ro l lever . . . . . . . . 79
- Audi adaptive cruise cont rol 82
@ D river's knee a irbag . . . . . . . . . 157
@ Instrument illum ination . . . . . . 45
@ Hood re lease leve r . . . . . . . . . . 211
@ Child safety lock buttons . . . . . 38
@ MMI disp lay (navigation radio,
TV/video)
@ Glove compartment ( lockable)
@ Front passenger's airbag .. .. .
@ Spea ker (t reble) 5
8
144
@) Front passenger's knee airbag 157
Cockpi t 9
@ Depending on equipment, but­
tons for:
- Aud i drive select . . . . . . . . . . . 102
- Parking system plus (or with
rearv iew camera) . . . . . . . . . . 115
- Emergency flashers . . . . . . . . 43
- Elect ron ic Stabilization Con-
trol ( ESC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
- MMI display
- Airbag off in dicator . . . . . . . . . 153
@ Depend ing on equ ipment:
- Manual a ir cond it io ni ng sys-
t em . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
- Automatic a ir condit ioning
sys tem . .. .. .... ........ .
66
Socket ... .... .. . .. .. ..... . 56 @
@
@
@
@
@
S tronic se lector lever ....... .
( upholder .. .. .. . ......... . 105
57
MMI On/Off knob
MM I controls
Parking brake
@ ,.., I s=T~ A~R~ T_ E _N_ G_I _N_ E_S_ T_ O_ P_ I button
(ve hicles w ith convenience key)
(D Tips
- Some of the equipment shown here is
only installed in certain models or is
available as an option .
- The operation of t he M ulti Med ia Inter­
face
(MMI) i s descr ibed in a separate
owne r's manual. Yo u will also find infor­
mation on A udi con nect t here .
76
73
•

14 Instruments and indicator lights
> Service intervals > Reset oil change inter­
val.
(D Note
- Only reset the oil change disp lay w hen
you have completed an o il change .
- Maintain ing the service intervals is of vi­
ta l importance for the life and value of
you r vehicle espec ially the engine . Serv­
ice interva ls shou ld not be exceeded,
even by a short distance .
- If the vehicle battery is disconnected,
the timing for the next oil change wi ll be
i nterrupted.
If the vehicle is stationary
for a long time, have all scheduled serv­
ices performed.
- Even if the mileage driven is low, the
maximum period of one year from one
service to the next must not be exceed­
ed.
{!) Tips
Do not reset the disp lay between oil
changes, otherwise the d isplay w ill be in­
correct .
Indicator lights
Descript ion
Fig. 9 Instrument cl uster : example of a display for
vehicles wit h a mo nochrome d isplay.
@ Indicator light
@ Driver message
© Status line:
-• Im, Central indicator light or addi­
tional display for the active system such
as -
• (USA models) /. (Canada mode ls)
electronic parking brake
- II (USA models) Jil (Canada mode ls)
Cruise control system*
-•III active lane assist*
With some indicator lights @ the
central in­
dicator light ©. or
U also appears.
When the central ind icator light © turns on,
pay attention to the additional informat ion in
the instrument cluster display @ and @.
In addition to the indicator lights in the dis­
play, there are others located inside the tach­
ometer and the speedometer. They blink or
turn on to display additional functions or mal­
funct ions. For some indicator lights, dr iver
messages @ also appear briefly. A warning
tone sounds at the same time.
If there is more than one malfunct ion, the in­
dicator lights will tu rn on one after the other
for a short time.
The indicator lights and messages in the dis ­
play can be rep laced by other displays .
If the
indicator light @ is replaced, the central indi­
cator light@remains on until the malfunc­
tion is corrected.
In the driver information system, you can dis­
play the messages again
c:> page 2 7, Opera­
tion.
Overv iew
Some indicator lights turn on briefly as a func­
tion check when you switch the ignition on.
T hese systems are marked with a./ in the fol ­
lowing tables. If one of these indicator lights
does not turn on, there is a malfunction in
that system .
Depending on the vehicle equipment, your ve­
hicle has either a monochrome or multicol-
ored display in the instrument cluster. For
monochrome displays, the ind icator light @ is
only displayed in white
c:> page 14, fig . 9 . To
identify the priority of this indicator light, the
central indicator light© turns on at the same ..,.

16 Instruments and indicator lights
USA models: Speed warning
system
c::> page 79
Canada models: Speed warning
system
c::> page 79
Adaptive cruise control*./
c::> page 84
Yellow indicator lights
,.a~ t I " .,
-------------
Central indicator light (pay at-
tent ion to the add itiona l infor­
mation in the instrument cluster
display) ©
c::> page 14, fig . 9
Electronic Stabilization Control
(ESC) ./
c::>page 22
Electronic Stabilization Control
(ESC) ./
c::> page 22
Electronic S tab ilizat ion Control
(ESC)
c::> page 185
USA models:
Anti- lock braking system (ABS)
faulty./
c::> page 22
Canada models:
Anti- lock braking system (ABS)
faulty./
c::> page 22
USA models: Safety systems ./
c::> page 21
Canada models: Safety systems
./
c::> page 21
Brake pads
c::> page 22
Electromechanical parking brake
c::> page 19
or
.. ~
~
(J)
TPMS
;
or
or
or Hill
hold*
c::>page23
Tire pressure monitoring system
./
c::>page243
Tire pressure monito ring system
c::> page243
Adapt ive dampers*
c::>page25
Engine control (gasoli ne engine)
./
c::>page23
Exha ust control system./
c::>page23
Engine speed limitation
c::>page23
Engine oil level (min .)
c::> page23

-If the indicator light and the message ap­
pear
when stationar y or after swit ching the
ign it ion on ,
check if you can release the
parking brake. If you cannot re lease the
parking brake, see your authorized Aud i
dealer or qualified repair facility . If the park­
i ng brake can be released and the message
appears again, drive to your author ized Audi
dealer or qualified repair facility to have the
ma lfu nction corrected.
- If the indicator light and the message ap­
pear
whi le driving , hill start ass ist or the
eme rgency braking function may not be
available. It may not be possible to set the
parking b rake or release it once it has been
set . Do not park you vehicle on slopes and
see your authorized Audi dealer or qua lified
repair fac ility for assistance.
(USA models): If the warning light . and the
warning light
El appear together, immedi­
ately contact your authorized Audi dealer or
qua lified workshop to have all brake pads in­
spected
c:> page 22.
A WARNING
-Follow the warnings on c:> page 210,
Working in the engine compartment
be­
fore opening the hood and checking the brake flu id leve l.
- If the brake system warn ing light does
not turn off or turns on wh ile driving, the
brake fl uid in the reservoir is too low and
this could cause an accident. Stop the ve­
hicle and do not continue driving. See
yo ur autho rized Aud i dealer or qualified
repa ir facility.
- If the brake system indicator light t urns
on together with the ABS and ESC indica­
tor lights, the ABS/ESC regulating func­
t ion may have fa iled. Functions that sta­
bilize the vehicle are no longer availab le .
Th is co uld cause the rear of the veh icle to
swerve, wh ich increases the risk that the
vehicle will slide. Dr ive carefully to the
nearest authorize d Aud i dealer o r othe r
qualified repair facility and have the mal­
f unction corrected .
Instruments and indicator ligh ts 19
PARK/( ®)/~ Electromechanical parking
brake
If the indicator light . (U SA mode ls) •
(Canada models) turns on, the pa rking brake
was set .
If the parking brake is set when the
ignition is sw itched off, the indicator light
turns off after about 20 seconds.
• (USA model s)/. (Can ada model s) Cau­
tion: Vehicle parked too steep
When the indica tor l igh t bli nks and this mes­
sage appears, there is not enough braking
power to keep the vehicle from ro llin g . T he
brakes have overheated. The vehicle could roll
away even on a sma ll incline.
• (USA model s)/. (Canada model s)
Plea se pre ss brake pedal to release the pa rk­
ing brake
T o re lease the par king brake, press the brake
pedal and press the~ button at the same
time, or start driving w ith hi ll start assist
¢ page 77, Starting from a stop.
ml Parking brake !
There is a parki ng b rake ma lfunction . Drive to
you r aut ho rized Aud i dea le r or qualified repa ir
facility immed iate ly to have the malfunction
correc ted.
liJ Parking bra ke: limited functionality
There is a parking brake ma lfunction. Drive to
an authorized Audi dea le r or qualified repa ir
facility immed iate ly to have the malfunction
corrected .
Parking bra ke: not applied !
When this message appea rs, set the pa rking
brake if necessary.
fll ( USA model s) 1mE (Can ada mod els)
Pl ea se relea se parking brake .
When this message appea rs, re lease the par k­
i ng brake.
fll (USA models ) /K@» ( Canada mod els ) Park-
ing brake auto release una va ilable ..,. •

20 Instruments and indicator lights
When this message a ppears, first press the
b rake peda l and then release the parking
b rake .
113 (USA models)/K@'A ing brake malfunction! Anti-towing alarm
blocked
Ill ( USA models) t6] (Canada model s) Park­
ing brake: not applied!
113 ( USA models) t6J (Canada models) Cau­
tion : Vehicle parked too steep
113 (USA models) t6] ( Canada models ) Park­
ing brake is applied
When th is message appears, first press the
b rake pedal and then release the parking
brake if necessary .
(D Tips
More information on the pa rking brake
c::;,page 76.
- l Cooling system
• Switch off engine and check coolant lev­
el!
The coolant leve l is too low or the coolant
temperature is t oo high .
D o not cont inue driving and turn off t he en­
g ine. Check the coolant leve l
c::;, page 216 .
-If the coolant leve l is too low, add coo lan t
c::;, page 217 . Only continue driv ing if the in­
dicato r light tur ns off .
- If the coolant leve l is co rrect, then the mal ­
function may be caused by fai lure of the
coolant fan. Do not continue dr iv ing. See
yo ur authorized Aud i dea le r or qualified re ­
pair fac ility .
• Coolant temperature too high! Let engine
run with vehicle stationary
L et the eng ine run at idl e for a few minu tes to
coo l down .
A WARNING
-Never open the eng ine hood if y ou see or
hear steam, or if you see engine coo la nt
d ripping from t he e ngine compartment .
You could bur n yourse lf . What until you
ca nno t see or hea r any coolant co min g
ou t.
- T he engi ne compa rtment o f eve ry ve hicl e
is a dange rou s ar ea . B efo re perfo rmin g
wo rk in t he eng ine com par tmen t, tur n
t he eng ine off and let i t co ol d own. A l­
ways follow t he i nfo rmat ion foun d in
c::;, page 210 , Working in the engine
compartment .
(D Note
Do n ot con tinue dr iv ing whe n the . indi­
cator light turns on . There is a ris k of dam ­
a g ing t he engine .
• Switch off engine! Oil pressure too low
Turn off the en gine and do not co nti nu e dr iv­
ing. Check the eng ine oil level
c::;, page 21 5.
- If the en gin e o il level is too low, ad d eng in e
oil
c::;, page 212 . Only cont inue drivin g if the
in di cator light tu rns off.
- If the en gine oil level is co rrec t and the in d i­
ca to r lig ht still turns on, tu rn t he engine off
an d do not cont inue driv ing . See your au ­
thorized A udi deale r or qualifie d repair fa ­
cility.
(D Tips
The oi l press ure warn ing is not an oil level
i ndicato r. For this reas on, chec k th e o il lev­
e l reg ularly .
D Alternator/battery
• Alternator fault: The battery is not being
charged
There is a malfunction in the al ternator or the
vehicle e lectr ica l system .

inspected. On USA models the warning light
[IJ comes on together with the warning light
• . Both sets of brake pads on an axle must
always be rep laced at the same time.
_& WARNING
Dr iv ing with bad brakes can cause a coll i­
sion and serious personal injury.
- If the warning light
[IJ and the warning
light
. l) with the message Brake pads!
comes o n in the instrument cluste r dis­
play, immed iately contact your au thor­
i z ed Audi dea le r or q ualified wor kshop to
have all bra ke p ad s ch ecked or rep laced if
necessary.
· ~ Hill hold
Hill hold a ssis t: un available
If th e> #j •ndicato r light turns on and this
message appea rs, hill ho ld is not available.
II Manual control!
If this message appears, press the b rake ped·
al.
Continue driving w ith the help of the parking
brake ¢
page 76.
EPC Engine control (gasoline engine)
Applies to vehicles: with gasoline engine
If the ~ indicator light turns on there is a
malfunct ion in the engine control.
D rive s low ly to your authorized Audi dealer or
q ua lified repair faci lity to have the engine
checked .
I f the ~ indica to r li ght turns on when you
start the engine, there is a malfunction in the
l aunch contro l. To start the engine, follow
these steps:
- Vehicles wi th a mechanical ignition
¢ page 71 ,
-vehicles wi th a compor t igni tion
c:> page 73.
1) . : USA mode ls onl y
Instrument s and indicator ligh ts 23
o Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL)
The Ma lfun ction Indi cato r Lamp ( MIL) is pa rt
of the On-Board Diagnos tic (OBD II) sys tem.
T he sym bo l
('4 lights up when the ignition is
switched on and will tur n off after the engine
has started and has settled at a constant idle
speed . This indicates that the MIL is work ing
properly.
T he wa rning lig ht ill uminates when the re is a
malfunction in the engine electronic system .
Contact your a uthorized Aud i dea ler and have
the malfunction corrected.
If the fuel fille r cap is closed incor rect ly, this
may also cause the MIL to turn on
c:> poge 208.
For more information ¢ page 29 .
!7, Engine speed limitation
Applies to vehicles: wi th engine speed lim itatio n
(m Max. engine speed: XXXX rpm
T he eng ine speed is automatically limi ted to
the speed displayed in the driver info rm ation
system . This pro te cts the engine from over ­
heating.
T he eng ine speed l imi ta tion dea ctivates on ce
the engine is no longer in the cri tical tempera ­
tu re range and yo u have re lease d the acce lera ­
tor pedal.
If t he engine speed limi tat ion was act iva ted
b y an engine cont rol m alfunc tio n, the ~ indi­
cator light also turns on. Make sure the en ­
gine speed does not go above the speed dis­
played, fo r example when downshifting . Drive
to yo ur authorized Aud i dea le r or qualified re ­
pair facility immediately to have the malfunc­
tion corrected .
~. Engine oil level (min.)
El Check oil level
•

76 Driving
removed from the vehicle when the engine
was running.
If the convenience key is no lon­
ger in the veh icle, you cannot switch the igni­
tion on or start the engine once you stop it.
You also cannot lock the vehicle from the out­
side .
Press brake pedal
This message appears if you do not press t he
brake peda l to start the engine in a vehicle
with an automatic transmission .
Please engage N or P
This message appears whe n starting or stop­
p ing the engine if t he selecto r lever is not in
the Nor P pos ition. The eng ine will not star t/
stop.
Shift to P, otherwis e vehicle can roll away.
Door s do not lock if lev er i s not in P
This message appears for safety reasons
along w ith a warning tone . It appears if the
selecto r lever for the automat ic transm iss io n
is not in the P position when switch ing the ig­
ni tion off with the
!S TAR T ENGINE STOPI*
button . Sh ift the sele ctor leve r to t he P posi­
tion. Otherwise, the vehicle could ro ll. You al­
so cannot lock the vehicle using the locking
sensor on the door handle o r using the con­
venience key .
Electromechanical
parking brake
Operation
The electromechanical parking brake replaces
the hand brake .
Fig. 68 Center conso le: Park ing brake
.,. Pull the switch @¢ fig. 68 to set the pa rk­
ing brake. The. (USA models) . (Cana­
da mode ls) indicator light in the button and
in the instrument cluster display turns on .
.,. To release the parking brake, press the brake
pedal or the acce lerator pedal and press the
button @. The . (USA models) /. (Cana­
da mode ls) indicato r light in th e button and
ins trument clus ter tur ns off.
Your vehicle is equipped with an electrome ­
chanical pa rking brak e. The parking bra ke is
designed to p revent the veh icle from rolling
u ninte ntionally and repla ce s the hand b rake.
In add ition to the normal functions of a tradi ­
tio na l ha nd b rake, the electromechanical
parki ng b rake provides va rious conven ien ce
and safe ty f unct ions .
When starting
-The integral hill start assist helps you when
d riving by au tomatical ly re leasi ng the park­
ing bra ke ¢
page 77, Starting from a
stop.
- W hen start ing on i nclines, t he h ill sta rt as­
si st preven ts the v ehicl e from unintentiona l­
ly ro lling back . T he b raking force of the
p ar king br ake is no t released unt il su ffi cien t
driving force has been bui lt up at the
wheels .
Emergency brake function
An emergency b rak ing functions ensu res that
t h e vehi cle can be s lowed down even if the
n ormal brakes f ail¢ page 78, Emergen cy
braking fun ction.
Indicator lights
- I f the pa rk ing brake is set when the ignition
is
switched on , the. (USA models) /.
(Canad a models) indica to r li ght turns on in
t he display and b utton .
- If the pa rk ing brake is se t when the ignition
is
switched off , the. (USA models) /.
(Canada mo dels) indica tor ligh t turns on in
the display and button for about 20 sec­
onds.