Audi side assist
(D Tips
-Side assist is not active while you are mak
ing the adjustment.
- Your settings are automatically stored and
assigned to the remote control key being
used.
Driver messages
Applies to veh icles: w ith Aud i side ass ist
If side assist switches off by itself, the LED in the
button turns
off and a message will appear in the
instrument cluster display:
Audi side assist unavailable: Sensors blocked
The radar sensors' vision is affected. Do not cover
the area in front of the sensors with bike wheels,
stickers, dirt or other objects. Clean the area in
front of the sensors, if necessary ¢
page 100,
fig. 117.
Audi side assist: Currently unavailable
Side assist cannot be switched on temporarily be
cause there is a malfunction (for example, the
battery charge level may be too low).
Audi side assist: System fault!
The system cannot guarantee that it will detect
vehicles correctly and it is switched off . The sen
sors have been displaced or are faulty. Have the
system checked by an authorized Audi dealer or
authorized Audi Service Facility soon.
Audi side assist: Unavailable when towing
Side assist switches off automatically when a fac
tory-installed trailer hitch is connected to the
electrical connector on the trailer. There is no
guarantee the system will switch off when using
a retrofitted trailer hitch. Do not use side assist
when towing a trailer.
102
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& WARNING
-Make sure your head or other pa rts of your
body are not located in the area above the
rollbar when press ing the rollbar down. If
the rollbar is not secured correctly, it cou ld
deploy again as soon as you release it and
cause injuries .
- Have the rollover protection system checked
by your authorized Aud i dealer if it is faulty.
Otherw ise, the system may not deploy cor
rectly in a collision.
- Modifying the rollover protect ion system or
indiv idual components is not permitted .
- Work on the rollover protect ion system
should only be performed by your author
ized Audi deale r or qual ified wor kshop . Oth
erwise the system may not funct ion correct
ly in a collision o r it could deploy unexpect
edly .
- Have the system inspected at service inte r
vals. This ensures the system will always be ready for use. Have your au thorized Audi
dealer check the rollover protect ion system
every two years at the latest.
Dr ivin g s afet y
123
Safety belts
Unfastening safety belts
Unbuckle the safety belt with the red relea se
button only after the vehicle has stopped .
Fig. 146 Re le as ing th e to ngu e fr om th e buck le
.. Push the red re lease button on the b uck le
Q fig. 146 . The belt tongue wi ll spring out of
the buckle
Q ,& .
.. Let the belt wind up on the retr actor as you
guide the bel t tongue to its stowed position.
A WARNING
Never unfasten safety belt while the veh icle is
moving . Doing so will increase your risk of be
ing injured or killed.
Improperly worn safety belts
a
~ 0 :i: .. 0J
Incorrectly positioned safety belts can cause se
vere injuries .
Wearing safety belts improperly can cause seri
ous injury or death. Safe ty belts can only work
when they are correctly posit ioned on the body .
Improper seating pos it ions reduce the effective
ness of safety belts and will even inc rease the risk
of injury and death by moving the safety be lt to
cr itica l areas of the body . Improper seati ng posi
tions a lso increase the risk of serious injury and
death when an airbag deploys and strikes an oc
cupant who is not in the correct seating position.
A driver is responsible for the safety of all vehicle
occupants and espec ially for children. Therefore :
.. Never perm it anyone to ass ume an incorrect sit -
ting position in the vehicle while traveling
Q A .
130
A WARNING
Improperly worn safety belts increase the r isk
of ser ious personal injury and death whenever
a veh icle is being used .
- Always make sure that all vehicle occupants
are correctly restrained and stay in a correct
seating position whenever the vehicle is being used.
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other important information
Q page 126 .
Belt tensioners
How safety belt pretensioners work
In front, side and rear-end collisions above a
particular sev erity, saf ety belts are tensioned au
tomatically .
The safety belts are equipped with safety belt
pre tensioners. The system is act ivated by sensors
in front, side and rear-end collisions o f great se
verity. This tightens the belt and takes up belt
s lack
¢ .&. in Service and disposal of safety belt
pretensioner on page 131.
Taking up the slack
helps to reduce forward occupan t movement dur
i ng a collision .
@ Note
Never let the belt remain over a rear seatback
that has been folded forward.
@ Tips
The safety belt pretensioner can only be acti
vated once.
- In minor frontal and side collisions, in rear
end co llisions and in accidents involving
very little impact force, the safety belt pre
tensioner are not activated.
- When the safety belt pretensioners are acti vated, a fine dust is released . This is normal
and is not caused by a fire in the vehicle .
- The re levant safety requirements must be
observed when the vehicle or components
of the system are scrapped. An authorized
Audi dealer or qua lified workshop is familiar
with these regulations a nd will be pleased
to pass on the information to yo u. ...
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-Be sure to observe all safety, environmental
and other regulations if the vehicle or indi
vidual parts of the system, particularly the
safety belt or airbag, are to be disposed. We
recommend you have your authorized Audi
dealer perform this service for you.
Service and disposal of safety belt preten
sioner
The safety belt pretensioners are parts of the
safety belts on your Audi. Installing, removing ,
servicing or repairing of belt pretensioners can
damage the safety belt system and prevent it
from working cor rectly in a collision.
There are some important things you have to know to make sure that the effectiveness of the
syst em will not be impaired and that discarded
components do not cause injury or pollute the
environment.
_&. WARNING
Improper care, servicing and repair proce
dures can increase the risk of personal injury
and death by preventing a safety belt preten
sioner from activating when needed or acti
vating it unexpectedly :
- The belt pretensioner system can be activat
ed only once.
If belt pretensioners have
been activated , the system must be re
placed.
- Never repair, adjust, or change any parts of
the safety belt system.
- Safety belt systems including safety belt
pretensioners cannot be repaired. Special
procedures are required for removal, instal
lation and disposal of this system.
- For any work on the safety belt system, we
strongly recommend that you see your au
thorized Audi dealer or qualified technician
who has an Audi approved repair manual,
training and special equipment necessary.
@) For the sake of the environment
Undeployed airbag modules and pretension
ers might be classified as Perchlorate Material
- special handling may apply, see
www.dtsc.ca .gov/hazardouswaste/perchlo-
Safety belts
rate. When the vehicle or parts of the re
straint system including airbag modules safe
ty belts with pretensioners are scrapped, all
applicable laws and regulations must be ob
served. Your authorized Audi dealer is familiar
with these requirements and we recommend
that you have your dealer perform this service
for you .
131
Airb ag syst em
@ For the sake of the environment
Undep loyed airbag modu les and pretension
ers m ight be classified as Perchlorate Mater ia l
-special handling may apply, see
www.dtsc.ca.gov/hazardouswaste/perchlo rate. When the vehicle or parts of the re
straint system including a irbag modules safe
ty belts with pretensioners are scrapped, all
app licab le laws and regu lations must be ob
served. Your authori zed A udi dealer is fami lia r
w ith these requirements and we recommend
that you have yo ur dealer perform this service
for you.
Other things that can affect Advanced
Airbag performance
Changing the vehicle 's suspension system can
change the way that the Advanced A irbag System
pe rforms in a crash. For example, using t ire-rim
comb inat ions not approved by Audi, lowering the
ve hicl e, chang ing the stiffness of the suspension,
including the spr ings, suspension s truts, shock
absorbers etc . can change the forces that are
measured by the airbag sensors and sent to the
electronic control un it. Some suspension changes
can, for example, increase the force levels meas
ured by the sensors and make the airbag system
deploy in c rashes in which it wo uld not deploy if
the changes had not been made. Other ki nds of
changes may reduce the force levels measured by
the sensors and preve nt the airbag from deploy
i n g when i t should .
A WARNING
Changing the vehicle's s uspension including
use of unapproved ti re -rim comb inations can
change Advanced A irbag pe rformance and in
crease t he risk of serious persona l injury in a
crash.
- Never install suspension components that do not have the same performance charac
teristics as the components or iginally insta l
led on your veh icle.
- Never use tire-rim combinations that have
not been approved by Audi.
146
A WARNING
Items stored between t he safety be lt b uckle
and the center console can cause the sensors i n the buckle to send the wrong informat ion
to the electronic control module a nd prevent
the Adva nced Airbag System from wor king
properly.
- Always ma ke sure that nothing can interfere
w it h the safe ty belt bu ckles an d that they
are no t obstr ucted.
Knee airbags
Description of knee airbags
Applies to vehicles: with knee airbags
The knee airbag system can provide supplemen
tal protection to properly restrained front seat
occupants.
F ig. 151 Driver"s kn ee airbag
The driver knee airbag is i n the instrument panel
u nderneath the steer ing whee l~
fig. 151, the
k nee a irbag for the passenger is at abou t the
same height in the instrument pane l unde rneath
the g love compartment.
The knee air bag offers addi tional protec tion to
t h e d river 's and passenge r's knees and uppe r and
l ower thigh areas and supplements the protec
tion provided by the safety belts.
If t he front airbags dep loy, the knee a irbags also
deploy in fro ntal c ollisions when the dep loyment
th reshold stored in the control un it is me t
~ page 140, More important things to know
about front airbags.
In add it ion to their normal sa fe ty f unct io n, safe-
ty be lts he lp keep the driver or front passenger in ..,.
Driving and th e environment
Regular maintenance
A badly tuned engine unnecessarily wastes a lot
of fuel .
.,. Have your vehicle serviced at regula r intervals.
By having your vehicle regularly serviced by an
authorized Audi dealer he lps to ensure that it
runs properly and economically. The condition of
your vehicle not only affects its safety and ability to hold its value, it also affects
f uel c onsump
tion .
C he ck you r oil e ach t ime you fill you r ta nk .
The amount of oil used is related to engine load
and speed.
It is normal for the oil consumption of a new en
g ine to reach its lowes t va lue after a cer tain mile
age has been d riven .
You must d rive you r vehicle about 3,000 miles
(5 ,000 k ilometers) before you can properly as
sess o il cons umption .
This a lso applies to fuel consumption and engine
output.
(D Note
- Have your vehicle maintained properly and
in accordance w ith the service recommenda
tions in you r Warra nty
& M aintenance book
l et . Lack of p roper m aintenance as well as
i mprope r use of the vehicle will impair the
funct ion of the emission control system and
could lead to damage.
- Do not a lter or remove any component of
the Emission Cont ro l System unless ap
proved by the manufacturer.
- Do not a lter o r remove any dev ice, such as
heat shie lds, switches, ignition wires,
va lves, which are designed to protect your
vehicle's Emiss ion Control System and other
i mportant veh icle components.
180
· Fewer short trips
Fuel consumption will always be relatively high
on short trips .
.,. Try to avoid dr iv ing short distances with a cold
eng ine .
The eng ine and catalytic converter have to reach
their opt imal
oper atin g temperature to reduce
fuel consumpt ion and noxious emissions effec
tively .
Just after starting, a co ld engine in a mid-s ize car
on ly achieves a fuel economy of 6-8 mi les per
gallon (30-40 l/100 km). After about a half a
mile, fuel economy climbs to 12 mpg (20 l/100
km) . After about
2.5 miles (4 km), the eng ine is
at its proper operating temperature and fuel
economy has reached a norma l level. So you can
see that you should avo id short trips whenever
poss ible .
The
out side t emp eratur e is also cr itical in th is re
gard. Your car consumes more fuel in the winter
than in the summer.
Care and cleaning
- Never use gasoline, spot remove r, ben
zene, paint thinner or other solvents to
remove .
-Door wind ows
-Remove snow and ice on w indows and ex-
terior mirrors w ith a plastic scraper. To
avoid scratches, move the scraper only in
one direction and not back and fo rth .
- Never remove snow or ice from door w in
dows and m irrors using warm or hot water
because this could cause cracks to fo rm.
- To avoid damage to the rear window de
fogge r, do not apply any stic kers on the
heating w ires on the inside of the w indow.
- Decorat ive parts /trim
- Never use chrome care or cleaning prod-
ucts.
-Pa int
- To reduce the risk of scratches, the veh icle
must be free of d irt and dust before pol
ishing or waxing .
- To prevent paint damage, do not polish or
wax the veh icle in direct sunlight .
-To reduce the risk of paint damage, do not
polish away rust spots.
- Remove cosmet ics and sunscreen immedi
ately- these could damage the paint.
- Di spla ys
- To avoid scratches, do not use dry cleaning
methods on displays.
- Controls
- Make sure that no fluids enter the con-
tro ls, because this cou ld cause damage.
- Safet y belt s
- Do not remove the safety be lts to clean
them.
- Never clean safety belts or the ir compo
nents chemically or with corrosive fluids
or so lvents and never allow sharp objects
to come into contact w ith the safety belts.
Th is could cause damage to the belt web
bing.
- If there is damage to the webbing, the
connect ions, the retractors or the buckles,
have them replaced by an au thori zed deal
er.
- Textile s/artificial leather /Alcantar a
188
- Never treat artificial leather/A lcantara
with leather care products, solvents, floor
polish, shoe polish, spot remove or similar
products.
- Have a specialist remove stubborn stains
to prevent damage.
- Never use steam cleaners, brushes, hard
sponges, etc . when cleaning.
- Do not turn on the seat heating* to dry the seat.
- Objects with sharp edges such as zippe rs,
rivets on clothing or be lts can cause dam
age to the surface.
- Open hook and loop fasteners, for exam ple on clothing, can damage seat covers .
Make sure hook and loop fasteners are
closed.
- Natu ral leather
- Neve r treat leather w ith solvents, floor
polish, shoe polish, spot remover or simi
lar p rodu cts.
- Objects w ith sharp edges such as zippe rs,
rivets on clothing or be lts can cause dam
age to the surface.
- Never use steam cleaners, brushes, hard
sponges, etc. when cleaning .
- Do not turn on the seat heating* to dry the seat .
- To help prevent the leather from fad ing,
do not leave the vehicle in d irect sunlight
for long periods of time.
If leaving the ve
h icl e parked for long periods of t ime, yo u
should cover the leathe r to protect it from
d irect sunlight.
(D Tips
- Insects are easier to remove from paint that
has been fresh ly waxed.
- Regular waxing can prevent rust spots from
forming.
Placing your vehicle out
of service
If you wo uld like to take yo ur vehicle out of serv
ice for a longer time, contact your authorized
Audi dealer or qualified repair facility . They will
advise you of important measures ., such as ..,.
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fill up at busy gas stations where the seasonal
adjustment is more likely to be made in time.
(D Note
- Fuels containing a high pe rcentage of etha
no l such as ESQ and E85 may only be used in
vehicles with f lexible fuel engines. Using
high ethanol fuel in veh icles not equ ipped
with flexible fuel engines can cause severe
engine damage.
- Methanol fuels which do not meet these re quirements may cause corrosion and dam
age to plastic and rubber components in the
fuel system.
- Do not use fuels that fail to meet the spec i
fied criter ia in this chapter .
- If you are unable to determine whether or
not a particular fuel blend meets the speci
fications, ask your service station or its fuel
supplier .
- Do not use fuel for wh ich the contents can
not be identified.
- Fuel system damage and performance prob
lems resulting from the use of fuels differ
ent from those spec ified are not the respon
s ibility of Audi and are not covered under
the New Vehicle o r the Emission Cont ro l
System Warranties.
- If you experience a loss of fue l economy o r
driveability and pe rformance problems due
to the use of one of these f uel b lends, we
r ecommend that yo u switch to unb lended
fuel.
Ethanol fuel (Bio-ethanol)
Applies to vehicles: with flexible fuel engine
You can recognize vehicles with a flexible fuel
engine by looking at the label on the inside of the fuel filler flap.
Vehicles w ith f lexible fuel engines may be operat
ed with bio-ethanol fuels such as E85 (85% e tha
nol and 15% gasoline) or with unleaded gasoline
(91 AKI/ROZ 95) . The vehicle may also be operat
ed with a m ixt ure of these fuels.
Fu el and R efu elin g
Your f uel consumption wi ll increase when using
bio-ethano l fue ls due to the lower amount of en
ergy contained per unit vo lume in ethano l.
Warming up the fle xible fuel engine in low
t e mperatu res
Due to the chemical composition of b io-ethanol,
a certain amount of fue l ends up in the engine oil
when driving short distances in
very low temper
atures. This fuel evaporates again when the en
gine is warmed up .
II Please w arm up eng ine .
If the driver message appears in the instrument
cluster disp lay, drive with a warm engine to re
duce the oil leve l.
(D Note
-Never fill with methano l or with a h igher
percentage of b io-ethanol than 85% (E85).
A highe r percentage of bio-ethanol in the
fue l can cause damage to the engine or to
the fuel system.
- If you use on ly E85, it is recommended to
fill the fue l tank complete ly w ith unleaded
premium grade gasoline every 5,000 miles.
- If you experience starting, rough id le or hes
itat ion driveab ility problems, fill the fuel
tank complete ly w ith unleaded premium
grade gasoline and drive it normally unt il
the gaso line is used. See your author ized
Audi dea ler if the problem pe rsists.
- Inform your author ized Audi dealer that you
are operating or have operated the vehicle
w ith E85.
- Read and follow the information and t ips
about gasoline<=:>
page 190 .
(D Tips
It may take longer to start the engine when
the outs ide temperature is
very cold. If possi
ble, use winte rized fue l if tempe ratu res are
below free zin g.
191