2015 AUDI A8 Owners Manual

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Safety belts
General notes
Always wear safety belts!
Wearing safety belts correctly saves lives!
This chapter explains why safety belts are nec­
essary, how they work and how to adjust and
wear them correctly.
~ Read all the information that follows and
heed all of the instructions and WARNINGS.
A WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them
improperly increases the risk of serious
personal injury and death .
- Safety belts are the single most effective
means available to reduce the risk of se­
rious injury and death in automobile acci­
dents . For your protection and that of
your passengers, always correctly wear
safety belts when the vehicle is moving.
- Pregnant women, injured, or physically
impaired persons must also use safety
belts. Like all vehicle occupants, they are
more likely to be seriously injured if they
do not wear safety be lts . The best way to
protect a fetus is to protect the mother -
throughout the entire pregnancy.
Number of seats
Your Audi has a total of five seating positions:
two in the front and three in the rear. In some
vehicles, there are four seat ing positions : two
in the front and two in the rear. Each seating
position has a safety belt .
A WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them
improperly increases the risk of serious
personal injury and death .
- Never strap more than one person, in­
cluding small chi ldren, into any belt. It is
especially dangerous to place a safety
belt over a child sitting on your lap.
Safety belts 143
-Never let more people ride in the vehicle
than there are safety belts available.
- Be sure everyone riding in the vehicle is
properly restrained with a separate safe­
ty belt or child restraint.
~-Safety belt warning light
Your vehicle has a warning system for the
driver and front seat passenger to remind you
about the importance of buckling-up.
Fig. 155 Safety bel t warning light in the instrument
cl uster -enla rged
Before driving off, always:
~ Fasten your safety belt and make sure you
are wearing it properly .
~ Make sure that your passengers also buck le
up and properly wear their safety belts.
~ Protect children with a child restraint sys-
tem appropriate for the size and age.
The warning light . in the instrument clus­
ter lights up when the ignition is on as a re­
minder to fasten the safety belts. In addition,
you will hear a warning tone for a certain peri­ od of time.
Fasten your safety belt and make sure that
your passengers also properly put on their
safety belts.
A WARNING
- Safety belts are the single most effective
means available to reduce the risk of se­
rious injury and death in automobile acci­
dents. For your protection and that of
your passengers, always correctly wear
safety belts when the vehicle is moving. •
•

144 Safet y belt s
-Failure to pay attention to the warning
light that come on, could lead to person­
al injury.
Why safety belts?
Frontal collisions and the law of physics
Frontal crashes create very strong forces for
people riding in vehicles.
F ig. 1 56 Unbelted occ upants in a ve hicle h eading for a
wall
Fig. 157 Th e vehicle c rash es into t he wall
The physical principles are simple. Both the
vehicle and the passengers possess energy
which varies w ith veh icle speed and body
weight . Engineers call this energy "kinetic en­
e rgy ."
T he higher the speed of the vehicle and the
g reater the vehicle's we ight, the more energy
that has to be "absorbed" in the crash .
Vehicle speed is the most sign ificant factor.
If
the speed doubles from 15 to 30 mph (25 to
50 km/h), the energy increases 4 t imes!
Because the passengers of this veh icle are not
using safety belts¢
fig. 156, they will keep
mov ing at the same speed the vehicle was
mov ing just before the c rash, unt il something
stops them - here, the wall ¢
fig. 157 .
The same principles apply to people sitting in
a vehicle that is involved in a frontal collision .
Even at c ity speeds of 20 to 30 mph (30 to 50
km/h), the forces acting on the body can
reach one ton (2,000 lbs , or 1,000 kg) or
more . At greater speeds, these forces are even
highe r.
Peop le who do not use safety belts are also
not attached to their vehicle. In a frontal colli­
s io n they will also keep moving forward at the
speed their veh icle was t ravell ing just before
the crash . Of co urse, the laws of physics don't
just app ly to frontal collisions, they determine
what happens i n all kinds of acc idents and col­
lisions .
What happens to occupants not wearing
safety belts?
In crashes unbelted occupants cannot stop
themselves from flying forward and being in­
jured or killed. Always wear your safety belts!
F ig . 1 58 A d river not wea ring a safety b elt is viol en tly
thrown fo rwa rd
F ig . 15 9 A rear passe nge r no t wea ring a safety be lt
w ill fl y forward a nd strike the dr iver
Un belted oc cupants a re not able to resist the
t remendous forces o f impac t by ho lding tight
o r bracing themse lves. Withou t the benefit of
safety restraint systems , the unrestrained
ll-

occupant will slam violently into the steering
wheel, instrument panel, windshield, or what­
ever else is in the way
c::> fig. 158. This impact
with the vehicle interior has all the energy
they had just before the crash.
Never rely on airbags alone for protection.
Even when they deploy, airbags provide only
additional protection. Airbags are not sup­
posed to deploy in all kinds of accidents. Al­
though your Audi is equipped with airbags, all
vehicle occupants, including the driver, must
wear safety belts correctly in order to mini­
mize the risk of severe injury or death in a
crash.
Remember too, that airbags will deploy only
once and that your safety belts are always
there to offer protection in those accidents in
which airbags are not supposed to deploy or
when they have already deployed. Unbelted
occupants can also be thrown out of the vehi­
cle where even more severe or fatal injuries
can occur.
It is also important for the rear passengers to
wear safety belts correctly. Unbelted passen­
gers in the rear seats endanger not only them­
selves but also the driver and other passen­
gers
c::> fig. 159. In a frontal collision they will
be thrown forward violently, where they can
hit and injure the driver and/or front seat pas­
senger.
Safety belts protect
People think it's possible to use the hands to
brace the body in a minor collision. It's simply
not true!
Fig. 160 Driver is correctly restra ined in a sudden brak­
ing maneuver
Safety belts 145
Safety belts used properly can make a big dif­
ference. Safety belts help to keep passengers
in their seats, gradually reduce energy levels
applied to the body in an accident, and help
prevent the uncontrolled movement that can
cause serious injuries. In addition, safety belts
reduce the danger of being thrown out of the
vehicle.
Safety belts attach passengers to the car and
give them the benefit of being slowed down
more gently or "softly" through the "give" in
the safety belts, crush zones and other safety
features engineered into today's vehicles. By
"absorbing" the kinetic energy over a longer
period of time, the safety belts make the
forces on the body more "tolerable" and less
likely to cause injury.
Although these examples are based on a fron­
tal collision, safety belts can also su bsta ntia l­
ly reduce the risk of injury in other kinds of
crashes. So, whether you're on a long trip or
just going to the corner store, always buckle
up and make sure others do, too. Accident sta­
tistics show that vehicle occupants properly
wearing safety belts have a lower risk of being
injured and a much better chance of surviving
an accident. Properly using safety belts also
greatly increases the ability of the supplemen­
tal airbags to do their job in a collision . For
this reason, wearing a safety belt is legally re­
quired in most countries including much of
the United States and Canada.
Although your Audi is equipped with airbags,
you still have to wear the safety belts provid­
ed. Front airbags, for example, are activated
only in some frontal collisions. The front air­
bags are not activated in all frontal collisions,
in side and rear collisions, in roll overs or in
cases where there is not enough deceleration
through impact to the front of the vehicle.
The same goes for the other airbag systems in
your Audi. So, always wear your safety belt
and make sure everybody in your vehicle is
properly restrained!

146 Safety belts
Important safety instructions about
safety belts
Safety belts must always be correctly posi­
tioned across the strongest bones of your
body.
,.. Always wear safety belts as illustrated and
described in this chapter.
,.. Make sure that your safety belts are always
ready for use and are not damaged.
A WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them
improperly increases the risk of serious
personal injury and death. Safety belts can
work only when used correctly .
- Always fasten your safety belts correctly
before driving
off and make sure all pas­
sengers are correctly restrained.
- For maximum protection, safety belts must always be positioned properly on
the body .
- Never strap more than one person , in­
cluding small children, into any belt.
- Never place a safety belt over a child sit­ ting on your lap.
- Always keep feet in the footwell in front
of the seat while the vehicle is being driv­
en .
- Never let any person ride with their feet on the instrument panel or sticking out
the window or on the seat.
- Never remove a safety belt while the ve­
hicle is moving. Doing so will increase
your risk of be ing injured or killed.
- Never wear belts twisted.
- Never wear belts over rigid or breakable
objects in or on your clothing, such as
eye glasses, pens, keys, etc., as these
may cause injury.
- Never allow safety belts to become dam­
aged by being caught in door or seat
hardware .
- Do not wear the shoulder pa rt of the belt
under your arm or otherwise out of pos i­
tion . -
Several layers of heavy clothing may in­
terfere with correct positioning of belts
and reduce the overall effectiveness of
the system .
- Always keep belt buckles free of anything
that may prevent the buckle from latch­
ing securely .
- Never use comfort clips or devices that
create slack in the shoulder belt . Howev­
er, special clips may be required for the
proper use of some child restraint sys­
tems .
- Torn or frayed safety belts can tear, and
damaged belt hardware can break in an
accident. Inspect belts regularly .
If web­
bing, bindings, buck les, or retractors are
damaged, have belts replaced by an au ­
thorized Audi dealer or qualified work­
shop.
- Safety belts that have been worn and
loaded in an accident must be replaced
with the correct replacement safety belt
by an authorized Audi dealer . Replace­
ment may be necessary even if damage
cannot be clearly seen . Anchorages that
were loaded must also be inspected.
- Never remove, modify, disassemble, or
try to repair the safety belts yourself.
- Always keep the belts clean. Dirty belts
may not work properly and can impair
the function of the inert ia reel
c::> ta­
ble Cleaning interior on page 216 .
Safety belts
Fastening safety belts
Safety first -everbody buckle up!
Fig. 161 B elt buckl e and to ngue on t he drive r's se at

To provide maximum protection, safety belts
must always be positio ned correctly on the
wearer's body .
... Adjus t the front seat and head restraint
properly
c::> page 58, General recommenda­
tions .
... Hold the be lt by the tongue and pull it even ­
ly across the chest and pelvis
c::> &,. .
... Insert the tongue into the correct buckle of
you r seat until you hear it latch securely
c::> fig. 161.
... Pull on the belt to make su re that it is se-
c u rely latched in the buckle .
Automatic safety belt retractor s
Every safety belt is equipped with an automat­
ic belt retractor on the shoulder belt. Th is fea ­
ture locks the belt when the belt is pulled out
fast, dur ing hard braking and in an accident .
The belt may also lo ck when you drive up or
down a steep hill or through a sharp curve .
D uring normal driving the belt le ts you move
freely.
Safety belt pretensione rs
The safety belts are equipped with a belt pre­
tensioner that helps to t igh ten the safety belt
and remove s lack when the pretensione r is ac­
tivated
c::> page 149. The function of the pre ­
tensioner is monitored by a warning light
c::> page 18 .
Switchable locking feature
Every safety belt except the one on the driver
seat is eq uipped w ith a switchab le locking fea­
ture that
mu st be used when the safety belt is
used to attach a child seat. Be sure to read the important information about this feature
<=>page 184.
A WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can
cause serious injury in an accident
c::> page 147, Safety belt position .
-Safety belts offer optimum protection
only when the seatback is upright and
belts are properly positioned on the
body.
-
Safety belts 14 7
-Never attach the safety belt to the buck­
le for another seat. Attaching the belt to
the wrong buckle will reduce safety belt effectiveness and can cause serious per­
sonal injury .
- A passenger who is not properly restrain­
ed can be seriously injured by the safety
be lt itself when it moves from the stron­
ge r parts of the body into critical ar eas
like the abdomen.
- Always lock the convertible locking re­
tracto r when you are secu ring a child
se at in the veh icle
c::>page 186.
@ Tips
For informat ion on safety belt pretension­
e rs, refer to
c::> page 149 .
Safety belt position
Correct belt position is the key to getting
maximum protection from safety belts .
Fig. 1 62 Safety belt pos it ion
Use the heig ht adjus tment to change the posi­
tion o f the shoulder belt of the front safety
belts.
A WARNING '-
Improperly positioned safety be lts can
cause ser ious persona l injury in an acc i­
dent.
-
- The shou lder belt should lie as close to
the center of the collar bone as possible
and should fit well on the body. Hold the
be lt above the latch tongue and pull it
eve nly across the chest so that it sits as
low as possible on the pelv is and there is
no pressure on the ab domen. The belt .,_

148 Safety belts
should always fit snugly¢ fig. 162. Pull
on the belt to tighten if necessary.
- A loose-fitting safety belt can cause seri­
ous injuries by shifting its position on
your body from the strong bones to more
vulnerable, soft tissue and cause serious injury .
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other important information
¢ page 146 .
Pregnant women must also be correctly
restrained
The best way to protect the fetus is to make
sure that expectant mothers always wear
safety belts correctly -throughout the preg­
nancy.
Fig . 163 Safe ty be lt pos it io n durin g pregnancy
To provide maximum protection, safety belts
must always be positioned correctly on the
wearer's body ¢
page 147.
• Adjust the front seat and head restraint cor­
rectly ¢
page 58, General recommenda­
tions.
• Hold the belt by the tongue and pull it even­
ly across the chest and pelvis
¢ fig. 163,
¢ Li). .
• Insert the tongue into the correct buckle of
your seat until you hear it latch securely
¢page 146, fig. 161.
•Pullon the belt to make sure that it is se­
curely latched in the buckle .
A WARNING ,-
Improperly positioned safety belts can
cause serious personal injury in an acc i­
dent.
- Expectant mothers must always wear the
lap portion of the safety belt as low as
possible across the pelvis and below the
rounding of the abdomen.
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other important information¢
& in Fas­
tening safety belts on page 147.
Unfastening safety belts
Unbuckle the safety belt with the red release
button only after the vehicle has stopped.
Fig. 164 Releas ing the ton gue from the buck le
• Push the red release button on the buckle
¢ fig. 164. The belt tongue will spring out
of the buckle
¢ _& .
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~
• Let the belt wind up on the retractor as you
guide the belt tongue to its stowed position.
A WARNING
Never unfasten safety belt while the vehi­
cle is moving . Doing so will increase your
risk of being injured or killed.
Adjusting safety belt height
You can adjust the height of the driver's and
front passenger's safety belts.
The safety belt height adjusters for the front
seats can be used to adjust the height of the
shoulder portion of the safety belt so that it is
positioned correctly .
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The shoulder belt should lie as close to the
center of the collar bone as possib le an d
should fit well on the body¢
A in Saf ety belt
position on page 147.
Power safety belt h eight adjustment*
You can ad just the height of the safety belts
using the mu lti function b utton on the driver
or fro nt passenge r seat ¢
page 60.
&_ WARNING
-Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other important informat ion¢
page 146.
You can also a djust the height of the front
seats to change the position of the safety
be lts.
Improperly worn safety belts
Incorrectly positioned safety belts can cause
severe injuries.
Wear ing sa fe ty be lts imprope rly can cause se ­
rio us in jury or death. Safety be lts can only
wo rk when they are correct ly positioned on
the body. Improper seating positions reduce
the effect iveness of safety belts and w ill eve n
increase the r isk of injury and death by mov­
in g the safety belt to cr itical a reas of the
body. Imprope r seat ing pos itions also in­
crease the risk of serio us in jury and death
when an air bag deploys and strikes an occu ­
p a nt who is not in the cor re ct seating posi­
tion. A driver is responsib le for the sa fe ty of
all vehicle occupants and especially for chi l­
dren . Therefore:
""N ever permit anyone to ass ume an inco rrec t
s itting position in the veh icle w hile traveling
¢.&, .
&_ WARNING
Imprope rly worn safety belts increase the
r isk of se rious personal injury and death
whenever a veh icle is being used .
Safety belts 149
- Always ma ke s ure that all ve hicle occu­
pants are co rrectly restrained and stay in
a co rrect seating position whenever the
veh icle is being used .
- Always read and heed all WARNI NGS and
o ther impo rtant inf ormation
¢page 146.
Safety belt preten­
sioners
How safety belt pretensioners work
In front, side and rear-end collisions above a
particular severity and in a rollover, safety belts are tensioned automatically.
Reversible safety belt tensioners
T he s afety belts o n the fro nt seats ar e eq uip­
ped with powe r reversi ble tensioners. The fo l­
l ow ing functions a re ava ila bl e when the driv­
er 's/fro nt passenge r's safety belts are fas­
tened :
- Au tomatic tens ioners : at the star t of a drive,
the safety be lts automat ica lly adjust to the
passenger afte r a certain time period or ve­
hicle speed. To switch the automatic ten ­
sioners off, select the following in t he M MI:
!CARI fu nction button > Car systems > Vehi­
cle settings > Seats > Driver's seat or Pas­
senger's seat > Automatic belt tensioner
>
Off .
-In ce rtain dr iv ing s ituations , the safety b elts
may tight en with a reve rs ible tens ion ing
fu nction
¢ page 194.
- The safety be lts m ay a lso tighten with th is
reve rsible te nsion ing functio n in m inor co ll i­
s ion s.
Pyrotechnic safety belt pretensioners
The safety belts are equipped with safety be lt
pre tensioners . The system is act ivated by se n­
so rs in front, s id e and r ear-end co llisions of
great seve rity and in a rollover. T his tig hte ns
t he be lt and t akes up belt slack ¢.&.
in Service
and disposal of s afe ty belt pretensioner on
page 150.
Tak in g up the s lack helps to reduce .,. •
•

150 Safety belts
forward occupant movement during a co lli­
sion.
A WARNING
- It is possible for the pretensioners to de­
ploy incorrectly.
- The pyrotechnic system can only provide
protection for one co llision. If the pyro­
technic pretensioners deploy, the preten­
sioning system must be replaced.
(D Tips
The pyrotechnic safety belt pretensioners
can only deploy once.
- The safety belt pretensioners do not de­
ploy in minor frontal and side collisions,
in rear-end collisions, in rollovers and in
collisions invo lving very litt le impact
force .
- A fine dust is released when the pyro­
techn ic safety belt pretens ioners deploy.
This is normal and is not caused by a fire i n the veh icle.
- The relevant safety requirements must
be obse rved when the vehicle or compo­
nents of the system are scrapped . A
qualified dea le rship is familiar with
these regulations and w ill be pleased to
pass on the informat ion to you.
- Be sure to observe all safety, environ­
mental and other regulations if the vehi­
cle or indiv id ual parts of the system, par ­
ticularly the safety belt or airbag, are to
be disposed. We recommend you have
your a uthorized Audi dea ler perform this
serv ice for you .
Service and disposal of safety belt
pretension er
The safety belt pretensione rs are parts of the
safety bel ts on your Audi . Installing, remov­
ing, servicing or repa iring of belt pretens ion ­
e rs can damage the safety be lt system and
prevent it from working correct ly in a colli­
sion.
There are some important th ings you have to
know to make sure that the effect iveness of the system wi
ll not be impaired and that dis­
carded components do not cause injury or pol­
l ute the environment .
A WARNING ,.__
Improper care, servic ing and repair proce­
dures can increase the risk of personal in­
jury and death by preventing a safety belt
pretensioner from activating when needed
or activating it unexpectedly :
- The belt pretensioner system can be act i­
vated only once. If belt pretensioners have been activated, the system must be
replaced.
- Never repair, adjust, or change any parts
of the safety be lt system.
- Safety belt systems including safety belt
pretens ioners cannot be repaired. Spe­
cial procedures are required for removal,
installation and disposa l of th is system.
- For any wo rk on the safety belt system,
we strongly recommend that you see
your author ized Audi dealer or qualified
technician who has an Audi approved re ­
pair manua l, training and special equip­
ment necessary.
@) For the sake of the environment
Undeployed airbag modules and preten­
sioners might be classified as Perchlorate Materia l -special handling may app ly, see
www .dtsc.ca.gov/hazardouswaste/per­
ch lorate. When the veh icle or parts of the
restraint system including airbag modu les
safety belts with pretensioners are scrap­ ped, all applicable laws and regulations
must be observed . Your author ized Audi
dealer is familia r with these requirements
and we recommend that you have your
dealer perform this service for you .