
134 Safet y belt s
To provide maximum protection, safety belts
must always be positioned correctly on the
wearer 's body .
.,. Adjust the front seat and head restr aint
properly
c::, page 53, General recommenda
t ions .
.,. Make sure the seatback of the rear seat
bench is in an upright pos ition and securely
latched in place before using the belt
c::, .&, .
.,. Hold the be lt by the tongue and pull it even
ly across the chest and pelv is
c::, .&, .
.,. Inse rt the tongue into the correct buckl e of
yo ur sea t until you hea r it latc h securely
c::>fig. 154.
.,. Pull on the be lt to make sure that it is se-
curely latched in t he buckle.
Automatic safety belt retractors
Every safety belt is equipped w ith an automat
i c belt retracto r on the shoulder be lt. This fea
ture locks the be lt whe n the belt is pulled out
fast, dur ing hard braking and i n an accident.
The belt may also lock when you drive up or
down a steep hill or throug h a sharp curve.
During normal driv ing the belt lets you move
freely.
Safety belt pretensioners
The sa fety belts are equipped with a be lt pre
tensioner that helps to tighten the safety belt
and remove s lack when the pretensioner is ac
tivated ¢
page 136. The function of the pre
tensioner is mon it ored by a warning light
¢ page 18.
Convertible locking retractor
Every safety belt except the one on the driver
seat is eq uipped w ith a convertib le loc king re
tractor that
must be used when the safety
be lt is used to attach a child seat. Be su re to
read the important information about this
featu re
c::> page 176.
.,& WARNING
Imprope rly posit ioned safety belts can
cause se rious injury in an accident
c::> page 13 4, Safety bel t posi tion.
- Safety belts offer opt imum protection
only when the seatback is upr ight and
be lts are properly posit ioned o n the
body .
- If the rear seat backrest is not securely
latched, the passenger w ill move for
ward with the bac krest dur ing sudden
b ra ki ng, in a sudden maneuver and espe
cially in a cra sh.
- N ever attach t he safety belt to t he buck
le for another seat . Attaching the belt to
the wrong buckle will reduce s afety be lt
effec tiveness and can cause seri ous per
sonal injury .
- A passenger who is not prope rly restrain
e d ca n be seriously injured by the safe ty
be lt itse lf w hen it moves from the st ron
ge r parts of the body into cr itical areas
like the abdomen.
- A lways loc k the conve rtible locking re
tractor when you are secu ring a child
seat in t he veh icle
c::, page 178.
(D Tips
F o r i nforma tion on safe ty belt pre tension
e rs, refer to
c::, page 136.
Safety belt position
Correc t belt position is the key to getting
maximum protection from safety belts .
Fig. 155 Sa fety belt pos it ion
U se the height adjustment to change the posi
tion of t he shoulder belt of the front safety
belts.
~

136 Safety belts
Adjusting safety belt height
With the aid of the safety belt height adjust
ment, the three point safety belt strap rout
ing can be fitted to the shoulder area, accord
ing to body size .
Fig. 158 Safety belt height a dju stment for th e front
seats -loop -a rou nd fittin gs
The shoulder belt should lie as close to the
center of the collar bone as possible and
should fit well on the body¢.&.
in Safety belt
position on page 135 .
• Push
the loop -around fittings up ¢ fig. 158
@, or
• squeeze together the© button, and push
the loop-around fittings down @.
• Pull the belt to make sure that the upper at
tachment is properly engaged.
,&. WARNING
Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other important information
¢page 133.
@ Tips
With the front seats, the height adjust
ment of the seat can also be used to adjust
the position of the safety belts.
Improperly worn safety belts
Incorrectly positioned safety belts can cause severe injuries.
Wearing safety belts improperly can cause se
rious injury or death. Safety belts can only
work when they are correctly positioned on
the body. Improper seating positions reduce the effectiveness of safety belts and will even increase the risk of injury and death by mov- ing the safety be
lt to critical areas of the
body. Improper seating positions also in
crease the risk of serious injury and death
when an airbag deploys and strikes an occu
pant who is not in the correct seating posi
tion . A driver is responsible for the safety of
all veh icle occupants and especially for chil
dren . Therefore:
• Never permit anyone to assume an incorrect
sitting position in the vehicle while traveling
¢,&. .
,&. WARNING
Improperly worn safety belts increase the
risk of serious personal injury and death
whenever a vehicle is being used.
- Always make sure that all vehicle occu
pants 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
¢ page 133.
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
The safety belts on the front seats are equip
ped with power reversible tensioners . The fol
lowing functions are available when the driv
er's/front passenger's safety belts are fas
tened :
- Automatic tensioners : at the start of a drive,
the safety belts automatically adjust to the passenger after a certain time period or ve
hicle speed. To switch the automatic ten
sioners off, select the following in the MMI: .,.

156 Airbag system
www.dtsc.ca.gov/hazardouswaste/per
chlorate. When the vehicle or parts of the
restraint system including airbag modules
and safety belts with pretensioners are
scrapped, all applicable laws and regula
tions must be observed. Your authorized
Audi dealer is familiar with these require
ments and we recommend that you have
your 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 Airbag Sys
tem performs in a crash. For example, using
tire-rim combinations not approved by Audi,
lowering the vehicle, changing the stiffness of
the suspension, including the springs, suspen
sion struts, shock absorbers etc. can change
the forces that are measured by the airbag sensors and sent to the electronic control
unit. Some suspension changes can, for exam
ple, increase the force levels measured by the
sensors and make the airbag system deploy in
crashes in which it would not deploy if the
changes had not been made . Other kinds of
changes may reduce the force levels meas ured by the sensors and prevent the airbag
from deploying when it should.
A WARNING
Changing the vehicle's suspension includ
ing use of unapproved tire-rim combina
tions can change Advanced Airbag per
formance and increase the risk of serious
personal injury in a crash.
- Never install suspension components
that do not have the same performance characteristics as the components origi
nally installed on your vehicle.
- Never use tire-rim combinations that
have not been approved by Audi.
Knee airbags
Description of knee airbags
Applies to vehicles: with knee airbags
The knee airbag system can provide supple
mental protection to properly restrained
front seat occupants .
Fig. 163 Driver 's knee airbag
The driver knee airbag is in the instrument
panel underneath the steering wheel
¢ fig. 163, the airbag for the passenger is at
about the same height in the instrument pan
el underneath the glove compartment.
The knee airbag offers additional protection
to the driver 's and passenger's knees and up
per and lower thigh areas and supplements
the protection provided by the safety belts.
If the front airbags deploy, the knee airbags
also dep loy in frontal collisions when the de
ployment threshold stored in the control unit
is met
<=> page 149, More important things to
know about front airbags .
In addition to their normal safety function,
safety belts help keep the driver or front pas
senger in position in a frontal collision so that
the airbags can provide supplemental protec
tion.
The airbag system is not a substitute for your
safety belt . Rather, it is part of the overall oc
cupant restraint system in your vehicle. Al
ways remember that the airbag system can
only help to protect you if you are wearing
your safety belt and wearing it properly. This
is why you should always wear your safety
belt, not just because the law requires you to
do so
¢ page 130 , General notes. ..,.

17 4 Child Safety
- Always follow the man ufacturer's in
structions provided with the child safety
seat or infant carrier.
- Always move the front passenger seat in
to the rearmost position of the passen
ger seat's fore and aft adjustment range,
and as far away from the airbag as possi
ble before install ing the child restraint .
- Always make sure that nothing prevents
the front passenger's seat from being
moved to the rearmost position in its
fore and aft adjustme nt range.
- Always make sure the backrest is in an
upright position.
- Never place or use any electrical device
(such as a laptop, CD player, electron ic
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.
- 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.
- Make sure that there are no wet objects
(such as a wet towel) and no water or
other liquids on the front passenger seat
cushion.
- Never place objects on the seat (such as
a laptop, CD player, electronic games de
vice, power inverter or seat heater for
child seats). These may influence the
electrical capacitance measured by the
capacitive passenger detection system
and can also fly around in an accident
and cause serious personal injury .
- Make sure that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
light comes on and stays on all the
time whenever the ignition is switched
on.
- If the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
does not come on and stay on, immedi
ately install the forward-facing child seat
at a seating position on the rear seat and
have the airbag system inspected by your
authorized Audi dealer. -
Take the chi ld restraint off the front pas
senger seat and install it properly at one
of the rear seat positions if the
PASSEN
GER AIR BAG OFF
light does not stay on
whenever the ign it ion is switched on.
Booster seats and safety belts
Properly used booster seats can help protect
children weighing between about 40 lbs. and
80 lbs. (18 kg and 36 kg) who are less than 4
ft. 9 in . (57 inches/1 .45 meters) tall .
"' ....
"' 0 ±
o5
Fig. 173 Rear seat: c hild properly restrained in a boos
te r seat
The vehicle 's safety belts alone will not fit
most children until they are at least 4 ft . 9 in.
(57 inches/1.45 meters) tall and weigh about
80 lbs. (36 kg). Booster seats raise these ch il
dren up so that the safety belt w ill pass prop
er ly over the stronger parts of the ir bodies
and the safety be lt can he lp protect them in a
crash.
.,. Do not use the convertible locking retractor
when using the vehi cle's safety belt to re
strain a ch ild on a booster seat.
.. The shou lder belt must lie as close to the
center of the chi ld's collar bone as possib le
and must lie flat and snug on the upper
body. It must never lie across the throat or
neck . The lap belt must lie across the pelvis
and never across the stomach or abdomen .
Make s ure the belt lies flat and snug. Pull on
the belt to tighten if necessary .
.,. If you must transport an older child in a
booster seat on the front passenger seat,
you can use the safety be lt height adjust
ment to help adjust the s hou lder portion
properly. ..,.

228 Tires and wheels
-If you notice unusual vibra
tion or if the vehicle pulls to
one side when driving, al
ways stop as soon as it is
safe to do so and check the
wheels and tires for dam
age.
0 Note
-Please note that summer and winter tires are de
signed for the conditions
that are typical in those sea
sons. Audi recommends us
ing winter tires during the
winter months. Low tem peratures significantly de
crease the elasticity of
summer tires, which affects
traction and braking ability. If summer tires are used
in
very cold temperatures, cracks can form on the tread
bars, resulting in perma
nent tire damage that can
cause loud driving noise and
unbalanced tires. Audi is not
responsible for this type of
damage.
-Burnished, polished or chromed rims must not be used in winter road condi
tions. The surface of the
rims does not have suffi
cient corrosion protection
for this and could be perma
nently damaged by road salt
or similar substances.
Glossary of tire and loading terminology
Accessory weight
means the combined weight (in
excess of those standard items
which may be replaced) of auto matic transmission, power
steering, power brakes, power
windows, power seats , radio,
and heater, to the extent that
these items are available as fac
tory-installed equipment (whether installed or not).
Aspect ratio
means the ratio of the height to
the width of the tire in percent.
Numbers of 55 or lower indi
cate a low sidewall for im
proved steering response and
better overall handling on dry
pavement.
...

"' N
a:: I.J "". rl I.O
"' rl
"' rl
_&. WARNING
Sudden tire failure can lead
to loss of control, a crash and serious personal injury!
-Never drive a vehicle when the tread on any tire is worn down to the wear indica
tors.
-
-Worn tires are a safety haz ard, they do not grip well on
wet roads and increase your risk of "hydroplaning" and
loss of control.
-Always keep chemicals that can cause tire damage, such
as grease, oil, gasoline and brake fluid away from tires.
-Tires age even if they are not being used and can fail
suddenly, especially at high
speeds. Tires that are more
than 6 years old can only be used in an emergency and
then with special care and at lower speeds.
-Never mount used tires on your vehicle if you are not sure of their "previous history." Old used tires may have
been damaged even though
the damage cannot be seen
that can lead to sudden tire
Tires and wheels 245
failure and loss of vehicle control.
New tires and replacing
tires and wheels
New tires and wheels hove to
be broken in.
Fig. 199 Tire specification codes on
the sidewall of a tire
No. Description
CD Passenger car tire (where
applicable)
0 Nominal width of tire in
millimeters
® Ratio of height to width
(aspect ratio)
© Radial
® Rim diameter code

Tires and wheels 24 7
characteristics, and safety of This contains the following in-•
the vehicle. The table formation: • '
(¢ page 233) lists specifica-p Indicates the tire is for pas-
tions of the tires approved for senger cars (where applica-
the Audi models covered by ble)
your Owner's Literature .
275 Nominal tire width in mm
The tire pressure label located of the tire from sidewall
on driver's side B-pillar edge to sidewall edge. In
( ¢
page 233~ fig. 196) lists the
general, the larger the num-
specifications of the original ber, the wider the tire
equipment tires installed on
35 Height/width ratio in per-
your vehicle at the time it was cent (aspect ratio)
manufactured.
R Tire construction: Radial
Federal law requires tire manu-
20 Rim diameter code (in in-
facturers to place standardized ches)
information on the sidewall of
102 Load rating code
all tires ¢
fig. 199. This infor-Y Speed rating letter code
mation identifies and describes
XL (or "xl", "EXTRA LOAD" or
the fundamental characteris- "RF
") Indicates that the tire
tics, the quality grade of the is a "Reinforced" or an "Extra
tire and also provides a tire Load" tire
identification number for safety
M+S (or "M/5") Indicates that
standard certification and in the tire has some mud and
case of a recall. snow capability
Tire specifications The tires could also have the in-
Knowledge of tire specifications formation of direction of rota-
tion
c:::> page 22 7.
makes it easier to choose the
correct tires . Radial tires have
Tire manufacturing date
the tire specifications marked
The manufacturing date is also
M on the sidewall, for example: indicated on the tire sidewall N
0:: <.J
275/35 R 20 102 Y XL (possibly only on the inner side 'SI: ,...., \!)
of the wheel): 1.1'1 .... ,...., 1.1'1 ,....,

254 Tire s and wheel s
Wheel bolts
Wheel bolts must always be tightened to the
correct torque .
The design of wheel bolts is matched to the
factory installed rims. If different rims are fit
ted, the correct wheel bolts with the r ight
length and correctly shaped bolt heads must
be used. This ensures that wheels are fitted
secure ly and that the brake system funct ions
correctly .
In ce rtain circumstances, you may not use
wheel bolts from a different vehicle -even if it
i s the same mode l
~page 284.
_& WARNING
Improperly tig htened o r maintained whee l
bolts can become loose ca using loss of
contro l, a co llision and serious persona l in
jury.
- Always keep the wheel bolts and the
threads in the wheel hubs clean so the
wheel bolts can turn easily and be prop
erly t ightened.
- Never grease or oil the wheel bo lts and
the threads in the wheel hubs. They can
become loose while driving if greased or
oiled, even if tightened to the specif ied
torque.
- Only use wheel bolts that belong to the
rim being installed.
- Never use different wheels bolts on your
vehicle.
-Always maintain the correct tighten ing
torque for the wheel bo lts to reduce the
risk of a wheel loss. If the tightening tor
que of the wheel bolts is too low, they
can loosen and come out when the veh i
cle is moving. If the tightening torque is
too high, the whee l bolts and threads
can be damaged and the wheel can be
come loose.
@ Note
The spec ified torque fo r the wheel bo lts is
90 ft lb (120 Nm) w ith a tolerance of± 7,4
ft lb(± 10 Nm). Torque wheel bo lts diago- nally
. After changing a whee l, the torque
must be checked as soon as possible with a
torque wrench -preferably by an author
i zed Audi dealer or qualified workshop.
Low aspect ratio tires
Your Audi is factory-equ ipped w ith low aspect
ratio tires . These tires have been thoroughly
tested and been selected specifically fo r your
model for their superb perfo rmance, road fee l
and hand ling under a variety of d riving cond i
tions . As k your au thor ized A udi dealer for
more details .
T he low aspect ratio of these tires is ind icated
by a numera l of
55 or less in the tire's s ize
designation. The numera l represen ts the ratio
of the tire's sidewall height in relation to its
tread width expressed in percentage . Conven
tiona l tires have a height/width ratio of 60 or
more.
The perf orm ance of low- aspect-r atio tire s is
p ar ticu larly s ensitive to improper infl ati on
press ure . It is t here fore im portant that low
as pect rat io tires are infl ated to the spe cified
pre ssure and that the infl ation pressu re is
r e gularl y che ck e d and mainta in ed. Tire pre s
su res should b e check ed at least onc e a
month and alwa ys bef ore a long trip
~page 237, Checking tire pressure.
What you can do to a void tire and rim
damage
Low aspect ratio tires can be damaged more
easily by impact w it h potholes, curbs, gull ies
o r r idges on the road, pa rticularly if the tire is
u nderinfla ted .
In order to minimize the occurrence of impact
damage to the tires of you r vehicle, we recom
mend that you observe the follow ing p recau
tions:
- Always ma inta in recommended inflation
pressures. Check your tire pressure eve ry
2,000 miles (3,000 km) and add air if neces
sary .
- Dr ive carefully on roads with potholes, deep
gullies o r ridges. The impact from dr iv ing ..,.