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-Always make sure that there is nothing
on the front passenger seat that will
cause the capacitive passenger detection
system in the seat to s ignal to the A irbag
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 s itting on the
seat . The presence of additiona l objects
cou ld cause the passenger front airbag
to be t urned on when it sho uld be off, or
cou ld cause the airbag to work in a way
that is different from the way it wou ld
have worked without the object on the
seat .
- Make sure that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
light comes on and stays on all the
t ime whenever the ignition is switched
on.
Advanced Airbag System components
The front passenger seat in your vehicle has a
l ot of very important parts of the Advanced
Ai rbag System in it. These parts incl ude the
capacitive passenger detect ion system, wir
i n g, brackets, and more . The control unit
monitors the system o n the front passenger
seat when the ign ition is switched on and
turns the airbag indicator light on when a
malfunct ion in the one of the system compo
nents is detected ¢ page
152 . Because the
fro nt passenger seat contains important parts
of the Advanced Airbag System, you must
t ake care to p reven t it from being damaged.
D amage to the seat may preven t the Ad
vanced A irbag 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 o f the veh icle that
measure vehicle acceleration/dece leration
to provide information to the Advanced Air
bag System about the severity of the crash .
- An electronic co ntrol unit, with integrated
crash sensors for front and side impacts .
The contro l unit "decides" whether to fire
A irbag system 147
the front a irbags based on the in format ion
received from the crash sensors. The contro l
unit also "decides" whether the safety be lt
pretens ioners sho uld be activated .
- An Advanced Airbag with gas generator and
contro l valve for the driver ins ide the steer
ing wheel hub.
- An Advanced Airbag with gas gene rator and
cont ro l valve inside the instrument pane l for
the front passenger.
- A capacitive passenger detection system un
derneath the front passenger seat cover.
This system measures the electrical capac i
tance of the person in the seat. The informa
tion registered is se nt cont inuously to the
el ectr onic contro l un it to regu late deploy
ment of the front Advan ced A irbag on the
passenger side .
- An airbag monitoring system and ind icator
light in the instr ument cluster ¢page
151 .
-A sensor in each front seat registers the dis
tance be twee n the respec tive seat a nd the
s teer ing whee l or inst rument p anel. The i n
forma tion regis tered is sent cont inuo usly to
the electronic cont ro l unit to regulate de
p loyment of the front Adv a need Airbags.
- The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes
on and stays on in the center of the instr u
ment panel ¢ pag e
152, fig. 162 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 safe ty belt is latched or
not and transmits this information to the
electronic control un it .
.&_ WARNING
D amage to the front passe nger seat can
p revent the front air bag from wor king
properly.
- I mp roper repa ir or d isassembly of the
fro nt pa ssenge r and dr iver seat will pre
vent the Advanced Airbag System from
functioning p roperly.
- Repair s to t he front passenge r seat m ust
be pe rformed by qualified and p roperly
-
trained workshop person ne l. 111>
•
•
152 Airbag system
-If the air bag indicator light ¢ page 18
comes when the vehicle is be ing used,
have the system inspected immediately
by your autho rized Aud i dea ler . It is pos
s ible that the airbag will inflate when it
is not s upposed to, or w ill not inflate
when it sho uld.
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
Fig. 162 Sect ion from t he in st rument pa nel : PASS EN
GER AIR BAG O FF ligh t
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light is located
in the cen ter o f the instr ument panel
¢ fig . 162.
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light will come
on an d stay on to te ll you when the fron t Ad
v a nce d Airb ag on t he passenger side h as been
turned off by the e lectronic control unit . If the
b ul b for the
PASSENGER A IR BAG O FF light
burns o ut, the airbag ind icator light
II wi ll
come on to signal a malfunction in the Ad
vanced A irbag System . Although the burned
out bulb w ill not change the way the front
passenger's frontal airbag works, it w ill no
longer be possib le to use the
PASSENGER AIR
BAG OFF
light to make sure that the ai rbag
on/off s tat us is correct for the occupant on
the front passenger seat. Have the airba g sys
tem i nspected immediate ly by your autho r
ized A udi dealer.
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light will blink
for about 5 se cond s when :
-the ignit ion is switched on and
- the capac itive passenger detect ion system,
wh ich sw itches the front seat passenger 's
fron tal 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
li gh t stops b linking, a lways make sure tha t
the airbag s tatus (on or off) as shown by the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light is proper for
the age, size and e lectrica l capacitance of the
person occupy ing the front passenge r seat.
Always make sure that the safety belt for the
front passenger seat is properly fastened .
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light will
show the status of the front seat passenger 's
frontal Advanced Airbag a few seconds after
the ignition is sw itched on and the airbag in
dicator light go es off . The PASSENGER AIR
BAG OFF light :
-will stay on if the front passenger seat is not
occ upied;
- will stay on if the electrical capacitance
measured by the capacitive passenger de
tect ion system for the front passenger seat
equa ls the combined capacitance of an in
hnt up to abou t one year of age and one of
the rearw ard-facing o r forward-fac ing ch ild
restrai nts listed i n Fede ral Motor Vehicle
Safety Stan dard 2 08 wi th which the Ad
vanced Airbag System in your vehicle was certified; For a listing of the child restraints
that we re used to certify your vehicle's com
pliance w ith the U.S. Safety Standard
¢ page 167.
-will go out if the front passenger 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 rearward-facing child restraint has been
installed on the front passenger seat, or
- a forward-facing ch ild restra int has been in
stalled on the front passenger seat,
- and if the electrical capacitance registered
on t he front passenger seat is equal to or
less than the combined capaci tance of a typ-
ical 1 year-o ld i nfant and one of the
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