140 Safety belts
_&. WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can
cause serious personal injury in an acci
dent.
-
- The shoulder belt should lie as close to
the center of the collar bone as possible
and should fit well on the body. Hold the
belt above the latch tongue and pull it
evenly across the chest so that it sits as
low as possible on the pelvis and there is
no pressure on the abdomen. The belt
should always fit snugly ¢
fig. 124. Pull
on the belt to tighten if necessary.
- The lap belt portion of the safety belt
must be positioned as low as possible
across pelvis and never over the abdo
men. Make sure the belt lies flat and
snug
¢ fig. 124 . Pull on the belt to tight-
en 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 138.
Pregnant women must also be correctly
restrained
The be st way to protect the fe tus is to make
sure that expectant mothers always wear
safety belts correctly -throughout the preg
nancy.
Fig . 125 Saf ety b elt pos it io n durin g pre gnancy
To provide maximum protection, safety belts
must always be pos itioned correctly on th e
wearer's body
¢ page 139.
.. Adjust the front seat and adjustable head
restraint* correctly¢
page 57, Front seats.
.. Hold the belt by the tongue and pull it even
ly across the chest and pelvis¢
fig. 125,
¢Lf1 .
.. Inser t the tongue in to the correct buckle of
your seat until you hear it latch securely
¢page 138, fig. 123.
.,. Pull on 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 acci
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 139.
Unfastening safety belts
Unbuckle the safety belt with the red release
button only ofter the vehicle has stopped.
,
Fig. 126 Re le asin g the tong ue fro m the buck le
.,. Push the red release button on the buckle
¢ fig. 126 . The belt tongue will spring out
of the buckle ¢
&-
.,. Let the belt wind up on the retractor as you
guide the belt tongue to its stowed position.
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_& WARNING
Never unfasten safety belt while the vehi
cle is movi ng . Doing so will increase your
r isk of being injured or killed .
Adjusting the safety belt latch tongue
Fig. 127 Safety be lt: la tc h ton gue clip (exa mple)
.. Slide the cl ip so that you can easi ly reach the
belt latch when putt ing the safety belt on.
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.
Fi g. 12 8 Safety be lt heig ht ad justment fo r th e fro nt
seats -loop -arou nd fitt ings
;g 0 0 6
" m
The sho ulder belt should lie as close to the
center of the collar bone as possib le and
should fit well on t he body
c::> A in Safety belt
position on page 140 .
.. Push
the loop-a round fittings up c::> fig . 128
@ , or
.. squee ze together the (D button, and push
the loop-around fitt ings down @.
Safety belts 141
.. Pull the belt to make sure that the uppe r at
tachment is proper ly engaged .
A WARNING
Always read and heed all WARNI NGS and
other important information
c::> page 138 .
{I) Tips
With the front seats, the height a djust
ment of the seat can also be used to ad just
the position of the sa fety belts.
Improperly worn safety belts
Incorrectly positioned safety belts can cause
severe injuries.
Wea ring sa fety belts improper ly can cause se
rious injury or deat h. Safety belts can o nly
wor k when they are correctly positioned on
the body. Imprope r seating positions reduce
the effectiveness of safety be lts and will even
increase t he risk of injury and death by mov
ing the safety be lt to crit ica l areas of the
body . Improper seating positions also in
cr ease the r is k of se rio us injury a nd death
whe n an airbag dep loys and st rikes an occu
pan t who is no t in the co rrec t seating posi
t ion . A driver is respons ible for the safety of
all vehicle occupants and especially for chil
dren. Therefore :
.. Never perm it anyone to assume an incor re ct
sitt ing pos ition in the vehicle while trave ling
c::> A .
A WARNING
Im properly worn safety be lts i ncrease the
risk of serious persona l injury and death
wheneve r a ve hicle is being used.
- Always make s ure t hat all vehicle occ u
pa nts are co rrectly restra ined and stay in
a co rrect seati ng position whenever the
veh icle is being us ed .
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS a nd
other impo rtant informat ion
c::> page 138.
142 Safety belts
Safety belt preten
sioners
How safety belt pretensioners work
In front, side ond rear-end collisions above a
particular severity and in o rollover, safety belts are tensioned automatically.
Reversible safety belt tensioners
The safety belts on the front seats are equip
ped with power reversible tensioners . Th e fo l
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 be lts automatically adjust to the
passenger after a certain time period or ve
hicle speed.
- In certa in driving situations, the safety belts
may tighten with a reversible tensioning
f unction
~ page 94 .
- The safety belts may also tighten with this
reversible tensioning function in m inor colli
sions.
Pyrotechnic safety belt pretensioners
The safety belts are equipped with safety be lt
p retensioners. The system is activated by sen
sors in front, side and rear -end collisions of
great severity and in a rollover. This tightens
the belt and takes up be lt slack ¢.&.
in Service
and disposal of safety belt pretensioner on
page 142.
Taking up the s lack helps to reduce
forward occupant movement during a colli
sion .
A WARNING
-It is possible for the pretensioners to de
ploy incorrect ly .
- The pyrotechnic system can only provide protection for one collision .
If the pyro
technic pretensioners dep loy, the preten
sioning system must be replaced.
@ Tips
The pyrotechnic safety belt pretens ioners
can only deploy once . -
The safety belt p retensioners do not de
ploy in minor frontal and side collisions,
in rear-end co llisions, in rollovers and in
co llisions involving very little impact
force.
- A fine dust is released when the pyro technic safety belt pretensioners deploy.
This is normal and is not caused by a fire in the vehicle.
- The relevant safety requirements must
be observed when the vehicle or compo
nents of the system are scrapped. A
qualified dealership is fam iliar with
these regulations and will be pleased to
pass on the information to you.
- Be sure to observe all safety, environ
menta l and other regu lations if the veh i
cle or individual parts of the system, par
ticularly 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
pretensioner
The safety belt pretens ioners are parts of the
safety belts on your Aud i. Installing, remov
ing, servic ing or repairing of belt pretension
ers can damage the safety belt system and
prevent it from working correctly in a co lli
sion .
T he re a re some important things you have to
know to make su re that the effectiveness o f
the system wi ll not be impaired and that dis
carded components do not cause injury or pol
lu te the environment.
A WARNING
-Improper care, servic ing and repair proce-
dures can increase the risk of personal in
jury and death by prevent ing 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.
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Fo r exa mple, the a irbag may depl oy if:
-a small child that is heavier than a typical 1
year-o ld child is on the front passenger seat
(regardless of whether the child is in one of
the chi ld seats listed
page 172), or
- a ch ild who has outgrown child rest raints is
on the front passenger seat.
If the front passenger airbag is turned off, the
P ASS ENGER AIR B AG OFF light comes on in
the instrument cluster and stays on.
If the front passenger airbag deploys, the
Federal Standard requires the airbag to meet
the "low risk" deployment criter ia to reduce
the r isk of injury through interaction with the
airbag. "Low risk" deployment occurs in those
crashes that take place at lower decelerations
as defined in the electronic control unit
r::> page 15 7, PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light.
Always remember, a chi ld seat or infant carri
er insta lled on the front seat may be struck
and knocked out of position by the rapidly in
flating passenger's airbag in a frontal colli
sion. The airbag could greatly reduce the ef
fectiveness of the child restraint and even se
riously injure the child during inflat ion.
For this reason, and because the back seat is
the safest place for children -when properly
restrained according to their age and size - we
strongly recommend that children always sit in the back seat
r::> page 170, Child Safety .
A WARNING
A child in a rearward-facing child seat in
stalled on the front passenger seat will be
ser iously injured and can be killed if the
front airbag inflates -even with an Ad
vanced Airbag System .
- T he inflating airbag will hit the child seat
or infant carrier with great force and wi ll
smash the child seat and child against
the backrest, center armrest, door or roof.
- Always install rear-facing child seats on
the rear seat.
- If you must install a rearward facing
child seat on the front passenger seat
-
A irbag system 147
because of exceptional circumstances
and the
PA SSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
does not come on and stay on, immed i
ately install the rear-fac ing child seat in a
rear seat ing pos ition and have the airbag
system inspected by your A udi dealer.
- Forward-facing child seats installed on the front passenger's seat may interfere
with the dep loyment of the a irbag and
cause serious persona l injury to the
child.
A WARNING
If, in except iona l circumstances, you must
install a forward -facing child restraint on
the front passenger's seat:
- Always ma ke s ure the forward-facing
seat has been designed and certified by its manufacturer for use on a front seat
with a passenger front and s ide a irbag.
- Never put the forward-facing child re
straint up against or very near the instru
ment panel.
- Always move the passenge r seat into its
rea rmost pos ition in the seat's fore and
aft ad justment range, as far away from
the airbag as possible before installing
the forward-fac ing ch ild restra int. The
backrest must be adjusted to an upright
position.
- Make sure that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
l ight comes on and stays on all the
time wheneve r the ig nit ion is switched
on.
A WARNING
To reduce the ri sk of ser ious injury, ma ke
sure that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light comes on and stays on whenever a
chi ld restraint is installed on the front pas
senger seat and the ignition is switched
on.
- If the
PA SSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
does not stay on, perform the checks de
scribed¢
page 156, Monitoring the Ad-
vanced Airbag System.
~
•
•
•
148 Airbag system
-Take the child 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 .
- Have the airbag system inspected by
your Audi dealer immediately.
- Always carefully follow instructions from
child restraint manufacturers when in
stalling child restraints .
A WARNING ,.
If, in exceptional circumstances, you must
install a forward or rearward-facing child
restraint on the front passenger's seat:
- Improper installation of child restraints
can reduce their effectiveness or even
prevent them from providing any protec
tion.
- An improperly installed child restraint
can interfere with the airbag as it de
ploys and seriously injure or even kill the
child -even with an Advanced Airbag
System.
- Always carefully follow the manufactur
er's instructions provided with the child
safety seat or carrier.
- Always make sure that there is nothing
on the front passenger seat that will
cause the capacitive passenger detection
system in the seat to signal to the Airbag
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 sitting on the
seat. The presence of additional objects
could cause the passenger front airbag
to be turned on when it should be off, or
could cause the airbag to work in a way
that is different from the way it would have worked without the object on the
seat.
Front airbags
Description of front airbags
The airbag system can provide supplemental
protection to properly restrained front seat occupants .
Fig. 129 Loc atio n of drive r ai rb a g : i n steering wheel
Fig. 130 Loc atio n of fro nt passe nge r's airbag: in the in
st rumen t panel
Your vehicle is equipped with an "Advanced
Airbag System" in compliance with United
States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
(FMVSS) 208 as applicable at the time your
vehicle was manufactured . The safety belts
for the seats have "pretensioners" that help to take slack out of the belt system. The pre
tensioners are also activated by the electronic control unit for the airbag system.
The front safety belts also have load limiters to help reduce the forces applied to the body
in a crash.
The airbag for the driver is in the steering
wheel hub
c:> fig. 129 and the airbag for the
front passenger is in the instrument panel
c::;, fig. 130. The general location of the airbags
is marked "AIRBAG".
There is a lot you need to know about the air
bags in your vehicle. We urge you to read the
II>
150 Airbag sys te m
U.S. Federal Standard if a chi ld with elec
trical capac itance greater than the com
bined capacitance of a typical one-year
old infant restra ined in one of the for
ward fac ing or rearward-fac ing ch ild
seats with which your vehicle was certi
fied is on the front passenger seat and
the other conditions for airbag deploy ment are met.
- Acc ident statist ics have shown that chil
dren are generally safer in the rear seat
area than in the front seating posit ion .
- For their own safety, all chi ldren, espe
ci ally 12 years and younger, sho uld a l
ways ride in the back properly rest rained
for their age and size .
Advanced front airbag system
Your vehicle is equipped with a front Advanced
Airbag System in compliance with United
States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
208 as applicable at the time your vehicle was manufactured.
The front Advanced Airbag System supple ments the safety belts to provide addit ional
protection for the driver's and front passeng
er's heads and upper bodies in frontal crashes .
The airbags inflate only in frontal impacts
when the vehicle dece le rat io n is high enoug h.
The front Advanced Airbag System for the
fro nt seat occupants is not a substitute for
your safety belts . Rather, it is part of the over
a ll occupa nt restraint system in your veh icle.
A lways remember that the airbag system ca n
on ly help to pro tect you, if you are s itting up
right, wearing yo ur safety belt and wearing it
properly. This is why you and yo ur passengers
must always be properly restrained, not just
beca use the law requires you to be.
The Advanced Airbag System in your veh icle
has been certified to meet the " low risk" re
qu irements for 3 and 6 year-o ld children on
the passenger side and very small adu lts on
the dr iver side. The low risk deployment crite
ria are intended to he lp reduce the risk of in
jury through interaction with the front airbag that can occur, for example, by being too
close to the steering wheel and instr ument
panel when the airbag inflates .
In add ition, the system has been cer tified to
comply with the "s uppression" requirements
of the Safety Standard, to turn off the front
airbag for infants up to 12 months who are re
stra ined on the front passenger seat in child
restraints that are listed in the Standard.
"Suppression" requires the front airbag on the
passenger side to be turned off if:
- a child up to abo ut one year o f age is re
st rained on the front passenger seat in one
of the rear -facing or fo rward -facing infant
restraints listed in Federal Motor Vehicle
Safety Standard 208 with which the Ad
vanced Airbag System in your vehicle was
cert ified . Fo r a listing of the chi ld restraints
that were used to certify you r vehicle's com
plia nce w ith the US Saf ety Standard
r::) page 172,
- When a person is detected on the front pas
senger seat that has an electrical capaci
tance that is more than the tota l elect rical
capacitance o f a child tha t is about 1 year
old rest rained in one of the rear- facing or
forward-facing infant restraints (listed in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208
w ith which the Advanced A irbag System in
your veh icle was certified), the front airbag
on the passenger side may or may not de ploy.
The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on
when the electro nic control unit detects a to
ta l electrical capac itance on the front passen
ger seat that requ ires the front airbag to be
tu rned off. If the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light does not come on, the fro nt airbag o n
t h e passenger side has not been turned off by
the con trol un it and can deploy if the cont ro l
u nit senses an impact that meets the condi
tions stored in its memo ry .
If the total e lectr ic al c apaci tance regis tered
o n t he fron t passenge r se at is more than that
of a typical 1 year -o ld, but less than the
weight of a small adu lt, the front airbag on
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the passenger side may deploy (the PASS EN
GER AIR B AG OFF
light does not come on).
For exa mple, the ai rba g may d epl oy if :
- a small child that is heavier than a typical 1
year-o ld child is on the front passenger seat
(regardless of whether the child is in one of
the ch ild seats listed
¢ page 172),
- a ch ild who has outgrown child restra ints is
on the front passenge r seat.
If the front passenger airbag is turned off, the
P A SSENGER AIR BAG OFF light in the center
of the instrument panel w ill come on and stay
on.
If the front passenger airbag deploys, the
Federal Standard requires the airbag to meet
the "low risk " deployment criteria to help re·
duce the risk of injury through interaction
with the airbag . "Low risk" deployment occurs
in those crashes that take place at lower de
celerations as defined in the electronic control unit
r=> page 156.
Alwa ys r em emb er: E ven tho ugh you r vehicle
is equipped with Advanced Airbags, the safest
p lace for children is properly restrained on the
back seat . Please be sure to read the impor
tant information in the sect ions that follow
and be sure to heed all of the WARNINGS .
A WARNING
To reduce the risk of injury when an airbag
inflates, always wear safety belts properly .
- If you are unrestrained, lean ing forward,
sitting sideways or out of position in any
way, your risk of injury is much higher .
- You w ill also receive serious injuries and
cou ld even be killed if you are up against
the a irbag or too close to it when it in·
flates -even with an Advanced Airbag
r::!v page 144.
A WARNING
A child in a rearward-facing child sea t in
stalled on the front passenger sea t will be
ser iously injured and can be killed if the
-
A irbag system 15 1
front airbag inflates - even with an Ad·
vanced Airbag System .
- Altho ugh the Advanced Airbag System in
your veh icle is designed to turn off the
front airbag when a rearward-facing
child restraint has been installed on the
front passenger seat, nobody can abso
lutely guarantee that deployment is im
possible in all conceivable s ituations that
may happen dur ing the usefu l life of your
veh icle.
- The inflating airbag will h it the ch ild seat
or infant carrier with grea t force and will
smash the child seat and child against
the backrest, center armrest, door, or
roof.
- Always install rearward -facing chi ld re
straints on the rear seat .
- I f you must install a rearward fac ing
child seat on the front passenger seat
because of exceptional circumstances
and the
PASSENG ER AIR BAG O FF light
does not come on and stay on, immed i·
ately install the rear-fac ing child seat in a
rear seat ing pos ition and have the airbag
system inspected by your Audi dealer .
A WARNING
If, in except ional circumstances, you must
install a forward-facing child restraint on
the front passenge r's seat:
- Always make sure the forward-facing
seat has been designed and certified by
its manufacture r fo r u se on a front seat
with a passenger front and s ide a irbag.
- Never put the fo rward-faci ng child re
straint up against or ve ry near the instru
ment panel.
- Always move the passenge r seat into its
rearmost pos ition in the seat's fore and
aft ad justment range, as fa r away from
the airbag as possible before installing
the forward-fac ing chi ld restraint . The
backrest must be adj usted to an upright
position.
- Always make sure that there is nothing
on the front passenger seat that will •
•
•
Airbag system 153
-Never remove the upholstery from the senger seat if the device is connected to
front passenger seat . the 12-volt socket or the cigarette light-
- Never disassemble or remove parts from er socket. Such devices can influence the
the seat or disconnect wires from it. capacitance registered by the capacitive
- Never carry sharp objects in your pockets passenger detection system, so that
in-
or put them on the seat. The capacitive correct information is provided to the air-
passenger detection mat in the front bag control unit
.
•
-If you must use a child restraint on the • passenger seat will not function properly
if it is punctured . front passenger seat and the child
re-
- Never carry things on your lap or carry straint manufacturer's instructions
re-
objects on the front passenger seat. quire the use of a
towel, foam cushion or
Such objects can influence the capaci -something else
to properly position the
tance registered by the capacitive pas- child restraint, make certain that the
senger detection system, so that incor-
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes
rect information is provided to the airbag on and stays on whenever the child re-
control unit. straint is installed on the front passen-
- Never store items under the front pas- ger seat.
senger seat. Parts of the Advanced Air- -
If the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
bag System under the passenger seat does not come on and stay on, immedi-
could be damaged, preventing them and ately
install child restraint in a rear seat -
the airbag system from working proper- ing position and have the airbag system
ly. inspected by your Audi dealer
.
- Never place seat covers or replacement
A WARNING upholstery that have not been specifical-
ly approved by Audi on the front seats.
If the front passenger seat gets wet, dry it
- Seat covers can prevent the Advanced
immediately.
Airbag System from recognizing child re- -If liquid soaks into the front passenger
straints or occupants on the front pas-
seat, this can keep the airbag system
senger seat and prevent the side airbag from working properly and may, for in-
in the seat backrest from deploying prop- stance, deactivate the passenger frontal
erly .
airbag. If this happens, the
PASSENGER
-If a seat heater has been retrofitted or AIR BAG OFF light will come on and stay
otherwise added to the front passenger on together with the airbag indicator
seat, never install any child restraint sys-
light
fl in the instrument cluster.
tern on this seat. -If liquid is pooled on the seat, but has
- Never use cushions, pillows, blankets, or
not soaked in, this may also keep the air-
similar items on the front passenger bag system from working properly and
seat. The additional layers prevent the cause the passenger frontal airbag to be
capacitive passenger detection system
enabled (turned on), even though there
from accurately measuring the capaci-
is a properly installed child restraint sys-
tance of the child safety seat and/or the
tern on the seat. Wet towels or other wet
person on the seat and thus keep the Ad- things on the seat cushion can have the
vanced Airbag System from working same effect.
If the front passenger fron-
properly. tal airbag is turned on, the
PASSENGER
M -Never place or use any electrical device AIR BAG OFF light will go out. • N
0 > (such as a laptop, CD player, electronic co ,...., games device, power inverter or seat \!) 1.1"1
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heater for child seats) on the front pas-1.1"1 ,....,