2015 AUDI S3 warning light

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Safety belts
General notes
Always wear safety belts!
Wearing safety belts correctly saves lives!
T his 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 belts. 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. 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 children, into any belt. It is
especially dangerous to place a safety
belt over a child sitting on your lap.
- Never let more people ride in the vehicle
than there are safety belts available.
Safety belts 13 5
-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 (on USA mod ­
els only) to remind you abou t the importance
of buckling-up.
Fig. 117 Safety bel t warn ing light in the instr ume nt
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 buckle
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. •
•
•

136 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. 11 8 Unbelted occ upants in a ve hicle h eading for a
wall
Fig. 1 19 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
c::;, fig. 118, they w ill 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. 119 .
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 . 120 A d river not wea ring a safety b elt is viol en tly
thrown fo rwa rd
F ig . 12 1 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
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To provide maximum protection, safety belts
must always be positioned correctly on the
wearer's body.
... Adjust the front seat and head restraint
properly
c::> page 5 7, Front seats.
• Make sure the seatback of the rear seat
bench is in an upright position and securely
latched in place before using the belt
c::> ,&..
... Hold the belt by the tongue and pull it even­
ly across the chest and pelvis
c::> ,&. .
""Insert the tongue into the correct buckle of
your seat until you hear it latch securely
c::> fig. 123.
.., Pull on the belt to make sure that it is se-
curely latched in the buckle.
Automatic safety belt retractors
Every safety belt is equipped with an automat­
ic belt retractor on the shoulder belt . This fea­
ture locks the belt when the belt is pulled out
fast, during hard braking and in an accident.
The belt may also lock when you drive up or
down a steep hill or through a sharp curve. During normal driving the belt lets you move
freely.
Safety belt pretensioners
The safety belts are equipped with a belt pre­
tensioner that helps to tighten the safety belt
and remove slack when the pretensioner is ac­
tivated
c::> poge 142. The function of the pre­
tensioner is monitored by a warning light
c::> page 21.
Convertible locking retractor
Every safety belt except the one on the driver
seat is equipped with a convertible locking re­
tractor that
must be used when the safety
belt is used to attach a child seat. Be sure to
read the important information about this
feature
c::> poge 181.
A WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can
cause serious injury in an accident
o::> page 139, Safety belt position.
-Safety belts offer optimum protection
only when the seatback is upright and
Safety belts 139
belts are properly positioned on the
body.
- Always make sure that the rear seat
backrest to which the center rear safety
belt* is attached is securely latched
whenever the rear center safety belt is
being used. If the backrest is not secure­
ly latched, the passenger will move for­
ward with the backrest during sudden
braking, in a sudden maneuver and espe­
cially in a crash .
- 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 correctly restrain­
ed can be seriously injured by the safety
belt itself when it moves from the stron­
ger parts of the body into sensitive areas
like the abdomen.
- Always lock the convertible locking re­
tractor when you are securing a child seat in the vehicle
c::> page 183.
(D Tips
For information on safety belt pretension­
ers, refer to
c::> page 142.
Safety belt position
Correct belt position is the key to getting
maximum protection from safety belts.
Fig. 124 Safety belt position
Use the height adjustment to change the posi­
tion of the shoulder belt of the front safety
belts .
~

146 Airbag sys te m
and dia gnostic equipmen t to pro perly re­
place any a irbag in y our vehicle and
assure system eff ectiveness in a crash.
- Never permit salvaged or recycle d air­
bags to be installed in your veh icle.
Child restraints on the front seat - some
important things to know
~ Be sure to read the important informat ion
and heed the WARNINGS for important de­
ta ils about ch ild ren and Advanced Airbags
Qpage 170.
Even though your vehicle is equ ipped with an
Advanced Airbag System, make certain that
all c hildren, especially those 12 years and
younger, a lways ride in the back seat properly
restrained for their age and size . The airbag
on the passenger side makes the front seat a potentially dangerous place for a child to ride.
The front seat is not the safest place for a
child in a forward-facing child seat. It can be a
ve ry dangerous place for an infant or a ch ild in
a rearward-facing seat.
The Advanced Airbag System in your veh icle
has been certified to comply with the require­
ments of United States Federal Motor Veh icle
Safety Standard 208 as applicable at the time
your ve hicle was manufactured.
The Standard requires the front a irbag on the
passenger side to be turned off ("sup ­
p ressed") if a ch ild up to about one year of
age restra ined in one of the rear-facing o r fo r­
ward-facing infan t restra ints listed in Federal
M otor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 with w hich
the Advanced A irbag System in your vehicle
was certified has been installed on the front
passenger seat. Fo r a listing of the child re­
straints that were used to certify compliance
with the US Safety Standard
Q page 172.
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light in the in­
strument panel te lls you when the front Ad­
vanced Airbag on the passenger side has been turned off by the e lectronic control unit. E
ach time you switch on the ignition, the
PAS­
SENGER AIR BAG O FF
light will come on for a
few seconds and :
- w ill stay on if the front passenge r seat is not
occupied,
- w ill stay on if the e lec trica l ca pa citance
meas ured by the capacitive passenger de ­
tection system for the front passenger seat equa ls the combined capacitance of an in ­
fant up to about one year of age and one of
the rearward-facing or forward-fac ing ch ild
restraints listed in Federal Motor Vehicle
Safety Standard 208 with wh ich the Ad ­
vanced Airbag System in your vehicle was
cert ified . For a listing of the chi ld restraints
tha t were used to certify you r vehi cle's com­
p lia nce w it h t he U.S. Safety Standard
Q page 172.
-w ill stay on i f there is a small ch ild or child
restraint on the front passenge r seat,
- will go off if the front passenger seat is oc ­
cupied by an adult as registered by the ca ­
pacitive passenger de tection system
c::> page 156, Monitoring the Advanced Air·
bag System.
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on
when e lectrica l capacitance registered on the
front passenger seat is eq ua l to or less tha n
the comb ined capacitance of a typica l 1 year­
o ld infant and one of the rearward-facing or
forward-facing chi ld restraints listed in Feder­
al Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 with
wh ich the Advanced Airbag System in your ve­
hicle was certified.
If the total electr ica l capacitance registered
on the front passenger seat is more than that
of a typical 1 year -o ld child but less than the
weight of a small adult , the front airbag on
t h e passenger side can deploy (the
PASSEN­
GER AIR BAG OFF
light does not come on).
If the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does
not come on, the front airbag on the passen­
ger side has not been turned off by t he e lec­
t ro ni c cont ro l unit and can deploy if the con­
t ro l uni t se nses an impact tha t mee ts the con-
di tions stored in its memory .
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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.
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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
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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 •
•
•

152 Airbag sys te m
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 additional 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
PA SSENGER 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
lot of very important parts of the Advanced
A irbag System in it . These parts include the
capacitive passenger de tect ion system, wir­
ing, b ra ck ets, and more. The cont ro l unit
monitors the system on the front passenger
seat when the ign ition is switched on and
turns the airbag indicato r light on when a
malfunction in the one of the system compo­
nents is detected¢
page 157 . Because the
fro nt passenger seat contains important parts
of the Advanced Airbag System, you must
take care to prevent it from being damaged .
Damage to the seat may prevent the Ad­
vanced A irbag System for the front passenger
se at from doing i ts job in a c rash.
The front Advanced Airbag System
consists of the following:
- Crash sensors in the fro nt of the ve hicle that
m easure ve hicle accelera tion/de celera tion
to provide info rmation to the Advanced Air­
bag System abo ut the seve rity of the crash.
- An electronic cont ro l u nit, with integrated
c rash sensors for front and side impacts.
The cont ro l unit "decides" whether to fire
the front airbags based on the information received from the crash sensors. The contro l unit also "decides" whether the sa
fety belt
pretensioners sho uld be activated.
- An Advanced A irbag w ith gas generato r for
the driver inside the steering wheel h ub.
- An Advance d Airbag w ith g as generato r in­
side the inst rument panel for the front pas ­
senger.
- A capacit ive passenger detection system un­
de rneath the front passenger seat cover .
This system meas ures the electrical capac i­
tance of the person in the seat. The informa ­
tion registered is sent cont inuo usly to the
electronic control un it to regu late deploy­
ment of the front Advanced A irbag on the
passe nger side .
- An airbag monitor ing system and indicator
light in the instrument cluster¢
page 156 .
-A sensor in each front seat registers the dis­
tance betwee n the respective seat and the
steer ing whee l o r inst rument panel. The in­
formation registered is sent cont inuous ly to
t he ele ct ron ic contro l unit to regula te de­
p loyment of the front Adva nced A irb ags .
- The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes
on and stays on in the center of t he instr u­
ment p anel ¢
page 217 and t ells yo u when
the fron t Advanced Airbag on the passenge r
side has been turned off.
- A sensor in the safety be lt latch for the driv ­
er and for the front seat passenger that
senses whether t hat safety belt is latched or
not and transmits this information to the
electronic control un it.
A WARNING
Damage to the front passenger seat can
prevent the front airbag from wor king
p roperly.
- Improper repair or d isassembly of the
front passenge r and dr iver sea t will pre­
vent the Advanced Airbag System from
functioning p roperly.
- Repairs to the front passenge r seat must
be pe rformed by qualified and p roperly
trained workshop personnel.
- Never remov e the front passenger o r
d river seat from the vehicle.
-