Page 105 of 244

-Never strap more than one person, in
cluding small children, into any single
safety 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 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 being 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 wear the shoulder part of the belt under your arm or otherwise out of posi
tion.
- Several layers of heavy clothing may in
terfere with correct positioning of belts
and reduce their effectiveness.
- 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
correct use of some child restraint sys
tems.
- Never allow safety belts to become dam
aged by being caught in door or seat hardware.
- Torn or frayed safety belts can tear and
damaged belt ha rdware can break in an
accident. Inspect belts regularly.
If web
bing, bindings, buckles, 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 or qualified
workshop . Replacement may be necessa-
Safety belts 103
ry 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 be lts
may not work properly and can impair
the function of the inertia reel¢
ta
ble Cleaning interior on page 156.
Safety belts
Fastening safety belts
Seat first -everybody buckle up!
Fig. 106 Belt buck le and to ngue on t he driv er's se at
To provide maximum protection, safety belts
must always be positioned correctly on the
wearer's body.
.,. Adjust the front seat and head restraint
properly ¢
page 59, General recommenda
tions.
.,. 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
¢fig . 106.
.,. 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 a lso lock when you drive up or
down a steep hill or through a sha rp curve.
Page 106 of 244

104 Safety belts
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. The function of the pretensioner is
monitored by a warning light
q page 15.
Switchable locking feature
Every safety belt except the one on the driver
seat is equipped with a switchable locking fea
ture 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
¢ page 137.
.&_ WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can
cause serious injury in an accident
¢ page 104, Safety belt position .
-Safety belts offer optimum protection
only when the seatback is upright and
belts are properly positioned on the
body .
-
- 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
belt itself when it moves from the stron-
ger parts of the body into critical areas
like the abdomen.
- Always lock the convertible locking re
t ractor when you are securing a child
seat in the vehicle
q page 139.
Safety belt position
Correct belt position is the key to getting
maximum protection from safety belts.
Fig. 107 Safety belt position
Standard features on your vehicle help you ad
just the position of the safety belt to match
your body size .
- height-adjustable front seats .
.&_ 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 . 10 7. 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
q fig. 107. 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 102.
Page 107 of 244

Pregnant women must also be properly
restrained
The best way to protect the fetus is to make
sure that expectant mothers always wear safety belts correctly -throughout the preg
nancy.
F ig. 108 Safety belt pos itio n during pregnancy
To provide maximum protection, safety belts
must always be posit ioned correctly on the
wearer's body
¢ page 104.
.. Adjust the front seat and head restraint cor
rect ly
¢ page 59, General recommenda
tions .
.. Make sure the seatback of the rear seat
bench is in upright pos it ion and securely
latched in place before using the belt .
.. Hold the be lt by the tongue and pull it even
ly across the chest and pelvis¢
fig. 108,
¢.&, .
.. Insert the tongue into the correct buckle of
your seat until you hear it latch securely
¢ page 103, fig . 106.
.. 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
de nt.
- Expectant mothers must always wear the
lap po rtion of the safety belt as low as
poss ible across the pe lv is and be low the
rounding of the abdomen.
- Always read and heed all WARN INGS and
other impor tan t in forma tion¢ .&.
in Fas
tening safety belts on page
104.
Safety belts 105
Unfastening safety belts
Unbuckle the safety belt with the red release
button only o~er the vehicle hos stopped .
Fig . 1 09 Releas ing the tongue from t he buck le
.. Push the red release button on the buckle
¢
fig. 109. T he be lt 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.
A WARNING
Never unfasten safety belt while the vehi
cle is mov ing . Doing so will increase your
risk of being inj ured or k illed.
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 pos itions reduce
the effectiveness of safety be lts and will even
increase the risk of injury and death by mov
ing the safety be lt to crit ica l areas of the
body. Improper seating positions a lso in
crease the risk of serious injury and death
when an airbag dep loys and strikes an occu
pant who is not in the correct seati ng posi
tion. A driver is respons ible for the safety of
all vehicle occupants and especially for chil
dren. Therefore:
.. Never permit anyone to assume an incorrect
sitting position in the vehicle while traveling
¢ .&, .
~
Page 108 of 244

106 Safety belts
_& WARNING
Improperly worn safety belts increase the
risk of serious personal injury and death
whenever a veh icle is being used .
- Always make sure that all vehicle occu-
pants are cor rect ly restrained and stay in
a correct seating posit ion whenever the
vehicle is be ing used.
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other important informat ion
c::>page 102.
Safety belt preten
sioners
How safety belt pretensioners work
In front and side collisions above a particular
severity , safety belts in use are tensioned au
tomatically .
The safe ty belts are equippe d with safety be lt
pretensioners. The sys tem is activated by sen
sors in front and side collisions of great se
verity. This tightens the belt and takes up belt
slack
c::> .&. in Service and disposal of safety
belt pretensioner on page 106.
Tak ing up the
slack helps to reduce forward occupant move
ment during a co llision .
(D Tips
The safety be lt pretensioner can only be
activated once.
- In m inor frontal and side coll isions, in
rear-end collisions, in a rollover and in
accidents involving very little impact
fo rce , the safety belt pretens io ner are
not act ivated.
- When the safety be lt pretensioner is ac
tivated, a fine dust is released . This is
no rma l and is not caused by a fi re in the
vehicle.
- The rel eva nt safety requirements must
be obse rved when t he vehicle or compo
nen ts of the system are scr ap ped . A
q ualified dea le rship is famili ar wi th
these re gulations and w ill be pleased to
p ass on the informat io n to you. - Be sure to observe all safety, env
iron
menta l and other regu lations if the ve hi
cle or individual parts of the system, par
ticu larly the safety belt or airbag, are to
be disposed. We recommend you have
your authorized Audi dealer perform this service fo r you.
Service and disposal of safety belt
pretensioner
T he safety belt pretens ioners a re parts o f the
safety belts on your Audi . Insta lling, remov
ing, servicing or repairing of be lt pretension
ers can damage the safety belt system and
prevent it from working correctly in a co lli
s io n.
There are some important t hings yo u have to
know to make sure that the effectiveness o f
the system w ill not be impaired and that dis
ca rded components do not cause injury o r pol
l u te the environment .
_& WARNING
-Improper care, serv ic ing and repair p roce-
dur es ca n increase the risk of pe rsonal in
jur y and death by prevent ing a safety belt
pr etensioner from activ at ing w hen neede d
or ac tiva ting i t unexpectedly:
- T he belt pretensione r system can be a ct i
vated only once . If be lt pre tensioners
have been activated , the system m ust be
replaced .
- Never repair, adjus t, or change any parts
of the safety be lt system .
- Safety belt systems incl uding safety belt
p retens ioners cannot be repaired. Spe
cial procedures are require d for removal,
installation and disposa l of th is system.
- For any wo rk on the safety belt system,
we strong ly recommend t hat you see
your author ized Audi dealer or qualified
technician who has an Audi approved re pa ir manua l, train ing and special eq uip
ment necessary.
Page 109 of 244
@ For the sake of the environment
Undeployed airbag modu les and preten
sioners might be classified as Perchlorate
Material -specia l hand ling may apply, see
www.dtsc.ca.gov/hazardouswaste/per chlorate. When the vehicle or parts of the
restraint system including airbag modules
safety belts w ith pretens ioners ar e scrap
ped, all applicable laws and regulat ions
m ust be observed. Yo ur aut hori ze d Aud i
dea le r i s familiar w ith these requi rements
an d we recommend that you have your
dea le r perfo rm this serv ice for you.
Sa fety belts 107
•
•
Page 110 of 244

108 Airbag sys tem
Airbag system
Important things to know
Importance of wearing safety belts and
sitting properly
Airbags are only supplemental restraints. For
airbags to do their job , occupants must al
ways properly wear their safety belts and be
in a proper seating position.
F or your safety and the safety of your passen
gers, before driving off, a lways:
• Adjust the driver's seat and steering wheel
properly
c:> page 92,
• Adjust the front passenger's seat properly
c:> page 60,
• Wear safety be lts properly c:> page 102,
• Always properly use the proper child re-
straint to protect children
c:> page 129.
In a collision airbags must inflate within the
blink of an eye and with considerable force .
The supplemental airbags can cause injuries if
the dr iver or the front seat passenger are not
seated properly . Therefore in order to help the
a ir bag to do its job, it is important, both as a
d river and as a passenge r to sit properly at all
times.
By keeping room between your body and the
steering wheel and the front of the passenger
compa rtment, the airbag can inflate fully and
comp letely and provide supp lemental protec
tion in ce rtain frontal collisions
c:> page 92,
Proper occupant seating positions . For detai ls
on the operat ion of the seat adjustment con
trols
c:> page 60 and c:> page 61.
I t's especially important that children a re
properly restrained
c:> page 129.
There is a lot that the d river and the passen
ger can and must do to help the individua l
safety features ins talled in your A udi work to
gether as a system.
Prope r seat ing pos ition is important so that
the front airbag on the drive r side ca n do i ts
job. If yo u have a physical impa irment or con- dition that prevents you from sitting properly
on the driver seat with the safety belt properly
fastened and reaching the pedals, or if you
have concerns with regard to the function or
operation of the Advanced Airbag System,
please contact your author ized Audi dealer or
qualified workshop, or call Audi Customer Re
lations at 1-800-822-2834 for poss ible modi
fi cat ions to your veh icle.
When the airbag system deploys, a gas gener
ator will f ill the a irbags, break open t he pad
ded cove rs, and inflate between the steering
whee l and the dr ive r and between the instru
ment pane l and the fron t passenger. The a ir
bags will deflate immediately after dep loy
ment so that the front occupants can see
t hr ough the windshie ld again witho ut inter
ruption .
All of th is takes p lace in the b link of an eye, so
fast that many peop le don't even realize that
the airbags have deployed. The airbags a lso
inflate with a great dea l of force and nothing
should be in their way when they deploy.
Front a irbags in combination wi th properly
worn safety belts slow down and lim it the oc
cupant's forward movement . T ogether they
help to prevent the drive r and passenger from
hitting parts of the inside the vehicle while re
ducing the fo rces acting on t he occ upan t dur
ing the crash . In this way they help to reduce
the risk of injury to the head and upper body in the crash. Airbags do not protect the arms
or the lower parts of the body.
Both front airbags wi ll not inflate in all fronta l
collisions . The triggering of the a irbag system
depends on the vehicle dece leration rate
caused by the co llision and registered by the
electron ic control unit. If th is rate is below
the reference value programmed in to the con
trol unit , the airbags will not be triggered ,
even though the car may be badly damaged as
a resu lt of the co llision . Ve hicle damage, re
pair costs o r even the lack of ve hicle damage
is not necessarily an indica tion of whether an
airbag shou ld inflate or not .
It is not possib le to define a range of vehicle
speeds that w ill cove r every possib le kind and .,.
Page 111 of 244

angle of impact that will always trigger the
airbags, since the circumstances will vary con
siderably between one collision and another.
Important factors include, for example, the nature (hard or soft) of the object which the
car hits, the angle of impact, vehicle speed,
etc. The front airbags will also not inflate in
side or rear collisions, or in ro ll-overs .
A lwa ys
rem ember : Airbags will deploy only
once, and only in certa in kinds of collisions .
Your safety belts are always there to offer pro
tection in those s ituations in which airbags
are not supposed to deploy , or when they have
a lready deployed ; fo r example , when yo ur ve
h icle strikes or is struck by another after the
first collision .
This is just one of the reasons why an a irbag is
a supplementary restra int and is not a s ubst i
tute for a safety belt . The airbag system
works most effectively when used with the
safety belts. Therefore, always properly wear
your safety belts
¢ page 100.
A WARNING
Sitting too close to the steer ing wheel or
instrument panel will decrease the effec
tiveness of the airbags and will increase
the risk of pe rsonal injury in a co llision .
- Never sit closer than 10 inches (25 cm)
to the stee ring wheel or instrument pan
el.
- If you cannot sit more than 10 inches
(25 cm) from the steer ing whee l, investi
gate whether adaptive equipment may
be available to held you reach the pedals
and increase your seating dis tance from
the steering wheel.
- If you are unrestrained, lean ing fo rward,
sitting sideways or out of position in any
way, yo ur risk of inj ury is much highe r.
- You w il l also receive serio us inju ries and
cou ld even be killed if you are up against
the airbag or too close to it when it in
flates -even with an Advanced Airbag.
- To reduce the r isk o f injury when an air
bag inflates, a lways wear safety belts
proper ly ¢
page 103, Safety belts .
Airbag sys tem 109
-If ch ildren are not prope rly restrained,
they may be severely injured or killed
when an airbag inflates.
- Never let ch ildren ride unrestra ined or
improperly restrained in the vehicle. Ad
just the front seats properly.
- Always sit as far as possible from the steer ing whee l or the instrument panel
¢ page 92, Proper occupant seating po
sitions.
- Always sit upright with your back against
the backrest of your seat.
- Never p lace your feet on the instrument
panel or on t he seat. Always keep both
feet on the f loor in front of the seat to
help prevent serious in ju ries to the legs
a nd hips if the airbag inflates.
A WARNING
A irbags that have deployed in a crash must
be replaced.
- Use on ly orig inal equipment airbags ap
proved by Aud i and i nstalled by a trai ned
technician who has the ne cessary too ls
and d iagnost ic equipment to properly re
place any airbag in your vehicle and as
sure system effectiveness in a crash.
- Never perm it salvaged or recycled air
bags to be installed in you r vehicle .
Child restraints on the front seat - some
important things to know
.. Be s ure to read the important in forma tion
and head the WARNINGS for important de
tails about ch ildren and Advanced A irbags
¢ page 129.
The airbag on the passenger side makes the
front seat a pote ntially dange rous place for a
c hi ld to ride . The front seat is not the safest
pla ce for a child in a fo rward-facing child safe
ty seat.
It can be a very d angerous place for a n
infant or a chi ld in a rearwa rd -fa cing seat.
The Advanced A irbag System in you r vehicle
has been ce rtified to comply wit h the Require
ments of United States Fede ral Motor Vehicle
1111>
•
•
Page 112 of 244

110 Airbag sys te m
Safety Standard 208 as applicable at the time
your vehicle was manufactured.
The Standard requires the front a irbag on t he
passenger side to be turned off ("sup
pressed") if a child up to about one year of
age restrained in one of the rear-facing or for
ward -facing infant restra ints listed in Federal
Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 with which
the Advanced A irbag System in your vehicle
was certified has been installed on the front passenger seat . For a listing of the child re
straints that were used to certify compliance
with the US Safety Standard¢
page 131.
The PASSENG ER AIR BAG OFF light in the in
strument panel tells you when the front Ad
vanced A irbag on the passenger side has been
turned off by the e lectronic control unit.
Each t ime you turn on the ignition, the
PAS
SENGER AIR BA G OFF
light w ill come on for a
few seconds and:
- will stay on if the front passenger seat is not
occupied,
- will stay on if there is a small child or child
restraint on the front passenger seat,
- wi ll go off if the front passenger seat is oc
cupied by an adult as registered by the
weight-sensing mat
¢ page 118, Monitor
ing the Advanced Airbag System .
The PASSEN GER AIR BAG OFF light comes on
when the control un it detects a total weight
on the front passenger seat that requires the
front airbag to be turned off .
If the tota l weight on the front passenger
seat is more than that of a typical 1 year-old
child but less than the weight of a small
adult, t he front airbag on the passenger s ide
can dep loy (the
PAS SENGER AIR BAG OFF
light does not come o n). If the PASSENGER
AIR BAG OFF
l igh t does not come on , the
front airbag on the passenger side has not
been turned off by the electronic control unit
and can dep loy if the control unit senses an
impact that meets the conditions stored in its
memory .
For example , the airb ag ma y depl oy if :
- a small ch ild tha t is heav ier than a typical 1
year-old chi ld is on the front passenger seat
(regard less of whether the child is in one of
the child safety seats listed
¢ page 131), or
- a child who has outgrown child restraints is
on the front passenger seat.
If the front passenger airbag is turned off, the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on in
t h e instr ument pane l and stays on.
T he front airbag on the passenge r side may
not dep loy (the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
li ght does not illum inate and stay lit) even if a
small adult or teenager, or a passenger who is
not sitt ing upright w ith their back against a
non-recl ined backrest w it h their feet on the
vehicle floor in front of the seat is on the front
passenger seat¢
page 92, Proper seating po
sition for the driver .
If the front passenger airbag deploys, the
Federal Standard requ ires the airbag to meet
the "low risk" deployment cr iteria to reduce
the risk of injury th rough interact ion w ith the
airbag. "Low risk" deployment occurs in those
crashes that ta ke pla ce at lower dece le rat io ns
as de fined in t he electronic control uni t
¢ page 119, PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light.
Always remember, a child safety seat or infant
ca rrier in stalled on the fron t seat may be
stru ck and knoc ked out of posit ion by the rap
idly in flat ing passenger 's airbag in a fronta l
collision. The a irbag co uld great ly red uce the
effectiveness of the ch ild restraint and even
seriously in jure the chi ld during inflation .
A WARNING
-
A child in a rearward-fac ing ch ild safety
seat installed on the front passenger seat
will be serious ly injured and can be killed if
the front airbag inflates -even with an Ad
van ced A irbag System.
- The inflating airbag will h it the ch ild
safety seat or infant carrie r with great
for ce and will smash the child safety seat
a nd child ag ai nst t he backrest, door or
roof.