Driving Safely
General notes
Safe driving habits
Please remember -safety first!
This chapter contains important information,
tips, instructions and warnings that you need
to read and observe for your own safety, the
safety of your passengers and others . We have
summarized here what you need to know
about safety belts, airbags, child restraints as
well as child safety. Your safety is for us
priori
ty number 1.
Always observe the information
and warnings in this section - for your own
safety as well as for that of your passengers.
The information in this section applies to all
model versions of your vehicle . Some of the
features described in this sections may be
standard equipment on some models, or may
be optional equipment on others. If you are
not sure, ask your authorized Audi dealer.
A WARNING
- Make certain that you follow the instruc
tions and heed the WARNINGS in this
Manual. It is in your interest and in the
interest of your passengers.
- Always keep the complete Owner's Liter
ature in your Audi when you lend or sell
your vehicle so that this important infor
mation will always be available to the
driver and passengers.
- Always keep the Owner's literature handy
so that you can find it easily if you have
questions.
Safety equipment
The safety features are part of the occupant
restraint system and work together to help
reduce the risk of injury in a wide variety of
accident situations .
Your safety and the safety of your passengers
should not be left to chance. Advances in
technology have made a variety of features
available to help reduce the risk of injury in an
Driving Safely 91
accident. The following is a listing of just a
few of the safety features in your Audi:
- sophisticated safety belts for driver and all
passenger seating positions,
- safety belt pre-tensioners,
- front airbags,
- knee airbags for the front seats,
- side airbags in the front seats,
- LATCH anchorages for child restraints,
- adjustable steering column.
These individual safety features can work to
gether as a system to help protect you and
your passengers in a wide range of accidents.
These features cannot work as a system if
they are not always properly adjusted and
properly used!
Safety is everybody's responsibility!
Important things to do before driving
Safety is everybody's job! Vehicle and occu
pant safety always depends on the informed and careful driver.
For your safety and the safety of your passen
gers,
before driving always:
~ Make sure that all lights and signals are op
erating correctly .
~ Make sure that the tire pressure is correct.
~ Make sure that all windows are clean and af
ford good visibility to the outside.
~ Secure all luggage and other items carefully
c::> page 65.
~ Make sure that nothing can interfere with
the pedals.
~ Adjust front seat, head restraint and mirrors
correctly for your height .
~ Instruct passengers to adjust the head re
straints according to their height .
~ Make sure to use the right child restraint
correctly to protect children¢
page 129,
Child Safety.
~ Sit properly in your seat and make sure that
your passengers do the same¢
page 59,
General recommendations. .,..
•
•
~ Always keep both feet in the footwell so
that you are in control of the vehicle at all
times.
For detailed information on how to adjust the
driver's seat, see
c:> page 60.
A WARNING
Drivers who are unbelted, out of position
or too close to the airbag can be seriously
injured by an airbag as it deploys. To help
reduce the risk of serious personal injury:
- Always adjust the driver's seat and the
steering wheel so that there are at least
10 inches (25 cm) between your breast
bone and the steering wheel.
- Always adjust the driver's seat and the
steering wheel so that there are at least
4 inches (10 cm) between the knees and
the lower part of the instrument panel.
- Always hold the steering wheel on the
outside of the steering wheel rim with
your hands at the 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions to help reduce the risk of per
sonal injury if the driver's airbag inflates.
- Never hold the steering wheel at the
12 o'clock position or with your hands at
other positions inside the steering wheel
rim or on the steering wheel hub. Hold
ing the steering wheel the wrong way
can cause serious injuries to the hands,
arms and head if the driver's airbag in
flates
- Pointing the steering wheel toward your
face decreases the ability of the supple
mental driver's airbag to protect you in a
collision .
- Always sit in an upright position and nev
er lean against or place any part of your
body too close to the area where the air
bags are located.
- Before driving, always adjust the front
seats and head restraints properly and make sure that all passengers are prop
erly restrained.
- Never adjust the seats while the vehicle
is moving. Your seat may move unexpect-
Driving Safely 93
ed ly and you could lose control of the ve
hicle .
- Never drive with the backrest reclined or
tilted far back! The farther the backrests
are tilted back, the greater the risk of in
jury due to incorrect positioning of the safety belt and improper seating posi
tion .
- Children must always ride in child seats
c:> page 129 . Special precautions apply
when installing a child seat on the front passenger seat
c:> page 108.
Proper seating position for the front
passenger
The proper front passenger seating position
is important for safe, relaxed driving .
For your own safety and to reduce the risk of
injury in the event of an accident, we recom
mend that you adjust the seat for the front
passenger to the following position :
~ Adjust the angle of the seatback so that it is
in an upright position and your back comes
in full contact with it whenever the vehicle is
moving.
~ Adjust the head restraint so that the upper
edge is as even w ith the top of your head as
possible but not lower than eye level and so
that it is as close to the back of your head as
possible
c:> page 94.
~ Keep both feet flat on the floor in front of
the front passenger seat .
~ Fasten and wear safety belts correctly
c:> page 103.
For detailed information on how to adjust the
front passenger's seat, see
c:> page 59 .
A WARNING
Front seat passengers who are unbelted,
out of position or too close to the airbag
can be seriously injured or killed by the air
bag as it unfolds. To help reduce the risk of
serious personal injury:
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94 Driving Safely
-Passengers must always sit in an upright
position and never lean against or place
any part of their body too close to the
area where the airbags are located.
- Passengers who are unbelted, out of po
sition or too close to the airbag can be
seriously injured by an airbag as it un
folds with great force in the blink of an
eye.
- Always make sure that there are at least
10 inches (25 cm) between the front
passenger's breastbone and the instru
ment panel.
-Always make sure that there are at least
4 inches (10 cm) between the front pas senger's knees and the lower part of the
instrument panel.
- Each passenger must always sit on a seat
of their own and properly fasten and
wear the safety belt belonging to that
seat.
- Before driving, always adjust the front
passenger seat and head restraint prop
erly.
- Always keep your feet on the floor in
front of the seat. Never rest them on the
seat, instrument panel, out of the win
dow, etc. The airbag system and safety
belt will not be able to protect you prop
erly and can even increase the risk of in
jury in a crash .
- Never drive with the backrest reclined or
tilted far back! The farther the backrests
are tilted back, the greater the risk of in
jury due to incorrect positioning of the
safety belt and improper seating posi
tion.
- Children must always ride in child seats
¢
page 129. Special precautions apply
when installing a child seat on the front
passenger seat ¢
page 108.
Proper adjustment of head restraints
Correctly adjusted head restraints are an im
portant port of your vehicle's occupant re straint system and can help to reduce the risk
of injuries in occident situations.
Fig. 100 Head restra int: v iewed from the front
The head restraints must be correctly adjust
ed to achieve the best protection.
" For adjustable head restraints: adjust the
head restraint so the upper edge is as even
as possible with the top of your head. If that
is not possible, try to adjust the head re
straint so that it is as close to this position
as possible¢
fig. 100.
Adjusting head restraints ¢ page 62.
A WARNING
-
All seats are equipped with head re-
straints. Driving without head restraints or
with head restraints that are not properly
adjusted increases the risk of serious or fa
tal neck injuriy dramatically . To help re
duce the risk of injury:
- Always drive with the head restraints in
place and properly adjusted.
- Every person in the vehicle must have a
properly adjusted head restraint.
- Always make sure each person in the ve
hicle properly adjusts their head re
straint . Each head restraint must be ad
justed according to occupants' size so
that the upper edge is as even with the
top of the person's head, but no lower
than eye level and so it is as close to the
back of to the head as possible.
-Never attempt to adjust head restraint
while driving. If you have driven off and
must adjust the driver headrest for any
reason, first stop the vehicle safely be
fore attempting to adjust the head re
straint.
- Children must always be properly re
strained in a child restraint that is appro
priate for their age and size¢
page 129.
Examples of improper seating positions
The occupant restraint system can only re
duce the risk of injury if vehicle occupants are
properly seated.
Improper seating positions can cause serious
injury or death . Safety belts can only work
when they are properly positioned on the body. Improper seating positions reduce the
effectiveness of safety belts and will even in
crease the risk of injury and death by moving
the safety belt to critical areas of the body.
Improper seating positions also increase the
risk of serious injury and death when an air
bag deploys and strikes an occupant who is
not in the proper seating position. A driver is
responsible for the safety of all vehicle occu
pants and especially for children. Therefore:
.. Never allow anyone to assume an incorrect
seating position when the vehicle is being
used ¢,&. .
T he following bullets list only some sample
positions that will increase the risk of serious
injury and death. Our hope is that these exam
ples will make you more aware of seating po
sitions that are dangerous .
Therefore, whenever the vehicle is
moving :
-never stand up in the vehicle
- never stand on the seats
- never kneel on the seats
- never ride with the seatback reclined
- never lie down on the rear seat
- never lean up against the instrument panel
- never sit on the edge of the seat
- never sit sideways
Driving Safely 95
- never lean out the window
- never put your feet out the window
- never put your feet on the instrument panel
- never rest your feet on the seat cushion or
back of the seat
- never ride in the footwell
- never ride in the cargo area
A WARNING ,~
Improper seating positions increase the
risk of serious personal injury and death
whenever a vehicle is being used.
- Always make sure that all vehicle occu
pants stay in a proper seating position
and are properly restrained whenever the
vehicle is being used.
Driver and passenger
side footwell
Important safety instructions
A WARNING ~
Always make sure that the knee airbag can
inflate without interference. Objects be
tween yourself and the airbag can increase
the risk of injury in an accident by interfer
ing with the way the airbag deploys or by
being pushed into you as the airbag de
ploys.
- No persons (children) or animals should
ride in the footwell in front of the pas
senger seat. If the airbag deploys, this
can result in serious or fatal injuries.
- No objects of any kind should be carried
in the footwell area in front of the driv
er's or passenger's seat. Bulky objects
(shopping bags, for example) can ham
per or prevent proper deployment of the
airbag. Small objects can be thrown
through the vehicle if the airbag deploys
and injure you or your passengers.
-
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100 Safety belts
Safety belts
General notes
Always wear safety belts!
Wearing safe ty bel ts correctly saves lives!
This chapter exp lains why safety be lts are nec
essary, how they work and how to adjust and
wear them correctly .
.. Read a ll the information that fo llows and
heed all of the instructions and WARNINGS.
A WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them
improperly increases the risk of ser ious
personal in jury and death .
- Safety belts are the sing le most effective
means avai lab le to reduce the risk of se
r ious injury and dea th in a utomob ile acci
dents . For your protection and that of
yo ur passenge rs, always co rrectly wear
safety belts when the vehicle is moving .
- Pregnant women, injured, or physically
im paired perso ns m ust also use safety
belts . Lik e all veh icle occup ants, they are
more like ly to be ser iously injured if they
do not wea r safety be lts . The best way to
protect a fetus is to protect the mother -
throughout the entire pregnancy.
Number of seats
Your Audi TT Roadster has two seating posi tions. Each sea ting pos it ion has a sa fety be lt .
A WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or weari ng them
improperly increases the risk of ser io us
personal i njury and death.
- Never st rap more than one pe rson, in
cluding small ch ild ren, into any belt. It is
especially dange rous to place a safety
belt over a child s itting on y our lap.
- Never l et mo re peop le ride in the ve hicl e
than there are safety be lts ava ilable. -
Be s ure everyone riding in the vehicle is
properly restrained w ith a separate safe
ty belt or child restra int.
4 Safety belt warning light
Your vehicle hos o warning system for the
driver and front seat passenger to remind you
abou t the importance of buckling-up.
Fi g. 101 Safety bel t warni ng lig ht in the instr ument
cl uster -e nla rg ed
Befor e driv ing off, always:
.. Fas ten yo ur safe ty belt and make sure you
wear it properly.
.. Make s ure that your passenge rs also buck le
up and properly wear their safety be lts.
.. Protect children with a child restraint sys-
tem appropriate for the s ize and age .
T he warning light . in the instrument clus
ter lights up when the ig nition is switched on
as a reminder to fasten the safety belts . In ad
dition, you will hear a warning tone for a cer
ta in period of time .
Fasten your safety belt and make sure that
your passengers also properl y put on the ir
safety belt s.
A WARNING
-Safety belts are the s ingle most effec tive
means ava ilable to reduce the risk of se
rio us inju ry and death in au tomobile a cci
dents . Fo r you r protection and tha t of
your passengers, a lways cor rectly wear
safety belts when t he vehi cle is moving .
- F ailure to p ay a tten tion to the w arn ing
light that come on, could lead to person
a l injury.
-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.
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 .,.
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>
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