
Safety belts
Pregnant women must also be correctly
restrained
The best way to protect the fetus is to make sure
that expectant mothers always wear safety belts
correctly -throughout the pregnancy.
Fig. 154 Safety belt posit ion during pregnancy
To provide maximum protection, safety belts
must always be pos itioned correctly on the wear
er's body ¢
page 139 .
... Adjust the front seat and adjustab le head re
stra int* correctly ¢
page 52, General informa
tion .
... Hold the belt by the tongue and pull it evenly
across the chest and pelvis¢
fig. 154, ¢ ,.&. .
... Inse rt the tongue into the correct buckle of
your seat until you hear it latch securely
¢page 138, fig . 152.
... Pull on the belt to make sure that it is securely
latched in the buckle.
A WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can cause
serious personal injury in an accident.
- Expectant mothers must always wear the
lap portion of the safety belt as low as pos
sible across the pelvis and below the round
ing of the abdomen .
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other important information
¢ A in Fasten
ing safety belts on page 139 .
140
Unfastening safety belts
Unbuckle the safety belt with the red release
button only after the vehicle has stopped.
.,,
Fig. 155 Re leasing th e tongue from th e buckle
... Push the red release button on the buckle
¢ fig. 155. The belt tongue will spring out of
the buckle
¢ A.
... 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 vehicle is
moving . Doing so will increase your risk of be
ing injured or killed .
Adjusting safety belt height
With the aid of the safety belt height adjust
ment, the three point safety belt strap routing
can be fitted to the shoulder area, according to
body size.
Fig. 156 Safety belt heigh t adjustment for the front seats
- loop -around fittings
0 ,-. N 0 :i: .. m
The shoulder belt should lie as close to the center
of the collar bone as possible and should fit well
on the body
¢ ,.&. in Safety belt position on
page 139.
~

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~ Push the loop-aro und fittings up ¢ fig. 156 @,
or
~ squeeze together the (D button, and push the
loop-around fittings
do wn@ .
~ Pull the belt to make sure that the upper at
tachment is properly engaged.
A WARNING
Always read and heed all WARNINGS and oth
er important information
¢ page 137.
With the front seats, the height adjustment
of the seat can also be used to adjust the po
sition of the safety belts.
Improperly worn safety belts
Incorrectly positioned safety belts can cause se
vere injuries .
Wearing safety be lts improperly can cause seri
ous injury or death. Safety belts can on ly work
when they are correct ly posit ioned on the body .
Imp roper seat ing posit ions reduce the effective
n ess of safety belts and will even inc rease the risk
of inju ry and death by moving the sa fety be lt to
cr it ica l areas of the body. Improper seat ing posi
tions also increase the risk of ser ious injury and
deat h when an airbag deploys and stri kes an oc
cupant who is not in t he cor rect seating posit ion .
A driver is responsible for the safety of all veh icle
occupants and espec ially for children. Therefore :
~ Never permit anyone to ass ume an inco rrect sit-
t ing position in the vehicle while trave ling
¢ ,& .
A WARNING
Imprope rly worn safety belts increase the risk
of serious personal injury and death whe never
a vehicle is be ing used.
- Always make sure that al l vehicle occupants
are co rrectly restrained and stay in a cor rect
sea ting pos it ion whenever the veh icle is be
ing used.
- Always read and heed all WARNI NGS and
ot her important i nfo rmat ion
¢page 137 .
Safety bel ts
Belt tensioners
How safety belt pretensioners work
In front, side and rear-end collisions above a
particular severity and in a rollover, safety belts
are tensioned automatically.
Reversible safety belt tensioners
The safety belts on the front seats are eq uipped
with power reversib le tensioners. The fo llow ing
funct ions are availab le when the driver's/front
passenge r's safety belts are fastened:
- Automatic tens ioners : at the start of a drive,
the safety belts automat ica lly adjust to the
passenger after a certain time per iod or vehicle
speed. To sw itch the automat ic tensioners off,
s e lect the following in the MMI:
!CA RI fu nction
button
> (Car )* systems > Vehicle s etting s >
Seats > Driver's seat or Pass enger' s seat > Au
tomatic belt ten sioner
> Off .
- In ce rtai n dr iv ing s ituations, the safety belts
may tighten w ith a revers ible tens ion ing f unc
t ion
¢ page 185.
-The s afety be lt s may also t igh ten wi th th is re-
versible tens ion ing funct ion in m inor collisions.
Pyrotechnic safety belt pretensioners
The safety belts are equ ipped with safe ty belt
pretensioners . The system is act ivated by se nsors
i n front, side and rea r-e nd coll is ions of great se
ver ity and in a ro llover. This tig htens the belt and
ta kes up belt slack¢ .&.
in Service and disposal of
safety belt pre tensioner on page 14 2.
Taking up
t h e slack he lps to reduce forward occupa nt
movement during a collision.
A WARNING
- It is poss ible for the pretens ioners to deploy
incorrectly.
- The pyrotechnic system can only provide protection for one coll is ion. If the pyrotech
n ic pretensioners deploy, the pretens ion ing
sys tem must be replaced .
(1) Tips
The pyrotechnic safety be lt pretensioners can
o nl y dep loy once . .,.
141

Safe ty belt s
- The safety belt pretensioners do not deploy
in minor frontal and side collisions, in rear
end collisions, in rollovers and in collis ions
invo lv ing very little impact force.
- A fine dust is released when the pyrotechnic
safety be lt pretensioners dep loy. This is nor
mal and is not caused by a fire in the vehi
cle.
- The relevant safety requirements must be observed when the vehicle or components
of the system are scrapped . A qualified
dealersh ip is familiar with these regulations
and will be p leased to pass on the informa
tion to you.
- Be sure to observe all safety, environmental
and othe r regulations if the vehicle or indi
v idual parts of the system, particularly the
safety be lt or a irbag, are to be disposed. We
r ecommend you have your autho rized Aud i
dealer perform this service for you .
Service and disposal of safety belt preten
sioner
The safety be lt pretensioners are parts of the
safety belts on your Audi . Installing, removing ,
servicing or repa iring of belt pretens ioners can
damage the safety belt system and prevent it
from working correctly in a co llision.
There are some important things you have to know to make sure that the effect iveness of the
system w ill not be impaired and that d isca rded
components do not cause injury or pollute the
env ironment.
_& WARNING
-
Imprope r care, servicing and repair proce
dures can increase the risk of personal injury
and death by preventing a safety belt preten
sioner from activating w hen needed or acti
vating it unexpectedly :
- The be lt pretensioner system can be activat
ed only once .
If belt pretensioners have
been act ivated, the system must be re
placed .
- Never repa ir, adjust, or change any parts of
the safety be lt system .
142
-Safety belt systems including safety belt
pretens ioners cannot be repa ired. Spec ial
procedures are required for remova l, instal
lation and disposal of this system.
- For any work on the safety belt system, we
strongly recommend that you see your au
thorized Audi dealer or qualified technician
who has an Audi approved repair manual, train ing and spec ial equ ipment necessary .
@ For the sake of the environment
Undeployed airbag modules and pretension
e rs might be classified as Perchlorate Material
-special handling may apply, see
www .dtsc.ca.gov/hazardouswaste/perchlo
r ate. When the vehicle or pa rts of the re
straint system incl uding airbag modules safe
ty belts w ith pretens ioners are scrapped, all
applicable laws and regulations must be ob
served . Your a uthorized Audi dealer is familiar
with these requirements and we recommend
that you have your dea ler perform this serv ice
for you.

M N <( (.J
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Airbag system Important information
Importance of wearing safety belts and
sitting properly
Airbags are only supplemental restraints. For
airbags to do their job, occupants must always
properly wear their safety belts and be in a prop er seating position.
For your safety and the safety of your passen
gers, before driving off, always:
.,. Adjust the driver's seat and steering wheel
properly
r:> page 12 7,
.,. Adjust the front passenger's seat properly
9 page 53,
.,. Wear safety belts properly r::> page 137 ,
.. Always properly use the proper child restraint
to protect children
r:> page 167.
In a collision, airbags must inflate within the
blink of an eye and with considerable force. The
supplemental airbags can cause injuries if the
driver or the front seat passeng er is not seated
properly . Therefo re in order to help the ai rbag to
do its job, it is important, both as a driver and as
a passenger to si t properly at all times.
By keeping room between your body and the
steering wheel and the front of the passenger
compartment, the airbag can inflate fully and
completely and provide supplemental protection in certain frontal collisions
r:> page 12 7, Correct
passenger seating positions .
For details on the
operation of the seat adjustment controls
r::> page 53.
It's especially important that children are proper
ly restrained
r:> page 167.
There is a lot that the driver and the passengers
can and must do to help the individual safety fea
tures installed in your Audi work together as a
system.
Proper seating position is important so that the
front airbag on the driver side can do its job . If
you have a physical impairment or condition that
prevents you from sitting properly on the driver
seat with the safety belt properly fastened and
Airbag system
reaching the pedals, or if you have concerns with
regard to the function or operation of the Ad
vanced Airbag System, please contact your au
thori zed Audi dealer or qualified workshop, or
call Audi Customer Relations at 1-800-822-2834
for possible modifications to your vehicle.
When the airbag system deploys, a gas generator
will fill the airbags, break open the padded cov ers, and inflate between the steering wheel and
the driver and between the instrument panel and
the front passenger . The airbags will deflate im
mediately after deployment so that the front oc
cupants can see through the windshield again
without interruption.
All of this takes place in the blink of an eye , so
fast that many people don't even realize that the airbags have deployed. The airbags also inflate
with a great deal of force and nothing should be
in their way when they deploy. Front airbags in
combination with properly worn safety belts slow
down and limit the occupant's forward move
ment . Together they help to prevent the driver
and front seat passenger from hitting parts of
the inside of the vehicle while reducing the forces
acting on the occupant during 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 will not inflate in all frontal
collisions. The triggering of the airbag system de
pends on the vehicle deceleration rate caused by
the collision and registered by the electronic con
trol unit. If this rate is below the reference value
programmed into the control unit, the airbags
will not be triggered , even though the car may be
badly damaged as a result of the collision. Vehi
cle damage, repair costs or even the lack of vehi
cle damage is not necessarily an indication of
whe ther an airbag should infla te or not.
Since the circumstances will vary considerably between one collision and another, it is not possi
ble to define a range of vehicle speeds that will
cover every possible kind and angle of impact
that will always trigger the airbags . 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 ..,.
143

Airbag syste m
also not inflate in s ide or rear collisions, or in roll
overs.
A lwa ys rem ember : Airbags will deploy on ly once,
and only in certain kinds of collis ions. Your safety
be lts are a lways there to offer p rotection in those
situations in which airbags are not supposed to
deploy, or when they have already deployed; for
examp le, when your vehicle str ikes or is struck by
another vehicle after the first collision.
This is just one of the reasons why an airbag is a
supp lementary restra int and is not a substitute
for a safety belt. The airbag system works most
effectively when used w ith the safety belts.
Therefore, always properly wear your safety belts
c::> page 135.
A WARNING
Sitting too close to the steering wheel or in
strument panel wil l decrease the effect ive
ness of the airbags and will increase the risk
o f personal injury in a collision .
- Never sit closer than 10 inches (25 cm) to
the steering wheel or instrument panel.
- If you cannot sit more than 10 inches
( 2 5 cm) from the steer ing whee l, investi
gate whether adaptive equipment may be
available to help you reach the pedals and
increase yo ur seating distance from the
steering wheel.
- All veh icle occupants and especia lly children
must be restrained properly whenever riding
in a vehicle. An unrestrained or improperly
restrained child could be injured by striking
the interior or by being ejected from the ve
hicle du ring a sudden maneuver or impact.
An unrestrained or improperly restrained child is also at greater risk of injury or death
thro ugh contac t wit h an inflat ing airbag.
- If you are unrestrained, leaning forward, s it
t ing s ideways o r out of position in any way,
yo ur risk of in jury is much higher.
- You w ill also receive serious inju ries and
c ould even be killed if you are up against the
airbag or too close to it when it inflates -
even with an Advanced Airbag.
144
-
- To reduce the risk of injury when an airbag
inflates, always wear safety belts properly
c::> page 138, Safety belts.
- Always make certain that ch ildren age 12 or
younger always ride in the rear seat. If chil
dren are not properly restrained, they may
be severe ly injured or killed when an a irbag
inflates.
- Never let ch ildren ride unrestra ined or im
prope rly restrained in the vehicle . Ad just the
front sea ts prope rly .
- Never ride with the back rest reclined .
- Always sit as far as possible from the steer-
ing wheel or the instrument panel
c::>page 127.
-Always sit upright with your back against
the backrest of your seat.
- Never p lace your feet on the instrument
panel or on the seat. Always keep both feet
on the f loor in front of the seat to help p re
vent serious injur ies to the legs and hips if
the airbag infla tes.
- Never recline the front passenger 's seat to
transport objects . Items can also move into
the area of the side airbag o r the front air
b ag du ring bra king or in a sudden maneu
ver . Ob jects near the airbags can become
projectiles and cause in jury when an airbag
inflates.
A WARNING
Airbags that have deployed in a crash must be replaced.
- Use on ly original equipment airbags ap
proved by Audi and installed by a trained
technician who has the necessary too ls and
diagnostic equipment to properly rep lace
any airbag in you r vehicle and assure system
effectiveness in a crash.
- Never perm it salvaged or recycled airbags to
be installed in your vehicle.
Child restraints on the front seat - some
important things to know
.,. Be s ure to read the important information and
hee d the WAR NIN GS for import ant details .,..

M N
-Always carefully follow the manufacturer's
ins tructions prov ided with the ch ild seat or
carrier.
- Always make sure that t he re is no thing 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 occ upied by some
one who is heav ier than the person actually
sitting on the seat. The presence of addi
tional 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 wou ld
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 occu
pants.
F ig . 157 Locat ion of d river a irbag: in stee ring wheel
Fig . 158 Locat ion of front passenger's a irbag: in the instru
ment pa nel
Your vehicle is equipped w ith an "Advanced Air
bag System" in compl iance with Un ited States
Ai rb ag system
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
(FMVSS) 208 as applicable at the time your vehi
cle was manufactured. The safety be lts for the
seats have "pretensioners" that help to take slack
out of the belt system. The pretensioners are also
activated by the electron ic 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 . 157 and the airbag for the front pas
senger is in the instrument pane l
c:>fig. 158. The
general location of the airbags is marked ''AIR
BAG".
There is a lot you need to know about the a irbags
in your vehicle. We urge you to read the detailed
information about airbags, safety belts and child
safety in this and the other chapte rs that make
up the owner's literature . Please be sure to heed
the WAR NINGS - they are extremely importa nt
fo r yo ur safety and the safety of you r passengers,
especially infants and small children .
_& WARNING
=
Never rely on airbags alone for protection.
- Even when they deploy, airbags provide only
supp lemental protection.
- Airbag work most effective ly when used
with p roperly worn safety belts.
- Therefore, always wea r you r safety belts and
make sure tha t everybo dy in your vehicle is
properly rest rained.
- Always hold the steering wheel w ith both
hands on the outside of the steering wheel
rim at the 9:00 o'clock and 3:00 o'clock po
sitions to help reduce the risk of persona l in
jury if the driver's airbag inflates.
- Never ho ld the steering wheel at the 12
o'clock position or with your hands any
where inside the steering wheel or on the
steer ing wheel hub. Holding the steering
wheel the wrong way increases the risk of
severe injury to the arms, ha nds, and head if
the dr iver airbag deploys .
~
147

Airbag syste m
A WARNING
Objects between you and the a irbag w ill in
crease the risk of injury in a crash by interfer
ing with the way the airba g unfo lds and/or by
being pus hed into you as the airbag inflates.
- Always make sure nothing is in the front air-
bag depl oyment zone that could be struck
by the airbag when it inflates.
- Objects in the zone of a deploying a irbag
can become project iles when the airbag de
ploys and cause serious personal injury.
- Never hold things in your hands or on your
lap when the vehicle is in use .
- Never place accessor ies or other objects
(such as cup holders, telephone brackets,
note pads, navigation systems, or things
that are large, heavy, or bulky) on the doors; never attach then to the doors or the wind
shield; never place them over or near or at
tach them to the area marked ,.AIRBAG" on
the steering wheel, instrument pane l or the
seat backrests; never place them between
these a reas and you or any other person in
the vehicle .
- Never attach objects to the windshield
above the passenger front airbag, such as
accessory GPS navigation units or music players. Such objects co uld cause serious in
jury in a collision, especially when the a ir
bags inflate.
- Never recline the front passenger seat to transport objects. Items can also move into
the deployment area of the side airbags or
the front airbag dur ing breaking or in a sud
den maneuver . Objects near the a irbags can
fly dangerously th rough the passenger com
partment and ca use i njur y, partic ularly
when the seat is reclined and the airbags in
flate .
A WARNING
A person on the front passenge r seat, espe
cially infants and small children, wi ll receive
serious injuries and can even be killed by be
ing too close to the airbag when it inflates.
- Although the Advanced Airbag System in
your vehicle is designed to turn off the front
148
-
passenger airbag if an infant or a small child
is on the front passenger seat, nobody can
absolutely guarantee that dep loyment un
de r these specia l condit ions is impossible in
all conceivable situations that may happen
during the useful life of yo ur vehicle.
- The Advanced Airbag System can dep loy in
accordance with the ,,low risk" option for 3-
and 6-year-o ld children under the U.S. Fed
era l Standard if a c hild with e lectr ica l capac
itance greater than the combined capaci
tance of a typical one -yea r old infant re
strained in one of the forward facing or rear
ward-facing child seats with which your ve
hicle was certif ied is on the front passenger
seat and the other conditions for airbag de
ployment are met.
- Accident statistics have shown that children
are generally safer in the rear seat area than
in the front seating position .
- For their own safety, all ch ildren, especially
12 yea rs and younger, should a lways ride in
the back properly restrained for their age
and size .
Advanced front airbag system
Your veh icle is equipped with a front Advanced
A irbag System in compliance w ith United States
Federa l Mo tor Ve hicl e Safety Standa rd 208 asap
plicable at the time your vehicle was manufac
tured.
The front Advanced Airbag System supp lements
the safety be lts to p rov ide additional protec tion
f or the driver 's and front passenger 's heads and
u pper bodies in frontal crashes . The airbags in
flate only in fronta l impacts when the ve hicle de
ce lerat ion is high enough.
The front Advanced Airbag System for the front seat occ upants is not a s ubstitute for yo ur safety
belts. Rather , it is part of the overall occupant re
stra int system in your vehicle. A lways remember
that the airbag system can only he lp to protect
you, if you are sitting upr ight, wear ing your safe-
ty belt and wear ing it properly . Th is is why you
ll>

M N <( (.J
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and your passengers must always be properly re
strained, not just because the law requires you to
be.
The Advanced Airbag System in your vehicle has been certified to meet the "low risk" require
ments for 3 and 6 year-old children on the pas
senger side and very small adults on the driver
side. The low risk deployment criteria are intend
ed to help reduce the risk of injury through inter
action with the front airbag that can occur, for
example, by being too close to the steering wheel
and instrument panel when the airbag inflates.
In addition, the system has been certified to
comply with the "suppression" requirements of
the Safety Standard, to turn off the front airbag
for infants 12 months old and younger who are
restrained on the front passenger seat in child re
straints that are listed in the Standard
q page 169, Child restraints and Advanced front
airbag system.
"S uppression " requires the front airbag on the
passenger side to be turned off if:
- a child up to about one year of age is restrained
on the front passenger seat in one of the rear
facing or forward-facing infant restraints listed
in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208
with which the Advanced Airbag System in your
vehicle was certified. For a listing of the child
restraints that were used to certify your vehi
cle's comp liance with the US Safety Standard
qpage 169,
- When a person is detected on the front passen
ger seat that has an electrical capacitance that
is more than the total electrical capacitance of
a child that is about 1 year old restrained in one
of the rear-facing or forward-facing infant re
stra ints (listed in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety
Standard 208 with which the Advanced Airbag
System in your vehicle was certified), the front
airbag on the passenger side may or may not
deploy.
The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on
when the electronic control unit detects a total
e lectr ical capacitance on the front passenger seat
that requires the front airbag to be turned off. If
the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does not
Airbag system
come on, the front airbag on the passenger side
has not been turned off by the control unit and
can deploy if the control unit senses an impact
that meets the conditions stored in its memory.
If the total electrical capacitance registered on
the front passenger seat is more than that of a
typical 1 year-old, but less than the weight of a
small adult, the front airbag on the passenger
side may deploy (the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light does not come on).
For example, the airbag may deploy if:
-a small child that is heavier than a typical 1
year-old child is on the front passenger seat (re
gardless of whether the child is in one of the
child seats listed
q page 169),
- 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 in the center of
the instrument panel will 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 reduce the risk
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
q page 154.
Always remember: Even though your vehicle is
equipped with Advanced Airbags, the safest place
for children is properly restrained on the back
seat. Please be sure to read the impor tant infor
mation in the sections that follow and be sure to
heed all of the WARNINGS .
_& WARNING
To reduce the risk of injury when an airbag in
flates, always wear safety belts properly.
- If you are unrestrained, leaning forward, sit
ting sideways or out of position in any way,
your risk of injury is much higher.
- You will also receive serious injuries and
could even be killed if you are up against the
airbag or too close to it when it inflates -
even with an Advanced Airbag
9page 143.
149