
The essentials
Wherever possible use fine-link chains meas-
urin g l
e
ss than 15 mm (37/64 inch) includ-
ing the lock.
Remove wheel hub covers and trim rings be-
fore fitting snow chains ››› . The wheel bolts
shou l
d be c
overed with caps for safety rea-
sons. These are available from technical serv-
ices. WARNING
The use of unsuitable or incorrectly fitted
ch ain
s could lead to serious accidents and
damage.
● Always the appropriate snow chains.
● Observe the fitting instructions provided by
the snow c
hain manufacturer.
● Never exceed the maximum permitted
speeds
when driving with snow chains. CAUTION
● Remo v
e the snow chains to drive on roads
without snow. Otherwise they will impair
handling, damage the tyres and wear out very
quickly.
● Wheel rims may be damaged or scratched if
the chain
s come into direct contact with
them. SEAT recommends the use of covered
snow chains. Note
Snow chains are available in different sizes
acc or
ding to the vehicle type. Emergency towing of the vehi-
c
l
e
T
owing Fig. 73
On the right-hand side of the front
b umper:
Sc
rew in the towline anchorage. Fig. 74
On the rear bumper, to the right hand
s ide:
T
owline anchorage in position Towline anchorages
Att
ac
h the b
ar or rope to the towline ancho-
rages.
They are located with the vehicle's tools
››› page 82.
Screw the towline anchorage into the screw
connection ››› Fig. 73 o ››› Fig. 74 and tighten
it with the wheel brace.
Tow rope or tow bar
When towing, the tow bar is the safest and
vehicle friendly way. You should only use a
tow rope if you do not have a tow bar.
A tow rope should be slightly elastic to avoid
damage to both vehicles. It is advisable to
use a tow rope made of synthetic fibre or sim-
ilarly elastic material.
Only secure the tow rope or tow bar to the
towline anchorage or specially designed fit-
ting.
Vehicles with a factory fitted towing device ,
can only be used for towing with a tow bar,
specially designed to fit on a tow hitch ball
››› page 237.
Towing vehicles with an automatic gearbox
Note the following for a towed vehicle: ● Make sure the gear selector lever is in the N
position.
● Do not
drive faster than 50 km/h (30 mph).50

The essentials
● Do not t
o
w further than 50 km (30 miles).
● If a breakdown truck is used, the vehicle
must
be towed with the front wheels raised.
Note the following instructions for towing
four all-wheel drive vehicles.
Instructions for towing all-wheel drive vehi-
cles
All-wheel drive vehicles can be towed using a
toolbar or tow rope. If the vehicle is towed
with the front or rear axle raised, the engine
must be turned off to avoid transmission
damage.
For vehicles with a double clutched DSG ®
(di-
rect shift gearbox) the instructions for towing
vehicles with an automatic gearbox apply
››› page 50.
Situations in which a vehicle should not be
towed
In the following cases, the vehicle should not
be towed but transported on a trailer or spe-
cial vehicle: ● If the vehicle gearbox does not contain lu-
bricant due t
o a fault.
● If the vehicle battery is flat and, as a result,
the electronic
steering lock and electronic
parking brake cannot be disengaged if ap-
plied. ●
If the v
ehicle to be towed has an automatic
gearbox and the distance to be covered is
greater than 50 km (30 miles).
››› in Introduction on page 87
››› page 87 Tow-starting
In general, the vehicle should not be started
b
y
t
owing. Jump-starting is much more pref-
erable ››› page 51.
For technical reasons, the following vehicles
can not be tow started:
● Vehicles with an automatic gearbox.
● Vehicles with the Keyless Access locking
and ignition syst
em, since the electronic
steering lock may not unlock.
● Vehicles with an electronic parking brake,
given that
it is possible that the brake will
not be disengaged.
● If the vehicle battery is flat, it is possible
that the en
gine control units do not operate
correctly.
However, if your vehicle must absolutely be
tow-started (manual gearbox):
● Put it into second or third gear. ●
Keep the clut
ch pressed down.
● Switch on the ignition and the hazard warn-
ing lights.
● Rel
ease the clutch when both vehicles are
movin
g.
● As soon as the engine starts, press the
clutc
h and move the gear lever into neutral.
This helps to prevent a collision with the tow-
ing vehicle.
How to jump start
Jump lea
ds If the engine fails to start because of a dis-
c
h
ar
ged battery, the battery of another vehi-
cle can be used to start the engine. Before
starting, check the magic eye on the battery
››› page 284.
For starting assistance, jump lead cables con-
forming to the standard DIN 72553 are re-
quired (see the cable manufacturer instruc-
tions). The jump lead cable must be at least
25 mm 2
in section (0.038 inches 2
) for petrol
engines, and 35 mm 2
(0.054 inches 2
) for die-
sel engines.
For vehicles whose battery is not in the en-
gine compartment, the jump leads should
only be connected to the starting assistance
connection points in the engine compart-
ment. » 51

Safe driving
– Ob
ser
ve traffic laws and speed limits.
– Always reduce your speed as appropriate
for ro
ad, traffic and weather conditions.
– When travelling long distances, take
break
s regularly - at least every two hours.
– If possible, avoid driving when you are tired
or stre
ssed. WARNING
When driving safety is impaired during a trip,
the risk of
injury and accidents increases. Safety equipment
Never put your safety or the safety of your
p
a
s
sengers in danger. In the event of an acci-
dent, the safety equipment may reduce the
risk of injury. The following list includes most
of the safety equipment in your SEAT:
● Three-point seat belts
● belt tension limiters for the front and rear
side seats,
● B
elt tensioners for the front seats
● Front airbags
● knee airbags,
● Side airbags in the front seat backrests
● Side airbags in the rear seat backrests*
● Head-protection airbags ●
“ISOFIX” anchor points f
or child seats in
the rear side seats with the “ISOFIX” system,
● Height-adjustable front head restraints
● Rear head restraints with in-use position
and non-use pos
ition
● Adjustable steering column
The safety
equipment mentioned above
works together to provide you and your pas-
sengers with the best possible protection in
the event of an accident. However, these
safety systems can only be effective if you
and your passengers are sitting in a correct
position and use this equipment properly.
Safety is everyone's business! Correct position of the vehicle
occup
ants
Correct sitting position Fig. 81
The correct distance between the driv-
er and the s t
eerin
g wheel must be at least 25
cm (10 inches). Fig. 82
Correct belt web and head restraint
po s
ition
s » 57
Technical data
Advice
Operation
Emergencies
Safety

Safety
The correct sitting positions for the driver and
p a
s
sengers are shown below.
If your physical constitution prevents you
from maintaining the correct sitting position,
contact a specialised workshop for help with
any special devices. The seat belt and airbag
can only provide optimum protection if a cor-
rect sitting position is adopted. SEAT recom-
mends taking your car in for technical serv-
ice.
For your own safety and to reduce the risk of
injury in the event of an accident or sudden
braking or manoeuvre, SEAT recommend the
following positions:
Valid for all vehicle occupants:
● Adjust the head restraint so that its upper
edge is
at the same level as the top of your
head, or as close as possible to the same lev-
el as the top of your head and under no cir-
cumstances below eye level. Keep the back
of your neck as close as possible to the head
restraint ››› Fig. 81 and ››› Fig. 82.
● Short people must lower the head restraint
compl
etely, even if your head is below its up-
per edge.
● Tall people must raise the head restraint
compl
etely.
● Adjust the seat backrest to an upright posi-
tion so that
your back rests completely
against it. ●
Alwa
ys keep your feet in the footwell while
the vehicle is in motion.
● Adjust and fasten your seat belt correctly
›››
page 64.
Also valid for the driver:
● Adjust the steering wheel so that there is a
dist
ance of at least 25 cm (10 inches) be-
tween it and your chest ››› Fig. 81 and so that
you can hold the steering wheel with both
hands on the outside of the ring at the 9
o'clock and 3 o'clock positions with your
arms slightly bent.
● The adjusted steering wheel must face your
ches
t and not your face.
● Adjust the driver seat forwards or back-
ward
s so that you are able to press the accel-
erator, brake and clutch pedals to the floor
with your knees slightly angled and the dis-
tance between your knees and the dash pan-
el is at least 10 cm (4 inches) ››› Fig. 81.
● Adjust the height of the driver seat so that
you can e
asily reach the top of the steering
wheel.
● Keep both feet in the footwell so that you
have the
vehicle under control at all times.
Also valid for the front passenger:
● Move the front passenger seat back as far
as po
ssible for optimum protection should
the airbag deploy. Adjusting the steering wheel position Read the additional information carefully
›› ›
page 16. WARNING
Incorrect use of the steering wheel adjust-
ment f u
nction and an incorrect adjustment of
the steering wheel can result in severe or fa-
tal injury.
● After adjusting the steering column, push
the lever ›
›› Fig. 25
1 firmly upwards to
ens ur
e the steering wheel does not acciden-
tally change position while driving.
● Never adjust the steering wheel while the
vehicl
e is in motion. If you need to adjust the
steering wheel while the vehicle is in motion,
stop safely and make the proper adjustment.
● The adjusted steering wheel should be fac-
ing y
our chest and not your face so as not to
hinder the driver's front airbag protection in
the event of an accident.
● When driving, always hold the steering
wheel with both h
ands on the outside of the
ring at the 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions
to reduce injuries when the driver's front air-
bag deploys.
● Never hold the steering wheel at the 12
o'clock
position or in any other manner (e.g.
in the centre of the steering wheel). In such
cases, if the driver's airbag deploys, you may
sustain injuries to your arms, hands and
head. 58

Safe driving
Danger of injuries due to an incorrect
s ittin
g po
sitionNumber of seats
Dependin
g on the equipment,
your vehicle
has a total of five or seven seats. Each seat is
equipped with a seat belt.
5 seats
Seats in the frontSeats in thesecond rowSeats in the third row
23–
7 seats
Seats in the frontSeats in thesecond rowSeats in the third row
232 If the seat belts are worn incorrectly or not at
al
l, the ri
sk
of severe injuries increases. Seat
belts can provide optimal protection only if
the belt web is properly worn. Being seated
in an incorrect position means the seat belt
cannot offer its full protection. This could re-
sult in severe and even fatal injuries. The risk
of severe or fatal injuries is especially height-
ened when a deploying airbag strikes a vehi-
cle occupant who has assumed an incorrect
sitting position. The driver is responsible for
all passengers in the vehicle, particularly
children. The following list shows just some examples
of incorr
ect sitting positions which can be
dangerous to all vehicle occupants.
Whenever the vehicle is in motion:
● Never stand in the vehicle.
● Never stand on the seats.
● Never kneel on the seats.
● Never tilt your seat backrest too far to the
rear
.
● Never lean against the dash panel.
● Never lie on the rear bench.
● Never sit on the front edge of a seat.
● Never sit sideways.
● Never lean out of a window.
● Never put your feet out of a window.
● Never put your feet on the dash panel.
● Never put your feet on the surface of a seat
or seat b
ackrest.
● Never travel in a footwell.
● Never sit on the armrests.
● Never travel on a seat without wearing the
seat belt
.
● Never carry any person in the luggage com-
partment
. WARNING
An incorrect sitting position in the vehicle
can l e
ad to severe injuries or death in the event of sudden braking or manoeuvres, colli-
sion or ac
c
idents or if the airbag deploys.
● Before the vehicle moves, assume the prop-
er sitting po
sition and maintain it throughout
the trip. This also includes fastening the seat
belt.
● Never transport more people than there are
seats
with a seat belt available in the vehicle.
● Children must always be protected with an
appro
ved child restraint system suited to
their height and weight ››› page 74.
● Always keep your feet in the footwell while
the vehic
le is in motion. Never, for example,
put your feet on the surface of a seat or on
the dash panel and never put them out of a
window. Otherwise the airbag and seat belt
offer insufficient protection and the risk of in-
jury in the event of an accident is increased. WARNING
Before every trip, adjust the seat, the seat
belt and the he a
d restraints and instruct your
passengers to fasten their seat belts proper-
ly.
● Move the front passenger seat back as far
as po
ssible.
● Adjust the driver seat so that there is a dis-
tance of
at least 25 cm (10 inches) between
the centre of your chest and the hub of the
steering wheel. Adjust the driver seat so that
you are able to press the accelerator, brake
and clutch pedals to the floor with your knees
slightly angled and that the distance » 59
Technical data
Advice
Operation
Emergencies
Safety

Safety
between your knees and the dash panel is at
le
a
st 10 cm (4 inches). If your physical consti-
tution prevents you from meeting these re-
quirements, contact a specialised workshop
to make any modifications required.
● Never drive with the seat backrest tilted far
back.
The further the seat backrests are tilted
to the rear, the greater the risk of injury due
to incorrect positioning of the belt web or to
the incorrect sitting position!
● Never drive with the seat backrest tilted
forw
ards. Should a front airbag deploy, it
could throw the seat backrest backwards and
injure the passengers of the rear seats.
● Sit as far away as possible from the steer-
ing wheel and the d
ash panel.
● Keep your back straight and resting com-
plet
ely against the seat backrest and the
front seats correctly adjusted. Never place
any part of your body in the area of the airbag
or very close to it.
● If passengers on the rear seats are not sit-
ting in an upright po
sition, the risk of severe
injury due to incorrect positioning of the belt
web increases. WARNING
Incorrect seat adjustment may lead to acci-
dents and sev
ere injuries.
● Only adjust the seats when the vehicle is
station
ary, as the seats could move unex-
pectedly while the vehicle is in motion and
you could lose control of the vehicle. Further- more, an incorrect position is adopted when
adju
s
ting the seat.
● Only adjust the height, seat backrest and
forw
ards or backwards position of the seat
when there is nobody in the seat adjustment
area.
● There must be no objects blocking the seat
adjus
tment area.
● Only adjust the height, angle and longitu-
dinal
position of the rear seats when nobody
is in the way.
● The seat adjustment and lock areas must
be kept c
lean. Pedal area
P ed
a
ls Do not allow floor mats or other objects to
o
b
s
truct the free passage of the pedals.
Floor mats should leave the pedal area free
and unobstructed and be correctly secured in
the footwell zone.
In the event of failure of a brake circuit, the
brake pedal must be pressed harder than
normal to brake the vehicle. WARNING
Objects falling into the driver's footwell could
prev ent
use of the pedals. This could lead the driver to lose control of the vehicle, increas-
ing the ri
sk
of a serious accident.
● Make sure the pedals can be used at all
times, with no o
bjects rolling underneath
them.
● Always secure the mat in the footwell.
● Never place other mats or rugs on top of
the original
mat supplied by the factory.
● Ensure that no objects can fall into the driv-
er's footw
ell while the vehicle is in motion. CAUTION
The pedals must always have free and unob-
struct ed p
assage to the floor. For example, in
case of a fault in the brake circuit, the brake
pedal will need to be pressed further to stop
the vehicle. To press the brake pedal down
further will require more force than usual. 60

Safety
event of crashing against a wall, all of the oc-
c up
ants' k
inetic energy will be absorbed
solely by said impact.
Even at speeds of 30 km/h (19 mph) to
50 km/h (30 mph), the forces acting on bod-
ies in a collision can easily exceed one tonne
(1000 kg). At greater speed these forces are
even higher.
Vehicle occupants not wearing seat belts are
not “attached” to the vehicle. In a head-on
collision, they will move forward at the same
speed their vehicle was travelling just before
the impact. This example applies not only to
head-on collisions, but to all accidents and
collisions.
Even at low speeds the forces acting on the
body in a collision are so great that it is not
possible to brace oneself with one's hands.
In a frontal collision, unbelted passengers
are thrown forward and will make violent con-
tact with the steering wheel, dash panel,
windscreen or whatever else is in the way
››› Fig. 86.
It is also important for rear passengers to
wear seat belts properly, as they could other-
wise be thrown forward violently through the
vehicle interior in an accident. Passengers in
the rear seats who do not use seat belts en-
danger not only themselves but also the front
occupants ››› Fig. 87. Using seat belts Twisted seat belt
If it
i
s difficult to remove the seat belt from
the guide, the seat belt may have become
twisted inside the side trim after being
wound too quickly on unfastening:
● Pull out the seat belt completely, carefully
pul
ling on the latch plate.
● Untwist the belt and guide it back, assist-
ing it b
y hand.
The seat belt must be fastened even if it is
impossible to untwist it. In this case, the
twisted area must not be in an area in direct
contact with your body. Have the seat belt
untwisted urgently by a specialised work-
shop. WARNING
An improperly handled seat belt increases
the risk of
sustaining severe or fatal injuries.
● Regularly check that the seat belts and
their components
are in perfect condition.
● Always keep your seat belt clean.
● Do not jam or damage the seat belt or rub it
with sharp edg
es.
● Make sure there are no liquids or foreign
bodies on the l
atch plate and in the buckle. How to properly adjust your
se
at
belt
F
astening and unfastening your seat
belt Fig. 88
Insert the latch plate into the buckle64

Safety
Note
The relevant safety requirements must be ob-
serv ed when the
vehicle is dismantled or sys-
tem components are removed. These require-
ments are known to specialised workshops
››› page 68. Service and disposal of belt tension
devic
e
s If you work on the belt tensioners or remove
and ins
t
all other parts of the vehicle when
performing other repair work, the seat belt
may be damaged. The consequence may be
that, in the event of an accident, the belt ten-
sioners function incorrectly or not at all.
So that the effectiveness of the belt tensioner
is not reduced and that removed parts do not
cause any injuries or environmental pollu-
tion, regulations must be observed. These re-
quirements are known to specialised work-
shops. WARNING
Improper handling and homemade repairs of
seat belt
s, automatic belt retainers and ten-
sion devices increase the risk of sustaining
severe or fatal injuries. The belt tensioner
may fail to trigger or may trigger in the wrong
circumstances. ●
Never att empt
to repair, adjust or remove or
install parts of the belt tensioners or seat
belts. Any work must be performed by a spe-
cialised workshop only ››› page 247.
● Belt tensioners and automatic belt retain-
ers c
annot be repaired and must be replaced. For the sake of the environment
Airbag modules and belt tensioners may con-
t ain per c
hlorate. Observe the legal require-
ments for their disposal. Airbag system
Brief intr
oduction
Intr
oduction Front airbags have been installed for both
driver and p
a
ssenger. The front airbags can
also protect the chest and head of driver and
passenger if the seats, seat belts head re-
straints and, for the driver, the steering
wheel are correctly adjusted and used. Air-
bags are considered as additional safety
equipment. An airbag cannot replace the
seat belt, which must be worn at all times,
even in front seats where front airbags have
been installed. WARNING
Never exclusively trust the airbag system as a
mean s
of protection.
● Even when triggered, airbag protection is
only aux
iliary.
● The airbags provide the best protection
when the seat belt
s are properly fastened,
thus reducing the risk of sustaining injuries
››› page 64, How to properly adjust your seat-
belt.
● Before each trip, every occupant must sit
properly, c
orrectly fasten the seat belt be-
longing to his or her seat and keeping it fas-
tened throughout the trip. This rule is valid
for all vehicle occupants. 68