2017 AUDI A3 SEDAN seats

Safe ty belts
Safety belts
Fastening safety belts
Safety fir st -everybody bu ckle up!
Fig. 235 Belt buckle an d tongue o n the driver's seat
To prov ide max imum protection, safety belts
must always be positioned correctly on the wear­
er's body .
• Adjust the front seat and head restra int proper­
ly ¢
page 61 , Front seats .
• Make sure the seatback of the rear seat bench
is in an upright position and secure ly latched in
place before us ing the
belt ¢,&. .
• Pull the safety belt evenly across the chest and
pelv is
¢fig. 235, ¢ ,&. .
• Insert the tongue into the correct buckle of
your seat until you hear it latch securely .
• Pull on the belt to make sure that it is securely
latched in the buck le.
Autom ati c safet y belt retr actors
Every safety belt is equipped with an automatic
belt retractor on the shoulder belt . This feature
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
h ill or th rough a sharp curve. Dur ing no rmal driv­
ing the bel t lets you move freely.
Safe ty belt pret ension ers
The safety belts are equipped with a belt preten­
sioner that helps to t ighten the safety belt and
remove slack when the pre tensioner is activated
¢ page 265. T he fu nction of the pretensioner is
monitored by a warning light ¢
page 29.
262
Convertibl e lock ing r etractor
Every safety belt except the one on the driver
seat is equipped with a convertib le lock ing retrac­
tor that
mu st be used when the safety belt is
used to attach a child safety seat . Be sure to read
the important information about thi s feature
¢ page 303.
A WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can cause
serious injury in an accident ¢
page 263,
Safety belt position .
- Safety belts offer optimum protection only
when the seatback is upright and belts are properly posit ioned on the body .
- Always make sure that the rear seat back ­
rest to which the center rear safety belt* is
attached is securely latched whenever the
rear center safety belt is being used.
If the
backrest is not sec urely latched, the passen ­
ger will move forward with the back rest du r­
ing sudden braking, in a sudden maneuver
and especia lly in a crash.
- Never attach the safety belt to the buckle for another seat. Attaching the belt to the
wrong buckle will reduce safety be lt effec­
tiveness and can cause serio us personal in­
jury.
-A passenger who is not properly restrained
can be seriously injured by the safety belt it­
self when it moves from the stronger parts
of the body into critical areas like the abdo­
men .
-Always lock the convertible locking retractor
when you are securing a c hild safety seat in
the vehicl e
¢page 305.

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Safety belt position
Correct belt position is the key to getting maxi­
mum protection from safety belts .
~
"' l'-9 r .. a,
Fig. 236 Safety bel t pos it io n
Standard feat ures on your vehicle he lp you ad just
the posit ion of the safety belt to match your body
size .
- belt he igth adj ustmen t for the front seats *,
- height-adjustable front seats.
.&, WARNING
Improperly pos it ioned safety be lts ca n ca use
ser ious personal inj ury in an accident .
- T he shoulder belt sho uld lie as close to the
cen ter of the colla r bone as possible and
should fit we ll on the body. Hold t he belt
above the latch tong ue a nd pu ll it evenly
across the chest so that it sits as low as pos­
sible on the pelvis and there is no press ure
on the abdomen . The belt should always fit
snugly
Q fig. 236. Pull on the belt to tighten
if necessary.
- The lap belt portion of the safety belt must
be pos itioned as low as possib le across pel ­
vis and never over the abdomen. Make sure
the belt lies flat and snug
Q fig . 236 . Pull on
th e belt to tighten if necessary.
- A loose-fitt ing safety belt can cause ser ious
injuries by shift ing its pos ition on you r body
from the st rong bones to more vu lne rable,
soft tiss ue a nd cause ser ious injury.
- Always read and heed all WARN INGS and
other importa nt inform ation
<=? page 261.
Safet y bel ts
Pregnant women must also be correctly
restrained
The best way to protect the fetus is to make sure
that expectant mothers always wear safety bel ts
correctly
-throughout the pregnancy.
F ig. 237 S af ety belt position duri ng pregnancy
To provide maximum protection, safety belts
must always be positioned correctly on the wear­
er's
body ¢ page 263 .
.. Adjust the front seat and adjustable head re­
straint*
c orrec tly¢ page 61, Front sea ts .
.,. Pull the safety belt evenly across the chest so
that it sits as low as possible on the pelvis and
there is no pressure on the abdomen
Q fig. 237 , ¢ .&,.
.,. Insert the tongue into the co rrect buc kle of
your sea t until yo u hear i t latch secu rely.
.,. Pull on the belt to make sure that it is sec urely
latched in the buckle.
_& WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can cause
serious pe rsonal injury in an acc ident.
-Expectant mothers must always wear the
lap portion of the safety belt as low as pos ­
sible across the pe lvis and below the round­
ing of the abdomen.
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other important
i nformation¢ .&. in Fasten­
ing safety belts on page 262 .
263

Safety belts
Unfastening safety belts
Unbuckle the safety belt with the red release
button only after the vehicle has stopped.


Fig. 238 Releasing t he tongue from the buckle
.. Push the red release button on the buckle
q fig. 238. The belt tongue will spring out of
the buckle
q ,& .
.. 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 the safety belt latch tongue
Applies to: vehicles with adjustable latch tongue
Fig. 239 Safety belt: latch tongue cl ip (example)
.. Slide the cl ip so that you can easily reach the
belt latch when putt ing the safety belt on .
264
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Adjusting safety belt he ight
Applies to: vehicles with safety belt height adjustment
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. 240 Safety belt heigh t adjustment for the front seats
-loop-around fittings
The shoulder belt shou ld lie as close to the center
of the collar bone as poss ible and shou ld fit well
on the body
q .&. in Safety belt position on
page 263.
.,. Push the loop-around fittings up ¢ fig. 240 @,
or
.,. squeeze together the @ button, and push the
loop-a round fittings
down @.
.. 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
q page 261.
(D Tips
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 belts imp roper ly can cause seri-
ous injury or death. Safety belts can only work
when they are correct ly positioned on the body.
..,.

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Improper seating positions reduce the effective ­
ness of safety be lts and will even increase the
risk of injury and death by mov ing the safety belt
to critical areas of the body. Improper seating positions also increase the risk of serious injury
and death when an airbag deploys and strikes an
occupant who is not in the correct seat ing pos i­
tion . A driver is respons ible for the safety of a ll
vehicle occupants and espec ia lly for children.
Therefore:
"' Never permit anyone to assume an incorrect
s itting position in the veh icle wh ile trave ling
c:> & .
A WARNING
Improperly worn safety belts increase the risk
o f serious personal injury and death whenever
a vehicle is being used .
- Always make sure tha t all vehicle occupants
are correctly restrained and stay in a correct
seating position whenever the vehicle is be­
ing used.
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other important information
c:> page 261.
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 ten sioners
The safety belts on the front seats are equipped
with power reversible tensioners. The following
functions are available when the driver's/front passenger's safety belts are fastened:
- In certain driving situations, the safety belts
may tighten with a reversible tens ion ing func­
t ion
i::>page 133 .
- The safety belts may a lso tighten with this re­
versib le tensioning function in minor collis ions.
Pyrotechnic safety b elt pr eten sion ers
;:::: The safety belts are equipped with sa fety belt r---
~ pretensioners . The system is activated by sensors 0
~ in front, side and rear-end co llisions of great se-oo
Safet y be lts
verity and in a rollover. This tightens the belt and
takes up belt
slack ¢&. in Service and disposal of
safety belt pretensioner on page 266.
Taking up
the slack helps to reduce forward occupant movement during a collision.
A WARNING Co---
- It is poss ible for the pretensioners to deploy
i n correctly.
- The pyrotechnic system can only provide
protection for one collision. If the pyrotech­
n ic pretens ioners deploy, the pretensioning
sys tem must be replaced.
@ Tips
The pyrotechn ic safety belt pretensioners can
o nly deploy once.
- The safety belt pretensioners do not deploy
in minor frontal, side and rear-end colli­
sions .
- A fine dust is re leased when the pyrotechnic
safety belt pretensioners deploy . This is nor­
mal and is not caused by a fi re in the ve hi­
cle.
- The relevant safety requirements must be
observed when the vehicle or components
of the system are scrapped. A q ualified
dealership is familiar with these regulat io ns
and wi ll be pleased to pass on the informa ­
tion to you.
- Be sure to observe all safety, envi ronment al
and other regulat ions if the vehicle or in di­
vidua l parts of the system, particularly the
safety belt or airbag, are to be disposed . We
recommend you have yo ur authorized Aud i
dealer perform this service for you.
Service and disposal of safety belt preten­
sioner
T he safety belt p retensioners are pa rts of the
safety belts on your Aud i. Insta llin g, removing,
servicing or repair ing of be lt pretens io ners can
damage the safety belt system and prevent it
from wo rking correctly in a co llision .
T he re are some important things you have to
k now to make s ure tha t the effectiveness of the
system will not be impaired and that discarded
IJI-
265

Airbag syste m
also not inflate in s ide or rear collisions, or in
ro ll-overs.
Al wa ys rememb er: Airbags will deploy only once,
and on ly in ce rtain k inds of coll is ions. Yo ur safety
be lts are always there to offer protection in those
situations in which airbags are not supposed to
dep loy, or when they have already deployed; for
examp le, when your vehicle str ikes or is struck by
another vehicle after the first coll is ion.
This is just one of the reasons why an airbag is a
supp lementary restraint and is not a substitute
for a safety belt. The a irbag system works most
effect ively when used with the safety belts.
Therefore, always properly wear your safety belts
r=;, page 258.
A WARNING
Sitting too close to the steering wheel o r in­
st rument panel will decrease the effective­
ness of the airbags and will inc rease the risk
of personal injury in a co llision.
- Never sit closer than 10 inches (25 cm) to
the steering wheel or instrument panel.
- If you cannot si t mo re than 10 inches
(25 cm) from the steering wheel, invest i­
gate whether adaptive equipment may be
available to help yo u reach the pedals and
increase your seating distance from the
steering wheel.
- All veh icle occupants and especially children
must be restrained properly whenever riding
in a vehicle. An unrestrained or improperly
restra ined child could be injured by striking
the interior or by being ejected from the ve­
hicle during a sudden maneuver or impact.
An unrestrained or imp roperly restrained
child is also at greate r risk of inju ry or death
through contact with an inflating airbag.
- If you are unrestrained, leaning fo rwa rd, s it­
t ing s ideways or o ut o f pos ition in any way,
yo ur risk of in ju ry is much h igher.
- Yo u will also receive serious injuries and
c ould even be killed if you are up aga inst the
air bag or too close to it when it inflates
-
even with an Advanced Airbag.
2 6 8
-
- To reduce the ris k of i njury when an a irbag
inflates, always wea r safety belts properly
r=;, page 262, Safety belts.
- Always make certa in that children age 12 or
younger always ride in the rear seat. If chil­
dren are not properly restrained, they may be severely injured or killed when an airbag
inflates.
- Never let ch ildren ride unrestra ined or im­
properly restrained in the vehicle. Ad just the
front seats properly.
- Never ride with the back rest recl ined .
- Always sit as far as possible from the steer-
ing wheel or the instrument panel
r=;, page 248.
- Always sit upright w ith 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 floor in front of the seat to help pre­
vent serious injur ies to the legs and hips if
the airbag inflates.
- Never recl ine the front passenger's seat to
transpo rt objects . Items can also move in to
the area of the s ide a irbag or the front air­
bag du ring brak ing o r in a sudden maneu­
ver. Obje cts nea r the airbags can become
projecti les and cause injury when an airbag
inflates.
A WARNING
A irbags 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 tools and
diagnostic equipment to properly replace
any airbag in your 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 impo rtant info rmat ion and
heed the WARN INGS for important deta ils
.,.

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about children and Advanced Airbags
c::>page292 .
Even though yo ur vehicle is equipped with an Ad­
vanced Airbag System, make certain that all chil­
dren, especially those
12 years and younger, a l­
ways ride in the back seat properly restrained for
their age and size. The airbag on the passenger
side makes the front seat a potentially dangerous
place for a child to ride. The front seat is not the
safest place for a child in a forward-facing child
safety seat .
It can be a very dangerous place for
a n infant or a child in a rearward-fac ing seat.
The Advanced Airbag System in your veh icle has
been certified to comply with the requirements
of United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety
Standa rd (FMVSS)
208, as well as Canada Motor
Veh icle Safety Standa rd (CMVSS)
208 as applica­
b le a t the time your veh icle was m an ufact ured.
Accord ing to requirements, the front Advanced
Airbag System on the passenger side has been
certified for "suppression" for infants of about
12 month old and younger and for "low risk de­
ployment" for children aged 3 to 6 years old (as
defined in the standard) .
The
PASSENGER AIR BAG O FF light in the instru­
ment panel tells you when the front Advanced
Airbag on the passenger side has been turned
off
by the electronic control unit.
Each time yo u switch on the ignition, the
PAS ·
S ENGER AIR BAG OFF
light will come on for a
few seconds and:
- will stay on if the front passenger seat is not
occupied,
- will stay on if the electrical capacitance meas ­
ured by the capac itive passenger detection sys­
tem for the front passenger seat equals the combined capacitance of an infant up to about
one year of age and one of the rearward-facing
or forward-facing child restraints listed in Fed ­
era l Moto r Vehicle Safety Standard
208 w it h
which the Advanced Airbag System in your veh i­
cl e was certified . Fo r a listing of the child
re­
strain ts th at were used to ce rtify you r vehicle's
compliance with the U.S. Safety Standard
c::>page295 .
Airbag sys tem
-wi ll stay on if there is a small child or c hild re­
straint on the front passenger seat,
- will go
off if the front passenge r seat is occu ­
pied by an adult as registered by the capac itive
passenger detection system
c::, page 2 79, Mon­
itoring the Advanced Airbag System.
T he PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF lig ht comes on
when e lectrica l capacitance registered on the
front passenger seat is equal to or less t han the
combined capacitance of a typical
1 year-old in­
fant and one of the rearward-facing or forward­
facing child restraints listed in Federal Motor
Ve­
hicle Safety Standard 208 w ith which the Ad ­
vanced Airbag System in your vehicle was certi­
fied.
If the total e lectr ica l capacitance reg istered on
t h e front passenger seat is more than that of a
typ ical 1 year-old ch ild but less than the weight
of a sma ll adult, the front airbag on the passen­
ger side can deploy (the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
light does not come on).
If the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does not
come on, the front airbag on the passenger side
has not been turned off by the electron ic con trol
u ni t and can dep loy if the control unit senses an
impact that meets the cond itions s tored in its
memory .
For example , th e airbag may deplo y if:
- a small ch ild that is heav ier than a typ ical 1
year-o ld child is on the front passenger seat
(regardless of whethe r the child is in one of the
child safety seats listed
c::, page 295), o r
- a child who has outgrown c hild rest raints is on
the front passenge r seat.
If the front passenger airbag is turned off, the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on in the
inst rument cluste r and stays on .
If the front passenger airbag deploys, the Feder­
al Standard requires the airbag to meet the " low
risk" deployment cr iteria to reduce the r isk of
in­
jury through interact ion w ith the airbag . "Low
r isk" dep loymen t occurs in those crashes tha t
t ak e place at lowe r decelerations as defined in
the e lectronic cont rol unit
c::, page 2 79, PASSEN -
GER AIR BAG OFF light.
Ill>
269

Airbag syste m
Always remember, a child safety seat or infant
carrier installed on the front seat may be struck
and knocked out of position by the rapidly inflat­
ing passenger's airbag in a frontal collision. The
airbag could greatly reduce the effectiveness of
the child restraint and
even seriously injure the
child dur ing inflation.
For this reason, and because the back seat is the
safest place for children - when properly restrain­
ed according to the ir age and size -we strongly
recommend that children always sit in the back
seat ¢ page 292, Child safety.
A WARNING
A child in a rearward-facing chi ld safety seat
installed on the front passenger seat w ill be
seriously injured and can be killed if the front
airbag inflates -
even with an Advanced Airbag
System.
- The inflating airbag will hit the child safety
seat or infant carrier with great force and
will smash the chi ld safety seat and child
against the backrest, center armrest, door
or roof.
- Always install rear-facing child safety seats
on the rear seat.
- If you must install a rearward facing chi ld
safety seat on the front passenger seat be­ cause of exceptional circumstances and the
PA SSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does not
come on and stay on, immed iately install
the rear-fac ing ch ild safety seat in a rear
seat ing pos ition and have the airbag system
inspected by your Audi dealer.
- Forward-facing ch ild safety seats installed
on the front passenger's seat may interfere
with the deployment of the airbag and ca use serio us personal injury to the child .
A WARNING
If, in exceptional circumstances, you must in­
stall a forward-facing chi ld restraint on the
front passenger's seat:
- Always make sure the forward -facing seat
has been designed and ce rtified by its man­
u facturer for use on a front seat with a pas­
senger front and side a irbag.
270
- Never put the fo rward-facing child restraint
up against or
very near the instrument pan­
el.
- Always move the front passenger seat to
the highest posit ion in the up and down ad­
justment range and move it back to the rearmost posit ion in the seat's fore and aft
ad justment range, as far away from the a ir­
bag as poss ible, before install ing the for­
ward-facing chi ld restraint.
- Always make sure that the safety be lt upper
anchorage is behind the ch ild rest raint and
not next to o r in front of the child rest raint
so that the safety be lt will be properly posi­
tioned.
- Ma ke sure that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
light comes on and stays on a ll the time
wheneve r the ignit ion is switched on .
A WARNING
-
To reduce the risk of serious injury, make sure
that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light will
be d isp layed whenever a ch ild restraint is in­
stalled on the front passenge r seat and the
ignition is switched on.
- If the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does
not stay on, perform the checks described
¢ page 2 79, Monitoring the Advanced Air­
bag System .
-Take the child restraint off the front passen­
ger seat and install it properly at one
of the
rear seat positions if the
PASSENGER AIR
BAG OFF
light does not stay on.
- Have the airbag system inspected by your
Aud i dea le r i mmediately.
- Always carefully follow instructions from child restraint manufacture rs when instal­
ling child restra ints.
A WARNING
If, in exceptional ci rcumstances, you must in­
stall a forward or rearward-fac ing child re­
stra int on the front passenger's seat:
- Improper installat ion of child restr aints can
reduce the ir effectiveness or
even preven t
them from provi ding any pro te ct ion .

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-An improper ly installed ch ild restraint can
interfere with the airbag as it deploys and
seriously injure or even kill the child
-even
with an Advanced Airbag System.
- Always carefu lly follow the manufacturer 's
instructions provided w ith the child safety
seat or carrier.
- Always make sure that there is nothing on
the front passenger seat that w ill cause the
capacit ive passenger detection system in
the seat to signa l to the Airbag System that
the seat is occupied by a person when it is
not, or to signa l tha t it is occ upied by some ­
one who is heavier than the person actua lly
sitting on the seat . The presence of addi ­
tional objects could cause the passenger
front airbag to be turned on when it shou ld
be off, or could cause the airbag to work in a
way that is different from the way it would have worked without the object on the seat .
Front airbags
Description of front airbags
The airbag system can provide supplemental
protection to properly restrained front seat occu­
pants.
Fig. 2 41 Location of driver airbag: in ste.e ring wheel
Airb ag sys tem
Fig. 242 Location of front passenger's airbag: in the in­
st rument pane l
Your vehicle is equipped with an "Advanced Air­
bag System" in compliance with United States
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
(FMVSS) 208, as well as Canada Motor Veh icle
Safety Standard (CMVSS) 208 as applicable at
the time your veh icle was manufactured. The
safe ty belts fo r the seats have "pretensioners"
that help to take slack out of the bel t system.
T he pretensioners are also activated by the e lec ­
tronic control unit for the airbag system .
The front safety belts also have load limiters to
help reduce the fo rces applied to the body in a
c rash .
The airbag for the driver is in the steering wheel
hub
¢ fig. 241 a nd the airbag for the front pas­
senger is in the instrument pane l
~fig. 242. The
general lo cation of the airbags is marked "A IR­
BAG".
There is a lot you need to know about the airbags i n your vehicle. We urge you to read the deta iled
information about airbags, safety be lts and c hild
safety in this and the other chapters that make
u p the owner's literatu re . Please be sure to heed
the WARNINGS
-they are extremely important
for your safety and the safety of your passengers, especially infants and small children.
A WARNING
Never rely on airbags alone for protect ion.
- Even when they deploy, airbags provide only
supplemental protection.
-Airbag work most effectively when used
with properly worn safety be lts .
271