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cupant and the windows on the side of the vehi
cle that is struck in a side coll is ion
c:::> fig . 164.
When the system is triggered, the side curta in
ai rbag is filled with propellant gas and breaks
through a seam above the front and rear side
windows identif ied by the AIRBAG label. In order
to help provide this addit ional protection, the
side curtain airbag must inflate within the blink
of an eye at very h igh speed and with great force .
The s ide curtain a irbag could injure you if your
seating position is not proper or upright o r if
items a re loca ted in the area whe re the supp le
mental side curta in a irbag inflates . T h is applies
espec ia lly to children
c:::> page 172 .
Although they a re not a soft p illow, side c urtain
a ir bags can "cushion" the impa ct and in this way
they can help to red uce the risk of i njur y to the
h ead and the upper part of the body .
A fi ne dust may deve lop when the airbag deploys .
This is quite normal and does not mean there is a
fi re in the ve hicl e.
Important safety instructions on the side
curtain airbag system
Airbags are only supplemental restraints . Always
properly wear safety belts and ride in a proper
seating position .
There is a lot th at yo u and your passengers m ust
know and do to he lp the safety be lts and airbags
do their job to provide supp lemental protect ion .
.&, WARNING
-
Improperly wearing safety belts and improper
seating posit ions increase the risk of serious
personal in jury and death whenever a vehicle
is being used .
- Never let occupants p lace any parts of the ir
bodies in the area from which the side cur
tain a irbag inflate.
- Always make sure that the side curtain air
bags can inflate witho ut interference .
- Use the built- in coat hooks on ly for light
we ight cloth ing. Never leave any heavy or
sharp-edged objects in the pockets that may
Airb ag sys tem
inter fere with a irbag deployment and can
cause persona l injury in a col lision.
- Never use hangers to hang clothes on t he
hooks.
- On ly use factory-insta lled sun shades or, if
shades installed after the vehicle leaves the
factory, use on ly genu ine A udi sun shades.
- Never swing the sun visors over to the s ide
windows if things s uch as pens, garage door
openers, hands-free speakers, etc. are at
tached to the sun v isors. They could come
loose and cause ser ious injury if the side cur
tain airbag infla tes.
- A dep loying airbag inf lates in a fract ion of a
second and with great force.
- Never attach ob jects to the cover or in the
deployment zone of a s ide cu rtain a irbag.
- The airbag deployment zones must be kept
clear at all times. Make s ure there are no
objects, pets, o r othe r persons in the space
between any vehicle occupant and any air
bag at any t ime.
- Do not attach a ny accesso ries to the doors .
.&, WARNING
- The airbag sys tem can deploy o nly once. If
the airbag has been trigge red, the system
m ust be rep lace d by an authori zed A udi
deale r or q ualified works ho p.
- Always have wo rk in vo lv ing the side curtain
ai rb ag system, removal an d inst alla tion of
the air bag componen ts, or o ther repairs
pe rformed by a q ualified dealership. Other
wise the airbag system may not work cor rectly.
- Never attempt to mo dify any components of
the air bag system i n any way .
171
Child safety
Child safety
Important information
Introduction
The rear seat is generally the safest place in a
collision .
The physical principles of what happens when
your vehicle is in a crash apply also to children
¢ page 141, What happens to occupants not
wearing safety belts? .
But unlike adults and
teenagers, their muscles and bones are not fully
developed. In many respects children are at
g reater r isk of serious injury in crashes than
adults .
Because children's bodies are not fully devel
oped, they require restraint systems especially
des igned for their size, weight, and body struc
ture. Many countries and all states of the United
States and provinces of Canada have laws requir
ing the use of approved child restraint systems
for infants and small children .
I n a frontal crash at a speed of 20-35 mph
(30-56 km/h) the forces acting on a 13 -pound
(6 kg) infant will be more than 20 times the
weight of the child. This means the weight of the child would suddenly be more than 260 pounds
(120 kg) . Under these conditions, only an appro
priate child restraint properly used can reduce
the risk of serious injury . Child restra ints, like
adu lt safety belts, must be used properly to be
effect ive. Used improperly, they can increase the
risk of serious injury in an acc ident.
All ch ildren, especially those 12 years and young
er must always ride in the back seat properly re
stra ined for their age and size. If you must insta ll
a child restraint on the front passenger seat in
exceptional circumstances, be sure to read and
heed the important information and warnings
¢
page 149. Infants and other children who are
properly restrained in an appropriate child re
straint that is for their si ze and age can benefit
from the protection that supplemental side air
bags provide in some kinds of crashes .
For more information please see information
provided by the:
172
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA), currently at: http :/ /www.safe
rcar.gov (for the USA)
- Transport Canada Information Centre, current-
ly at: http://www.tc.gc.ca (for Canada)
Consult the child safety seat manufacturer's in
structions in order to be sure the seat is right fo r
your chi ld's size ¢
page 176, Important safety
instructions for using child safety seats .
Please
be sure to read and heed all of the important in
formation and WARNINGS about child safety,
Advanced Airbags, and the installation of child restra ints in this chapter .
There is a lot you need to know about the Ad
vanced Airbags in your vehicle and how they work
when infants and children in child restraints are on the front passenger seat . Because of the large
amount of important informat ion , we cannot re
peat it all here. We urge you to read the detailed
i nformation in this owner's manual about airbags
and the Advanced Airbag System in your vehicle
and the very important information about trans
porting children on the front passenger seat.
Please be sure to heed the WARNINGS -they are
extremely important for your safety and the safe
ty of your passengers, especially infants and
small children .
A WARNING
-Accident statistics have shown that children
are generally safer in the rear seat area than
in the front seat ing pos ition. Always restrain
any child age 12 and under in the rear.
-All vehicle occupants and especially children
must be restra ined prope rly whenever rid ing
in a vehicle. An un restrained or improperly
restrained 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 improperly restrained
child is a lso at greater risk of injury or death
through contact w ith an inflating airbag.
-A suitable ch ild restraint properly installed
and used at one of the rear seating positions
provides the highest degree of protect ion
for infants and small children in most acc i
dent situat ions.
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Child ren on the front seat of any car even w ith
Advanced Airbags can be seriously injured or
even killed when an airbag inflates. A child in
a rearward-facing child safety seat installed
on the front passenger seat will be seriously
injured and can be killed if the front airbag in
flates.
- The inflating airbag will hit the child safety
seat or infant carrier with great force and
will smash the ch ild safety seat and child
against the backrest, center armrest, or
door.
- Always install rear-facing child safety seats
on the rear seat.
- If you must install a rearward fac ing ch ild
safety seat on the front passenger seat in
exceptiona l circumstances and the
PA SSEN
GER AIR BAG OFF
light does not come on
and stay on, immediately insta ll the rear
facing child safety seat in a rear seating po
sition and have the airbag system inspected immediately by your Audi dealer.
A WARNING
- Forward-facing chi ld seats installed on the
front passenger seat may interfere with the deployment of the a irbag and cause serious
personal injury to the child.
- If exceptional circumstances require the use
of a forward-facing child restraint on the
front passenger's seat, the child's safety and well-being require the following special
precautions to be taken:
- Always make sure that the forward-facing
seat has been designed and certified by its
manufacturer for use on a front passenger
seat with a front and side airbag.
- Always carefully follow the manufacturer's
instructions provided with the child seat
or infant carrier.
- Never install a child restraint without a
properly attached top tether strap if the
child restraint manufacturer's instructions require the top tether strap to be used.
Ch ild safety
-Never put the forward-facing child re
straint up against or very near the instru
ment panel.
- Always set the safety belt upper anchor
age to the adjustment position that per
mits proper installation in accordance
with the child restraint manufacturer's in
structions.
- Always move the front passenger seat to
the h ighest position in the up and down
adjustment range and move it back to the
rearmost position in the seat's fore and
aft adjustment range, as far away from
the a irbag as poss ible, befo re installing
the forward-facing child restraint .
- Always make sure that the safety belt up
per anchorage is behind the chi ld restraint
and not next to or in front of the child re
straint so that the safety belt wi ll be prop
erly positioned.
- Always make sure that nothing prevents
the front passenger's seat from being
moved to the rearmost position in its fore
and aft adjustment range.
- Never place objects on the seat (such as a
laptop, CD player, electronic games de
vice, power inverter or seat heater for
ch ild seats) . These may influence the elec
trical capacitance measured by the capac i
tive passenger detection system and can
also fly around in an acc ident and cause
serious personal injury.
- Never place or use any elect rical device
(such as a laptop, CD player, electronic
games device, power inverter or seat heat
er for child seats) on the front passenger
seat if the device is connected to the 12-
vo lt socket or the cigarette lighter socket.
- If a seat heater has been retrofitted or
otherwise added to the front passenger
seat, never insta ll any child restraint sys
tem on this seat.
- Make sure that there are no wet objects
(such as a wet towe l) and no water or oth
er liquids on the front passenger seat
cushion .
- Always make sure that the
PASS ENGER
AI R BA G OFF
light comes on and stays on
17 3
Child safety
all the time whenever the ignition is
switched on.
- If the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
does not come on and stay on, immediate
ly install the forward-facing child seat in a
rear seating position and have the airbag
system inspected by your authorized Audi
dealer .
- Always buckle the child seat firmly in
place even if a ch ild is not sitt ing in it. A
loose child seat can fly around during a
sudden stop or in a collision.
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS
whenever using a child restraint in a vehi
cle ¢
page 140, Safety belts, ¢ page 148,
Airbag system
and ¢ page 172, Impor
tant information .
(j) Tips
Always replace child restraints that were in
stalled in a vehicle during a crash. Damage to
a child restraint that is not visible could cause
it to fail in another collision situation.
Advanced front airbag system and children
Your vehicle is equipped with a front "Advanced
Airbag System" in compliance with United States
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS)
208, as well as Canada Motor Vehicle Safety
Standard (CMVSS) 208 as applicable at the time
your vehicle was manufactured.
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 small adults on the driver side.
The low risk deployment criteria are intended to
reduce the risk of injury through interaction with
the airbag that can occur, for example, by being
too close to the steering whee l and instrument
panel when the airbag inflates. In addition, the
system has been certified to comply with the
"suppression" requirements of the Safety Stand
ard, to turn off the front airbag for infants up to 12 months who are restrained on the front pas
senger seat in child restraints that are listed in
the Standard.
174 Even
though your vehicle is equipped with an Ad
vanced Airbag system, all children, especially
those 12 years and younger, should always 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 ch ild 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 an infant or a
larger child in a rearward-facing seat.
The vehicle's Advanced Airbag System has a ca pacitive passenger detection system in the front
passenger seat cushion that can detect the pres
ence of a baby or a child in a child restraint sys
tem on this seat.
The capacitive passenger detection system regis
ters the changes that result in an electrical field
when a child, a child restraint, and a baby blanket
are on the front passenger seat. The change in
the measured capacitance due to the presence of
a child, a child restraint, and a baby blanket on
the front passenger seat is related to the child
restraint system resting on the seat. The meas
ured capacitance of a child restraint system var
ies depending on the type of system and specific
make and model.
The electrical ca pacita nee of the various types, makes, and models of child restraints specified
by the U .S .National Highway Traffic Safety Ad
ministration (NHTSA) in the relevant safety
standard are stored in the Advanced Airbag Sys
tem control unit together with the capacitances
typical of infants and a 1-year old child. When a
ch ild restraint is used on the front passenger
seat with a typical 1 year-old infant, the Ad
vanced Airbag System compares the capacitance measured by the capacitive passenger detection
system with the data stored in the electronic con
trol unit .
Child restraints and Advanced front airbag
system
Regardless of the child restraint that you use,
make sure that it has been certified to meet Safe
ty Standards and has been certified by its manu-
facturer for use with an airbag. Always be sure .,.
Child safety
-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
authorized Audi dealer immediately.
(D Tips
The child seats listed in categories A to C have
been statically tested by Audi only for the Ad
vanced Airbag function.
Important safety instructions for using
child safety seats
Correct use of child safety seats substantially re
duces the risk of injury in an accident!
As the driver, you are responsible for the safety
of everybody in the vehicle, especially children:
.,. Always use the right child safety seat for each
child and always use it properly
c::> page 178.
.,. Always carefully follow the child safety seat
manufacturer's instructions on how to route
the safety belt properly through the child safe
ty seat .
.,. When using the vehicle safety belt to install a
child safety seat , you must first activate the
convertible locking retractor on the safety belt
to prevent the child safety seat from moving
c::> page 183.
.,. Push the child safety seat down with your full
weight to get the safety belt really tight so that
the seat cannot move forward or sideways
more than one inch (2.5 cm).
.,. Secure unused safety belts on the rear seat
c::> page 178 .
Always remember: Even though your vehicle is
equipped with an Advanced Airbag system, all
children, especially those 12 years and younger,
should always ride in the back seat properly re
strained for their age and size.
.&, WARNING
Not using a child safety seat, using the wrong
child safety seat or improperly installing a
176
child restraint increases the risk of serious
personal injury and death.
- All vehicle occupants and especially 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 during a sudden maneuver or impact .
An unrestrained or improperly restrained
child is also at greater risk of injury or death
through contact with an inflating airbag.
- Commercially available child safety seats
are required to comply with U.S. Federal
Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 213
(in Canada CMVSS 213).
- When buying a child restraint, select one
that fits your child and the vehicle .
- Only use child restraint systems that fully
contact the flat portion of the seat cush ion. The child restraint must not tip or
lean to either side . Audi does not recom
mend using child safety seats that rest on
legs or tube-like frames. They do not pro
vide adequate contact with the seat.
- Always heed all legal requirements per
taining to the installation and use of child
safety seats and carefully follow the in
structions provided by the manufacturer
of the seat you are using.
- Never allow children under 57 inches
(1.45 meters) to wear a normal safety belt .
They must always be restrained by a proper
child restraint system. Otherwise, they
could sustain injuries to the abdomen and
neck areas during sudden braking maneu
vers or accidents .
- Never let more than one child occupy a child
safety seat.
- Never let babies or older children ride in a
vehicle while sitting on the lap of another
passenger .
- Holding a child in your arms is never a sub
stitute for a child restraint system .
- The strongest person could not hold the
child with the forces that exist in an acci
dent. The child will strike the interior of
the vehicle and can also be struck by the
passenger.
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jure each other in a n accident .
- Never install rear-facing chi ld safety seats
or infant carriers on the front passenger
seat. A child will be serious ly injured and
can be killed when the passenger airbag in
flates - even with an Advanced Airbag Sys
tem.
- The inflating a irbag will hit the child safety
seat or infant carrier with great force and
will smash the ch ild safety seat and chi ld
against the backrest, center armrest, door
o r roof.
- Always install rear-facing child safety seats
or infant carriers on the rear seat.
- Make sure there is enough space in front of
the ch ild in the child seat. If necessary, ad
just the ang le and posit ion of the seat in
front of the child sea t.
- Forward-fac ing ch ild safety seats installed
on the front passenger's seat can inte rfe re
with the airbag when it inflates and cause
serious injury to the child . Always insta ll for
ward-facing child safety seats on the rear
seat.
- If exceptional circumstances require the use
of a forward-facing child restraint on the
front passenger's seat, the child's safety and well-being require that the following
special precautions be taken:
- Make sure the forward-fa cing seat h as
been designed and certif ied by its manu
facturer for use on a front seat with a pas
senger front and side airbag.
- Always care fully follow the manufacturer's
instr uctions provided with the child safety
seat or carrier.
- Always move the front passenger seat to the highest position in the up and down
ad justment range and move it back to the
rearmost posit ion in the seat's fore and
aft adjustment range, as far away from
the airbag as possible, before installing
the forward-fac ing ch ild restraint .
- Always make sure that the safety be lt up
per anchorage is behind the child restra int
and not next to or in front of the child re-
Ch ild safety
straint so that the safety belt wi ll be prop
erly pos it ioned.
- Always make sure that nothing prevents
the front passenger's seat from being
moved to the rearmost position in its fore
and aft adjustment range.
- Always make sure that the backrest is in the upright posit ion.
- Never place or use any elect rical device
(such as a laptop, CD player, electronic
games device, power inverter or seat heat
er for child seats) on the front passenger
seat if the device is connected to the 12-
vo lt socket or the cigarette lighter soc ket.
- If a seat heater has been retrofitted or othe rw ise added to t he fron t passenger
seat, neve r insta ll any child rest raint sys
tem on this seat.
- Make su re that there a re no wet objects
(such as a wet towe l) and no water or oth
er liquids on the front passenger sea t
cush ion .
- Neve r place objects o n the sea t (such as a
laptop, CD player, e lect ronic games de
vice, power inverter or seat heater for
child seats). These may inf luence the elec
trical capacitance meas ured by t he capac i
tive passenger detection system and can also fly around in an acc ident and cause
serious personal injury.
- Always buckle the child safety seat firm ly in
p lace even if a ch ild is not sitt ing in it. A
loose child safety seat can fly around dur ing
a sudde n stop or i n a co llision .
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS when
ever us ing a child restrained in a vehicle is
be ing used ~
page 140, Safety belts,
<=> page 148, Airbag system and
<=> page 172, Child safe ty.
_&. WARNING
To reduce the risk of serious injury, ma ke sure
t h at the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF ligh t
comes on and stays on whenever a child re
straint is installed on the front passenger seat
and the ign it ion is switched on. ..,
177
Child safety
-Take the child restraint off the front passen
ger seat and install it proper ly at one of the
rear seat positions if the
PASSEN GER AIR
BA G OF F
light does not stay on.
- Have the airbag system inspected by your
authorized Aud i dealer immediately.
Secure unused safety belts on the rear seat
l8
,h- --lJ ;g
--- 0
Fig . 16 5 Schematic overv iew: keep unused safety be lts
away from chi ld ren i n chil d safety seats.@-oute r rear
safety belt, @ - center rear safety be lt*
~
If a chi ld safety seat is used on the rear bench,
especially with LA TCH universal lower anchorag
es, the unused safety be lts
mu st be secured so
that the child in the child restraint cannot reach
them ¢,& .
- Gu ide the safety belt webbings @and
®* be
hind the head restraint of the seat where the
child restraint is installed
¢fig. 165. When do
ing so, do not engage the convertib le locking
retractor! You should not hear a "clicking"
sound when w inding up the safety be lt .
- Let the belt retractor wind up the safety belt
webb ing .
_& WARNING
A ch ild in a child safety seat installed with the
LATC H lowe r anchorages or w ith the standard
safety belt or a child in a booste r seat on the
rear seat could p lay wit h unused rear seat
safety belts and become entangled. This
cou ld cause t he chi ld ser ious personal injury
and even death.
- Always sec ure unused rear seat safety belts
o ut of reach of ch ild ren in child seats such
as by proper ly routing them aro und the
178
head restraint of the seat where the child
restraint is installed .
- Never activate t he convertible locking re
tractor when routing the safety belts around
the head restraints.
- Never let anyone s it at the center rear seat
ing position if the center rear safety belt has
been routed around a rear head restraint.
Child seats
Infant seats
Babies and infants up to about one year old and
20 lbs . or
9 kg need special rearward-facing
child restraints that support the back, neck and
head in a crash.
Fig. 166 Sc hema tic ove rview : rearward -facing infa nt sea t,
p rope rly installed on th e rear sea t
.. When using the veh icle safe ty belt to install a
c hild safe ty seat, yo u must first a ct ivate the
convertib le locking re tractor on the safe ty belt
to prevent the child safety seat from moving
r::!>poge 183 or insta ll the seat using the LATCH
attachments .
.. Push the child safety seat down with your full
weight to get the safety belt really tight so that
the seat cannot move forward or sideways
more than one inch (2 .5 cm).
.. Secure unused safety bel ts on the rear seat
c:!> page 178 .
Infants up to about one year (20 lbs . or 9 kg) are
bes t protected in special infant carr iers and child
safe ty seats designed for the ir age group. Many
expe rts be lieve that infa nts and small ch ildren
sho uld r ide o nly in special res tra ints in wh ich the
ch ild faces the back of the vehicle. These infant
II>
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crash
¢ fig. 166.
The a irbag on the passenger side makes the front
seat a potentia lly dangerous p lace for a child to
ride . The front seat is not the safest place for a
child in a forward-facing chi ld seat. It is a very
dangerous place for an infant or a larger child in
a rearward-facing seat .
A WARNING
Not using a child safety seat, using the wrong
child safety seat or improperly installing a
child restra int increases the r isk of serious
personal injury and death in a crash .
- Never install rear -facing child safety seats
or infant carriers on the front passenger
seat -even with an Advanced Airbag System.
A ch ild will be seriously injured and can be
killed when the inflating airbag hits the
child safety seat or infant carrier with great
force and smashes the child safety seat and
child against the backrest, center armrest
'
door or roof c> page 149, Child restraints on
the front seat -some important things to
know .
-Always install rear-facing child safety seats
or infant carriers on the rear seat.
- Never install a rear-facing child restraint in the forward-facing direction. Such restraints
are designed for the spec ial needs of infants
and very small children and cannot protect
them properly if the seat is forward-facing .
- If you must install a rearward facing ch ild
safety seat on the front passenger seat be
cause of exceptiona l circumstances and the
PAS SENGER AIR BAG OFF light does not
come on and stay on, immed iate ly install
the rear-facing child safety seat in a rear
seating position and have the airbag system
inspected by your Audi dealer .
- Never place or use any electrical device (such as a laptop, CD player, electronic
games dev ice, power inverter or seat heater
for child seats) on the front passenger seat
if the device is connected to the 12-volt
socket or the cigarette lighter socket .
Child safety
-If a seat heater has been retrofitted or oth
erwise added to the front passenger seat,
never install any child restra int system on
this seat .
- Make sure that there are no wet objects
(such as a wet towel) and no water or other
liquids on the front passenger seat cush ion.
- Never place objects on the seat (such as a
laptop, CD p layer, electronic games device,
power inverter o r seat heater for ch ild
seats) . These may influence the electrical
capacitance measu red by the capacitive pas
senger detect ion system and can also fly
aro und in an accident and cause serious per
sonal injury .
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS when
ever us ing a child restrained in a vehicle is
being used
¢ page 140, Safety belts,
¢ poge 148, Airbag system and
¢ page 172, Important information.
179