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load. The tire pressure label lists the recom
mended cold tire inflation pressures for the
vehicle at its maximum capacity weight and
the tires that were on your vehicle at the
time it was manufactured. For recommend
ed tire pressures for normal load condi
tions, please see chapter
c:> page 344 .
Tie-downs
The luggage compartment is equipped with four
tie-downs to secure luggage and other items .
Use the tie-downs to secure your cargo properly
c:> page 261, Loading the luggage compartment.
In a collision, the laws of physics mean that even
smaller items that are loose in the vehicle will
become heavy missiles that can cause serious in
jury. Items in the vehicle possess energy which
vary with vehicle speed and the weight of the
item . Vehicle speed is the most significant factor .
For example, in a frontal collision at a speed of
30 mph (48 km/h), the forces acting on a 10 -lb
(4 .5 kg) object are about 20 times the normal
weight of the item . This means that the weight
of the item would suddenly be about
200 lbs . (90 kg). You can imagine the injuries
that a 200 lbs. (90 kg) item flying free ly through
the passenger compartment could cause in a col
lision like this.
A WARNING
Weak, damaged or improper straps used to
secure items to tie-downs can fail during hard
braking or in a collision and cause serious per
sonal injury.
- Always use suitable mounting straps and
properly secure items to the tie-downs in
the luggage compartment to help prevent
items from shifting or flying forward as dan
gerous missiles .
- When the rear seat backrest is folded down,
always use suitable mounting straps and
properly secure items to the tie-downs in
the luggage compartment to help prevent
items from flying forward as dangerous
missiles into the passenger compartment .
-
Driving safety
-Never attach a child safety seat tether strap
to a tie-down.
Reporting Safety Defects
Applicable to U.S.A.
If you believe that your vehicle
has a defect which could cause a
crash or could cause injury or
death, you should immediately in
form the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA) in
addition to notifying Audi of
America, Inc.
If NHTSA receives similar com
plaints, it may open an investiga
tion, and if it finds that a safety
defects exists in a group of
vehicles, it may order a recall and
remedy campaign. However,
NHTSA cannot become involved in
individual problems between you,
your dealer, or Audi of America,
Inc.
To contact the N HTSA, you may
either call:
Tel.:
1-888-327-4236 (TTY:
1-800-424-9153) or
1 -800- 424-9393
or you may write to:
263
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General information
Always wear safety belts!
Wearing safety belts correctly saves lives!
This chapter explains why safety belts are neces
sary, how they work and how to adjust and wear
them correctly.
~ Read all the information that follows and heed
all of the instructions and WARNINGS.
A WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them im
properly increases the risk of serious personal
injury and death.
- Safety belts are the single most effective
means available to reduce the risk of serious
injury and death in automobile accidents.
For your protection and that of your passen
gers, always correctly wear safety belts
when the vehicle is moving.
- Pregnant women, injured, o r physically im
paired persons must also use safety belts.
Like all vehicle occupants, they are more
likely to be serio usly injured if they do not
wear safety belts. The best way to protect a
fetus is to protect the mother -throughout
the entire pregnancy.
Number of seats
Applies to: Vehicles with five seats: Your vehicle
has two front seats and three rear seats. Each
seating position has a safety belt.
Applies to: Vehicles with seven seats: Your
vehicles has two front seats, three seats in the second row and two seats in the third row. Each
seating position has a safety belt.
A WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them im
properly increases the risk of serious personal
injury and death.
- Never strap more than one person, includ
ing small children, into any belt.
It is espe-
Safety belts
cially dangerous to place a safety be lt over a
child sitting on your lap.
- Never let more peop le ride in the vehicle
than there are safety belts available .
- Be sure everyone riding in the vehicle is
proper ly restrained with a separate safety
belt or ch ild restraint .
Safety belt warning light
Your vehicle hos a warning system for the driver
and front seat passenger to remind you about the importance of buckling-up.
Fig. 227 Safety belt warn ing ligh t in the instrument clus
ter -enlarged
Before driving off, always:
~ Fasten your safety belt and make sure you are
wearing it properly.
~
~ Make sure that your passengers also buckle up
and properly wear their safety belts.
~ Protect children with a child restraint system
appropr iate for the size and age .
The warning light . in the instrument cluster
lights up when the ignition is switched on as a re
minder to fasten the safety belts. In addition,
you w ill hear a warn ing tone for a certain period
of time.
Fasten your safety belt and make sure that your
passengers also properly put on their safety
belts .
A WARNING ,.____ -
-Safety belts are the single most effective
means available to reduce the risk of serious
inj ury and death in automobile accidents.
F or your protection and that of your
265
Safety belts
Important safety instructions about safety
belts
Safety belts must always be correctly positioned across the strongest bones of your body.
• Always wear safety belts as illustrated and de
scribed in this chapter .
• Make sure that your safety belts are always
ready for use and are not damaged .
~ WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them im
properly increases the risk of serious personal
injury and death. Safety belts can work only
when used correctly.
- Always fasten your safety belts correctly be
fore driving off and make sure all passen
gers are correctly restrained.
- For maximum protection, safety belts must
always be positioned properly on the body.
- Never strap more than one person, includ
ing small children, into any belt.
- Never place a safety belt over a child sitting
on your lap.
-Always keep feet in the footwell in front of
the seat while the vehicle is being driven .
- Never let any person ride with their feet on
the instrument panel or sticking out the
window or on the seat.
- Never remove a safety belt while the vehicle
is mov ing. Doing so will increase your risk of
being injured or killed.
- Never wear belts twisted.
- Never wear belts over rigid or breakable ob-
jects in or on your clothing, such as eye glasses, pens, keys, etc., as these may cause
injury.
- Never allow safety belts to become dam
aged by being caught in door or seat hard
ware.
- Do not wear the shoulder part of the belt
under your arm or otherwise out of position.
- Several layers of heavy clothing may inter
fere with correct positioning of belts and re duce the overall effectiveness of the system.
268
- Always keep belt buckles free of anything
that may prevent the buckle from latching
securely.
- Never use comfort clips or devices that cre
ate slack in the shoulder belt. However, spe
cial clips may be required for the proper use
of some child restraint systems.
- Torn or frayed safety belts can tear, and
damaged belt hardware can break in an acci
dent. Inspect belts regularly.
If webbing,
bindings, buckles, or retractors are dam
aged, have belts replaced by an authorized
Audi dealer or qualified workshop.
- Safety belts that have been worn and loaded
in an accident must be replaced with the
correct replacement safety belt by an au
thorized Audi dealer. Replacement may be
necessary even if damage cannot be clearly
seen. Anchorages that were loaded must al
so be inspected.
- Never remove, modify, disassemble, or try
to repair the safety belts yourself.
-Always keep the belts clean. Dirty belts may
not work properly and can impair the func
tion of the inertia reel
c::> table Interior
cleaning on page 356.
Safety belts
Fastening safety belts
Safety first -everybody buckle up!
Fig. 233 Be lt bu ckle and to ngue on the driver's seat
To provide maximum protection, safety belts
must always be positioned correctly on the wear
er 's body.
• Adjust the front seat and head restraint proper-
ly
c::> page 59, Front seats. .,.
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is in an upright position and securely latched in
place before using the belt¢.&_ .
.. Pull the safety belt evenly across the chest and
pelvis ¢
fig. 233, ¢ .&_ .
.. 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 buckle.
Automatic safety belt retractors
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 also lock when you drive up or down a steep
hill or through a sharp curve. During normal driv
ing the belt lets you move freely.
Safety belt pretensioners
The safety belts are equipped with a belt preten
sioner that helps to tighten the safety belt and
remove slack when the pretensioner is activated
¢
page 2 71 . The function of the pretensioner is
monitored by a warning light
q page 29.
Convertible locking retractor
Every safety belt except the one on the driver
seat is equipped with a convertible locking retrac
tor that
must be used when the safety belt is
used to attach a child safety seat. Be sure to read
the important information about this feature
¢page 306.
.&._ WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can cause
serious injury in an accident
q page 269,
Safety belt position.
- Safety belts offer optimum protection only
when the seatback is upright and belts are
properly positioned 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 securely latched, the passen
ger will move forward with the backrest dur-
Safety belts
ing sudden braking, in a sudden maneuver
and especially in a crash.
- Never attach the safety belt to the buckle
for another seat. Attaching the belt to the
wrong buckle will reduce safety belt effec
tiveness and can cause serious 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 child safety seat in
the vehicle
¢ page 308.
Safety belt position
Correct belt position is the key to getting maxi
mum protection from safety belts .
Fig. 234 Safety belt position
Standard features on your vehicle help you adjust
the position of the safety belt to match your body
size .
- belt height adjustment for the front seats,
- height-adjustable front seats.
.&_ WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can cause
serious personal injury in an accident.
- The shoulder belt should lie as close to the
center of the collar bone as possible and
should fit well on the body. Hold the belt
above the latch tongue and pull it evenly
across the chest so that it sits as low as pos-
sible on the pelvis and there is no pressure
~
269
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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
9 page 257,
.,. Adjust the front passenger's seat properly
¢page 258,
.,. Wear safety belts properly ¢ page 268,
.,. Always properly use the proper child restraint
to protect children ¢
page 295.
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 passenger is not seated
properly. Therefore in order to help the airbag to
do its job, it is important, both as a driver and as
a passenger to sit 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
¢ page 257, Correct
passenger seating positions .
For details on the
operation of the seat adjustment controls
¢page 59.
It's especially important that children are proper
ly restrained
¢page 295.
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
whether an airbag should inflate 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
II>
273
Airbag syste m
also not inflate in s ide or rear collisions, or in
ro llovers.
Alwa 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
c::>page 265.
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 you reach the pedals and
increase your seating distance from the
steering wheel.
- All vehicle 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
could even be killed if you are up aga inst the
airbag or too close to it when it inflates -
even with an Advanced Airbag.
274
-
- To reduce the risk o f injury when an a irbag
inflates, always wear safety belts properly
c::> page 268, 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 backrest recl ined .
- Always sit as far as possible from the steer-
ing wheel or the instrument panel
c::> page 257.
- 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
pro jecti 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 yo ur 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 rtan t in format ion and
heed the WARN INGS for impor tant deta ils .,..
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¢page 295.
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, al
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 OFF ~ ; light in the
headliner tells you when the front Advanced Air
bag on the passenger side has been turned off by
the electronic control unit.
Each time yo u turn on the ignition, the
PASSEN
GER AIR BAG OFF ~; ON
@ light will come on
for a few seconds and:
- PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF~; will come on if
the front passenger seat is not occupied
- PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF~; will come on if
the e lectrica l capacitance measured by the ca
pacitive passenger detection system for the
front passenger seat equa ls the comb ined ca
pacitance of an infant up to about one year of
age and one of the rearward-facing or forward
facing child restra ints listed i n Federa l Moto r
Vehicle Safety Standard ( FMVSS) 208 with
wh ich the Advanced Airbag System i n your veh i
cl e was certified . Fo r a listing of the child re
straints that were used to ce rtify you r vehicle 's
compliance with the Safety Standard
¢ page 297 .
Airb ag sys tem
-PAS SENGER AIR BAG OFF~; will come on if
there is a small chi ld or child restraint on the
front passenger seat
- PASSENGER AIR BAG ON@ will come on if the
front passenger seat is occupied by an ad ult as
registered by the capacit ive passenger detec
tion system
¢ page 285, Monitoring the Ad
vanced Airbag System .
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF~; light comes on
when e lectrical capacitance registered on the
front passenger seat is equal to or less than the
combined capacitance of a typical 1 year-old in
fant and one of the rearward-facing or forward
facing child restrai nts listed in Federal Motor Ve
hicle Safety Standard ( FMVSS) 208 with wh ich
the Advan ced Airbag System in yo ur vehicle was
ce rtified.
If the total electr ical capacitance reg istered on
t h e front passenger seat is mo re than that of a
typ ical 1 year -old ch ild but less than the weight
of a sm all adult, the front air bag 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 p assenger
s ide has not been turned off by the electronic
contro l unit and can deploy if the contro l unit
senses an impact that meets the conditions stor
ed in its memory.
For example , the airbag may deploy if :
-a small c hild that is heav ier than a typ ica l 1
year -o ld child is on the front passenger se at
(regardless o f whethe r the child is in one o f the
child sa fe ty seats listed
¢ page 29 7), o r
- a child who has outgrown c hild rest raints is on
t he front passenge r seat .
If the front passenge r airbag is t urned off, the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF~; light comes on i n
t h e headliner a nd stays o n.
If the front passenger a irbag deploys, the Feder
al Standard requi res the airbag to meet the "low
r isk " dep loymen t criteria to redu ce the r isk of in
j u ry through interaction w it h t he airbag. "Low
risk" deployment oc curs in those crashes that
take place at lowe r decelerations as defined in
Ill>
275
Airbag syste m
the electronic control unit¢ page 285, PASSEN
GER AIR BAG OFF~; ON@ light.
Always remember, a child safety seat or infant
carrier installed on the front seat may be struck
and knocked out of position by the rapid ly inflat
ing passenger's airbag in a fronta l co llision. The
airbag cou ld greatly reduce the effect iveness of
the child restraint and even seriously injure the
child during inflation.
For this reason, and because the back seat is the
safest place for ch ildren -when properly restra in
ed according to the ir age and size -we strong ly
recommend that children always sit in the back
seat ¢
page 295, Child safety.
A WARNING
A child in a rearward-facing child safety seat
installed on the front passenger seat w ill be
ser iously injured and can be killed if the fron t
airbag infla tes -even w ith an Advanced Ai rbag
System.
- T he inflating a irbag w ill 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 ch ild
safety seat on the front passenger seat be
cause of exceptiona l 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 authorized Audi dea ler.
- 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 pe rsonal injury to the child.
A WARNING
If, in except ional circumstances, you must i n
stall a forward -facing chi ld res train t on the
front passenger's seat:
- Alw ays make sure the forward-facing seat
has been designed and ce rt ified by its man-
276
ufacturer for use on a front seat with a pas
senger front and side airbag.
- Never put the forward-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 installing 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 th at the safety be lt will be p roperly posi
tioned.
- Ma ke sure that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF ~;
light comes on and stays on all the
time wheneve r the ign it ion is switched on .
A WARNING
To reduce the risk of serious injury, make sure
that the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF~; light
will be disp layed whenever a ch ild restraint is
installed on the front passenger seat and the
ignit ion is switched on.
- If the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF~; light
does not stay on, perform the checks descri
bed ¢
page 285, Monitoring the Advanced
Airbag System.
- Take the child restra int 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 author ized Audi dealer immed iate ly.
- Always carefully follow instructions from
child restraint manufacturers 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 fron t passenger's seat: ..,.