2018 AUDI A4 traction control

.. Only drive in terrain that is suitable for the ve ­
hicle and your driving ability. Never take any
unnecessary risks!
.. Drive slowly and carefully.
.. Pay attention to the ground cl eara nce of your
vehicle .
.. Activate the o ffroad mod e as needed
~page 147 .
.,. Use the hill de sce nt ass is t when dr iving down
steep h ills
¢page 148.
Difficult ter rain
When driving in unfamiliar areas and offroad,
drive slowly and keep on the watch for unexpect­
ed obstacles (such as potholes, rocks, tree
stumps, etc.).
To prevent the veh icle from bottoming out and to
reduce the risk of underbody damage, you sho uld
d rive across uneven ground on only one side of
the veh icle so that only two of your wheels cross
the uneve n are a, instead of driving across the
center of the uneven area with a ll four wheels .
Drive quick ly through sandy or marshy off-road
sections and do not stop, if at all possible.
Driving through water
Also read the information found i n¢ page 80.
Automatic transmission
Introduction
Applies to: vehicles with automatic transm issions
The automat ic transmission is controlled elec­
tronically. The transmission shifts up o r down au­
tomatically depend ing on which drive program is
se lected .
When a
moderate drivi ng style is used, the
transmission selects the most economical driving
mode. The transmiss ion upshifts at a lower RPM
and downshifts at a higher RPM to improve fuel
efficiency .
The transm ission switches to a sporty mode after
a kick-down or when the driver uses a
s po rty
d rivi ng style
character ized by quick accelerator
pedal movements, heavy acceleration, frequent
D rivi ng
changes in sp eed and traveling at the maximum
speed.
If des ired, t he d river can also se lect the gea rs
manually (tiptronic mo de) ¢ page 94 .
S tronic transmission
The S tron ic is a dual-clutch transmission . Power
is transferred using two clutches that work inde­
pendent ly from one another. They rep lace the
torque conve rter used in convent io nal automatic
transm issions and allow the vehicle to accelerate
without a noticeable interruption in traction.
tiptronic transmission
In th e tiptronic transmission, power is t ransfer­
red by a torque conve rter.
Selecting a selector lever position
Applies to: vehicles with automatic transmissions
Fig. 98 Center console : se lector lever
The current se lector lever position is shown next
to the se lector lever
c::> fig. 98 . The current se lec­
tor leve r position is a lso shown in the instr ument
cl uster disp lay.
.. You may need to release the selector lever lock
depending on wh ich selector leve r pos ition is
selec ted and which one you would like to se­
lect.
.. To do th is, press the locking button (!) on the
selector
l ever¢ fig. 98.
.,. To engage the nearest se lector lever position,
move the selector lever forward/back until you
feel the first pressure po int. The selector lever
w ill return to its original position .
.,. To skip over one selector lever position, move
the selector lever past the pressure point into .,,.
91

a co .... N ,....
N .... 0 0
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Also see¢ page 146, Electronic stabilization
control (ESC) .
The all-wheel drive system dist ributes the d riving
power var iably to the front and rear axle. It works
together with selective whee l torque cont rol,
which activates when driving through curves
c:> page 146. With the sport differentia l*, power
d istribution to the rear wheels is variable and can
be adjusted using the dr ive select
c:> page 134.
The all wheel drive concept is designed for high
engine power. Your ve hicle is exceptionally pow­
erful and has excellent driving characterist ics
both under norma l dr iving condit ions and on
snow and ice . Always read and fo llow safety pre ­
cautions
c:> .&. .
Winter t ires
By us ing all wheel drive, yo ur vehicle has good
forward motion with standard tires in w inte r con­
d itions. However, using winter or all season tires
on
all four wheels in the winter is recommended ,
because this will improve the
braking effec t.
Snow chains
If there are snow chain laws, snow chains must
also be used on vehicles with all wheel drive
c:> page 350, Snow chains .
Replacing tire s
For vehicles with all whee l drive, only whee ls with
the same ro lling circumference s hou ld be used.
Avoid using tires w ith different tread depths
c:> page 341, New tires or wheels.
Offroad vehicle?
The ground clearance is too low on some mode ls
to drive on rough terrain. Therefore, avoid off­ road trips.
A WARNING
-Also, in vehicles with a ll w heel d rive, adapt
your dr iv ing style to the current road and
t raff ic conditions . Do not let the increased
safety provided tempt you into tak ing risks,
because t his increases the r is k of an acci­
dent .
Intellig ent Technology
- The braking ab ility o f your vehicle is limited
to the traction of the wheels. In this way, it
is not different from a two wheel drive vehi­
cle . Do not be tempted to accelerate to a
h igh speed whe n the road is sli ppery, be­
cause this i ncreases the risk of an accident.
- No te that o n wet streets, the fron t wheels
can "hydrop la ne" if dr iv ing at speeds that
are too high. Unlik e front wheel d rive
veh icles, the engine does not rev h ig her sud­
denly when the vehicle begins hydrop laning.
F orthisre ason,ad aptyo urspeedto the
road conditions to re duce the risk of an acci­
dent .
Energy management
The starting ability is optimized
The energy management system manages the
electrical energy distribution and optimizes the
availability of electrical energy for starting the
engine .
When a vehicle with a conventional energy sys­
tem is not drive n for a long time, the ve hicle bat­
te ry is d rained by equipment (for example, t he
immob ilizer). In certa in circ ums tances , there
c ou ld m ay no t be eno ugh e nergy to start the en­
gine.
You r vehicle is equi pped with an in tell igent ener­
gy manageme nt system fo r dist ributing electrici­
ty. This sig nifican tly improves the start ing ability
and in cre ase s t he vehicle battery life.
The ene rgy ma nagement system Is made up of
battery diagnosi s, idling current management ,
and dynamic energy management .
Battery diagnosis
The battery diagnos is determines the vehicle bat­
te ry c harge level. The sensors determine the bat ­
te ry vo ltage, the batte ry cu rrent, and the batte ry
temperat ure. The current c ha rge level and t he
perfo rman ce of the vehicle battery a re de ter-
mine d base d on this.
..,.
151

a co .... N ,....
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3 co
Low -profile tires can wear out faster than stand­
ard tires.
Summer tires are not su itable for cold weather,
snow or b lack ice. If you are driving in these con­
ditions, use winter or all season tires
¢ page 349.
Uniform tire quality grading
-Tread wear
- Traction AA AB C
- T emperature ABC
Qual ity grades can be found where app licable on
the t ire side wa ll between tread shou lde r and
maximum sect ion w idth
¢page 334, fig. 274.
For e xample : Tread wear 200 , Traction AA, Tem­
pe rature
A .
All passenger car tires must conform to Federal
Safety Requirements in addition to these grades.
Tread w ear
The tread wear grade is a comparative rating
based on the wear rate of the tire when tested
under controlled conditions on a specified gov­
ernment test course.
F or example, a tire graded 150 would wear one
and one ha lf
(1 1/2) times as well on the govern­
ment course as a tire graded 100.
The relative performance of tires depends upon
the actual conditions of their use, however, and
may depart significant ly from the norm due to
variations in driving hab its, service practices and
d ifferences i n road characteristics and climate.
Tracti on
The traction grades, from highest to lowest, are
AA, A, Band
C. Those grades represent the tire's
ab ility to stop on wet pavement as measured un­
der controlled conditions on specified govern­
ment test surfaces of asphalt and concrete . A tire
marked C may have poor traction performance
¢ _& .
Temper ature
The temperature grades are A (the h ighest), B,
and C, representing the tire's resistance to the
Wh eel s
generat ion of heat and its ability to dissipate
heat when tested under controlled conditions on
a specified indoor laboratory test wheel.
Sustained h igh temperature can cause the mate­
ria l of the tire to degenerate and reduce tire life,
and excessive temperature can lead to sudden
tire
failure ¢.& .
The grade C corresponds to a level of per form ­
ance which all passenger car tires must meet un­
der the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
No. 109. Grades Band A represe nt higher levels
of performance on the laboratory test wheel than
the minimum requ ired by law.
A WARNING c,...._ -
The tract ion grade assigned to this t ire is
based on straight-ahead braking traction
tests, and does not include acceleration, co r­
nering, hyd roplaning or pea k traction cha rac­
terist ics.
A WARNING
The temperature grade for this tire is estab­
lished for a tire that is properly inflated and
not overloaded . Excessive speed, underinfla­
tion, or excessive loading, either separately or
i n comb inat ion, can cause heat bu ildup and
possib le tire fai lure.
A WARNING
-Temperature grades apply to tires that are
properly inflated and not over or under inflat­
ed.
Tire pressure monitoring system
ill General notes
Each tire, including the spare (if provided),
.
should be checked monthly when cold and inflat-
ed to the i nflat io n pressure recommended by the
vehicle manufacturer on the veh icle placard or
t ir e infla tion p ressure labe l. (If your ve hicle has
ti res of a different size t han t he si ze ind icated on
IIJi,-
351