2018 AUDI A5 COUPE airbag

Driving safety
-Always sit in an upright position and never
lean against or place any part of your body
too close to the area where the airbags are located .
- Before driving, always adjust the front seats
and head restraints properly and make sure
that all passengers are properly restrained .
- Never adjust the seats while the vehicle is
moving . Your seat may move unexpectedly
and you could lose control of the vehicle.
- Never drive with the backrest reclined or
tilted far back! The farther the backrests are
tilted back, the greater the risk of injury due
to incorrect positioning of the safety belt and improper seating position .
- Children must always ride in child safety
seats
c::> page 302 . Special precautions ap­
ply when installing a child safety seat on the
front passenger seat
<=:> page 277 .
Proper seating position for the f ront
passenger
The proper front passenger seating position is
important for safe, relaxed driving.
For your own safety and to reduce the risk of in­
jury in the event of an accident, we recommend
that you adjust the seat for the front passenger
to the following position:
.. Adjust the angle of the seatback so that it is in
an upright position and your back comes in full
contact with it whenever the vehicle is moving.
.. Applies to: adjustable head restraints: Adjust
the head restraint so the upper edge is as even
a s possible with the top of your head . If that is
not possible, try to adjust the head restraint so
that it is as close to this position as possible
c::> page 73 .
.. Keep both feet flat on the floor in front of the
front passenger seat.
.. Fasten and wear safety belts correct­
ly <=:> page 2 72.
For detailed information on how to adjust the
front passenger's seat, see
<=:> page 71.
260
A WARNING ,_
Front seat passengers who are unbelted, out
of position or too close to the airbag can be
seriously injured or killed by the airbag as it
unfolds. To help reduce the risk of serious
personal injury:
- Passengers must always sit in an upright po­
sition and never lean aga inst or place any
part of their body too close to the area
where the airbags are located.
- Passengers who are unbelted, out of posi­
tion or too close to the airbag can be seri­
ously injured by an airbag as it unfolds with
great force in the blink of an eye.
- Always make sure that there are at least
10 inches (25 cm) between the front pas­
senger's breastbone and the instrument
panel.
- Always make sure that there are at least 4 inches (10 cm) between the front passen­
ger's knees and the lower part of the instru­
ment panel.
- Each passenger must always sit on a seat of
their own and properly fasten and wear the
safety belt belonging to that seat.
- Before driving, always adjust the front pas­
senger seat and head restraint properly.
- Always keep your feet on the floor in front
of the seat. Never rest them on the seat, in­
strument panel, out of the window, etc . The
airbag system and safety belt will not be
able to protect you properly and can even in ­
crease the risk of injury in a crash .
- Never drive with the backrest reclined or
tilted far back! The farther the backrests are
tilted back, the greater the r isk of injury due
to incorrect positioning of the safety be lt
and improper seat ing position.
- Ch ildren must always ride in child safety
seats
c::> page 302. Special precautions ap­
ply when installing a child safety seat on the
front passenger seat
c::> page 2 77.

Driving sa fe ty
-Never attempt to adjust head restraint
wh ile driving. If you have dr iven
off and
must adjust the driver headrest for any rea­
son, first stop the vehicle safely before at­
tempting to adjust the head restra int.
- Children must always be properly restrained
in a child restraint that is appropriate for
their age and size
¢ page 302.
Examples of improper seating positions
The occupant restraint system can only reduce
the risk of injury if vehicle occupants are properly
seated .
Improper seating positions can cause serious in­
jury or deat h. Safety belts can only work when
they are properly positioned on the body . Im­
proper seating positions reduce the effect iveness
of safety belts and w ill even increase the r isk of
i njur y and dea th by moving the safety be lt to crit­
ical areas of the body. Impro per sea ting posit ions
a lso increase the risk of ser ious injury and dea th
when an airbag deploys and strikes an occupant
who is not in the proper seat ing position. A driver
is responsib le for the safety of all vehicle occu­
pants and especially for children. Therefore :
~ Never allow anyone to assume an incorrect
seat ing pos ition when the vehicle is being used
c> .&, .
The fo llowing bulletins list only some sample po ­
sitions that will increase the risk of serio us inj ury
and death. Our hope is that these examp les will
make you more aware of seating posit ions that
are dangerous.
The ref ore, when ever th e vehicle i s moving:
- never stand up in the ve hicle
- never s tand on the seats
- never knee l on the seats
- never r ide with the seatback reclined
- never lie down on t he seats
- never lean up against the instrument pane l
- never sit on the edge of the seat
- never sit s ideways
- never le an out the w indow
- never put yo ur feet out the window
262
- never put your feet on the instrument panel
- neve r rest your feet on the seat c ushion or back
o f the seat
- neve r ride in the footwell
- neve r ride in the ca rgo area
A WARNING
I mp roper seating positions inc re ase the risk
of ser iou s personal inju ry and de ath whenever
a veh icle is being used.
- Always make sure that all veh icle occupants
s tay in a proper sea ting posit ion and are
pro perly restrained whenever the vehicle is
be ing used .
Driver's and front
passenger's footwell
Important safety instructions
A WARNING
A lways make sure that the knee airbag can in­
flate w ithout interference. Objects between
yourself and the airbag can inc rease the risk
of injury in an accident by interfering with the
way the ai rbag dep loys o r by being pushed in­
to you as the airbag dep loys.
- No persons (ch ild ren) or animals should ride
in the footwell in front of the passenger
seat . If the airbag deploys, this can res ult in
serio us or fat al injuries.
- No objects of any kind should be carried i n
the footwell area in front of the dr iver's or
passenger's seat. Bu lky objects (shopping
bags, for examp le) can hamper or prevent
proper dep loyment of the airbag . Sma ll ob­
jects can be thrown thro ugh the vehicle if
the airbag deploys and injure you or your passengers.

Safe ty belts
What happens to occupants not wearing
safety belts?
In crashes unbelted occupants cannot stop
themselves from flying forward and being in ­
jured or killed. Always wear your safety bel ts!
F ig. 236 A dr iver not wear ing a safety belt is v iolently
thrown forwa rd
Fig. 237 A rear passenger not wearing a safety belt will fly
fo rward and strike t he d river
Unbe lted occupants are not able to resist the tre­
mendous fo rces of impact by holding t igh t or
b racing themselves. Wi tho ut the benefit of safe­
ty restraint systems, the unrestrained occupant
will slam violently into the steering whee l, in ­
strument panel, windsh ield, or whatever else is
in the way ¢
fig. 236. This impact with the veh i­
cle interior has all the energy they had just be­
fore the crash .
Never rely on airbags alone for protection. Even
when they deploy, airbags provide only additional
protection. Airbags are not supposed to dep loy in
all k inds of accidents . A lthough your Audi is
equ ipped w ith airbags, all vehicle occupants, in­
cluding the dr iver, must wear safety belts cor­
rectly in o rder to minimize the risk of severe in­
jury or deat h in a cr ash.
270
Remember too, that a irbags w ill dep loy only
once and that your safety be lts are always there
to offer protection in those acc idents in which
airbags are not supposed to deploy or when they have already deployed. Unbe lted occupants can
also be thrown out of the vehicle where even
more severe or fata l injuries can occur.
It is also important for the rear passengers to
wear safety be lts correctly. Unbelted passengers
in the rear seats endanger not only themselves
but also the driver and other passengers
¢ fig. 237 . In a fronta l col lision they will be
th rown forward v io lently, whe re they can hit and
i njure the dr iver and/or front seat passenger.
Safety belts protect
People think it's possible to use the hands to
brace the body in a minor collision. It's simply
not true!
Fi g. 238 Driver is co rrectly rest rained in a sudden b rak ing
ma ne uver
Safety be lts used p roperly can make a big differ­
ence. Safety belts he lp to keep passengers in
their seats, gradually reduce energy levels ap­
plied to the body i n an accident, and help prevent
the u ncontrolled movement that can cause ser i­
ous injuries . In addition, safety belts reduce the
dange r of be ing th rown ou t of the vehi cle.
Safety belts attach passenge rs to the car and give
them t he benefit of be ing slowed down more
gently or "soft ly" th ro ugh the
"give" in the safety
belts, crush zones and other safety fea tures engi­
neered into today's vehicles. By " absorbing" the
k inetic energy over a longe r per iod of t ime, the
safety belts make the fo rces on the body more
"tolerab le" and less likely to cause injury.
IJ>

<( a, .... N ,....
N .... 0 \0
3 a,
Although these examples are based on a frontal
collision, safety belts can also substantially re­
duce the risk of injury in other k inds of crashes.
So, whether you're on a long trip or just going to
the corner store, always buckle up and make sure
others do, too . Accident statistics show that vehi­
cle occupants properly wearing safety belts have
a lower risk of being injured and a much better
chance of su rviving a n accident. Prope rly using
safety be lts al so greatly increases the ability of
the supplemental ai rbags to do the ir job in a col­
lision. For t his reason, wearing a safety belt is le­
ga lly required in most countr ies including much
of the Un ited States and Canada.
A lthough your Audi is equipped with airbags, yo u
still have to wear the safety belts provided. Front
airbags, for examp le, are activated on ly in some
frontal collis ions. The front airbags are not acti­
vated in all frontal coll is ions, in side and rear col­
lisions, in rollovers or in cases where there is not
enough deceleration through impact to the front
of the vehicle . The same goes for the other airbag
systems in you r Audi . So, always wear your safety
be lt and make sure eve rybody in you r vehicle is
p roperly restrained!
Important safety instructions about safety
belts
Safety belts must always be correctly positioned
across the strongest bones of your body.
.,. Always wea r safety be lts as illust rated and de ­
scribed in this chapter.
.,. Make sure that your safety belts are a lways
ready for use and are not damaged .
A 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 cor rectly restrained.
- For maximum protection, safety belts must
always be posit ioned properly on the body .
Safet y be lts
- Never strap more than one person, includ­
ing small children, into any belt.
- Never p lace a safety belt
over a child sitting
on your lap.
- Always keep feet in the footwe ll in front of
the seat while the veh icle is being driven.
- Never let any person ride with their feet on the instrument panel or stick ing out the
window or on the seat.
- Never
remove a safety belt while the vehicle
is moving . Doing so will increase your risk of
being injured or killed.
- Never wear be lts twisted .
- Never wear be lts
over rigid or breakable ob -
jects in or on yo ur clothing, such as eye
g lasses, pens, keys, etc ., as these may cause
injury.
- Never a llow safety belts to become dam­
aged by be ing ca ught in door or seat hard­
ware.
- Do not wear the shoulder part of the belt
under your arm or otherwise out of pos ition.
- Several layers of heavy clothing may inter­
fe re with co rrect positioning of be lts and re ·
duce the overall effectiveness of the system.
- Always keep be lt buck les 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 be lts can tear, and
damaged be lt hardware can break in an acci­
dent. Inspect belts regularly. If webb ing,
b indings, buckles, or retractors are dam­
aged, have belts rep laced by an authorized
Aud i deale r o r qualified workshop.
- Safety belts that have been worn and loaded
in an accident must be replaced with the
corre ct replacement safety belt by an au­
thori zed Audi dealer. Rep lacemen t may be
necessary
even if damage cannot be clearly
seen . Anchorages that were loaded must al­
so be inspected .
- Never
remove, mod ify, disassemble, or try
to repair the safety belts yourse lf .
271

<( a, .... N ,....
N .... 0 \0
3 a,
on the body ¢.&. in Safety belt position on
page 273.
.,. Push the loop-a round fitt ings up ¢ fig. 244 @,
or
.,. squeeze together the @ button, and push the
loop-around f ittings
do wn@ .
... Pull the belt to make sure that the upper at­
tachment is proper ly engaged .
A WARNING
Always read and heed all WARNINGS and oth­
er important
i nformat ion ¢ page 271 .
(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 posi tioned safety belts can cause se­
vere injuries.
Wearing safety belts improperly can cause seri­
ous injury or death. Safety belts can only work
when they are correctly positioned on the body.
Improper seating positions reduce the effect ive­
ness of safety belts and will even increase the
risk of injury and death by mov ing the safety belt
to crit ica l areas of the body. Imp roper seating
positions also increase the risk of serio us inj ury
and death when an airbag deploys and str ikes an
oc cupant who is not in the correct seating posi ­
tion . A driver is respons ible for the safety of a ll
vehicle occupants and especia lly for children.
Therefore:
.,. Never permit anyone to assume an incorrect
sitting position in the veh icle whi le traveling
¢ .&_ .
A WARNING
Improperly worn safety belts increase the risk
of serious personal injury and death whenever
a vehicle is be ing used.
- Always make sure that a ll vehicle occupants
are correctly restra ined and stay in a correct
S afet y be lts
seating position whenever the vehicle is be­
ing used.
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other important
i nformat ion ¢ page 271 .
Belt tensioners
How safety belt pretensioners work
Re ver sible safety belt pr etension ers
The following fu nctions a re available when safety
belts w ith reversib le safety belt tensioners are
fastened:
- In certain driving situations, the safety belts may tighten w it h a reversible tensioning func­
tion
¢ page 125.
- The safety belts may also tighten with this re-
versible tens ion ing funct ion in m ino r collisions .
Pyr otechnic s afety belt p reten sioners
Seat belts with pyrotechnic safety be lt preten­
s ioners are tensioned automatically in severe col­
lis ions, depending on the circumstances . This
helps to reduce the forward motion of the occu­
pants .
A WARNING
-It is poss ible for the pretensioners to dep loy
incor rec tly.
- Any wo rk on the tens ioner system or remov­
al and installation of system components
for o ther repairs m ust be performed by a
qualified workshop.
- The pyro technic system can only provide
protection for one collision. If the pyrotech­
n ic pretens ioners deploy, the pretensioning
system must be replaced .
(D Tips
-A fine dus t is re leased when the pyro technic
safety belt pretensioners dep loy. This is nor­
ma l and is not caused by a fire in the veh i­
cle .
- The relevant safety requirements must be
observed when the vehicle or components
of the system are scrapped. A qualified
275

Safety belt s
dealership is familiar with these regu lations
and will be p leased to pass on the informa­
tion to you.
Service and disposal of safety belt preten­
sioner
The safety belt pretens ioners are parts of the
safety belts on your Audi . Installing, removing,
servi cing o r repa iring of belt p retensioners can
damage the safety belt system and prevent it
from working correctly in a collision.
There are some important things you have to
know to make sure that the effectiveness of the
system w ill not be impaired and that discarded
components do not cause in jury or pollute the
environment .
.&_ WARNING
-
Improper care, servic ing and repair proce­
dures can increase the r isk of personal injury
and death by preventing a safety belt preten­
sioner from activating when needed or acti­
vating it unexpectedly :
- The pyrotechnic safety belt pretensioners
can only be act ivated once .
If pyrotechnic
safety belt pretensioners have been activat­ ed, the system must be rep laced .
- Never repair, adjust, or change any parts of the safety be lt system .
- Safety belt systems includ ing safety belt
prete nsioners cannot be repaired. Special
procedures a re req uired for removal, insta l­
lation and disposal of this system .
- For any work on the safety belt system, we
strongly recommend that you see your au­
tho rized Aud i dea le r o r q ualified te chnician
who has an A udi approve d repair manual,
t raining and spec ial equ ipment necessary .
@ For the sake of the environment
Undeployed airbag modu les and pretension­
ers migh t be classified as Perch lorate Mate ri­
al -specia l handling m ay apply, see
www .dtsc. ca.gov/hazardouswaste/pe rchlo ­
rate . When the vehicle or parts of the re­
straint system including airbag modules safe­
ty belts with pretens ioners are scrapped, all
276
applicable laws and regulations must be ob ­
served. Your authorized Audi dealer is familiar
with these requirements and we recommend
that you have your dealer perform this service
for you.

<( a, .... N ,....
N .... 0 \0
3 a,
Airbag system
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 259,
.,. Adjust the front passenger's seat properly
¢page 260,
.,. Wear safety belts properly ¢page 271,
.,. Always properly use the proper child restraint
to protect children
¢ page 302.
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 259, Correct
passenger seating positions .
For details on the
operation of the seat adjustment controls
¢page 71.
It 's especially important that children are proper­
ly
restrained ¢ page 302.
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>
277

Airbag syste m
also not inflate in s ide or rear collisions, or in
ro llovers.
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
c::>page 268.
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.
278
-
- To reduce the risk o f injury when an a irbag
inflates, always wear safety belts properly
c::> page 272, 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 259.
- 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
.,..