2018 AUDI A6 Owners Manual

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0 0 \,;J ' Why use safety belts?
Frontal collisions and the law of physics
Frontal crashes create very strong forces for peo­
ple riding in vehicles .
Fig. 141 Unbe lted occupants in a vehicle heading for a wall
Fig. 14 2 The vehicle crashes into the wall
The physical principles are simple. Both the vehi­
cle and the passengers possess energy which var ­
ies with vehicle speed and body weight. Engi­
neers call this energy "kinetic energy."
The higher the speed of the vehicle and the greater the vehicle's weight, the more energy
that has to be "absorbed" in the crash.
Veh icle speed is the most significant facto r.
If
the speed doubles from 15 to 30 mph (25 to 50
km/h), the energy increases 4 times!
Because the passengers of t his veh icle are not us­
ing safety belts
r::!.> fig. 141, they will keep mov ing
at the same speed the vehicle was moving j ust
before the crash, unt il something stops them -
here, the wall
r::!.> fig . 142.
The same pr inc iples apply to people sitting in a
vehicle that is involved in a frontal collision. Even
at city speeds of 20 to 30 mph (30 to SO km/h),
the forces acting on the body can reach one ton
Safety bel ts
(2,000 lbs, o r 1,000 kg) or more . At greater
speeds, these forces are even higher.
People who do not use safety belts are a lso not
attached to the ir vehicle. In a fron tal coll is ion
they will also keep moving forward at the speed
their vehicle was travelling just before the crash.
Of course, the laws of physics don't just apply to
frontal collisions, they determine what happens
in all kinds of accidents and collisions.
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 belts!
F ig. 143 A driver not wearing a safety belt is violently
thrown forward
Fig . 144 A rear passenger not wearing a safety belt will f ly
forwa rd and strike the driver
Unbelted occupants are not able to resist the tre­
mendous forces of impact by holding tight or
bracing themselves. W ithout the benefit of safe­
ty restraint systems, the unrestrained occupant
will slam v io lently into the stee ring wheel, in­
strument pane l, windshield, o r whatever e lse is
in the way
r::!.>fig . 143. T his impact with the vehi­
cle inter ior has a ll the energy they had just be-
fore the crash.
IJI,,-
1 35

Safe ty belts
Never rely on airbags alone for protection . Even
when they deploy, airbags provide only additiona l
protection. Airbags are not supposed to dep loy in
all kinds of accidents. A lthough your Audi is
equipped w ith airbags, all vehicle occupants, in­
cluding the dr iver, must wear safety belts cor ­
rectly in order to minimize the risk of severe in­
jury or death in a crash .
Remember too, that airbags will deploy only
once and that your safety belts are always there
to offer protect ion in those accidents in w hich
airbags are not supposed to deploy or when they
have a lready deployed. Unbel ted occupants can
a lso be thrown o ut of the ve hicle where eve n
mo re severe or fatal injur ies can occur .
It is also important for the rear passenge rs to
wear safety belts co rrectly. Unbel ted passengers
i n t he re ar seats endanger no t on ly themse lves
but also the drive r and other passengers
c::> fig . 144 . In a frontal collision they will be
thrown forward violently, where they can hit and
in jure the driver 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!
F ig . 14 5 Driver is co rrectly restrai ned in a sudde n brak ing
m aneuver
Safety belts used properly can make a b ig d iffer­
ence. Safety belts help to keep passengers in
their seats, gradually reduce energy levels ap­
plied to the body in an accident, and he lp prevent
the uncont rolled moveme nt that can cause seri­
ous injur ies. In addition, safety be lts reduce the
danger of being thrown out of the vehicle .
136
Safety belts attach passengers to the car and g ive
them the benefit of being s lowed down more
gently or "soft ly" thro ugh the "give" in the safety
belts, crush zones and other safety feat ures engi­
neered into today 's vehicles. By "absorbing" the
k inet ic energy over a longe r per iod of t ime, the
safety belts make the forces on the body more "tole rab le" and less likely to cause inju ry .
Although these examples are based on a frontal
collision, safety be lts ca n also substantially re­
duce the r isk o f injury in ot her kinds of crashes.
So, whethe r you're on a long trip or just going to
the cor ne r store, a lways b uckle up and make s ure
othe rs do, too. Ac ciden t st at ist ics show that veh i­
cl e occupants prope rly wearing safety bel ts have
a lowe r risk of be ing injured and a m uch better
chance of surviving an acc ident . Properly using
safety be lts also great ly increases the ability of
the supp lemental airbags to do their job in a col­
li sion. For this reason, wearing a safety belt is le­
gally required in most countries including much
of the United States and Canada.
Although your Aud i is equipped with airbags, you
still have to wear the safety belts provided. Front
airbags, for examp le, are activated only in some
frontal collisions. The front airbags are not act i­
vated in all frontal collisions, in side and rear co l­
li sio ns, in rollovers or in cases whe re there is not
eno ugh deceler ation throug h impa ct to the front
of the vehicle . The same goes for the other a irbag
systems in your Audi. So, always wear your safety belt and make sure everybody in your vehicle is
properly rest rained!
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 be lts are always
ready fo r use a nd a re not damaged .

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0 0 \,;J ' _& 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 rect ly restrained.
-For maximum protection, safety belts must
always be posit ioned properly on the body .
-Never strap more than one person, includ­
ing small ch ildren, 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 wh ile the vehicle is being driven.
- Never let any person ride w ith their feet on
the instrument panel or st icki ng out the
window o r on the seat.
- Never remove a safety belt while the vehicle
is moving . Do ing so will increase your risk of
being injured or k illed.
- 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 doo r 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.
- 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 be lt . However, spe­
c ial clips may be requ ired for the prope r use
of some child restraint systems.
-Torn or frayed safety belts can tear, and
damaged belt ha rdware can break in an acc i­
dent. I nspect belts regularly.
If webbing,
bind ings, buckles, or re tractors are dam-
Safet y bel ts
aged, have belts rep laced by an authorized
Aud i dea ler 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
thor ized Audi dealer. Replacement may be
necessary even if damage cannot be clearly
seen. Anchorages that were loaded must al­
so be inspected.
- Never remove, mod ify, d isassemble, or try
to repair the safety belts yourse lf.
-Always keep the belts clean . Dirty belts may
not work properly and can impair the func­
tion of th e inert ia reel
q table on page 223.
Safety belts
Fastening safety belts
Safety first -everybody buckle up!
F ig. 146 Belt buckle and tongu e on t he d river' s seat
To provide maximum protect ion, safety belts
must a lways be positioned correctly on the wear­
er 's body .
.. Adjust the front seat and head restraint proper­
ly
q page 47, Seats and storage.
.. Make sure the seatback of the rear seat bench
is in an upright posit ion and securely latched in
p lace before using the belt
q ,&. .
.. Pull the safety belt evenly across the chest and
pe lvis
q fig . 146, q ,&. .
.. Insert the tongue in to the co rrect buck le of
your seat unt il you hear it latch securely.
.. Pull on the belt to make sure that it is sec urely
latched in the buckle.
..,
1 37

Safe ty belts
Autom ati c s afet y belt retractors
Every safety be lt is equ ipped with an automatic
be lt retractor on the shoulder belt. This feature
locks the belt when the belt is pu lled out fast,
during hard braking and in an accident. The belt may a lso lock when you drive up or down a steep
hill or through a sharp curve. Dur ing normal driv­
ing the belt lets you move freely.
Safety belt p ret en sione rs
Safety belts w ith pretensioners he lp to tighten
the safety belt and remove s lack when the pre­
tensioners are activated
c;, page 140 . The func­
tion of the pretensioner is monitored by a warn­
ing light
c;, page 16 .
Convertibl e loc king r etracto r
Every safety belt except the one on the driver
seat is equipped w ith a convertible locking retrac­
tor that
must be used when the safety belt is
used to attach a child seat. Be sure to read the
important information about this feature
¢ page 177 .
.&_ WARNING
Improperly pos itioned safety be lts can cause
ser ious injury in an
accident ¢ page 138,
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 bac k­
rest to which the center rea r safety be lt* 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
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 b uckle wi ll reduce safety belt effec­
t iveness and can cause serious person-a l in­
jury.
- A passenger who is not proper ly restrained
can be seriously in jured by the safety be lt it­
self when it
moves from the stronger parts
138
of the body into critical areas like the abdo­ men.
- Always lock the convertible locking retractor
when you are securing a child seat in the ve­
hicle
,=;, page 179 .
(D Tips
For information on safety belt pretensioners,
refer to
c;, page 140 .
Safety belt position
Correct belt position is the key to getting maxi­
mum protection from safety belts .
Fig. 147 Safety belt posit ion
Use the height adjustment to change the posit ion
of the shoulder belt of the front safety belts .
.&_ WARNING
Imp roperly positioned safety belts can cause
serio us pe rsonal injury in an a cc ident.
- The shou lde r belt should lie as close to the
center of the collar bone as possib le and
should fi t well on the body. Ho ld the belt
above the latch to ngue and pull it evenly
across the chest so that it sits as low as pos ­
sible on the pe lvis and there is no pressure
on the abdomen. The belt should a lways f it
snug ly
c;, fig. 147. Pull on the belt to tighten
if necessary.
- A loose-fitting safety belt can cause serious
injuries by sh ifting its position on your body
from the strong bones to more vulnerable,
soft tissue and cause serious i nju ry .
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other important informat ion
c;, page 136 .

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restrained
The best way to protect the fetus is to make sure
that expectant mothers always wear safety belts
correctly
-throughout the pregnan cy.
F ig. 148 Safety belt pos itio n during pregnancy
To prov ide max imum protection, safety belts
must always be posit ioned correctly on the wear­
er 's body
r=> poge 138.
.,. Adjust the front seat and adjustable head re­
straint* correctly ¢
page 47, Seats and stor­
age .
.,. Pull the safety belt evenly across the chest so
that it sits as low as poss ib le on the pelv is and
there is no pressure on the ab domen
¢ fig. 148, ¢ .(D. .
.,. Inse rt the tongue into the cor rec t buckle of
your seat until you hea r it latch secure ly .
.. Pull on the be lt to make sure that it is securely
latched in the buck le .
A WARNING
Improperly posit ioned safety be lts can cause
ser ious personal injury in an accident.
- Expectant mothers must always wear the lap portion of the safety belt as low as pos­
sible across the pelvis and below the round­
ing of the abdomen.
- Always read a nd heed all WARN INGS and
other important information
c:> .&. in Fasten­
ing safety belts on page 138.
Safet y bel ts
Unfastening safety belts
Unbuckle the safety belt with the red release
button only
o~er the vehicle hos stopped.
F ig . 14 9 Releasing th e to ngue from the buckle
.. Push the red re lease button on the buck le
r=> fig . 149. The belt tongue w ill spring out of
the
buck ler=> .(D. .
.. Let the belt wind up on the retractor as you
guide the belt tongue to its stowed position .
A WARNING
Never unfasten safety belt wh ile the vehicle is
moving . Do ing so will increase your r isk of be­
i ng injured or killed .
Adjusting safety belt height
With the aid of the safety belt height adjust­
ment, the three point safety belt strop routing
con be fitted to the shoulder area, according to
body size.
Fi g. 1 50 Safety belt height adj ust m ent fo r th e fro nt seats
-loop -arou nd fitt ings
0 ..... N 0 :i: The shoulder be lt shou ld lie as close to the center
of the co ll ar bo ne as possible and shou ld fit well
o n the body
c:> LD. in Safe ty belt position on
page 138.
..,.
139

Safe ty belt s
~ Push the loop -around fittings up ¢ fig. 150 @,
or
~ squeeze together the (D button, and push the
loop-around fittings
do wn@ .
~ 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 impo rtant informat io n
¢page 136.
(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 improperly can cause seri­
ous injury or death. Safety belts can only work
when they are correctly pos itioned on the body .
Imp roper seating posit ions reduce the effect ive­
ness of safety be lts and will even inc rease the
risk of injury a nd deat h by mov ing the safety bel t
t o cr it ica l areas of the body. Imp roper sea ting
positions a lso increase the risk of serio us inj ury
and death when an airbag deploys and strikes an
occupant who is not in the correct seating posi ­
tion. A driver is responsible for the safety of all
ve hicle occupants and especia lly for children.
Therefore:
~ Never permit anyone to ass ume an inco rrect
s itting position in the vehicle wh ile trave ling
¢A .
A WARNING
Improperly wor n safety be lts increase the risk
of se rious personal injury a nd death wheneve r
a vehicle is be ing used.
- Always make sure that a ll vehicle occupa nts
are co rrect ly restra ined and stay i n a co rrect
sea ting pos it ion wheneve r the veh icle is be­
ing used.
140
- Always read and heed all WARNI NGS and
other impo rtant
informat ion¢ page 136.
Belt tensioners
How safety belt pretensioners work
Reversible safety belt tensioners*
The following functions a re availab le when safety
belts w ith reversib le safety belt tensioners a re
fastened:
- Automatic tens ioners: at the start of a drive,
the safety belts automat ica lly adjust to t he
passenger after a ce rtain time per iod or ve hicle
speed. To switch t he a utomat ic tens ioners off,
select the follow ing in t he M MI :
!CARI function
button
> ( Car )* sy stem s > Vehicle settings >
Seats > Driver 's seat or Passenger' s seat > Au­
tomatic belt tensione r
> Off.
-In certain driving situations, the safety belts
may tighten wit h a reversib le tensioning func ­
tion
c> page 94.
- The safety be lts may also tighten with this re -
vers ible tension ing funct ion in m inor collisions.
Pyrotechnic safety belt pretensioners
Seat bel ts with py rotechnic safety be lt p reten ­
s ione rs are tensioned automati cally in severe col ­
li sions, depending on the circumstances . This
helps to reduce the forwa rd motion of the occu ­
pants.
A WARNING
- It is possible for the pretensioners to dep loy
incorrect ly.
- Any work on the tens ioner system or remov ­
al and installation of system components
for other repairs m ust be performed by a
qua lified workshop.
- The pyrotechnic system can only provide
protection for one collis ion. If t he py rotech­
n ic pretens ione rs deploy, the pretensioning
system must be rep laced.

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-A fine dust is released when the pyrotechnic
safety be lt pretens ioners deploy . This is nor­
mal and is not caused by a fire in the vehi­
cle.
- The re levant safety requirements must be
observed when the veh icle or components
of the system are scrapped. A qualif ied
dealersh ip is familiar w ith these regulations
and will be pleased to pass on the informa­
tion to you.
Service and disposal of safety belt preten­
sioner
The safety be lt pretensioners are parts of the
safety belts on your Audi. Installing, removing,
servicing or repa iring of belt pretensioners can
damage the safety belt system and prevent it
from work ing 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 injury or pollute the
env ironment.
A WARNING
-
Improper care, serv icing and repa ir proce­
dures can increase the r is k of personal injury
and death by preventing a safety be lt preten­
sioner from activating when needed or acti­
vating it unexpectedly:
- T he be lt pretensione r system can be act ivat­
ed only once . If belt pretensione rs have
been activated, the system must be re­
placed.
- Never repair, adjust, or change any parts of the safety be lt system .
- Safety belt systems including safety belt
pretensioners cannot be repaired. Specia l
procedures are required 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
thorized Aud i dea ler or qualified technician
who has an Audi approved repair manual,
train ing and spec ial equ ipment necessary .
Safety be lts
{® For the sa ke of the environment
Undeployed airbag modules and pretension­
ers might be classif ied as Perchlorate Materi­
al -special handling may apply, see
www.dtsc.ca.gov/hazardouswaste/perchlo­ rate . When the vehicle or parts of the re­
straint system including airbag modules safe­
ty belts with pretensioners are scrapped, all
applicable laws and regu lations must be ob­
se rved. Your authorized Audi dealer is familiar
with these requirements and we recommend
that you have your dealer perform this service
for you .
141

Airbag system
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 dr iver's seat and steering wheel
properly~ page 126,
.,. Adjust the front passenge r's seat properly
~page 47 ,
.,. Wear safety belts p roperly ~page 136,
.. Always properly use the proper child restraint
to protect chi ldren
~page 166 .
In a coll is ion, airbags must inflate within the
blink of an eye and with considerable force. The
supp lemental airbags can cause injuries if the
driver or the front seat passenger is not seated
properly. Therefore in order to he lp the airbag to
do its job, it is important, both as a dr iver and as
a passenger to sit properly at all t imes.
By keeping room between your body and the
steering whee l and the front of the passenger
compartment, the air bag can inflate fully and
completely and provide supplemental protect ion
in certain frontal
coll isions¢ page 126, Correct
passenger seating positions .
For details on the
operation of the seat adjustment controls
¢ page 47.
It's especially important that children are proper­
ly restrained
¢pag e 166.
There is a lot that the driver and the passengers
can and must do to help the ind iv idual safety fea­
tures installed in your Audi work together as a
system.
Proper seating posit ion is important so that the
front airbag on the driver side can do its job. If
you have a physical impairment or cond ition that
prevents you from s itting properly on the driver
seat with the safety be lt properly fastened and
142
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
thorized Audi dea ler or qualified workshop, or
ca ll Audi Customer Relations at 1-800-822-2834
for poss ible modifications to your vehicle .
When the airbag system dep loys, a gas generator
will fill the airbags, break open the padded cov­ ers, and infla te between the steering wheel and
the driver and between the instrument panel and
the front passenger. The a irbags w ill deflate im­
med iate ly after deployment so that the front oc­
cupants can see through the windsh ield aga in
without interruption.
All of th is takes place in the blink of an eye, so
fast that many people don't even realize that the
a irbags have deployed. The airbags also inflate
with a great deal of force and nothing should be
in the ir 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 ins ide of the vehicle while reduc ing the forces
acting on the occupant dur ing the crash . In th is
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 t he a irbag system de­
pends on the veh icle deceleration rate caused by
the collis ion and registered by the electronic con­
trol unit. If this rate is be low the refe rence value
programmed into the control unit, the airbags
will not be triggered, even tho ugh t he car may be
badly damaged as a resu lt of the co llision . V ehi­
cle damage, repair costs or even the lack of vehi­
cle damage is not necessarily an indication of
whether an a irbag should inflate or not.
Since the circumstances wi ll vary considerab ly
between one co llision and another, it is not possi ­
ble to define a range of veh icle speeds that will
cover every poss ible kind and angle of impact
that w ill always trigger the airbags. Important
factors include, for example, the nature (hard or
soft) of the object which the ca r hits, the angle of
im pact, vehicle speed, etc. The front airbags will
..,.