2018 AUDI A8 manual transmission

Table of contents
About this Owner's Manual. . . . . .
6
Cockpit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Cockpit overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Controls at a glance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Instrument cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
M ultif unction steering wheel . . . . . . . . . . 11
Driver information system . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
T ime and date display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
H ead-up display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Indicato r lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
O n-B oard Diagnost ic System (OB D) . . . . . 25
Starting and driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Opening and closing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Cent ral lock ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
L ugg age com pa rt ment lid . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Ch ild safety lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
P ower window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Sunroof. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Panorama glass roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Valet par king function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Garage doo r opener (Home Link) . . . . . . . . 41
Lights and Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Exterior lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Interior lighti ng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
V1s1on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
W indshield w ipe rs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
D ig ita l compass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Seats and storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Gene ral information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Fr ont seats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Rear seats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 6
Head restraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
M emory function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S9
12 volt sockets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
llSvoltsocket . ............. .... .. . 61
Fu ll-length center console. . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
L uggage compartment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
P ass-throug h w it h ski bag . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
R efrige rato r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Warm and cold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
D eluxe a utomat ic cli ma te contro l . . . . . . . 69
2
Driving ... .. .. .... .. ... .. ..... ... . .
Genera l information . .... .. ..... ... . .
Steering . ... .. .... .. ... .. ..... ... . .
Start ing and stopping the eng ine ..... . .
Start/Stop system .. .. ............. . .
E lectromechanical parking brake ...... .
Start ing to drive .. .. .. .............. .
A utomat ic transmission
Trailer towing ... .. .............. .
D rivi ng with a tra ile r .. .............. .
T ra ile r towing information .......... . .
Driver assistance .. .............. .
Assistance systems .. .. ..... ... . .
S peed warning system . ............. . .
Cru ise cont rol sys tem . ............. . .
Audi adaptive cruise contro l ...... ... . .
Audi active lane assist (lane departure 73
73
7 5
76
78
81
82
83
89 89
9 1
93
93
93
93
95
assist) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Audi s ide ass ist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
N ight vision assist w ith pedestrian and
wild animal detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Audi drive select (drive setti ngs) ........ 111
Parking systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
General information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Parking system plus ... ............... 116
Rearv iew camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Per iphera l came ras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Adjus ting the d isp lay and the wa rn in g
tones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Error messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
T raile r hitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Intelligent Technology . . . . . . . . . . 127
E lectronic Stabi lization Contro l (ESC). ... 127
Brakes .... .. .. .. .. .. ............. .. 129
E lectromechanical steering, dynamic
steering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
All wheel drive (quattro) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Energy management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Notice about data recorded by the Event
Data Recorder and veh icle co ntro l
modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Driving
Shift to P, otherwise vehicle can roll away.
Doors do not lock if lever is not in
P.
This driver message appears fo r safety reasons if
the transmission has not been shifted to the P
position when you switch the ignition off. Move
the selector lever to the P position . Otherwise the
veh icle is not protected from ro lling and it cannot
be locked.
(I Key is not recognized. Hold back of key
against marked area. See owner's manual
If the i ndicator light turns on and this message
appears, there is a
malfunction ~ page 78.
Turn off ignition before leaving car
This message appears if the driver's door is
ope ned while the ignition is switched on . Always
sw itch off the ignition if you are leavi ng the vehi­
cle .
Shift to P and turn off ignition before leav ing
car, otherwise vehicle can roll away
This message appears if the driver's door is
opened while the ignition is switched on and the
transmission has not been shifted to the P posi­
tion . Shift the transm iss ion into the P posit ion
and turn off the ign ition if you are leaving the ve­
h icle . Otherwise the vehicle could roll.
Starting the engine when there is a
malfunction
It may not be possible to start the engine under
certain circumstances, for example if the battery
in the vehicle key is drained, if interference is af­
fected the key or if there is a system malfunc­
tion .
c:====== ~
~ _____ ___ ci5
Fig . 91 Cente r console/remote cont ro l key : sta rt ing the
eng ine
if t here is a malfunc tion
78
Requirement: the message Key is not recog­
nized. Hold back of key against marked area .
See owner's manual
must appear and the (I i n ­
dicator light must turn on.
.,. Hold the remote control key vertically in the lo ­
cation indicated
y >l) ~ fig. 91 .
.,. Press the brake peda l.
.,. Press the I START ENGINE STOPI button. The
engine will start.
.,. Drive to an authorized Audi dealer or author ­
ized Aud i Serv ice Facility immediately to have
the malfunction corrected .
(0 Tips
You can v iew the message aga in by pressing
the
I S TAR T ENGINE STOP I button.
Start/Stop system
Description
Applies to: vehicles with Start/Stop syste m
The Start/Stop system can help increase fuel
economy and reduce CO2 emissions.
In Start/Stop mode, the eng ine s hut s off auto­
matically when the vehicle is stopped, such as at
a traffic light . The ignition remains switched on
during this stop phase. The engine w ill restart
automat ically w hen needed.
The last Start/Stop system setting is restored
when the ignition is switched on.
Basic requirements for Start/Stop mode
- Th e driver's door must be closed.
- The driver's seat belt much be fastened.
- The hood must be closed .
- The vehicle must have dr iven faster than
2.5 mph (4 km/h) since the last t ime it stop ­
ped .
- A trailer must not be hitched to the vehicle .
A WARNING
-Never turn off the eng ine before the vehicle
has come to a complete stop . The full func­
tion of the brake booster and the power
steering is not guaranteed. You must use
more force to turn or brake. Because you

lL t:0 ....
"' ......
"' .... 0 0 :c ' -Hill hold assist cannot hold the vehicle in
place on all h ills (for example, if the ground
is slippery or icy).
- To reduce the risk of an accident, always
make sure the vehicle is situated safely
while stat ionary.
Automatic transmission
Introduction
The automat ic transmission is controlled e lec­
tron ica lly. Power is transferred using a torque
converter.
The transm ission shifts up or down automat ically
depending on wh ich drive program is selected.
When a
mod erate driving s tyle is used, the
transmission selects the most e conomical d riving
mode. The t ransm iss ion upsh ifts at a lower RPM
and downshifts at a highe r RPM to imp rove fuel
efficiency.
The transm ission switches to a spor ty mode after
a kick-down or when the driver uses a
sp o rt y
driving style
c haracterized by quick accelerator
pedal movements, heavy acce leration, frequent
changes in speed and traveling at the maximum
speed.
If desired, the dr iver can also select the gears
manually (tiptronic mode)
c::> page 86.
Indicator in the display
F ig . 95 Inst rument cluster: selector lever positio n
@ -The current selector leve r position is d is­
p layed continuously. In manua l mode, an Mis
displayed in addition to the gear.
D rivi ng
@ -This display appea rs briefly if you change the
selector lever position or if you press the button
on the selector lever
c::> page 83, fig. 96. The
current selector lever position is shown with a
white background.
Selecting the selector lever position
F ig. 96 Selector lever
-- p- -
----R--- --1
----N--- -i;
-01s*
Fig. 97 Pressing the button on the selector leve r
The current selector lever posit ion is disp layed on
t h e selecto r lever
c::> fig. 96 .
.,. You may need to release the selector lever lock
depending on wh ich selector lever pos ition is
selected and which one you wou ld like to select
c::> page 84, Selector lever lock .
.,. To engage the nearest selector lever position,
move the selector lever forward/back until you
fee l the first pressure point. The selector lever
wi ll return to its original position .
.,. To skip over one (or two) selector lever posi ­
tions, move the selector lever past the first
(and second) pressure point into the desired
position . The selector lever will return to its
or ig inal position .
For example, to move directly from the D selec-
tor lever position to P when stopping the vehicle,
II>
83

Drivin g
you can s hift past the N and R se lector lever
positions.
Selector lever lock
The se lector lever lock prevents you from se lect­
ing a posit ion un intent ionally, causing the vehicle
to ro ll. When engaging some selector lever posi­
tions, you must press the button on the selector
lever ¢ fig. 96 and/or press the brake pedal.
You must p ress t he brake pedal to engage a se­
lector lever posit ion when the engine is running
and the vehicle is stationary . The arrows ¢
fig. 97
indicate when you need to press the button on
the selector lever.
The se lector lever does not lock if you shift from
D to R within one second . This a llows you to
"rock" the vehicle to free it when it is stuck.
P - Park
This se lecto r lever position p revents the veh icle
from roll ing. Only s hift into park w hen the veh i­
cle is
stationary ¢.&. . To engage the P selector
lever position, press the button on the selector
lever and s hift into t he P position .
You can on ly shift out of pa rk when the engine is
running and you are pressing the brake peda l. To
release the parking lock . press the b utton on the
selector lever and select the desired position .
P engages automat ically when you switch the en­
gine
off while D, Sor R is engaged or in manual
mode .
I f you sw itch the engine off w hen the N pos ition
is selected, the t ransm iss ion rema ins in N fo r ap ­
p roximate ly 30 minutes and then Pis engaged .
You must use the park ing lock emergency release
befo re towing the
vehicle¢ page 88.
R- Reverse
The reverse gear is engaged in this pos ition. Only
select reverse gear when the veh icle is stationary
and the eng ine is running at idle
speed ¢.&, . To
e n gage the R selecto r leve r pos it ion, press the
button on the selector lever, p ress the brake ped ­
a l and move the se lector lever into the R pos it io n .
84
The reverse lights turn on when you select the R
selector lever position whi le the engine is run­
ning.
N -Neutral (idle )
The transmission is in idle in th is position. To en ­
gage the N selector leve r position, press the but ­
ton on the selector lever and shift into the N po ­
sition .
If you switc h the eng ine
off when the N pos it io n
i s selected, the transmission remains in N for ap ­
proximately 30 minutes and then Pis engaged.
Yo u cannot se lect t he N pos it ion when the ig ni­
t ion is switched
off. When dr iv ing t hrough an au ­
tomat ic car wash, fi rst select the N position and
t h en turn the engine off ¢
page 306.
For safety reasons, the veh icle cannot be loc ked
whe n the t ransmiss io n is in t he N pos it io n.
D IS -Driving forward
When the transm ission is in the D/S posit ion, it
can be operated e ither in the normal D mode or
i n the S sport mode. Move the selector lever back
to engage the S sport mode. You ca n only select
t h e S se lector lever position when D is engaged.
To se lect the D selector lever position again w hen
S is engaged, move the selector lever
back¢ &..
To s hift from N to D w hen traveling at speeds be­
l ow 1 mp h (2 km/h), press the br ake pedal and
shi ft into the D
position ¢.&. .
In the normal mod e D, the transmission auto­
matically selec ts the su itable gear ratio .
It de­
pends on engine load , veh icle speed a nd d rivi ng
sty le.
Se lect the
s port mod e S for spo rty d riving. The
vehicle makes f ull use of the eng ine's power.
S hi ft ing may become no ticeable when acceler at­
i ng .
The S se lecto r lever posit io n engages automat i­
ca lly w hen you sele ct dynamic mode in d rive se­
l ect .
& WARNING
-The vehi cle can roll even if the ignit ion is
switched
off .
-

Driving
keep your foot on the brake in all selector
lever positions (except P and N) when the
engine is running.
- Do not inadvertently press the accelerator
pedal when the vehicle is stationary. Other­
wise the vehicle will start to move immedi­
ately, even if the parking brake is set. This
could result in a crash.
~ Note
-When stopping on an incline, do not try to
hold the vehicle in place by pressing the ac­
celerator pedal while a driving gear is se­ lected . This can cause the transmission to
overheat and can damage it . Set the parking
brake or press the brake pedal to prevent
the vehicle from rolling.
- Allowing the vehicle to roll when the engine
is stopped will damage the transmission be­
cause it is not lubricated.
(D Tips
For safety reasons, the parking brake is re­
leased automatically only when the driver's
safety belt is fastened.
Hill descent control
The hill descent control system assists the driver
when driving down hills .
Hill descent control activates when the transmis­
sion is in the Dor S position and you press the
brake pedal. The transmission automatically se­
lects a gear that is suitable for the hill. Hill de­
scent control tries to maintain the speed ach­
ieved at the time of braking, within physical and
technical limitations. If may still be necessary to
adjust the speed with the brake pedal.
Hill descent control switches off once the hill lev­
els out or you press the accelerator pedal.
When operating the cruise control system
c::> page 93, hill descent control is also activated
when the speed is set.
86
A WARNING
, -
Hill descent control cannot overcome physical
limitations, so it may not be able to maintain
a constant speed under all conditions. Always
be ready to apply the brakes .
Manual shifting
The shi~ paddles allow the driver to shift the
gears manually.
Fig. 98 Steering whee l: shi fting manually
.. To shift to a higher or lower gear temporarily,
tap the
0 or 0 shift paddle <=:>fig. 98.
.. To switch manual mode on, press the ~ but­
ton. Mand the gear that is currently engaged
@ appear in the instrument cluster display
c::> page 83, fig. 95 .
.,. To shift up one gear, tap the right shift paddle
G) c::>fig . 98.
.,. To shift down one gear, tap the left shift pad­
dle
0 .
.,. To switch manual mode off, press the ['.fl but-
ton again, or
.. Move the selector lever back and release it.
When you accelerate or reduce the speed, the
transmission automatically shifts into the correct
gear shortly before reaching the RPM limit. If you
select a lower gear than the one currently shown
in the display, the automatic transmission will
only shift down once there is no danger of ex­
ceeding the maximum RPM.
The engine braking effect increases when you
downshift when going downhill.

A
A/C (automatic climate control) . . . . . . . . . . 70
Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 , 338
Active lane assist (lane departure assist) . . 103
Cleaning the camera area . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Adapter cable (Audi music interface) . . . . . 186
Adaptive air suspension/sport . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Adaptive cruise control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Cleaning the sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Adjusting the sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Adjusting the sound (tone) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Adjusting the temperature (automatic climate
control system) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Adjusting the volume RSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Airbag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Airbag system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235, 245
Care .. .. .. .. ............... .. .. .. . 240
Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Child restraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Components (front a irbags) . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Danger of fitting a child seat on the front
passenger seat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Disposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Front airbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Important information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Knee airbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
PASSENGER A IR BAG OFF light . . . . . . . . . 237
Repairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Safety instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Side airbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Side curtain airbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
We ight-sensing mat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Sl
Aircraft Transporting your vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
Air distribution (automatic climate control) . 71
Air pressure (Tire Pressure Monitoring Sys-
tem) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Air pressure (tires) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Air suspension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
u. ~ Alignment pin (changing the wheel) . . . . . . 312
N ~ All season tires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298 ......
g Alternative route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
:c ' Index
Anti-freeze
Windshield washer system . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Anti- Lock Braking System (ABS) . . . . . . . . . 127
Anti-Slip Regulation (ASR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Audi connect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Data connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Data protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Services (overview) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Audi music interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Adapter cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Connecting and disconnecting . . . . . . . . . 186
Screen settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Audio player
refer to Bluetooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Audio track (DVD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Audi Service R epair Manuals and Literature 336
AUTO Automatic climate control system . . . . . . . 70
Automatic headlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Auto Lock (central locking) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Automatic belt retractor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Automat ic climate control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Automatic traffic rerouting . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Automatic transmission (tiptronic) . . . . . . . . 83
Emerg ency mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Hill descent control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Overboost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Parking lock emergency release . . . . . . . . . 88
Automatic wipe/wash system . . . . . . . . . . . . SO
Auto Safety Hotline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Average consumption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Average speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
B
BACK button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Balance (sound) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Belt tensioners . ..... ............. 217,225
Blended gasoline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Blower (automatic climate control) . . . . . . . . 71
Bluetooth Audio player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Connecting a cell phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Booster seats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 5 7
Brake fluid Checking the brake fluid level . . . . . . . . . . 279
341