2018 AUDI Q7 rear

Driving safety
A WARNING
Heavy loads will influence the way your vehi­
cle handles . To help reduce the risk of a loss
of control leading to serious personal injury:
- Always keep in mind when transporting
heavy objects, that a change in the center of
gravity can also cause changes in vehicle
handling:
- Always distribute the load as evenly as
possible.
- Place heavy objects as far forward in the
luggage compartment as possible.
- Never exceed the Gross Axle Weight Rating
or the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating specified
on the safety compliance sticker on th e driv­
er's side B-pillar. Exceeding permissible
weight standards can cause the vehicle to
slide and handle differently .
- Please observe information on safe driving
<=) page 252.
A WARNING
To help prevent poisonous exhaust gas from
being drawn into the vehicle, always keep the
rear lid closed while driving .
- Never transport objects larger than those
fitting completely into the luggage area be­ cause the rear lid cannot be fully closed .
- If you absolutely must drive with the rear lid
open, observe the following notes to reduce
the risk of poisoning:
- Close all windows,
- Close the sunroof*,
- Open all air outlets in the instrument pan-
el,
- Switch off the air recirculation,
- Set the fresh air fan to the highest speed .
A WARNING
Always make sure that the doors, all win­
dows, the sunroof* and the rear lid are se­
curely closed and locked to reduce the risk of
injury when the vehicle is not being used .
- After closing the rear lid , always make sure
that it is properly closed and locked.
258
-Never leave your vehicle unattended espe­
cially with the rear lid left open. A child
could crawl into the vehicle through the lug­
gage compartment and close the rear lid be­
coming trapped and unable to get out . Be­
ing trapped in a vehicle can lead to serious
personal injury.
- Never let children play in or around the vehi­
cle .
- Never let passengers ride in the luggage
compartment . Vehicle occupants must al­
ways be properly restrained in one of the
ve­
hicle 's seating positions.
@ Note
If you are transporting large items with the
backrest folded down*, you should remove
the Rear Seat Entertainment (RSE)* and its
holder* to avoid damage.
© Tips
-Air circulation helps to reduce window fog­
ging. Stale air escapes to the outside
through vents in the trim panel. Be sure to
keep these slots free and open .
- The tire pressure must correspond to the
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
Q page 341 .
Tie-downs
The luggage compartmen t is equipped with four
t ie-downs to secure luggage and o ther i tems.
Use the tie-downs to secure your cargo properly
Qpage 257, L oading 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 ene rgy which
vary with vehicle speed and the weight of the
item . Vehicle speed is the mos t significant fac tor . ..,.

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::r ' Safety belts
General information
Always wear safety belts!
Wearing safety belts correctly saves lives!
This chapter explains why safety be lts 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 s ingle most effective
means ava ilable to reduce the risk of serious
injury and death in automobi le accidents.
For your protection and that of your passen­
gers, always co rrect ly wea r safety be lts
w hen the veh icle is mov ing.
- Pregnant wome n, in ju red, o r physically im­
paired persons mus t also use safety be lts.
Lik e al l vehicle oc cupan ts, they are mo re
li kely to be serio usly injured i f th ey do no t
wear safety be lts . The best way to protect a
fetus is to protect the mothe r - thro ughout
the ent ire pregnancy.
Number of seats
App lies to: Ve hicles w ith five seats: Your vehicle
has two front seats and three rear seats. Each
seating position has a safety belt .
App lies to: Ve hicles w ith seven seats: Your
ve hicles 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 wea ring safety bel ts or wear ing them im­
properly increases the risk of ser io us pe rsonal
inju ry and death.
- Never st rap more tha n one person, i nclud­
ing small c hildre n, into any be lt.
It is espe-
Safet y be lts
cially dangero us to p lace a safety be lt over a
child sitting on yo ur lap.
- Never let more peop le ride in the vehicle
than there are safety be lts available.
- Be s ure everyone riding in the vehicle is
proper ly restrained with a separate safety
be lt o r ch ild rest raint.
Safety belt warning light
Your vehicle has a warning system for the driver
and front seat passenger to remind you about the importance of buckling-up.
F ig . 222 Safety belt wa rning lig ht in t he inst rume nt clus ­
ter - en larged
Before dr iving off , always :
~ Fasten your safety belt and ma ke sure you are
wearing it properly.
"' 0 ,:.
;?;
~ Make sure that you r passengers also b uckl e up
and properly wear their safety belts.
~ Protect children with a c hild restraint system
appropr iate for the size and age .
The warning lig ht . in the instrument cluster
lights up when t he ignit ion is switched on as a re­
minder to fasten the safety be lts. In addition,
you w ill hear a warn ing tone for a certain period
of time.
Fasten your safet y belt and make sure that your
passengers also properly put on their safety
b e lts .
A WARNING
-
-Safety belts are the sing le m ost effect ive
means available to red uce the risk of se riou s
i njur y and death in a utomo bile acci dents.
F or your p rotection and tha t of yo ur
261

Safe ty belts
passenge rs, a lways correct ly wear safety
belts when the vehicle is moving.
- Failure to pay attention to the warning light
that comes on could lead to personal injury.
Why use safety belts?
Frontal collisions and the law of physics
Frontal crashes create very strong forces for peo­
ple riding in vehicles .
Fig. 223 Unbe lted occupants in a vehicle heading for a wall
Fig. 22 4 The vehicle crashes into the wall
The physical princip les are simple . Both the vehi­
cle and the passengers possess energy which var­
ies with vehicle speed and body we ight . Engi­
neers call this energy "kinet ic 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 signific ant fac tor .
If
the speed doubles from 15 to 30 mph (25 to 50
km/h), the energy increases 4 times!
Because the passengers of th is veh icle are not us­
i n g safety bel ts
¢fig. 223, they will keep mov ing
at the same speed the ve hicle was moving j ust
262
before the crash, until something stops them -
here, the wall ¢
fig. 224.
The same principles apply to people s itting in a
vehicle that is invo lved in a fronta l collision . Even
at city speeds of 20 to 30 mph (30 to 50 km/h),
the forces acting on the body can reach one ton
(2,000 lbs . or 1,000 kg) o r more . At g reater
speeds, these forces are even higher.
People who do not use safety belts are a lso not
attached to their vehicle . In a frontal collision
they will also keep mov ing 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
i n a ll kinds of accide nts and co llisions .
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!
Fig. 225 A drive r not wearing a safety belt is violently
thrown forward
F ig . 22 6 A rear passe nger not wea ring a safety belt w ill fly
forwa rd and strike the driver
Unbelted occ upants a re not ab le to res ist the tre-
mendous forces of impac t by holdi ng tight o r
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:E ' bracing themselves. Without the benefit of safe­
ty restraint systems , the unr estrained occupant
will slam violently into the steering wheel, in ­
strument panel, windshield , or whatever else is
in the way
c:;, fig. 225 . This impact with the vehi­
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 deploy in
all kinds of accidents. Although your Audi is
equipped with airbags, all vehicle occupants, in­
cluding the driver, 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 protection in those accidents in which
airbags are not supposed to deploy or when they
have already deployed. Unbelted occupants can
also be thrown out of the vehicle where even more severe or fatal injuries can occur.
It is also important for the rear passengers to
wear safety belts correctly. Unbelted passengers in the rear seats endanger not only themselves
but also the driver and other passengers
c:;, fig. 226 . In a frontal collision they will be
thrown forward violently, where they can hit and injure 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!
Fig. 227 Drive r is co rr ectly restrained in a sudden b rak ing
maneuver
Safety belts
Safety belts used properly can make a big differ­
ence. Safety belts help to keep passengers in
their seats, gradually reduce energy levels ap­ plied to the body in an accident , and help prevent
the uncontrolled movement that can cause seri­ ous injuries. In addition, safety belts reduce the
danger of be ing thrown out of the vehicle .
Safety belts attach passengers to the car and give
them the benefit of being slowed down more gently or "softly" through the "give" in the safety
belts, crush zones and other safety features engi­
neered into today's vehicles . By "absorbing" the
kinetic energy over a longer period of time, the
safety belts make the forces on the body more
"tolerable" and less likely to cause injury .
Although these examples are based on a frontal collision, safety belts can also substantia lly re­
duce the risk of injury in other kinds 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 surviving an accident. Properly using
safety belts also greatly increases the ability of
the supplemental a irbags to do their job in a col­
lision. 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 example, are activated only in some
frontal collisions. The front airbags are not acti­
vated in all frontal collisions, 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 your Audi. So, always wear your safety
belt and make sure everybody in your vehicle is
properly restrained!
263

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:E ' • Make sure the seatback of the rear sea t bench
is in an upright position and secure ly latched in
place before using the belt¢.&_ .
• Pull the safety belt evenly across the chest and
pelvis ¢
fig. 228, ¢ .&_ .
• Insert the tongue into the correct buckle of
your seat until you hear it latch securely.
• Pullon the belt to make sure that it is securely
latched in the buck le.
Automatic safety belt retractors
Every safety belt is equ ipped with an automatic
belt retractor on the shoulder belt. Th is feature
locks the belt when the belt is pu lled out fast,
during hard braking and in an accident . T he belt
may a lso lock when you drive up or down a steep
hill or thr ough a s harp curve. Dur ing normal dr iv­
ing the bel t lets you move freely.
Safet y belt pretensioners
Safety belts wit h pretensioners he lp to tighte n
the safety belt and remove s lack when the pre­
tensione rs a re activate d¢
page 267 . T he fu nc­
t ion of the pretensioner is moni to red by a warn­
ing light
q page 25.
Convertible locking retractor
E very safety belt except the one on the driver
seat is eq uipped w ith a co nvertible locking ret rac­
tor that
must be used when the safety bel t is
used to attach a child safe ty seat. Be sure to read
the impo rtant i nfo rmat ion about this feature
¢ page 302.
.&._ WARNING
Improperly posit ioned safety be lts can cause
ser ious injury in an accident
q page 265,
Safety belt position .
- Safety belts offer optimum protection only
when the seatback is upright and belts are
properly positioned on the body.
-Always ma ke sure that the rear seat bac k­
rest to wh ich the center rear safety be lt is
attached is secure ly latched whenever the
rear cente r safety belt is being used .
If the
backrest is not securely latched, the passen­
ger will move forward with the backrest dur-
Safet y bel ts
ing sudden braking, in a s udden ma neuver
and espec ia lly in a crash.
- Never attach the safety belt to the buckle
for another seat. Attach ing the be lt to the
wrong buckle will reduce safety be lt effec­
tiveness and can cause serio us personal i n­
jury .
- A passenger who is not properly rest rai ned
can be seriously injured by the safety belt it­
self when it moves from the st ronge r parts
of the body into c ritical areas like the abdo­
men .
- Always loc k the convertible locking retractor
when yo u are s ecu ring a c hild safety seat in
the vehicle
q page 304.
Safety belt position
Correct belt position is the key to getting maxi ­
mum protection from safety belts .
Fig. 22 9 Safet y belt pos it ion
Standard features on your vehicle help you adjust
the position of the safety belt to matc h your body
s ize .
- be lt height adjus tment for the front seats,
- he igh t-a djust able fro nt seat s.
.&_ WARNING
Im properly posi tioned sa fe ty belts can ca use
se rious pe rsonal injury in an acc ident .
- Th e shou lde r belt should lie as close to the
center of t he collar bone as possib le and
should fit well on the body . Ho ld the belt
above the latch tongue 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 ..,.
265

Safety belts
on the abdomen. The belt should always fit
snugly
~ fig. 229. Pull on the belt to tighten
if necessary.
- The lap belt portion of the safety belt must
be positioned as low as possible across pel­
vis and never over the abdomen. Make sure
the belt lies flat and snug
c> fig . 229. Pull on
the belt to tighten if necessary.
- A loose-fitting safety belt can cause serious
injuries by shifting its pos ition on your body
from the strong bones to more vulnerable,
soft tissue and cause serious injury.
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other important information
Q page 264.
Pregnant women must also be correctly
restrained
The best way to protect the fetus is to make sure
that expectant mothers always wear safety belts
correctly -throughout the pregnancy.
Fig. 230 Safety belt pos ition during preg nan cy
To provide maximum protection, safety belts
must always be positioned correctly on the wear­
er's body
i=> page 265.
.,. Adjust the front seat and head restraint cor­
rectly
c> page 54, Front seats .
.,. Make sure the seatback of the rear seat bench
is in an upright position and securely latched in
place before using the belt .
.,. Pull the safety belt evenly across the chest so
that it sits as low as possible on the pelvis and
there is no pressure on the abdomen
Q fig. 230, QA .
.,. Insert the tongue into the correct buckle of
your seat until you hear it latch securely.
266
.,. Pull on the belt to make sure that it is securely
latched in the buckle.
A WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can cause
serious 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 and heed all WARNINGS and
other important information
c> .& in Fasten­
ing safety belts on page
265 .
Unfastening safety belts
Unbuckle the safety belt with the red release
button only after the vehicle has stopped.
Fig. 231 Releasing the tongue from the buckle
.,. Push the red release button on the buckle
Q fig. 231. The belt tongue will spring out of
the buckle
Q .&, .
.,. Let the belt wind up on the retractor as you
guide the belt tongue to its stowed position.
A WARNING
Never unfasten safety belt while the vehicle is
moving . Doing so will increase your risk of be­
ing injured or killed.

Airbag syste m
also not inflate in side or rear co llisions, or in
ro llovers .
Always 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
deploy, or when they have already deployed; for
examp le, when your vehicle str ikes or is struck by
another vehicle after the first col lision.
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
¢ page 261.
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 1 0 inches (25 cm) to
the steering wheel or instrument panel.
- If you cannot sit mo re than 10 inches
( 2 5 cm) from the steering wheel, invest i­
gate whether adaptive equipment may be
available to help yo u 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 infla ting 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
c ould even be killed if you are up aga inst the
air bag or too close to it when it inflates -
even with an Advanced Airbag.
270
-
- To reduce the r is k of i njury when an a irbag
inflates, always wear safety belts prope rly
¢ page 264, Safety belts.
- Always make certa in that children age 12 or
younge r 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 r ide unrestra ined or im­
properly restrained in the vehicle . Ad just the
front seats properly .
- Never ride with the back rest recl ined .
- Always sit as far as possible from the steer-
ing wheel or the instrument panel
¢page 253.
-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 mo ve into
the area of the s ide airbag 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
Airbags that have deployed in a crash m ust 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 re ad the impo rtan t in format ion an d
hee d the WAR NINGS for impo rtant deta ils ..,.

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::r ' about children and Advanced Airbags
¢page 291.
Even though yo ur vehicle is equ ipped with an Ad­
vanced Airbag System, make certain that a ll chil­
dren, especially those 12 years and younger, al ­
ways ride in the back seat proper ly 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 dange rous place for
a n in fant or a child in a rearward-fac ing seat.
The Advanced Airbag System i n 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
Ve hicle Safety Standa rd (CMVSS) 208 as applica ­
b le at the time your veh icle was man ufactu red.
According 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
p loyment" for children aged 3 to 6 years o ld (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
PAS SEN ­
GER AIR BAG OFF
for a few seconds and:
- PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF~; will come on if
the front passenger seat is not occupied
- PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF the e lectrica l capacitance measured by the ca­
pacitive passenger detection system for the
front passenger seat equals 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 in Federal Motor
Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 208 with
wh ich the Advanced Airbag System in your ve hi­
cle 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 293.
Airbag syste m
- PASSEN GER 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 adu lt as
registered by the capacitive passenger detec­
tion system ¢
page 281, Monitoring the Ad­
vanced Airbag System.
The PAS SEN GER AIR BAG OFF~; light comes on
when e lectrica l 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 restra ints listed in Federal Motor Ve­
hicle Safety Standard (F MVSS) 208 with wh ich
t h e Advanced Airbag System in you r 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 ica l 1 yea r-old ch ild but less than the weight
of a sm all adul t, the front airbag on the passen ­
ger side can deploy (the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
If the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF~; light does
not come on, the fro nt airbag on the passenge r
side has not been t urned off by the e lectronic
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 , th e ai rb ag ma y deplo y if:
- a small c hild that is heav ier than a typ ica l 1
year -o ld child is on the front passenger seat
(regard less of whethe r the child is in one of t he
child sa fe ty seats listed¢
page 293), or
- a child who has outgrown c hild rest raints is on
the front passenger seat .
If the front passenge r a irbag is tu rned off, the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF~; light comes on in
t h e headliner a nd stays o n.
If the front passenger a irbag deploys, the Feder­
al Standard requ ires t he a irbag to meet the " low
r isk" deployment cr ite ria to redu ce the r isk of in­
j u ry throug h interact ion w it h t he airbag. "Low
risk" deployment occurs in t hose crashes that
take place at lower decelerations as defined in ..,.
271