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Floor mats on the driver side
Always use floor mats that can be securely attached to the floor mat fasteners and do not in
terfere with the free movement of the pedals .
... Make sure tha t t he floor mats are properly se
cured and cannot
move and interfere with the
pedals
q ,& .
Use only floor mats th at leave the pedal area un
obstructed and that are firmly secured so that
they cannot slip out of position . You can obtain
suitable floor mats from your authorized Audi Dealer .
Floor mat fasteners are installed in your Audi.
Floor mats used in your vehicle must be attached
to these fasteners. Properly securing the floor mats will prevent them from sliding into posi
tions that could interfere with the pedals or im
pair safe operation of your vehicle in other ways .
A WARNING
Pedals that cannot move freely can result in a
loss of vehicle control and increase the risk of
serious personal injury.
- Always make sure that floor mats are prop
erly secured.
- Never place or install floor mats or other
floor coverings in the vehicle that cannot be
properly secured in place to prevent them
from slipping and interfering with the ped
als or the ability to control the vehicle.
- Never place or install floor mats or other
floor coverings on top of already installed
floor mats. Additional floor mats and other coverings will reduce the size of the pedal
area and interfere with the pedals.
- Always properly reinstall and secure floor
mats that have been taken out for cleaning.
- Always make sure that objects cannot fall
into the driver footwell while the vehicle is
moving. Objects can become trapped under
the brake pedal and accelerator pedal caus ing a loss of vehicle control.
Safe driving
Stowing luggage
Loading the luggage compartment
All luggage and other objects must be properly
stowed and secured in the luggage compart
ment.
Loose items in the luggage compartment can
shift suddenly, changing vehicle handling charac
teristics . Loose items can also increase the risk of
serious personal injury in a sudden vehicle ma
neuver or in a collision.
... Distribute the load evenly in the luggage com
partment .
... Always place and properly secure heavy items in
the luggage compartment as far forward as
possible .
... Secure luggage using the tie-downs provided
qpage 184.
A WARNING ~ -
Improperly stored luggage or other items can
fly through the vehicle causing serious per
sonal injury in the event of hard braking or an
accident. To help reduce the risk of serious
personal injury:
- Always put objects, for example, luggage or
other heavy items in the luggage compart
ment.
- Always secure objects in the luggage com
partment using the tie-down eyelets and
suitable straps .
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
""
183
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Safe driving
on the safety compliance sticker on the left
door jamb. Exceeding permissible weight
standards can cause the vehicle to slide and handle differently .
- Please observe information on safe driving
9 page 179.
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 convertible top,
- 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 convertible top and the rear lid are
securely 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.
- 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.
184
@ Tips
- Air circulation helps to reduce window fog
ging. Stale air escapes to the outside
through vents in the trim panel, on the left
side of the luggage compartment. Be sure
to keep these slots free and open.
- The tire pressure must correspond to the
load. The tire pressure is shown on the tire
pressure label. The tire pressure label is lo
cated on the driver's side B-pillar . The tire
pressure label lists the recommended 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 man
ufactured. For recommended tire pressures
for normal load conditions , please see chap
ter ¢page255.
Tie -downs
The luggage compartment is equipped with four
tie-downs to secure luggage and other items.
I A UD I I
Fig. 151 Lu ggage compartmen t: loca tion of the tie -dow ns
Use the tie-downs to secure your cargo properly
9page 183, Loading 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 energy which
vary with vehicle speed and the weight of the
item . Vehicle speed is the most significant factor.
For example , in a frontal collision at a speed of
30 mph (48 km/h), the forces acting on a 10 lbs
(4.5 kg) object are about 20 times the normal
weight of the item. This means that the weight
of the item would suddenly be about
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200 lbs (90 kg). You can imagine the injuries that
a 200 lbs (90 kg) item flying freely through the
passenger compartment could cause in a colli
sion like this.
A WARNING
Weak, damaged or improper straps used to
secure items to tie -downs can fail during hard
braking or in a collision and cause serious per
sonal injury.
- Always use suitable mounting straps and properly secure items to the tie-downs in
the luggage compartment to help prevent
items from shifting or flying forward as dan
gerous missiles .
- Never attach a child safety seat tether strap
to a tie-down.
-
Reporting Safety Defects
Applicable to U.S.A.
If you believe that your vehicle
has a defect which could cause a
crash or could cause injury or
death, you should immediately in
form the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA) in
addition to notifying Audi of
America, Inc.
If NHTSA receives similar com
plaints, it may open an investiga
tion, and if it finds that a safety
defects exists in a group of
vehicles, it may order a recall and
remedy campaign. However,
NHTSA cannot become involved in
individual problems between you,
your dealer, or Audi of America,
Inc.
Safe driving
To contact NHTSA, you may call
the Vehicle Safety Hotline toll
free at:
Tel.: 1-888-327-4236 (TTY:
1-800-424-9153) or
1-800-424-9393
or you may write to:
Administrator NHTSA
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, D.C. 20590
You can also obtain other infor mation about motor vehicle safe
ty from:
http:/ /www.safercar.gov
Applicable to Canada
If you live in Canada and you be
lieve that your vehicle has a de
fect that could cause a crash, in
jury or death, you should immedi
ately inform Transport Canada,
Defect Investigations and Recalls.
You should also notify Volkswa
gen Group Canada, Inc.
Canadian customers who wish to
report a safety-related defect to
Transport Canada, Defect Investi gations and Recalls, may either
call Transport Canada toll-free at:
..,
185
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Safe driving
Tel.: 1-800-333-0510 or
Tel.: 1-819-994-3328 (Ottawa re
gion and from other countries)
TTY for hearing impaired: Tel.: 1-888-67 5-6863
or contact Transport Canada by
mail at :
Transport Canada
Motor Vehicle Safety Investiga
tions Laboratory
80 Noel Street
Gatineau, QC
J8Z 0Al
For additional road safety infor
mation, please visit the Road
Safety website at :
http:/ /www.tc.gc.ca/eng/
roadsafety/menu.htm
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Safety belts
General notes
Always wear safety belts!
Wearing safety belts correctly saves lives!
This chapter exp lains 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 automobile accidents.
For your protection and that of your passen
gers, always correctly wear safety belts
when the vehicle is moving.
- Pregnant women, injured, or physically im
paired persons must also use safety belts.
Like all vehicle occupants, they are more
likely to be seriously injured if th ey do not
wear safety belts. The best way to protect a
fetus is to protect the mother -throughout
the entire pregnancy.
Number of seats
Your veh icle has two seating positions. Each seat
ing position has a safety belt.
A WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them im
properly increases the risk of serious personal
injury and death.
- Never strap more than one person, includ
ing sma ll ch ildren, into any belt.
It is espe
ci ally da ngerous to place a safety belt over a
ch ild sitting on your lap.
- Never let more people ride in the vehicle
than there are safety belts available.
Safety belts
-Be sure everyone riding in the vehicle is
properly restrained with a separate safety
belt or child restraint.
4 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.
Fig. 152 Safety belt warn ing ligh t in the instrument clus
ter -en larged
Before driving off, always:
l,; N 0
> ... m
• Fasten your safety belt and make sure you wear
it properly.
• Make sure that your passengers also buckle up
and properly wear their safety belts.
• Protect ch ildren with a child restraint system
appropr iate for the size and age .
The warning light . in the instrument cluster
lights up when the ignit ion is switched on as a re
minder to fasten the safety belts . In add ition, a
warning tone will sound for a certain period of
time .
Fasten your safety belt and make sure that your
passengers also properly put on their safety
belts.
A WARNING
-
- Safety belts are the single most effect ive
means available to red uce the risk of serious
i njur y and death in automobile accidents.
Fo r your protection and that of yo ur passen
gers, always correctly wear safety belts
when the vehicle is moving .
- Fail ure to pay attention to the warning light
that comes on cou ld lead to personal injury.
187
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Safety belts
Why safety belts?
Frontal collisions and the law of physics
Frontal crashes create very strong forces for peo
ple riding in vehicles .
Fig . 153 Unbelted occupants in a veh icle headi ng fo r a wall
Fig. 154 T he vehicle c rashes into the wall
The physical principles are simple. Both the vehi
cle and the passengers possess energy which var
ies w ith vehicle speed and body weight. Engi
neers call this energy "k inetic 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.
Vehicle speed is the most significant factor .
If
the speed doubles from 15 to 30 mph (25 to 50
km/h), the energy increases 4 times!
Because the passengers of this vehicle are not us
i ng safety belts
c::>fig. 153, they will keep moving
at the same speed the vehicle was moving just
before the crash, unti l something stops them -
here, the wall
c::> fig . 154.
The same principles apply to people sit ting in a
vehicle that is involved in a frontal collision . Even
at c ity speeds of 20 to 30 mph (30 to 50 km/h),
the forces acting on the body can reach one ton
188
(2,000 lbs, or 1,000 kg) or more . At higher
speeds, these forces are even greater.
People who do not use safety belts are also not
attached to their vehicle. In a frontal collis 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!
Fig. 155 A drive r not wea ring a safety belt is vio len tly
t hrow n fo rward
Unb elted occupants are not able to resist the tre
mendous forces of impact by holding tight o r
bracing themselves . Without the benefit of safe
ty restraint systems, the unrestrained occupant
will slam violently into the steering wheel, in
strument panel, windshield, or whatever else is
i n the way
c::> fig . 155 . This impact w ith the vehi
cle inter ior has all the energy they had just be
fore the crash.
Never rely on a irbags alone for protection . Even
when they deploy, a irbags provide only addit ional
protection. Airbags are not supposed to deploy in
all kinds of accidents. Although your Audi is
equipped with airbags, all veh icle occupants, in
cluding the driver, must wear safety belts cor
rectly in order to minimize the risk of severe in
ju ry or death in a crash .
Remember too, that airbags will deploy only
once and that your safety be lts are always there
IJJ,,
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to offer protection in those accidents in which
airbags are not supposed to deploy or when they
have a lready deployed. Unbelted occupants can
also be thrown out of the vehicle where even
more severe or fatal injuries can occur.
Safety belts protect
People think it's possible to use the hands to
brace the body in a minor collision. It's simply
no t true!
Fig. 156 Drive r is correctly restra ined in a s udde n brak ing
ma neuver .
Safety belts used properly can make a big differ
ence. Safety belts help to keep passengers in
their seats, gradually reduce energy levels ap
p lied to the body in an accident , and he lp prevent
the uncon trolled movement tha t can cause seri
ous injur ies. In addi tion , safety belts reduce the
danger of being thrown out of the veh icle.
Safety belts attach passengers to the car and give
them the benefi t of bei ng slowed down more
gent ly or "softly" through the "give" i n the safe ty
be lts, crush zones and other safety features engi
neered into today's vehicles . By "absorbing" the
kinetic energy ove r a longer period of time, the
safety belts make the forces on the body more
"to lerable" and less likely to cause injury.
Although these examples are based on a fronta l
coll is ion, safety belts can also substantially re
duce th e risk of inj ury 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 stat istics s how that vehi
cle occupants properly wearing safety belts have
a lower risk of being in ju red and a much better
chance of s urviv ing a n accide nt. Prope rly us ing
Safet y bel ts
sa fety belts 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 Audi is equipped with airbags, you still have to wear the safety belts p rovided . Front
airbags, for example, are activated only in some
frontal collisions. The front airbags are not acti
vated in a ll frontal collisions, i n side and rear col
lis ions, in rollovers o r in cases where there is not
enough decelerat ion through impact to the front
of the veh icle. The same goes for the othe r air bag
systems in your Aud i. So, always wear yo ur safe ty
belt an d make sure everybody in your vehicle is
prope rly restrained!
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 i llustrated and de
scribed in this chapter.
.,. Make sure that your saf ety be lts are always
ready for use and are not damaged.
A WARNING
Not wear ing safety be lts o r wearing t hem im
p roperly increases the r is k of serious personal
i njury and death . Safety belts can work only
when used correctly.
- Always fasten your safety belts co rrectly be
fore d riving off and make sure a ll passen
ge rs a re co rrectly res trained.
- For maximum protection, safety belts must
always be positioned properly o n the body .
- Never strap more than one person, includ
ing smal l children , into any belt .
- Never p lace a safety belt over a child sitting
on yo ur 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 the ir feet on
the instrument panel or stick ing out the
window or on the seat.
189
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Safe ty belts
-Never remove a safety be lt while the vehicle
is mov ing . Doing so will increase your r isk of
being injured or killed.
-Never wear belts twisted.
-Never wear belts over rigid or breakable ob -
jects in or on your cloth ing, such as eye
glasses , pens, keys, etc ., as these may cause
injury.
-Never allow safety be lts to become dam
aged by being caught in door or seat hard
ware .
-Do not wear the shoulder part of the belt
under your arm or otherwise out of position.
-Severa l layers of heavy clothing may inter
fere with correct positioning of belts and re duce the overall effectiveness of t he 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 belt. However, spe
c ial clips may be requ ired for the proper use
of some child restraint systems.
-Torn or frayed safety belts can tear and damaged belt hardware can break in an acc i
dent. Inspect belts regularly .
If webbing,
bind ings, buckles, or retrac to rs are dam
aged, have belts replaced by an auth orized
Audi dealer or quali fied workshop .
-Safety belts that have been wo rn and loaded
in an accident m ust be rep lace d wi th the
c orrect replacemen t sa fety be lt by an au
tho rized Aud i dea le r. Replacement may be
necessary even if damage cannot be clear ly
seen . Anchorages that were loaded m ust al
so be inspected.
-Never remove, modify, disassemble, or try
to repair the safety belts yourself .
- Always keep the belts clean . Di rty be lts may
not work proper ly and can impai r the f unc
t ion of the inertia ree l ¢
table Interior
cleaning on page 268.
190
Safety belts
Fastening safety belts
Safety first -everybody buckle up!
Fig. 1 57 Belt buck le a nd to ngue on t he drive r's seat
To p rovide m axim um pro tect ion , safety belts
must a lways be positioned correctly on the wear
er 's body .
.,. Adjust the fron t se at prope rly ¢ page 46 , Front
sea ts .
.,. Pull the safety belt evenly across the chest and
pe lvis
¢ fig. 157 , ¢ .&,.
.,. Insert the tongue into the correct buck le of
your seat until you hear it latch securely.
.,. Pull on the belt to m ake sure that it is sec urely
latched in the buckle .
Automatic safety belt ret ractors
Eve ry safety belt is equipped with an automatic
b elt ret ractor on th e shou lder belt . This feature
locks the belt when the belt is pulled out fast,
during hard brak ing and in an accident. The belt
may also lock when you dr ive up or down a steep
hill or through a sharp curve . During normal driv
i ng t he belt lets you move free ly .
Safety belt pretensioners
Safety be lts with pretensioners help to tighten
the safety belt and remove slack when the pre
te ns ioners are activated
¢ page 192 . The f u nc
tion of the p re tensioner is mon itored by a warn
i ng
li ght ¢ page 14 .
Convertible locking retractor
Every safety belt except the one on the driver
seat is equipped with a convertib le lock ing retrac-
tor that
must be used when t he safety be lt is .,..