
Cl 00 .-< N r-N .-< 0 r-Vl 00
-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 seats
¢page 216. Special precautions apply
when installing a child seat on the front
passenger seat ¢
page 194.
Proper seating position for the front
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 .
.,. Keep both feet flat on the floor in front of the
front passenger seat .
.,. Fasten and wear safety belts correctly
¢ page 190.
For detailed information on how to adjust the
front passenger's seat, see ¢
page 46.
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 against 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 .
Safe driving
-Always make sure that there are at least
10 in (25 cm) between the front passen
ger's breastbone and the instrument panel.
- Always make sure that there are at least 4 in
(10 cm) between the front passenger's
knees and the lower part of the instrument
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 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 risk of injury due
to incorrect positioning of the safety belt
and improper seating position .
- Children must always ride in child seats
¢
page 216. Special precautions apply
when installing a child seat on the front
passenger seat ¢
page 194.
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 death. Safety belts can only work when
they are properly positioned on the body. Im
proper seating positions reduce the effectiveness
of safety belts and will even increase the risk of
injury and death by moving the safety belt to crit
ical areas of the body . Improper seating positions
also increase the risk of serious injury and death
when an airbag deploys and strikes an occupant
who is not in the proper seating position. A driver
is responsible for the safety of all vehicle occu-
pants and especially for children. Therefore:
IJJ,,
181

Cl 00 .-< N r-N .-< 0 r-Vl 00
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

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 .,..

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 driver's seat and steering wheel
properly ~ page 180,
.,. Adjust the front passenge r's seat properly
~ page 181,
.,. Wear safety belts p roperly ~ page 189,
.. Always properly use the proper child restraint
to protect chi ldren
~ page 216.
In a coll is ion airbags must inflate within the blink
of an eye and with considerable force. The sup
p lemental airbags can cause injuries if the driver
or the front seat passenger is not seated proper ·
ly. T herefore in order to help the airbag to do its
job, it is important, both as a dr iver and as a pas
senger 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 a irbag can inflate fully and
completely and provide supplemental protect ion
in certain frontal
coll isions ¢ page 180, Correct
passenger seating positions .
For details on the
operation of the seat adjustment controls
¢page 46.
It's especially important that children are proper
ly restrained
¢page 216 .
There is a lot that the driver and the passenger
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
194 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 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 inflate between the steering wheel and
the driver and between the instrument panel and
the front passenger . Th e a irbags w ill deflate im
med iate ly after deployment so that the front oc
cupants can see t hrough 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 passenger from hitting parts of the inside
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 lowe r 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 vehicle deceleration rate caused by
the collis ion and regis tered 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 . Vehi
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 collision 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 car hits, the angle of
im pact , vehicle speed, etc. The front airbags will
..,.

Cl 00 .-< N r--N .-< 0 r--Vl 00
also not inflate in side or rear co llisions, or in
ro llovers .
Alwa ys re memb er: Airbags will deploy only o nce,
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 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 airbag system works most
effect ively when used with the safety belts.
Therefore, always properly wear your safety belts
<=:> page 187 .
A WARNING
Sitting too close to the steer ing whee l o r i n
st rument panel w ill decrease the effe ct ive
ness of the airbags and will inc rease the risk
of persona l injury in a co llision.
- Never si t close r than 10 in (25 cm) to t he
steering wheel o r inst rument pane l.
- If you cannot sit mo re than 10 in (25 cm)
from the steer ing whee l, invest iga te wheth
er adaptive eq uipme nt may be avai lab le to
held you reach the pedals and increase you r
seating distance from the steering wheel.
- If you are unrestrained, leaning fo rwa rd, s it
ting sideways or o ut of position in any way,
your risk of inj ury is much higher .
- Yo u will also receive serious injuries and
cou ld even be killed if you are up against the
airbag or too close to it when it inf lates -
even with an Advanced Airbag.
- To reduce the risk of inj ury when an airbag
inflates, a lways wear safety be lts proper ly
¢ page 190, Safety belts.
- If children are not properly restrained, they
may be severely in jured or killed when an
airbag inflates.
- Never let children ride unrestrained or im properly restrained in the veh icle. Adjust the
front seats properly.
- Always sit as far as poss ible from the steer
ing w heel or the inst rument panel
¢ page 180.
-
Airbag syste m
- 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 bot h feet
on the floor in front of the seat to help pre
vent ser ious injuries to the legs and hips if
the airbag inflates.
A WARNING
-
A irbags that have deployed in a cras h must be
r eplaced.
- Use o nly orig inal equipment airbags ap
proved by Audi and installed by a trained
technicia n who has the necessary tools and
d iagnost ic equipment to prope rly replace
a ny a irbag i n yo ur vehicle and ass ure system
effe ct iveness in a crash .
- Neve r pe rmit salvaged or recycled airbags to
be inst alled in you r vehicle.
Child restraints on the front seat - some
important things to know
.,. Be sure to read the important information and
head the WARNINGS for important detai ls
about ch ildren and Advanced A irbags
¢page 216 .
The airbag on the passenger side makes the front
seat a potent ially dangerous place for a child to
ride. The front seat is not the safest place for a
child in a forward -fac ing child safety seat . It can
be a very dangerous place for an infant or a ch ild
in a rearward-fac ing seat.
The Advanced A irbag System in your vehicle has
been certified to comply with the requirements
of United States Federal Motor Ve hicle Safety
Standard (FMVSS) 208, as we ll as Canada Moto r
Vehicle Safety Standard (C MVSS) 208 as appl ica
ble at the time you r vehi cle was manuf actured.
According to requirements , the front Advanced
Airbag System on the passenger side has been
certified for "suppression" for infants of abo ut
12 month o ld and younger and for " low risk de
ployment" for chi ldren aged 3 to 6 years old (as
defined in the standard).
Iii>
195

Airbag system
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.
E ach time you turn on the ignition, the
PASSEN
GER AIR BAG OFF
"1; ON@ light will come on
for a few seconds and:
- PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF ~; will come on if
the front passenger seat is not occupied,
-PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF ~; will come on if
t h e e lectrica l capacitance measured by the ca
pacitive passenger detection system for the
front passenger seat equa ls the combined ca
pacitance of an infant up to about one year of
age and one of the rearward-facing or forward
facing child restraints listed in Federal Motor
Vehicle Safety Standard 208 w ith which the Ad
vanced Airbag System in your vehicle was certi
fied. For a listing of the ch ild restraints that
were used to cert ify your vehicle 's compliance
with the U.S. Safety Standard
¢page 218.
- PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF~; will come on if
there is a small child or ch ild rest raint on the
front passenger seat,
-PASSENGER AIR BAG ON @w ill go off if the
front passenger seat is occupied by an adult as
registered by the capacitive passenger detec
tion system ¢
page 205, Monitoring the Ad
vanced Airbag System .
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF~; light comes on
when electrical capacitance registered on t he
front passenger seat is equa l to or less than the
combined capacitance of a typica l 1 year -o ld in
fant and one of the rearward-facing or forward
facing ch ild restraints listed in Federal Motor Ve
h icle Safety Standard 208 with wh ich the Ad
vanced A irbag System in your vehicle was cert i
f ie d.
If the tota l electrical capac itance registered on
the front passenger seat is more than that of a
typical 1 year-old child but less than the we ight
of a small adult, the front a irbag on the passen
ge r side ca n deploy (the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
"1; light does not come on).
If the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF "1; light does
not come on, the front a irbag on the passenger
196
side has not been turned off by the electronic
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 , the airbag may deploy
if:
-a small c hild that is heav ier than a typica l 1
year-old child is on the front passenger seat
(regard less of whethe r the child is in one of the
child sa fety seats listed ¢
page 218), or
- a child who has outgrown child restraints is on
the front passenger seat.
If the front passenger a irbag is turned off, the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF~; light comes on in
the headliner and stays on.
If the front passenger airbag deploys, the Feder
al Standard requires the airbag to meet the "low
r isk" dep loyment cr iteria to reduce the r isk of in
jury through interaction w ith the airbag. "Low
risk" deployment occurs in those crashes that
take place at lower decelerations as defined in
the e lectronic contro l unit ¢
page 206, PASSEN
GER AIR BAG
OFF~; ON~ light.
A lways remember, a child seat or infant carrier
installed on the front seat may be struck and
knocked out of position by the rapidly inflating
passenger's airbag in a frontal col lision. The air
bag could great ly reduce the effectiveness of the
c hi ld restraint and even ser iously injure the child
during inflat io n.
A WARNING
A child in a rearward-facing child seat instal
led on the front passenger seat will be seri
ously injured and can be killed if the front air
bag inflates
-even with an Advanced Airbag
System.
- The inflat ing airbag will hit the child seat or
infant carrier with great force and will
smash the child seat and child against the
backrest, center armrest, door or roof.
- Forward-facing child seats installed on the
front passenger's seat may interfere with
the deployment of the airbag and cause se
r ious personal injury to the ch ild.

Cl 00 .-< N r-N .-< 0 r-Vl 00
A WARNING
If, in exceptional circumstances, you must in
stall a forward-facing child restraint on the
front passenger's seat:
- Always make sure the forward-fac ing seat
has been designed and certified by its man
ufacturer for use on a front seat with a pas
senger front and s ide a irbag.
- Never put the forward-facing child restraint
up against or ve ry near the instrument pan
el.
- Always move the front passenger seat to
the highest position in the up and down ad
justment range and move it back to the
re ar most position in the se at's fore and aft
adjustment range, as fa r away from the air
bag as possib le, before insta lling the for
ward-facing child restraint .
-Always make sure that the safety belt upper
anchorage is behind the child restraint and
not next to or in front of the chi ld restraint
so that the safety belt will be properly pos i
t ioned.
- Make sure that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF ~; light comes on and stays on a ll the
t ime whenever the ignition is switched on.
A WARNING
To red uce the risk of serious in jury, make s ure
that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF ~; light
w ill be displayed whenever a child restra int is
installed on the front passenge r seat and the
ign ition is swi tched on.
-If the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF ~; light
does not stay on, perfo rm the che cks descri
bed
¢ page 205, Monitoring the Advanced
Airbag System .
-Have the airbag system inspe cte d by your
Audi dealer imme diately.
- Always caref ully follow instru ctions from
ch ild res tra int m anufa ctu rers when instal
ling child restraints .
Airbag syste m
A WARNING
--
If, in exceptional c ircumstances, you must in
stall a forward or rearward-facing child re
stra int on the fron t passenger 's seat :
- Imp roper installat ion of child restraints can
reduce the ir effectiveness or even prevent
them from providing any pro tect ion .
- An improperly installed child restra int can
interfere wi th the airbag as it deploys and
serio usly injure or even kil l the chi ld -even
wit h an Advanced A irbag System.
- Always carefully follow the manufacturer's
instr uctions provided with the child seat or
earner.
- Always make sure that there is noth ing on
the front passenge r seat tha t will cause the
capacitive p assenge r de te ction system in
the sea t to signal to the Airb ag System th at
the seat is occup ied by a person when i t is
not, or to signal that it is occupied by some
one who is heavier than the person actually
sitt ing on the seat. The presence of addi
tional objects could cause the passenger
front ai rbag to be turned on when it should
be off, or cou ld cause the ai rbag to work in a
way that is different from the way it wou ld
h ave wo rked withou t the objec t on the seat.
197

Cl 00 .-< N r-N .-< 0 r-Vl 00
seat backrests; never place them between
these areas and you or any other person in
the vehicle.
- Never attach objects to the windshield
above the passenger front airbag, such as
accessory GPS navigation units or music
players. Such objects could cause serious in
jury in a collision, especially when the air bags inflate .
A WARNING
A person on the front passenger seat, espe
cially infants and small children, will receive
serious injuries and can even be killed by be
ing too close to the airbag when it inflates.
- Although the Advanced Airbag System in
-
your vehicle is designed to turn off the front
passenger airbag if an infant or a small child
is on the front passenger seat, nobody can
absolutely guarantee that deployment un
der these special conditions is impossible in
all conceivable situations that may happen
during the useful life of your vehicle.
- The Advanced Airbag System can deploy in accordance with the "low risk" option under
the U .S . Federal Standard if a child that is
heavier than the typical one-year old child is
on the front passenger seat and the other
conditions for airbag deployment are met.
- For its own safety, a child should always ride
properly restrained for its age and size.
Advanced front airbag system
Your vehicle is equipped with a front Advanced
Airbag System in compliance with United States
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS)
208, as well as Canada Motor Vehicle Safety
Standard (CMVSS) 208 as applicable at the time
your vehicle was manufactured.
The front Advanced Airbag System supplements
the safety belts to provide additional protection
for the driv er's and front passenger's heads and
upper bodies in frontal crashes . The airbags in
flate only in frontal impacts when the vehicle de
celeration is high enough.
Airbag system
The front Advanced Airbag System for the front
seat occupants is not a substitute for your safety
belts. Rather, it is part of the overall occupant re
straint system in your vehicle. Always remember
that the airb ag system can only help to protect
you, if you are sitting upright, wearing your safe
ty belt and wearing it properly . This is why you
and your passengers must always be properly re
strained, not just because the law requires you to
be.
The Advanced Airbag System in your vehicle has
been certified to meet the "low risk" require
ments for 3 and 6 year-old children on the pas
senger side and very small adults on the driver
side. The low risk deployment criteria are intend
ed to help reduce the risk of injury through inter
action with the front airbag that can occur, for
example, by being too close to the steering wheel
and instrument p anel when the airbag inflates.
In addition, the system has been certified to
comply with the "suppression" requirements of
the Safety Standard, to turn off the front airbag
for infants 12 months old and younger who are
res trained on the front passenger seat in child re
straints that are listed in the Standard
~page 218, Child restraints and Advanced front
airbag system .
"Suppression" requires the front airbag on the
passenger side to be turned off if:
- a child up to about one year of age is restrained
on the front passenger seat in one of the rear
facing or forward-facing infant restraints listed in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208
with which the Advanced Airbag System in your
vehicle was certified . For a listing of the child
restraints that were used to certify your vehi
cle's compliance with the US Safety Standard
~page 218,
- When a person is detected on the front passen
ger seat that has an electrical capacitance that
is more than the total electrical capacitance of
a child that is about 1 year old restrained in one
of the rear-facing or forward-facing infant re
straints (listed in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety
Standard 208 with which the Advanced Airbag
System in your vehicle was certified), the front
.,,.
199