ESP AUDI Q7 2017 Owner´s Manual

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Safety belts
General information
Always wear safety belts!
Wearing safety belts correctly saves lives!
This chapter explains why safety belts 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 single most effective
means available 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, o r physically im­
paired persons must also use safety belts.
Like all vehicle occupants, they are more
likely to be serio usly injured if they do not
wear safety belts. The best way to protect a
fetus is to protect the mother -throughout
the entire pregnancy.
Number of seats
Applies to: Vehicles with five seats: Your vehicle
has two front seats and three rear seats. Each
seating position has a safety belt.
Applies to: Vehicles with seven seats: Your
vehicles 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 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 small children, into any belt.
It is espe-
Safety belts
cially dangerous to place a safety be lt over a
child sitting on your lap.
- Never let more peop le ride in the vehicle
than there are safety belts available .
- Be sure everyone riding in the vehicle is
proper ly restrained with a separate safety
belt or ch ild restraint .
Safety belt warning light
Your vehicle hos a warning system for the driver
and front seat passenger to remind you about the importance of buckling-up.
Fig. 227 Safety belt warn ing ligh t in the instrument clus ­
ter -enlarged
Before driving off, always:
~ Fasten your safety belt and make sure you are
wearing it properly.
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~
~ Make sure that your passengers also buckle up
and properly wear their safety belts.
~ Protect children with a child restraint system
appropr iate for the size and age .
The warning light . in the instrument cluster
lights up when the ignition is switched on as a re­
minder to fasten the safety belts. In addition,
you w ill hear a warn ing tone 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 effective
means available to reduce the risk of serious
inj ury and death in automobile accidents.
F or your protection and that of your
265

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.. 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 and
pelvis ¢
fig. 233, ¢ .&_ .
.. Insert the tongue into the correct buckle of
your seat until you hear it latch securely.
.. Pull on the belt to make sure that it is securely
latched in the buckle.
Automatic safety belt retractors
Every safety belt is equipped with an automatic
belt retractor on the shoulder belt. This feature
locks the belt when the belt is pulled out fast,
during hard braking and in an accident . The belt
may also lock when you drive up or down a steep
hill or through a sharp curve. During normal driv­
ing the belt lets you move freely.
Safety belt pretensioners
The safety belts are equipped with a belt preten­
sioner that helps to tighten the safety belt and
remove slack when the pretensioner is activated
¢
page 2 71 . The function of the pretensioner is
monitored by a warning light
q page 29.
Convertible locking retractor
Every safety belt except the one on the driver
seat is equipped with a convertible locking retrac­
tor that
must be used when the safety belt is
used to attach a child safety seat. Be sure to read
the important information about this feature
¢page 306.
.&._ WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can cause
serious injury in an accident
q page 269,
Safety belt position.
- Safety belts offer optimum protection only
when the seatback is upright and belts are
properly positioned on the body.
-Always make sure that the rear seat back­ rest to which the center rear safety belt is
attached is securely latched whenever the
rear center safety belt is being used .
If the
backrest is not securely latched, the passen­
ger will move forward with the backrest dur-
Safety belts
ing sudden braking, in a sudden maneuver
and especially in a crash.
- Never attach the safety belt to the buckle
for another seat. Attaching the belt to the
wrong buckle will reduce safety belt effec­
tiveness and can cause serious personal in­
jury .
- A passenger who is not properly restrained
can be seriously injured by the safety belt it­
self when it moves from the stronger parts
of the body into critical areas like the abdo­
men .
- Always lock the convertible locking retractor
when you are securing a child safety seat in
the vehicle
¢ page 308.
Safety belt position
Correct belt position is the key to getting maxi ­
mum protection from safety belts .
Fig. 234 Safety belt position
Standard features on your vehicle help you adjust
the position of the safety belt to match your body
size .
- belt height adjustment for the front seats,
- height-adjustable front seats.
.&_ WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can cause
serious personal injury in an accident.
- The shoulder belt should lie as close to the
center of the collar bone as possible and
should fit well on the body. Hold the belt
above the latch tongue and pull it evenly
across the chest so that it sits as low as pos-
sible on the pelvis and there is no pressure
~
269

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Adjusting safety belt height
With the aid of the safety belt height adjust­
ment, the three point safety belt strap routing
can be fitted to the shoulder area, according to
body size.
Fig . 237 Safety bel t height ad justment -loop -around fit ­
t ings
The shou lder belt should lie as close to the center
of the collar bone as poss ib le and should fit well
on the body¢&.
in Safety belt position on
page
269.
• Push the loop-around fitt ings up ¢ fig . 237 @,
or
• squeeze together the(!) button, and push the
loop-arou nd fittings
down @.
• Pull the belt to make sure that the upper at­
tachment is proper ly engaged .
A WARNING
Always read and heed all WARNINGS and oth­
er important informat ion¢
page 268.
@ Tips
With the front seats, the height adjustment
of the seat can also be used to adjust the po­
sition of the safety belts .
Improperly worn safety belts
Incorrectly positioned saf ety belts can cause se­
vere injuries.
Wearing safety belts improperly can cause seri ­
ous injury or death. Safety belts can on ly work
when they are correctly pos itioned on the body .
Improper seating positions reduce the effective­ ness of safety belts and will even increase the
Safet y bel ts
risk of i nju ry and death by moving the safety be lt
to critical areas of the body . Improper seating
pos itions also increase the r isk of serious injury
and death when an airbag dep loys and strikes an
occupant who is not in the correct seating posi­
t ion . A driver is responsible for the safety of all
vehicle occupants and especially for ch ild ren.
The refore:
• Never perm it anyone to assume an incorrect
sitt ing position in the vehicle while traveling
¢ ,&. .
.8, WARNING
Imp roperly wo rn safe ty belts increase the risk
of ser ious personal in jury and death whe never
a veh icle is being used .
- Always make sure that all ve hicle occupants
are cor rec tly rest rained and stay in a corre ct
seating posi tion whenever t he vehicle is be­
ing used .
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
o ther impor tant informat ion ¢
page 268.
Belt tensioners
How safety belt pretensioners work
Rever sible safety belt pretensioners
The following functions are available when safety
belts w ith reversible safety belt tensione rs are
fastened:
- Automatic tensioners : at the start of a drive,
the safety belts automatically adjust to the passenger after a certain time period or veh icle
speed . To switch the automatic tensioners off,
select the following in t he Infotainment sys­
tem:
! M EN UI button> Car > left con trol b utton
> Vehicle setting s > Seats > Driver' s seat or
Passenger' s seat > Automati c be lt ten sioner .
- In ce rta in driv ing s ituations, the safety bel ts
may tighten w it h a reversib le tensioning func­
tion
¢ page 117.
-The safety be lts may also tighten with this re­
vers ible te ns ion ing f unct ion in m inor collisions . .,.
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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
9 page 257,
.,. Adjust the front passenger's seat properly
¢page 258,
.,. Wear safety belts properly ¢ page 268,
.,. Always properly use the proper child restraint
to protect children ¢
page 295.
In a collision, airbags must inflate within the
blink of an eye and with considerable force. The
supplemental airbags can cause injuries if the
driver or the front seat passenger is not seated
properly. Therefore in order to help the airbag to
do its job, it is important, both as a driver and as
a passenger to sit properly at all times.
By keeping room between your body and the
steering wheel and the front of the passenger
compartment, the airbag can inflate fully and
completely and provide supplemental protection in certain frontal collisions
¢ page 257, Correct
passenger seating positions .
For details on the
operation of the seat adjustment controls
¢page 59.
It's especially important that children are proper­
ly restrained
¢page 295.
There is a lot that the driver and the passengers
can and must do to help the individual safety fea­
tures installed in your Audi work together as a
system.
Proper seating position is important so that the
front airbag on the driver side can do its job. If
you have a physical impairment or condition that prevents you from sitting properly on the driver
seat with the safety belt properly fastened and
Airbag system
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 dealer or qualified workshop, or
call Audi Customer Relations at 1-800-822-2834
for possible modifications to your vehicle.
When the airbag system deploys, 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. The airbags will deflate im­
mediately after deployment so that the front oc­
cupants can see through the windshield again
without interruption.
All of this takes place in the blink of an eye, so
fast that many people don't even realize that the airbags have deployed. The airbags also inflate
with a great deal of force and nothing should be
in their way when they deploy. Front airbags in
combination with properly worn safety belts slow
down and limit the occupant's forward move­
ment . Together they help to prevent the driver
and front seat passenger from hitting parts of
the inside of 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 lower parts of the body.
Both front airbags will not inflate in all frontal
collisions . The triggering of the airbag system de­
pends on the vehicle deceleration rate caused by
the collision and registered by the electronic con­
trol unit . If this rate is below the reference value
programmed into the control unit, the airbags
will not be triggered, even though the car may be badly damaged as a result of the collision. Vehi­
cle damage, repair costs or even the lack of vehi­
cle damage is not necessarily an indication of
whether an airbag should inflate or not.
Since the circumstances will vary considerably
between one collision and another, it is not possi­
ble to define a range of vehicle speeds that will
cover every possible kind and angle of impact
that will always trigger the airbags . Important
factors include, for example, the nature (hard or
soft) of the object which the car hits, the angle of
impact, vehicle speed , etc. The front airbags will
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Airbag syste m
also not inflate in s ide or rear collisions, or in
ro llovers.
Alwa ys 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
dep loy, 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 a irbag system works most
effect ively when used with the safety belts.
Therefore, always properly wear your safety belts
c::>page 265.
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 10 inches (25 cm) to
the steering wheel or instrument panel.
- If you cannot si t mo re than 10 inches
(25 cm) from the steering wheel, invest i­
gate whether adaptive equipment may be
available to help you 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 inflating 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
could even be killed if you are up aga inst the
airbag or too close to it when it inflates -
even with an Advanced Airbag.
274
-
- To reduce the risk o f injury when an a irbag
inflates, always wear safety belts properly
c::> page 268, Safety belts.
- Always make certa in that children age 12 or
younger 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 ride unrestra ined or im­
properly restrained in the vehicle. Ad just the
front seats properly.
- Never ride with the backrest recl ined .
- Always sit as far as possible from the steer-
ing wheel or the instrument panel
c::> page 257.
- 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 move in to
the area of the s ide a irbag 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
A irbags that have deployed in a crash must 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 read the impo rtan t in format ion and
heed the WARN INGS for impor tant deta ils .,..

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about children and Advanced Airbags
¢page 295.
Even though yo ur vehicle is equipped with an Ad­
vanced Airbag System, make certain that all chil­
dren, especially those 12 years and younger, al­
ways ride in the back seat properly 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 dangerous place for
a n infant or a child in a rearward-fac ing seat.
The Advanced Airbag System in 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
Veh icle Safety Standa rd (CMVSS) 208 as applica­
b le a t the time your veh icle was m an ufact ured.
Accord ing 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
ployment" for children aged 3 to 6 years old (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
PASSEN ­
GER AIR BAG OFF ~; 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
the e lectrica l capacitance measured by the ca­
pacitive passenger detection system for the
front passenger seat equa ls 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 i n Federa l Moto r
Vehicle Safety Standard ( FMVSS) 208 with
wh ich the Advanced Airbag System i n your veh i­
cl e 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 297 .
Airb ag sys tem
-PAS SENGER 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 ad ult as
registered by the capacit ive passenger detec­
tion system
¢ page 285, Monitoring the Ad­
vanced Airbag System .
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF~; light comes on
when e lectrical 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 restrai nts listed in Federal Motor Ve­
hicle Safety Standard ( FMVSS) 208 with wh ich
the Advan ced Airbag System in yo ur 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 ical 1 year -old ch ild but less than the weight
of a sm all adult, the front air bag on the passen­
ger side can deploy (the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF ~;
light does not come on) .
If the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF~; light does
not come on, the front airbag on the p assenger
s ide 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 typ ica l 1
year -o ld child is on the front passenger se at
(regardless o f whethe r the child is in one o f the
child sa fe ty seats listed
¢ page 29 7), o r
- a child who has outgrown c hild rest raints is on
t he front passenge r seat .
If the front passenge r airbag is t urned off, the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF~; light comes on i n
t h e headliner a nd stays o n.
If the front passenger a irbag deploys, the Feder­
al Standard requi res the airbag to meet the "low
r isk " dep loymen t criteria to redu ce the r isk of in­
j u ry through interaction w it h t he airbag. "Low
risk" deployment oc curs in those crashes that
take place at lowe r decelerations as defined in
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-Improper installation of child restraints can
reduce their effect iveness or even prevent
them from providing any protection.
- An improper ly installed ch ild restraint can
interfere w ith the airbag as it deploys and
seriously injure or even kill the child -even
with an Advanced Airbag System .
- Always carefu lly follow the manufacturer's
instructions provided with the child safety
seat or carrier.
- Always make sure that there is nothing on
the front passenger seat that will cause the
capacit ive passenger detection system in
the seat to signa l to the Airbag System that
the seat is occupied by a person when it is
not, or to signa l tha t it is occ upied by some ­
one who is heavier than the person actua lly
sitting on the seat. The p resence of addi ­
t ional objects could cause the passenge r
front airbag to be turned on when it shou ld
be off, or could cause the airbag to work in a
way that is different from the way it would have worked without the object on the seat .
Front airbags
Description of front airbags
The airbag system can provide supplemental
protection to properly restrained front seat occu ­
pants.
F ig. 238 Location of driver airbag: in steering whee l
Airb ag sys tem
Fig. 239 Location of front passenger's airbag: in the in·
st rument pane l
Your vehicle is equipped with an "Advanced Air­
bag System" in compliance with United States
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
(FMVSS) 208, as well as Canada Motor Veh icle
Safety Standard (CMVSS) 208 as applicable at
the time your veh icle was manufactured.
The airbag for the driver is in the steering wheel
hub
¢ fig. 238 and the airbag for the front pas­
senger is in the instrument panel
~ fig . 239. The
general locat ion of the airbags is marked ''AIR·
BAG".
There is a lot you need to know about the airbags
i n your vehicle. We urge you to read the deta iled
information abo ut airbags, safety belts and child
safe ty in this and the othe r chapte rs that make
u p the owner's li terature . Please be sure to heed
the WARNINGS -they are ex tremely important
for your sa fety and the safety of your passengers,
especially infants and small children.
A WARNING
-
Never rely on ai rbags alone for protection .
- Even w hen they deploy, airbags provide only
supp lemental protection .
- Airbag wor k most effec tively when used
with p roper ly worn safety be lts.
- Therefo re, always wea r you r safety be lts and
make sure that everybody in your ve hicl e is
p roper ly restrained.
- Always hold the steering w heel with both
hands on the outside of the steering wheel
rim at the 9:00 o'clock and 3:00 o'clock po­
sitions to help reduce the risk of personal in-
jury if the driver's a irbag inflates.
~
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Airbag system
-Never hold the steering wheel at the 12
o'clock position or with your hands any­
where inside the steering wheel or on the
steering wheel hub. Holding the steering
wheel the wrong way increases the risk of
severe injury to the arms, hands, and head if
the driver airbag deploys.
,& WARNING
Objects between you and the airbag will in­
crease the risk of injury in a crash by interfer­
ing with the way the airbag unfolds and/or by
being pushed into you as the airbag inflates.
- Always make sure nothing is in the front air-
bag deployment zone that could be struck
by the airbag when it inflates.
-
- Objects in the zone of a deploying airbag
can become projectiles when the airbag de­
ploys and cause serious personal injury.
- Never hold things in your hands or on your
lap when the vehicle is in use.
- Never place accessories or other objects
(such as cup holders, telephone brackets,
note pads, navigation systems, or things
that are large, heavy, or bulky) on the doors;
never attach then to the doors or the wind­
shield; never place them over or near or at­
tach them to the area marked ,,AIRBAG" on
the steering wheel, instrument panel or the
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.
- Never recline the front passenger seat to transport objects. Items can also move into
the deployment area of the side airbags or
the front airbag during breaking or in a sud­
den maneuver. Objects near the airbags can
fly dangerously through the passenger com­ partment and cause injury, particularly
when the seat is reclined and the airbags in­
flate.
278
,& 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 for 3-
and 6-year-old children under the U.S. Fed­
eral Standard if a child with electrical capac­
itance greater than the combined capaci­
tance of a typical one-year old infant re­
strained in one of the forward facing or rear­
ward-facing child seats with which your ve­ hicle was certified is on the front passenger
seat and the other conditions for airbag de­
ployment are met.
- Accident statistics have shown that children
are generally safer in the rear seat area than
in the front seating position.
- For their own safety, all children, especially
12 years and younger, should always ride in
the back properly restrained for their 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 driver'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.
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Airbag System for the front passenger seat from
doing its job in a crash.
The front Ad vanced Airb ag S ystem con sists
of t he follo wing :
-Crash sensors in the front of the vehicle that
measure vehicle acceleration/deceleration to
provide information to the Advanced Airbag
System about the severity of the crash.
- An electronic control un it, with integrated
crash sensors for front and side impacts. The
control unit "decides" whether to fire the front
airbags based on the information received from
the crash sensors. The control unit also "de­
c ides" whether the safety belt pretens ioners
shou ld be activated .
- An Advanced Airbag with gas generator and
contro l valve for the driver ins ide the steer ing
wheel hub.
- An Advanced Airbag with gas generator and
contro l valve inside the instrument pane l for
the front passenger.
- A capac itive passenger detect io n system unde r­
neath the front passenger seat cover. This sys­
tem measures the elect rical capac ita nce of the
person in the seat. The i nformation registe red
is sent continuously to the electron ic control
unit to regulate deployment of the front Ad­
vanced Airbag on the passenger side.
- An airbag monitoring system and indicator
light
m in the instrument cluster .
- A sensor in each front seat reg isters the dis­
tance between the respective seat and the
steering wheel or instrument panel. The infor­
mation reg istered is sent continuously to the
electronic control unit to regulate deployment
of the front Advanced A irbags .
- The
PA SSENG ER AIR B AG OFF ~; ON @ light
comes on in the headliner ¢
page 285,
fig. 241 and tells you the status of the Ad ­
vanced Airbag on the passenge r side .
- A sensor in the safety belt latch for the dr iver
and for the front seat passenger that senses
whether that safety belt is latched or not and
transm its this info rmat ion to the elect ronic
c ontro l unit.
Airb ag sys tem
_& WARNING
Damage to the front passenger seat can pre­
vent the front airbag from working properly.
- Improper repair or disassembly of the front
passenger and driver seat will prevent the
Advanced Airbag System from funct ion ing
properly .
- Repairs to the front passenger seat must be
performed by qualified and properly trained
workshop personne l.
- Never remove the front passenger or driver
seat from the vehicle .
- Never remove the upholstery from the front
passenger seat .
- Never disassemble or remove parts from the
seat or disconnect w ires from it.
- Never carry sharp objects in your pockets or
put them on the seat . The capacit ive pas­
senger detect ion mat in the front passenger
seat will not function p roperly if it is punc­
tured.
- Never carry things on your lap or carry ob­
jects on the front passenger seat. S uch ob­
jects can influence the capacitance reg is­
tered by the capacitive passenger detection
system, so that incorrect informa tion is pro­
vided to the airbag control unit.
- Never store i tems unde r the front passenger
seat . Parts of the Advanced Airbag System
under the passenger seat could be dam­
aged, p reventing them and the airbag sys­
tem from working proper ly.
- Never p lace seat covers or replacement up­
holstery that have not been specifically ap­
proved by Audi on the front seats.
- Seat covers can prevent the Advanced A ir­
bag System from recognizing chi ld re­
stra ints or occupants on the front passenger
seat and prevent the side airbag in the seat
backrest from deploying properly.
- If a seat heater has been retrofitted or oth­
erwise added to the front passenger seat,
never install any child restra int system on
this seat.
- Never use cushions, p illows, blankets, or
similar items on the front passenge r seat .
281

Airbag system
airbag inflates -even with an Advanced Airbag
System.
- The inflating airbag will hit the child safety
seat or infant carrier with great force and
will smash the child safety seat and child
against the backrest, center armrest, door
or roof .
- Always install rear-facing child safety seats
on the rear seat .
- If you must install a rearward-facing child
safety seat on the front passenger seat be­
cause of exceptional circumstances and the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF~; light does not
come on and stay on, immediately install
the rear-facing child safety seat in a rear
seating position and have the airbag system inspected by your authorized Audi dealer.
A WARNING
Objects between you and the airbag will in­
crease the risk of injury in a crash by interfer­
ing with the way the airbag unfolds or by be­
ing pushed into you as the airbag inflates.
- Never hold things in your hands or on your
lap when the vehicle is in use.
- Never transport items on or in the area of
the front passenger seat. Objects could move into the area of the front airbags dur­
ing braking or other sudden maneuvers and
become dangerous projectiles that can
cause serious personal injury if the airbags
inflate .
- Never place or attach accessories or other
objects (such as cupholders, telephone
brackets, large, heavy or bulky objects) on
the doors, over or near the area marked "AIRBAG'' on the steering wheel, instru­
ment panel, seat backrests or between
those areas and yourself. These objects could cause injury in a crash, especially
when the airbags inflate.
- Never recline the front passenger's seat to
transport objects. Items can also move into
the area of the side airbag or the front air­ bag during braking or in a sudden maneu­
ver. Objects near the airbags can become
284
-
projectiles and cause injury, particularly
when the seat is reclined .
- Never place or transport objects on the
front passenger seat. Objects on the front passenger seat could cause the capacitive
sensor in the seat to signal to airbag system
that the seat is occupied by a person when it
in fact is not, or that the person on the seat
is heavier than he or she actually is. The
change in electric capacitance because of
such objects can cause the passenger front
airbag to be turned on when it should be
off, or can cause the airbag to work in a way
that is different from the way it would have
worked without objects on the seat.
- Always make sure that there is nothing on
the front passenger seat that will cause the
capacitive passenger detection system in
the seat to signal to the Airbag System that
the seat is occupied by a person when it is not , or to signal that it is occupied by some­
one who is heavier than the person actually
sitting on the seat. The presence of an ob­
ject could cause the passenger front airbag
to be turned on when it should be off, or
could cause the airbag to work in a way that
is different from the way it would have
worked without the object on the seat.
A WARNING
The fine dust created when airbags deploy can cause breathing problems for people with a history of asthma or other breathing condi­
tions .
- To reduce the risk of breathing problems,
those with asthma or other respiratory con­
ditions should get fresh air right away by
getting out of the vehicle or opening win­
dows or doors.
- If you are in a collision in which airbags de­
ploy, wash your hands and face with mild
soap and water before eating.
- Be careful not to get the dust into your eyes,
or into any cuts or scratches.
- If the residue should get into your eyes,
flush them with water .