steering wheel AUDI A3 2015 Owner's Manual

is not possible, try to adjust the head re­
straint so that it is as close to this position
as possible. Move the head restraint so that
it is as close to the back of the head as pos­
sible.
.. Fasten and wear safety belts correctly
Q page 134.
.. Always keep both feet in the footwell so
that you are in control of the vehicle at all
times.
For detailed information on how to adjust the
driver's seat, see
Q page 54 .
.&, WARNING
Drivers who are unbelted, out of position
or too close to the airbag can be seriously
injured by an airbag as it unfolds. To help
reduce the risk of serious personal injury:
- Always adjust the driver's seat and the
steering wheel so that there are at least
10 inches (25 cm) between your breast­
bone and the steering wheel.
- Always adjust the driver's seat and the
steering wheel so that there are at least
4 inches (10 cm) between the knees and
the lower part of the instrument panel.
- Always hold the steering wheel on the
outside of the steering wheel rim with
your hands at the 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions to help reduce the risk of per­
sonal injury if the driver's airbag inflates.
- Never hold the steering wheel at the
12 o'clock position or with your hands at
other positions inside the steering wheel
rim or on the steering wheel hub. Hold­
ing the steering wheel the wrong way
can cause serious injuries to the hands,
arms and head if the driver's airbag in­
flates.
- Pointing the steering wheel toward your
face decreases the ability of the supple­
mental driver's airbag to protect you in a
collision.
- Always sit in an upright position and nev­
er lean against or place any part of your
body too close to the area where the air­
bags are located.
-
Driving safety 123
-Before driving, always adjust the front
seats properly and make sure that all passengers are properly restrained.
- For adjustable head restraints: before
driving, always also adjust the head re­
straints properly.
- Never adjust the seats while the vehicle is moving. Your seat may move unexpect­
edly and you could lose control of the ve­ hicle.
- Never drive with the backrest reclined or
tilted far back! The farther the backrests are tilted back, the greater the risk of in­
jury due to incorrect positioning of the safety belt and improper seating posi­
tion.
- Children must always ride in child seats
Q page 166. Special precautions apply
when installing a child seat on the front
passenger seat ¢
page 140.
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
injury in the event of an accident, we recom­
mend 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.
.. For adjustable head restraints: adjust the
head restraint so the upper edge is as even
as possible with the top of your head. If that
is not possible, try to adjust the head re­
straint so that it is as close to this position
as possible
¢ page 125. Move the head re­
straint so that it is as close to the back of
the head as possible .
.. Keep both feet flat on the floor in front of
the front passenger seat.
.. Fasten and wear safety belts correctly
¢page 134.
•
•
•

occupant will slam violently into the steering
wheel, instrument panel, windshield, or what­
ever else is in the way
c::> fig. 114. This impact
with the vehicle interior has all the energy
they had just before the crash.
Never rely on airbags alone for protection.
Even when they deploy, airbags provide only
additional protection. Airbags are not sup­
posed to deploy in all kinds of accidents. Al­
though your Audi is equipped with airbags, all
veh icle occupants, including the driver, must
wear safety belts correctly in order to mini­
mize the risk of severe injury 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 vehi­
cle where even more severe or fatal injuries
can occur.
It is also important for the rear passengers to
wear safety belts correctly. Unbelted passen­
gers in the rear seats endanger not only them­
selves but also the driver and other passen­
gers
c::> fig. 115. In a frontal collision they will
be thrown forward violently, where they can
hit and injure the driver and/or front seat pas ­
senger.
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. 116 Driver is correctly restra ined in a sudden brak­
ing maneuver
Safety belts 133
Safety belts used properly can make a big dif­
ference. Safety belts help to keep passengers
in their seats, gradually reduce energy levels
applied to the body in an accident, and help
prevent the uncontrolled movement that can
cause serious injuries. In addition, safety belts
reduce the danger of being 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 engineered 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 fron­
tal collision, safety belts can also su bsta ntia l­
ly reduce 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 sta­
tistics show that vehicle 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 supplemen­
tal airbags to do their job in a collision . For
this reason, wearing a safety belt is legally re­
quired 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 provid­
ed. Front airbags, for example, are activated
only in some frontal collisions. The front air­
bags are not activated in all frontal collisions,
in side and rear collisions, in roll overs 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!

140 Airbag sys tem
Airbag system
Important things to know
Importance of wearing safety belts and
sitting properly
Airbags are only supplemental restraints. For
airbags to do their job , occupants must al­
ways properly wear their safety belts and be
in a proper seating position.
F or your safety and the safety of your passen­
gers, before driving off, a lways:
• Adjust the driver's seat and steering wheel
properly ¢
page 122,
• Adjust the front passenger's seat properly
r=; page 53,
• Wear safety be lts properly ¢ page 134,
• Always properly use the proper child re-
straint to protect children¢
page 166.
In a collision, airbags must inflate within the
blink of an eye and with considerable force .
The supplemental airbags can cause injuries if
the dr iver or the front seat passenger is not
seated properly . Therefore in order to he lp the
a irbag to do its job, it is important, both as a
d river and as a passenger to sit prope rly 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
comp letely and provide supp lemental protec­
tion in ce rtain frontal collisions
¢ page 122,
Proper occupant seating positions.
F or detai ls
on the operation of the seat adjustment con­
t rols ¢
page 53.
It's especially important that children are
properly restrained ¢
page 166.
There is a lot that the driver and the passen­
gers can and must do to help the individua l
safety features installed in your A udi work to­
gether as a system.
Proper seat ing pos ition is important so that
the front airbag on the drive r side can do its
job. If yo u have a physical impa irment or con- dition that prevents yo
u from sitting properly
on the driver seat with the safety belt properly
fastened and reaching the pedals , or if you
have concerns with regard to the function or
operation of the Advanced Airbag System ,
please contact your author ized Audi dealer or
qualified workshop, or call Audi Customer Re­
lations at 1-800-822-2834 fo r poss ible modi­
ficat ions to your veh icle.
When the airbag system deploys, a gas gener ­
ator will f ill the a irbags, break open t he pad­
ded cove rs, and inflate between the steering
whee l and the dr iver and between the instru­
ment pane l and the fron t passenger. The a ir­
bags will deflate immediately after dep loy­
ment so that the front occupants can see
t hr ough the windshie ld again witho ut inter­
ruption .
All of th is takes p lace in the b link o f an eye, so
fast that many peop le don't even realize tha t
the airbags have deployed. The airbags a lso
inflate with a great dea l of force and nothing
shou ld be in their w ay when they deploy.
Front a irbags in combination with properly
wor n safety belts slow down and lim it the oc ­
cupant's forward movement . T ogether they
help to prevent the drive r and front seat pas­
senger from hitting pa rts of the inside of the
vehicle while reducing the forces acting on the
occupant dur ing the crash . In this way they
help to reduce the risk of injury to the head
and upper body in the crash. A irbags do not
protect the arms or the lower parts of the
body.
Both front airbags wi ll not inflate in all fronta l
collisions . The triggering of the airbag system
depends on the vehicle dece lerat ion rate
caused by the co llision and registered by the
electron ic control unit. If th is rate is below
the reference value programmed into the con ­
t rol unit , the airbags will not be trigge red,
even though the car may be badly damaged as
a res ult of the co llision . Ve hicl e damage, re­
pair costs or even the lack of ve hicle damage
is not necessari ly an indication of whether an
airbag shou ld inflate or not .
IJll-

Since the circumstances will vary considerably
between on e collision and another , it is not
possible to define a range of veh icle speeds
that will cover every possible k ind and angle
of impact that will always trigger the a irbags .
Important factors include, for example, the nature (hard or soft) of the object which the
car h its, the ang le of impact, vehicle speed ,
etc. The front airbags will a lso not inflate in
side or rear collisions, or in ro ll-overs .
Alwa ys re memb er: Airbags will deploy only
once, and only in certa in kinds of collisions.
Your safety belts are always there to offe r pro­
tection in those s ituations in which airbags
are not supposed to deploy , or when they have
already deployed ; for example , when your ve­
hicle strikes or is struck by another vehicle af­
ter the first collision .
This is just one of the reasons why an a irbag is
a supp lementary restraint and is not a s ubsti ­
tute for a safety belt. The airbag system
works most effectively when used with the
safety belts. Therefore, always properly wear
your safety belts
c::;,page 131.
A WARNING
Sitting too close to the steer ing wheel or
instrument panel will decrease the effec­
tiveness of the airbags and will inc rease
the risk of pe rsonal injury in a co llision.
- Never sit closer than 10 inches (2S cm)
to the stee ring wheel or instrument pan­
el.
- If you cannot sit mo re than 10 inches
( 2 5 cm) from the steer ing whee l, investi­
ga te whethe r adaptive equipment may
be available to help you reach the pedals
and increase your seating distance from
the steering wheel.
- All vehicle occupants and especia lly chil ­
dren must be restrained properly when­
ever riding in a vehicle . An unrestra ined
or improperly restrained child could be
injured by striking the inter ior or by be­
ing ejected from the vehicle during a
sudden maneuver or impact . An unre­
strained or improperly rest rained child is
A irbag system 141
also at greater risk of injury or death
through contact with an inflating airbag .
- If you are unrestrained, leaning forward,
sitt ing s ideways or out of position in any
way, your risk of injury is much higher.
- You will a lso receive se rious injuries and
could even be killed if you are up aga inst
the airbag or too close to it when it in­
flates -even w ith an Advanced A irbag.
- To reduce the risk of injury when an air­
bag inflates, always wear safety belts
properly
c::;, page 134, Safety belts .
-Always make certain that ch ildren age 12
or younger always ride in the rear seat. If
children are not properly restrained , they
may be severe ly inju red or killed when an
airbag inf lates.
- Never let ch ildren ride unrestra ined o r
improperly restrained in the vehicle . Ad­
just the front sea ts properly.
- Never ride with the backrest reclined .
- Always sit as far as possible from the
steer ing whee l or the instrument panel
c::;, page 12 2 .
- Always sit upright with your back against
the backrest of yo ur 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 he lp prevent serious inju ries to the legs
and h ips if the airbag inflates.
- Never recline the front passenger's sea t
to transport objects. Items can a lso
move into the area of the s ide a irbag or
the front airbag during braking or in a sudden maneuve r. Objects near the air­
bags can become projectiles and cause
injury when an airbag inflates.
A WARNING
A irbags that have deployed in a crash must
be replaced.
- Use on ly orig inal equipment airbags ap­
proved by Audi and installed by a trained
technician who has the necessary too ls
~
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•
•

144 Airbag system
-Take the child restraint off the front pas­
senger seat and install it properly at one
of the rear seat positions if the
PA SS EN ­
GE R AI R BAG OFF
light does not stay on .
- Have the airbag system inspected by
your Audi dealer immed iately.
- Always carefully follow instructions from
child restraint manufacturers when in­
sta lling child restraints .
A WARNING ,.
If, in exceptional c ircumstances, you must
install a forward or rearward-fac ing child
restraint on the front passenge r's seat:
- Improper installation of child restraints
can reduce their effectiveness or even
prevent them from providing any protec­
t ion.
- An improperly installed child restraint
can interfere with the airbag as it de ­
ploys and serio usly injure or even kill the
child -even wi th an Advanced Airbag
System.
- Always carefully follow the manufactur­
er's instructions provided with the child
seat or car rier .
- Always m ake su re that there is nothing
on the front passenger seat that will
cause the capacitive passenger detection
system in the seat to s ignal to the Airbag
System that the seat is occupied by a person when it is not, or to signal that it
is occupied by someone who is heavier
than the pe rson actually s itting on the
seat. The presence of additiona l objects
cou ld cause the passenger front airbag
to be t urned on w hen it sho uld be off, or
cou ld cause the ai rbag to work in a way
that is different from the way it wou ld
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 occupants .
Fig . 122 Loc atio n of drive r air b a g : i n stee ring wheel
Fig. 123 Loc ation of fro nt passe nge r's a irbag: in the in ­
str umen t pa nel
Your vehicle is equipped with an "Advanced
Airbag System " in compliance with Un ited
States Federa l Motor Veh icle Safety Standard
(FMVSS) 208 as applicable at the time you r
vehicle was manufactured . The safety belts
for the seats have "pretensioners" that help to take slack out of the belt system. The pre­
ten sioners are also act ivated by the electronic
control unit for the airbag system.
T he front safety belts also have load lim iters
to help reduce the forces applied to the body
in a crash.
The airbag for the driver is in the steering
whee l hub
c:> fig. 122 and the airbag fo r the
front pas senger is in the instr ument panel
c::;, fig . 123. The gener al location of the a irbags
is marked "AIRBAG".
T here is a lot you need to know about the a ir­
bags in your vehicle. We urge you to read the
II>

detailed information about airbags, safety
belts and child safety in this and the other
chapters that make up the owner's literature.
Please be sure to heed the WARNINGS -they
are ex tremely important for your safety and
the safety of your passengers, especially in ­
fants and small children .
A WARNING
Never rely on airbags alone for protection.
- Even when they deploy, airbags provide only supplemental protection .
- Airbag work most effectively when used
with properly worn safety belts .
- Therefore, always wear your safety belts
and make sure that everybody in your ve ­
hicle is properly restrained .
- Always hold the steering wheel with both
hands on the outside of the steering
wheel rim at the 9:00 o'clock and 3:00
o'clock positions to help reduce the risk
of personal injury if the driver's airbag in­
flates.
- 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 .
A WARNING
Objects between you and the airbag will
increase the risk of injury in a crash by in­
terfering with the way the airbag unfolds
and/or by being pushed into you as the air­
bag inflates.
- Always make sure nothing is in the front
airbag 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
deploys and cause serious personal in­
jury.
- Never hold things in your hands or on
your lap when the vehicle is in use .
-
Airbag system 145
-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 windshield; never place them over or
near or attach them to the area marked
,,AIRBAG " on the steering wheel, instru­
ment 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 mu­
sic players. Such objects could cause seri­
ous injury in a collision, especially when
the airbags inflate.
- Never recline the front passenger seat to transport objects. Items can also move
into the deployment area of the side air ­
bags or the front airbag during breaking
or in a sudden maneuver . Objects near
the airbags can fly dangerously through
the passenger compartment and cause
injury, particularly when the seat is re­
clined and the airbags inflate.
A WARNING
-=
A person on the front passenger seat , es-
pecially infants and small children, will re­
ceive serious injuries and can even be kil­
led by being 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 under these special conditions is impossible in all conceiva­
ble 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
•
•
•

146 Airbag sys te m
U.S. Federal Standard if a chi ld with elec­
trical capac itance greater than the com­
bined capacitance of a typical one-year
old infant restra ined in one of the for­
ward fac ing or rearward-fac ing ch ild
seats with which your vehicle was certi­
fied is on the front passenger seat and
the other conditions for airbag deploy­ ment are met.
- Acc ident statist ics have shown that chil­
dren are generally safer in the rear seat
area than in the front seating posit ion .
- For their own safety, all chi ldren, espe­
ci ally 12 years and younger, sho uld a l­
ways ride in the back properly rest rained
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
208 as applicable at the time your vehicle was manufactured.
The front Advanced Airbag System supple­ ments the safety belts to provide addit ional
protection for the driver's and front passeng­
er's heads and upper bodies in frontal crashes .
The airbags inflate only in frontal impacts
when the vehicle dece le rat io n is high enoug h.
The front Advanced Airbag System for the
fro nt seat occupants is not a substitute for
your safety belts . Rather, it is part of the over­
a ll occupa nt restraint system in your veh icle.
A lways remember that the airbag system ca n
on ly help to pro tect you, if you are s itting up ­
right, wearing yo ur safety belt and wearing it
properly. This is why you and yo ur passengers
must always be properly restrained, not just
beca use the law requires you to be.
The Advanced Airbag System in your veh icle
has been certified to meet the " low risk" re­
qu irements for 3 and 6 year-o ld children on
the passenger side and very small adu lts on
the dr iver side. The low risk deployment crite­
ria are intended to he lp reduce the risk of in­
jury through interaction with the front airbag that can occur, for example, by being too
close to the steering wheel and instr ument
panel when the airbag inflates .
In add ition, the system has been cer tified to
comply with the "s uppression" requirements
of the Safety Standard, to turn off the front
airbag for infants 12 months o ld and younger
who are restrained on the front passenger
seat in child restraints that are listed in the
Standard
Q page 168, Child restraints and
Advanced front airbag system .
"Suppression" requires the front a irbag on the
passenger side to be turned off if:
- a child up to abo ut one year of age is re­
strained on the front passenger seat in one
of the rear-fac ing or forward-facing infant
restraints listed in Federal Motor Vehicle
Safety Standard 208 with which the Ad ­
vanced A irbag System in your veh icle was
cert ified . Fo r a listing of the chi ld restraints
t hat were used to certify your vehi cle's com­
p lia nce w it h t he US Sa fety S tandard
Qpage 168,
-When a pe rson is detec ted o n the front pas ­
senger seat tha t has an elec trica l capa ci­
tance that is more than the tota l electrical
capacitance of a child that is about 1 year
old restrained in one of the rear-facing or
forward-facing infant restraints (listed in
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208
w ith which the Advanced A irbag System in
your veh icle was certified), the front airbag
on the passenger side may or may not de­ p loy .
The
PASS ENG ER AIR BAG OFF light comes on
when the elect ronic cont ro l unit detects a to­
ta l elect rical capac itance on the front passen­
ger seat that requ ires the front a irbag to be
tu rned off. If the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
ligh t does not come on, the front airbag on
t h e passenger side has not been turned off by
the control unit and can deploy if the contro l
u nit senses an impact that meets the condi­
t ions stored in its memory.
If the total e lectr ica l capacitance regis tered
on the front passenger seat is more than that
ll-

148 Airbag system
-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 someone who is heavier
than the person actually sitting on the
seat. The presence of additional objects
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.
- Make sure that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
light comes on and stays on all the
time whenever the ignition is switched on.
Advanced Airbag System components
The front passenger seat in your vehicle has a
lot of very important parts of the Advanced
Airbag System in it. These parts include the
capacitive passenger detection system, wir­
ing, brackets, and more. The control unit
monitors the system on the front passenger
seat when the ignition is switched on and
turns the airbag indicator light on when a
malfunction in the one of the system compo­
nents is detected
¢ page 153. Because the
front passenger seat contains important parts
of the Advanced Airbag System, you must
take care to prevent it from being damaged.
Damage to the seat may prevent the Ad­
vanced Airbag System for the front passenger
seat from doing its job in a crash.
The front Advanced Airbag System
consists of the following:
- Crash sensors in the front of the vehicle that
measure vehicle acceleration/deceleration
to provide information to the Advanced Air­ bag System about the severity of the crash .
- An electronic control unit, 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 "decides" whether the safety belt
pretensioners should be activated.
- An Advanced Airbag with gas generator for
the driver inside the steering wheel hub.
- An Advanced Airbag with gas generator in­
side the instrument panel for the front pas­
senger.
- A capacitive passenger detection system un­
derneath the front passenger seat cover.
This system measures the electrical capaci­ tance of the person in the seat. The informa­
tion registered is sent continuously to the
electronic control unit to regulate deploy­ ment of the front Advanced Airbag on the
passenger side.
- An airbag monitoring system and indicator
light in the instrument cluster
¢page 152 .
-A sensor in each front seat registers the dis­
tance between the respective seat and the steering wheel or instrument panel. The in­
formation registered is sent continuously to
the electronic control unit to regulate de­
ployment of the front Adv a need Airbags.
- The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes
on and stays on in the center of the instru­
ment panel
¢ page 210 and tells you when
the front Advanced Airbag on the passenger
side has been turned off.
- A sensor in the safety belt latch for the driv­
er and for the front seat passenger that
senses whether that safety belt is latched or not and transmits this information to the
electronic control unit .
A WARNING
--
Damage to the front passenger seat can
prevent the front airbag from working
properly.
- Improper repair or disassembly of the
front passenger and driver seat will pre­
vent the Advanced Airbag System from
functioning properly.
- Repairs to the front passenger seat must
be performed by qualified and properly
trained workshop personnel.
~

or the lower parts of the body. Front airbags
supp lement the three-point safety belts only
in some frontal collisions in which the vehicle
dece leration is high enough to deploy the air­
bags.
F ront airbag s will no t deplo y:
- if the ignition is switched off when a crash
occurs,
- in side collisions,
- in rear-end collisions,
- in rollovers,
- when the crash deceleration measured by
the a irbag system is less than the m inimum
threshold needed for airbag deployment as
registered by the electronic control unit.
The f ront pas seng er airbag al so will n ot
deploy:
- when the front passenger seat is not occu­
pied,
- when the electrical capac itance measured by
the capacitive passenger detect io n system
for the front passenger seat indicates that
the passenger side frontal airbag must be switched off by the electronic control unit
(the
P AS SENGER A IR BA G OFF light
c:> page 153 and how they work comes on
and stays on).
A WARNING
Sitting in the wrong position can increase
the risk of serious injury in crashes.
- To reduce the r isk of injury when the air­
bags inflate, the driver and passengers
must always sit in an upright posit ion,
must not lean against or place any part
of the ir body too close to the area where
the a irbags are located.
- Occupants who a re unbelted, out of posi­
t ion or too close to the airbag can be se­
riously injured by an airbag as it unfolds
with great force in the blink of an eye
c:> page
142 .
A WARNING
A child in a rearward-facing child seat in­
stalled on the front passenger seat will be
-
A irbag system 15 1
seriously injured and can be killed if the
front airbag inflates -even w ith an Ad­
vanced A irbag System.
- The inflating airbag will hit the ch ild seat
or infant carrier with great force and will
smash the child seat and child against
the backrest, center armrest, door or
roof.
- Always install rear-fac ing ch ild seats on
the rear seat.
- If you must install a rearward fac ing
child seat on the front passenger seat because of exceptional circumstances
and the
P A SSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
does not come on and stay on, immed i­
ately insta ll the rear-fac ing child seat in a
rear seating position and have the airbag
system inspected by your A udi dealer.
A WARNING
r---------
O b j e cts between you and the airbag will
increase the risk of injury in a crash by in­
terfering 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 veh icle 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 air­ bags during braking or other sudden ma­
neuvers and become dangerous projec­
tiles that can cause ser ious personal in­
jury if the a irbags inflate.
- Never p lace or attach accesso ries o r oth­
er objects (such as cup holders, te le­
phone b rac kets, large, heavy or bulky ob ­
jects) on the doors, over o r near the area
marked "AIRBAG" on the steering wheel,
instrument panel, seat backrests or be­
tween those areas and yourself . These
objects could cause injury in a crash, es­ pecially when the airbags inflate.
- Never recline the front passenger's seat
to transport objects. Items can also
move into the area of the s ide a irbag or
the front a irbag during braking or in a
•
•

156 Airbag system
Repair, care and disposal of the airbags
Parts of the airbag system are installed at
many different places on your Audi. Installing,
removing, servicing or repairing a part in an
area of the vehicle can damage a part of an
airbag system and prevent that system from
working properly in a collision.
There are some important things you have to know to make sure that the effectiveness of
the system will not be impaired and that dis­
carded components do not cause injury or pol­ lute the environment.
A WARNING
Improper care, servicing and repair proce­
dures can increase the risk of personal in­
jury and death by preventing an airbag from deploying when needed or deploying
an airbag unexpectedly:
- Never cover, obstruct, or change the
steering wheel horn pad or airbag cover
or the instrument panel or modify them
in any way.
- Never attach any objects such as cup
holders or telephone mountings to the
surfaces covering the airbag units.
- For cleaning the horn pad or instrument
panel, use only a soft, dry cloth or one
moistened with plain water. Solvents or
cleaners could damage the airbag cover
or change the stiffness or strength of the material so that the airbag cannot de­
ploy and protect properly.
- Never repair, adjust, or change any parts
of the airbag system.
- All work on the steering wheel, instru­
ment panel, front seats or electrical sys­
tem (including the installation of audio
equipment, cellular telephones and CB
radios, etc .) must be performed by a
qualified technician who has the training
and special equipment necessary.
- For any work on the airbag system, we
strongly recommend that you see your
authorized Audi dealer or qualified work­
shop. -
Never modify the front bumper or parts
of the vehicle body.
- Always make sure that the side airbag
can inflate without interference:
- Never install seat covers or replace­
ment upholstery over the front seat­
backs that have not been specifically
approved by Audi.
- Never use additional seat cushions that
cover the areas where the side airbags
inflate.
- Damage to the original seat covers or
to the seam in the area of the side air­
bag module must always be repaired
immediately by an authorized Audi
dealer.
- The airbag system can deploy only once.
After an airbag has been deployed, it must be replaced with new replacement
parts designed and approved especially
for your Audi model version. Replace­
ment of complete airbag systems or air­
bag components must be performed by
qualified workshops only . Make sure that
any airbag service action is entered in
your Audi Warranty
& Maintenance book­
let under
AIRBAG REPLACEMENT RE­
CORD.
- For safety reasons in severe accidents,
the alternator and starter are separated
from the vehicle battery with a pyrotech­ nic circuit interrupter.
- Work on the pyrotechnic circuit inter­
rupter must only be performed by a
qualified technicians who have the ex­ perience, information and special tools
necessary to perform the work safely.
- If the vehicle or the circuit interrupter
is scrapped, all applicable safety pre­
cautions must be followed.
@) For the sake of the environment
Undeployed airbag modules and preten­
sioners might be classified as Perchlorate
Material -special handling may apply, see