warning light AUDI A3 SEDAN 2017 Repair Manual

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Driving safety
Basics
Safe driving habits
Please remember -safety first!
This chapter contains important information,
tips, instructions and warnings that you need to
read and observe for your own safety, the safety
of your passengers and others . We have summar­
ized here what you need to know about safety
belts, airbags, child restraints as well as child
safety. Your safety is for us
priority number 1. Al­
ways observe the information and warnings in
this section - for your own safety as well as that
of your passengers.
The information in this section applies to all
model versions of your vehicle. Some of the fea­
tures descr ibed in this sections may be standard
equipment on some models, or may be optional
equipment on others. If you are not sure, ask
your authorized Audi dealer.
A WARNING
- Always make sure that you follow the in­
structions and heed the WARNINGS in this
Manual. It is in your interest and in the in­
terest of your passengers .
-
-Always keep the complete Owner's Litera­
ture in your Audi when you lend or sell your
vehicle so that this important information
will always be available to the driver and
passengers.
- Always keep the Owner's literature handy so
that you can find it easily if you have ques­
tions.
Safety equipment
The safety features are part of the occupant re­
straint system and work together to help reduce the risk of injury in a wide variety of accident sit­
uations.
Your safety and the safety of your passengers
should not be left to chance. Advances in tech­
nology have made a var iety of features available
to help reduce the risk of injury in an accident.
Driving safety
The following is a list of just a few of the safety
features in your Audi:
- sophisticated safety belts for driver and all pas­
senger seat ing pos itions,
- safety belt pretensioners,
- safety belt height adjustment systems for the
front seats*,
- front airbags,
- knee airbags for the front seats*
- side airbags in the front seats and outer rear seats*,
- side curtain airbags with ejection mitigation features*,
- special LATCH anchorages for child restraints,
- head restraints for each seating position,
- adjustable steering column.
- pre sense* (preventat ive passenger protection)
These individual safety features, can work to­ gether as a system to help protect you and your
passengers in a wide range of accidents . These
features cannot work as a system if they are not
always correctly adjusted and correctly used.
Safety is everybody's responsibility!
Important things to do before driving
Safety is everybody 's job! Vehicle and occupant
safety always depends on the informed and care­
ful driver .
For your safety and the safety of your passen­
gers,
before driving always:
.,. Make sure that all lights and signals are operat­
ing correctly .
.,. Make sure that the tire pressure is correct.
.,. Make sure that all windows are clean and afford
good visibility to the outside .
.,. Secure all luggage and other items carefully
¢ page 66, ¢ page 65.
.,. Make sure that nothing can interfere with the
pedals.
.,. Adjust front seat, head restraint and mirrors correctly for your height .
.,. Instruct passengers to adjust the head re­
straints according to their height .
247

Driving safety
• Make sure to use the right child restraint cor­
rectly to protect children
c::> page 292, Child
saf ety .
• Sit properly in your seat and make sure that
your passengers do the same
c::> page 61, Fron t
seats .
• Fasten your safety belt and wear it properly . Al­
so instruct your passengers to fasten their safe­
ty belts properly
c::> page 258 .
What impairs driving safety?
Safe driving is directly related to the condition of
the vehicle, the driver as well as the driver 's abili­
ty to concentrate on the road without being dis­
tracted .
The driver is responsible for the safety of the ve­
hicle and all of its occupants. If your ability to
drive is impaired, safety risks for everybody in the
veh icle increase and you also become a hazard to
everyone else on the road
c::> ,&. . Therefore :
• Do not let yourself be distracted by passengers
or by using a cellular telephone .
• NEVER drive when your driv ing ability is im ­
pa ired (by med ications, alcohol, drugs, etc .).
• Observ e all traffic laws, rules of the road and
speed limits and plain common sense .
• ALWAYS adjust your speed to road, traffic and
weather conditions .
• Take frequent breaks on long trips . Do not drive
for more than two hours at a stretch .
• Do NOT drive when you are tired, under pres­
sure or when you are stressed .
.&, WARNING
Impaired driving safety increases the risk of
serious personal injury and death whenever a
vehicle is being used.
248
.
Correct passenger
seating positions
Proper seating position for the driver
The proper driver seating position is important
for safe, relaxed driving.
Fig. 222 Correct seating pos it ion
For your own safety and to reduce the risk of in­
jury in the event of an ac cident, we recommend
that you adjust the driver's seat to the following position :
• Adjust the driver's seat so that you can easily
push the pedals all the way to the floo r while
keeping your knee(s) slightly bent
c:> .&_ .
• Adjust the angle of the seatback so that it is in
an upright position so that your back comes in
full contact with it when you dr ive.
• Adjust the steering wheel so that there is a d is­
tance of at least 10 inches (25 cm) between the
steering wheel and your breast bone
r::!) fig. 222.
If not possible, see your authorized Audi deal­
e rship about adaptive equipment.
• Adjust the steering wheel so that the steering
wheel and airbag cover points at your chest and
not at your face .
• Grasp the top of the steering wheel with your
elbow(s) slightly bent.
• For adjustable head restraints: Adjust the head
restraint so the upper edge is as even as possi­
ble with the top of your head. If that is not pos ­
sible, try to adjust the head restraint 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 possible .
• Fasten and wear safety belts correctly
c::> page 262 . .,.

Safety belt s
Safety belts
General notes
Always wear safety belts!
Wearing safety belts correctly saves lives!
This chapter explains why safety be lts are neces­
sary, how they work and how to adjust and wear
them correctly .
.. Read all the information that follows and heed
all of the instructions and WARNINGS.
&_ 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 acc idents.
For your protect ion and that of your passe n­
gers, always co rre ctly wea r safety be lts
when the vehicle is moving.
- Pregnant wome n, injured, o r physically im­
paired persons mus t also use safety be lts.
L ik e all vehicle occ upants, they are mo re
likely to be serio usly injured i f they do not
wea r safety be lts. The best way to protect a
fetus is to protect the mother
-throughout
the ent ire pregnancy .
Number of seats
Applies to: veh icles w ithout power top: Your Audi
has a total of five seating positions: two in the
front and three in the rear . Each seating position
has a safety belt .
App lies to: veh icles w ith powe r top: Your Audi
has a total of four seating positions: two in the
front and two in the rear . Each seat ing pos ition
has a safety belt .
&_ WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them im­
properly in creases the risk of ser io us personal
injury and dea th.
258
- Never strap more than one person, includ­
ing sma ll children, into any belt. It is espe­
cially dangerous to place a safety be lt over a
child sitting on your lap .
- Never let more people r ide in the vehicle
than there are safety be lts available.
- Be sure everyone riding in the vehicle is
proper ly restrained with a separate safety
be lt o r ch ild restraint .
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.
Fi g. 229 Safety belt warn ing lig ht in th e in st rument clus ­
ter -enlarged
Befor e dri ving off, alway s:
.. Fasten your safety belt and make sure you are
wearing it properly .
"' 0 ..:, .. Make sure that your passengers also buckle up
and properly wear t heir safety belts .
.. Protect children with a ch ild rest raint system
app ropr iate for the size and age .
The warning light . in the instrument cluster
li ghts up when the ig nition is o n as a rem inder to
fasten the safety belts . In addition, you wi ll hear
a war ning tone for a certain period of time.
Fasten your safety bel t and make sure that your
passengers al so prop erly put on th eir safety
belts .
&_ WARNING
-
-Safety belts are the sing le most effective
means available to red uce the risk of ser io us
.,,.

Safe ty belts
Safety belts
Fastening safety belts
Safety fir st -everybody bu ckle up!
Fig. 235 Belt buckle an d tongue o n the driver's seat
To prov ide max imum protection, safety belts
must always be positioned correctly on the wear­
er's body .
• Adjust the front seat and head restra int proper­
ly ¢
page 61 , Front seats .
• Make sure the seatback of the rear seat bench
is in an upright position and secure ly latched in
place before us ing the
belt ¢,&. .
• Pull the safety belt evenly across the chest and
pelv is
¢fig. 235, ¢ ,&. .
• 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 buck le.
Autom ati c safet y belt retr actors
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 a lso lock when you drive up or down a steep
h ill or th rough a sharp curve. Dur ing no rmal driv­
ing the bel t lets you move freely.
Safe ty belt pret ension ers
The safety belts are equipped with a belt preten­
sioner that helps to t ighten the safety belt and
remove slack when the pre tensioner is activated
¢ page 265. T he fu nction of the pretensioner is
monitored by a warning light ¢
page 29.
262
Convertibl e lock ing r etractor
Every safety belt except the one on the driver
seat is equipped with a convertib le lock ing retrac­
tor that
mu st be used when the safety belt is
used to attach a child safety seat . Be sure to read
the important information about thi s feature
¢ page 303.
A WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can cause
serious injury in an accident ¢
page 263,
Safety belt position .
- Safety belts offer optimum protection only
when the seatback is upright and belts are properly posit ioned 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 sec urely latched, the passen ­
ger will move forward with the back rest du r­
ing sudden braking, in a sudden maneuver
and especia lly in a crash.
- Never attach the safety belt to the buckle for another seat. Attaching the belt to the
wrong buckle will reduce safety be lt effec­
tiveness and can cause serio us 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 c hild safety seat in
the vehicl e
¢page 305.

Airbag syste m
Always remember, a child safety seat or infant
carrier installed on the front seat may be struck
and knocked out of position by the rapidly inflat­
ing passenger's airbag in a frontal collision. The
airbag could greatly reduce the effectiveness of
the child restraint and
even seriously injure the
child dur ing inflation.
For this reason, and because the back seat is the
safest place for children - when properly restrain­
ed according to the ir age and size -we strongly
recommend that children always sit in the back
seat ¢ page 292, Child safety.
A WARNING
A child in a rearward-facing chi ld safety seat
installed on the front passenger seat w ill be
seriously injured and can be killed if the front
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 chi ld 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 chi ld
safety seat on the front passenger seat be­ cause of exceptional circumstances and the
PA SSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does not
come on and stay on, immed iately install
the rear-fac ing ch ild safety seat in a rear
seat ing pos ition and have the airbag system
inspected by your Audi dealer.
- Forward-facing ch ild safety seats installed
on the front passenger's seat may interfere
with the deployment of the airbag and ca use serio us personal injury to the child .
A WARNING
If, in exceptional circumstances, you must in­
stall a forward-facing chi ld restraint on the
front passenger's seat:
- Always make sure the forward -facing seat
has been designed and ce rtified by its man­
u facturer for use on a front seat with a pas­
senger front and side a irbag.
270
- Never put the fo rward-facing child restraint
up against or
very near the instrument pan­
el.
- Always move the front passenger seat to
the highest posit ion in the up and down ad­
justment range and move it back to the rearmost posit ion in the seat's fore and aft
ad justment range, as far away from the a ir­
bag as poss ible, before install ing the for­
ward-facing chi ld restraint.
- Always make sure that the safety be lt upper
anchorage is behind the ch ild rest raint and
not next to o r in front of the child rest raint
so that the safety be lt will be properly posi­
tioned.
- Ma ke sure that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
light comes on and stays on a ll the time
wheneve r the ignit ion is switched on .
A WARNING
-
To reduce the risk of serious injury, make sure
that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light will
be d isp layed whenever a ch ild restraint is in­
stalled on the front passenge r seat and the
ignition is switched on.
- If the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does
not stay on, perform the checks described
¢ page 2 79, Monitoring the Advanced Air­
bag System .
-Take the child restraint off the front passen­
ger seat and install it properly at one
of the
rear seat positions if the
PASSENGER AIR
BAG OFF
light does not stay on.
- Have the airbag system inspected by your
Aud i dea le r i mmediately.
- Always carefully follow instructions from child restraint manufacture rs when instal­
ling child restra ints.
A WARNING
If, in exceptional ci rcumstances, you must in­
stall a forward or rearward-fac ing child re­
stra int on the front passenger's seat:
- Improper installat ion of child restr aints can
reduce the ir effectiveness or
even preven t
them from provi ding any pro te ct ion .

Airbag syste m
seat. Please be sure to read the important infor­
mation in the sections that follow and be sure to
heed all of the WARNINGS.
A WARNING
To reduce the risk of injury when an airbag in­
flates, always wear safety belts properly.
- If you are unrestrained, leaning forward, sit­ ting s ideways or out of position in any way,
your risk of injury is much h igher.
- You 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
c::> page 267 .
A WARNING
A child in a rearward-facing chi ld safety seat
installed on the front passenge r seat w ill be
ser iously injured and can be killed i f the front
airbag inflates
-even w ith an Advanced Ai rbag
System.
-Although the Advanced A irbag System in
yo ur vehicle is designed to tu rn off the front
airbag when a rearwa rd -facing child re ­
straint has been insta lled on the front pas­
senger seat, nobody can absolutely guaran­
tee that deployment is impossible in all con­
ceivable s ituations that may happen during
the useful life of your vehicle .
- The inflating a irbag w ill hit the child safety
seat or infant carrier with great force and
will smash the chi ld safety seat and child
against the backrest, center armrest , door,
o r roof .
- Always install rearward -facing ch ild re ­
straints on the rear seat .
- If you must install a rearward fac ing ch ild
safety seat on the front passenger seat be­
cause of exceptiona l circumstances and the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does not
come on and s tay on, immed iate ly install
the rear-fac ing ch ild safety seat in a rear
seating position and have the airbag system
inspected by your Audi dealer.
274
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-facing seat
has been des igned and certified by its man­
ufacturer for use on a front seat with a pas­
senger front and side airbag.
- Never put the forwa rd-facing child restraint
up against or very nea r the instrument pan­
el.
- Always move the front passenge r seat to
the highest posit ion in the up and down ad­
justmen t range and move it back to the
rearmost posit io n in the seat's fo re and aft
adjustment range, as far away from the a ir ­
bag as poss ible, before install ing the for­
ward-facing chi ld restraint.
- Always make sure that the safety be lt upper
anchorage is behind the chi ld rest raint and
not next to o r in front of the c hild restraint
so that the safety be lt will be p roper ly posi­
tioned.
- Always make sure that there is noth ing 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 occup ied by a person when it is
no t, or to signal that it is occupied by some­
one who is heavier than the person ac tually
si tting on the sea t. T he presence of addi­
tional 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 d ifferent from the way it wou ld
have worked without the object on the seat.
- Make sure that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
li ght comes on and stays on all the time
whenever the ign it ion is switched on.
Advanced Airbag System components
T he front passenger seat in your veh icle has a lot
of ve ry important parts of the Advanced A irbag
System i n it. These parts incl ude the capacitive
passenger detection system, wir ing , b rackets,
and more. The control uni t moni tors the system
on the front passenge r seat when t he ignit ion is
..,.

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switched on and turns the airbag indicator light
on when a malfunction in the one of the system
components is detected
c::> page 279. 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 Advanced
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 Airbag
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
"de­
cides" 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 inside
the instrument panel for the front passenger.
-A capacitive passenger detection system under­ neath the front passenger seat cover. This sys­
tem measures the electrical capacitance of the person in the seat. The information registered
is sent continuously to the electronic control
unit to regulate deployment of the front Ad­
vanced Airbag on the passenger side .
-An airbag monitoring system and indicator
light in the instrument cluster
c::> page 2 79.
-A sensor in each front seat registers the dis­
tance between the respective seat and the
steering wheel or instrument panel. The infor­
mation registered is sent continuously to the
electronic control unit to regulate deployment
of the front Adv a need Airbags.
-The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on
and stays on in the center of the instrument
panel
c::> page 316 and tells you when the front
Advanced Airbag on the passenger side has been turned off.
Airbag system
-A sensor in the safety belt latch for the driver
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 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 functioning properly.
-Repairs to the front passenger seat must be
performed by qualified and properly trained
workshop personnel.
-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 wires from it.
- Never carry sharp objects in your pockets or
put them on the seat. The capacitive pas­
senger detection mat in the front passenger
seat will not function properly if it is punc­
tured.
-Never carry things on your lap or carry ob­
jects on the front passenger seat. Such ob­
jects can influence the capacitance regis­
tered by the capacitive passenger detection
system, so that incorrect information is pro­
vided to the airbag control unit.
-Never store items under the front passenger
seat. Parts of the Advanced Airbag System
under the passenger seat could be dam­
aged, preventing them and the airbag sys­
tem from working properly.
-Never place 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 Air­
bag System from recognizing child re­
straints or occupants on the front passenger
seat and prevent the side airbag in the seat
backrest from deploying properly.
275

Airbag syste m
-If a seat heater has been retrofitted or oth­
erwise added to the front passenger seat,
never install any child restraint system on
this seat .
- Never use cushions, pillows, blankets, or
similar items on the front passenger seat.
The additional layers prevent the capacitive
passenger detection system from accurately
measuring the capac itance of the ch ild safe­
ty seat and/or the person on the seat and
th us keep the Advanced Airbag System from
working properly .
- Never place or use any electrical device
(s uch as a laptop, CD player, electronic
games device, power inverter or seat heater
for child safety seats) on the front passen­ ger seat if the dev ice is connected to the
12-
vo lt socket or the cigarette lighter socket.
Such dev ices can influence the capac itance
reg istered by the capacitive passenger de­
tection system, so that incor rect informa­
t ion is provided to the airbag cont rol un it.
- If you must use a child restraint on the front passenger seat and the child restraint man­
ufacturer's instructions require the use of a
towel, foam cushion or something else to properly position the ch ild rest raint, make
certain that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light comes on and stays on whenever the
child restraint is insta lled on the front pas­
senger seat.
- If the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does
not come on and stay on, immediately in­
stall child restraint in a rear seating position
and have the airbag system inspected by
your Audi dealer.
A WARNING
If the front passenger seat gets wet, dry it im­
mediately.
- If liquid soaks into the front passenger seat,
this can keep the a irbag system from work­
ing properly and may, for instance, deact i­
vate the passenger frontal airbag.
If this
happens, the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
ligh t will come on and stay on togethe r with
276
the airbag indicato r light min the instru­
ment cluster.
- If liq uid is pooled on the seat, but has not
soaked in, th is may also keep the airbag sys­
tem from working proper ly and cause the
passenger frontal airbag to be enabled
(turned on), even though there is a p roperly
installed child restraint system on the seat.
Wet towels or other wet things on the seat
cushion can have the same effect. If the
front p assenger front al airbag is turned on,
the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light will go
out .
How the Advanced Airbag System
components work together
The front Advanced A irbag System and the side
airbags supp lement the protection offered by the
front th ree-point safety belts with pretens ioners
and load lim ite rs and the adj ustab le head re­
straints* to help reduce the risk of i njury in a
wide range of accident and cras h situations. Be
s ur e to read the impo rtant informat ion about
sa fety and heed the WARNINGS in this chapter.
Deployment of the Advanced A irbag System and
the activa tion of the safety belt pretens ioners de­
pend on the dece lera tion measured by the crash
senso rs and registered by the electronic contro l
unit . Crash severity depends on speed and decel­
eration as well as the mass and stiffness of the
vehicle or object involved in the crash.
On the passenger side, regard less o f safety be lt
use, the front passenger frontal airbag will be
turned off if the e lectrica l capacitance measured
by the capacitive passenger detection system on
the front passenger seat is less than the amount
programmed in t he e lectronic contro l unit . The
front passenger frontal a irbag w ill also be tur ned
off if the capacitance measured by the system for
t h e front passenger seat equals that of an infant
of about o ne yea r of age in one o f the ch ild safety
seats that was used to cert ify the Advanced A ir­
bag System under Federal Motor Veh icle Safety
Standard 208. The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light comes on and stays on to tell you when the
front Advanced Airbag System on the passenger
s ide has been turned
off <=> page 279. ..,.

a, a, ..... N
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A WARNING
To reduce the risk of injury when an airbag in­
flates, always wear safety belts properly.
- If you are unrestrained, lean ing forward, sit­
t ing s ideways or out of pos ition in anyway,
your risk of injury is much h igher.
- You will also receive serious injur ies 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¢ page 267.
More important things to know about front
a irbags
F ig. 2 43 Inflated front a irbags
Safety belts are important to help keep front
seat occupants in the p roper seated position so
that a irbags can unfold properly and provide sup­
p lemental protection in a frontal collision.
The front airbags are designed to provide addi­
tional protection for the chest a nd face of the
d river and the front seat passenger when:
- safety belts are worn properly,
- the seats have been positioned so that the oc-
cupant is properly seated as far as possible
from the airbag,
- and for adjustable head restraints: the head re-
straints have been properly adjusted.
Because airbags inflate in the blink of an eye with
great force, things you have on your lap or have placed on the seat could become dangerous pro­
jectiles, and be pushed into you if the airbag in­
flates .
When an a irbag deploys, fine dust is released .
This is normal and is not caused by a fire in the
veh icle. Th is dust is made up mostly of a powder
Airb ag sys tem
used to lubricate the airbags as they deploy. It
could irritate skin.
It i s important to remember that wh ile the sup­
plementa l airbag system is designed to red uce
the likelihood of serious injuries, other injur ies,
for example swelling, bruising and minor abra­ s ions, can also happen when airbags inflate. Air­
bags do not protect the arms or the lower parts
of the body. Front airbags supplement the three­
point safety belts on ly in some frontal collisions
in which the vehicle deceleration is high e nough
to deploy the airbags .
Fron t airb ags will not depl oy:
- if the ignition is switched off when a crash oc-
curs,
- in side collisions,
- in rear-end collisions,
- in rollovers,
- when t he crash deceleration measured by the
airbag system is less than the m in imum thresh­
old needed for airbag dep loyment as registe red
by the electronic control unit.
Th e front passenger airbag also will not
deplo y:
- when the front passenger seat is not occupied,
- when the e lectr ica l ca pacitance measured by
the capacitive passenger detection system for
the front passenger seat indicates that the pas­ senger s ide frontal a irbag must be switched off
by the electronic control unit (the
PAS SENGER
AIR BAG OFF
light¢ page 279 and how they
work comes on and stays on).
A WARNING
-Sitt ing in the wrong position can increase the
risk of ser ious injury in crashes.
- To reduce the risk of injury when the airbags
inflate, the drive r and passengers must al­
ways sit in an up right posit ion, must not
lea n aga inst or place any part of their body
too close to the area where the airbags are located .
- Occupants who are unbelted, out of position
or too close to the airbag can be serio usly
injured by an airbag as it unfolds with great
force in the blink of an
eye¢ page 268. ~
277

Airbag system
A WARNING
A child in a rearward-facing child safety seat
installed on the front passenger seat will be
seriously injured and can be killed if the front
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 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 cup holders, 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
278
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 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.
..,_