AUDI Q7 2013 Owner´s Manual

~ Adjust the head restraints so the upper
edge is as even as possible with the top of
your head. If that is not possib le, try to ad­
j ust the head restraint so that it is as close
to this position as possible ¢
fig. 196.
~ If there are passengers in rear seat, fo ld the
head restraints up on the occupied seats or
s li de the center head restra int upward at
least to the next notc h.
Adjust ing head restraints ¢
page 76.
A WARNING
All seats are equipped with head re­
st raints. Dr iv ing without head restra ints or
w it h head restra ints that a re not properly
adjusted incre ases the risk of ser ious or fa­
t al neck injury dramat ica lly. To help reduce
the risk of injury:
- Always drive wit h the head restraints in
place and properly adjusted.
- E very person in the veh icle must have a
properly ad justed head restra int .
- Alw ays make sure e ach pe rson in the ve­
hicle properly adjus ts the ir head re­
st raint . Adj ust the head rest rain ts so the
upper edge is as even as possib le wit h
the top of your head. If that is not possi ­
ble, try to adjust the head restra int so
that it is as close to this position as pos­
sible .
- Never attempt to adjust head restraint
wh ile driving. If you have driven off and
must adjust the dr iver headrest for any
reason, first stop the vehicle safe ly be­
fore attempting to adjust the head re­
st ra in t.
- Children must always be properly re­
strained in a ch ild restrai nt that is app ro­
pr iate for their age and s ize
c> page 205.
Examples of improper seating posit ions
The occupant restraint system can only re­
duce the risk of injury if vehicle occupants are
properly seated.
Improper seat ing posit ions can cause serious
inju ry or death . Saf ety belts can on ly work
Dr iving S afel y 169
when they are properly positioned on the
body. Improper seating positions red uce the
effectiveness of safety belts and will even in ­
crease the r isk of injury and death by moving
the safety belt to crit ica l areas of the body.
Improper seating positions a lso increase t he
risk of serious in ju ry and death when an a ir­
bag deploys and str ikes an occupant who is
not in the p roper sea ting posit ion. A dr iver is
responsible for the s afe ty of all ve hicle occu­
pan ts and espec ially for children . There fore:
~ Never allow anyone to assume an incorrect
seating posi tion when the vehicle is being
used¢ &.
The following bullet ins list o nly some samp le
pos itions t hat will i ncrease the risk of se rio us
injury and dea th. O ur hope is that t hese exam­
ples will make yo u more aware o f seating po­
s itions tha t are dangerous .
Therefore, whenever the vehicle is
moving:
- neve r stan d up in the vehicle
- neve r stand on the seats
- neve r kneel on the seats
- neve r ride w it h the seatback reclined
- never lie down on the rear seat
- neve r lean up against the instrument panel
- never sit on the edge of the seat
- neve r sit sideways
- neve r lean out the window
- neve r put your feet out the window
- never put your feet on the instrument panel
- neve r rest your feet on the seat cush ion or
back of the seat
- never ride in the footwell
- never ride in the cargo area
A WARNING
Imp roper seating posit ions increase the
risk of serious persona l injury and death
whenever a vehicle is being used.
-Always make sure that all vehicle occ u-
pants stay in a proper seating position
a nd are p roperly rest rained whenever the
veh icle is being used .
-
•
•

170 Driving Safely
Pedal area
Pedals
The pedals must always be free to move and
must never be interfered with by a floor mat
or any other object.
Make sure that all pedals move freely without
interference and that nothing prevents them
from returning to their original positions .
Only use floor mats that leave the pedal area
free and can be secured with floor mat fasten­
ers.
If a brake circuit fails, increased brake pedal
travel is required to bring the vehicle to a full
stop.
A WARNING
Pedals that cannot move freely can cause
loss of vehicle control and increase the risk
of serious injury.
- Never place any objects in the driver's
footwell. An object could get into the
pedal area and interfere with pedal func­
tion. In case of sudden braking or an ac­
cident, you would not be able to brake or
accelerate!
- Always make sure that nothing can fall
or move into the driver's footwell.
Floor mats on the driver side
Always use floor mats that can be securely
attached to the floor mat fasteners and do
not interfere with the free movement of the
pedals .
.,. Make sure that the floor mats are properly
secured and cannot move and interfere with
the pedals~ .&_.
Use only floor mats that leave the pedal area
unobstructed and that are firmly secured so
that they cannot slip out of position. You can
obtain suitable floor mats from your author­
ized Audi dealer.
Floor mat fasteners are installed in your Audi . Floor mats used
in your vehicle must be at­
tached to these fasteners . Properly securing
the floor mats will prevent them from sliding
into positions that could interfere with the
pedals or impair safe operation of your vehicle
in other ways.
A WARNING ,-
Pedals that cannot move freely can result
in a loss of vehicle control and increase the
risk of serious personal injury.
- Always make sure that floor mats are
properly secured.
- Never place or install floor mats or other
floor coverings in the vehicle that cannot
be properly secured in place to prevent
them from slipping and interfering with
the pedals or the ability to control the
vehicle.
- Never place or install floor mats or other
floor coverings on top of already instal­
led floor mats. Additional floor mats and
other coverings will reduce the size of
the pedal area and interfere with the
pedals.
- Always properly reinstall and secure floor
mats that have been taken out for clean­
ing.
- Always make sure that objects cannot
fall into the driver footwell while the ve­
hicle is moving . Objects can become
trapped under the brake pedal and accel­
erator pedal causing a loss of vehicle
control.

Stowing luggage
Loading the luggage compartment
All luggage and other objects must be prop­
erly stowed and secured in the luggage com­
partment.
Fig . 197 Safe load pos ition ing: place heavy objects as
low and as far forward as possible.
Loose items in the luggage compartment can
shift suddenly, changing vehicle handling
characteristics . Loose items can also increase
the risk of serious personal injury in a sudden
veh icle maneuver or in a collision .
.. Distribute the load evenly in the luggage
compartment.
.. Always place and properly secure heavy
items in the luggage compartment as low
and as far forward as possible
<=>fig. 197.
.. Secure luggage using the tie-downs provid­
ed
¢ page 80.
.. Make sure that the rear seatback is secure ly
latched in place.
A WARNING
Improperly stored luggage or other items
can fly through the vehicle causing serious
personal injury in the event of hard brak­
ing or an acc ident. To help reduce the risk
of serious personal injury:
- Always put objects, for example, luggage
or other heavy items in the luggage com­
partment.
- Always secure objects in the luggage
compartment us ing the tie-down eye lets
and suitable straps .
Drivin g Sa fely 1 71
A WARNING
Heavy loads will influence the way your ve­
hicle handles. To help reduce the risk of a
loss of control leading to serious personal
injury:
-Always keep in mind when transporting heavy objects, that a change in the cen­
ter of gravity can also cause changes in
veh icle handling:
- Always distribute the load as evenly as
possible.
- Place heavy objects as far forward in
the luggage compartment as possible.
- Never exceed the Gross Axle Weight Rat­
ing or the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating
specified on the safety compliance stick­
er on the left door jamb. Exceeding per­
missible weight standards can cause the
veh icle to slide and handle differently.
- Please observe information on safe driv­
ing
<=>page 165 .
A WARNING
To help prevent poisonous exhaust gas
from being drawn into the vehicle, a lways
keep the rear lid closed while driving.
- Never transport objects larger than
-
those fitting comp letely into the luggage
area because the rear lid cannot be fu lly
closed .
- If you absolutely must dr ive with the rear
lid open, observe the following notes to
reduce the risk of poisoning:
- Close all windows,
- Close the Panoramic sliding sunroof *,
- Open all air outlets in the instrument panel,
- Switch off the air rec irculat ion,
- Set the fresh a ir fan to the highest
speed.
A WARNING
A lways make sure that the doors, all win­
dows, the Pano ramic s liding sunroof* and
the rear lid are securely closed and locked

172 Driving Safel y
to reduce the risk of inj ury when the vehi­
cle is not be ing used.
- After closing the rear lid, always make
sure that it is properly closed and locked.
- Never leave your vehicle unattended es­
pecially with the rear lid left open . A
child could crawl into the vehicle through
the luggage compartment and close the
rear lid becoming trapped and unable to
get out . Be ing trapped in a vehicle can
lead to serious persona l injury.
- Never let children p lay in or around the
vehicle .
- Never let passengers r ide in the luggage
compartment . Veh icle occupan ts must
always be proper ly restrained in one of
the vehicle's seating positions.
(D Tips
- Air circulation helps to reduce window
fogging . Sta le air escapes to the o utside
th rough vents in the trim pane l. Be su re
to keep these slots free and open.
- The tire pressure must correspond to the
load . The t ire pr essure is shown on the
tire p ressu re label. The tire pressure la­
bel is loc ate d on the driver's s ide B-pi lla r.
The tire pressure label lists the recom­
men ded cold t ire inflat ion pressu res for
the veh icle at its maximum capacity
weight and the tires that were on your
vehicle at the time it was manufact ured.
For recommended t ire pressures for nor­
mal load conditions, please see chapter
Q page284.
Tie-downs
The luggage compartment is equipped with
four tie-downs to secure luggage and other
items .
Use the tie-downs to secure your cargo prop­
erly ¢ page 171 , Loading the luggage com ­
partment .
In a coll is ion, the laws of phys ics mean that
even smaller items that are loose in the vehi­
cle will become heavy missiles that can cause se
rious injury. Items in t he vehi cle possess en ­
ergy which vary with vehicle speed and the
weight of t he item . Vehicle speed is the most
s ignificant factor.
F or example, in a frontal collision at a speed
of 30 mph (48 km/h), the forces acting on a 10 -lb (5 kg) object a re abo ut 20 times the
normal weight of the item. This means that
the weight of the item would sudden ly be
about 200 lbs . (90 kg) . You can imag ine the
injur ies that a 200 lbs . (90 kg) item fly ing
fr ee ly t hro ugh the passenger compa rtment
cou ld cause in a col lision like this.
_& WARNING
We ak, damaged or imprope r straps used
to secure items to tie-downs can fail dur­
i ng hard braking or in a collision and cause
se rious pe rsonal injury.
-Always use s uita ble mo unt ing straps an d
p roperly secu re items to the tie-downs in
the l uggage compa rtment to he lp pre­
vent items from shift ing or fly ing fo r­
ward as dangerous missiles.
- When the rea r seat backrest is folded
down, a lways use suitable mounting
straps and properly secure items to the
tie-downs in the luggage compartment
to hel p prevent items from fly ing for­
ward as dangerous missiles into the pas­
senger compartment.
- Never attach a chi ld safety seat t ether
s trap to a t ie-down .
Reporting Safety
Defects
Applicable to U.S.A.
If yo u b eli eve that your vehi cle
has a def ect whi ch could cau se
a crash or could cau se injury or
death, you should immediately
inform the National Highway
Traffic Safet y Administration ""

(NHTSA) in addition to notify­
ing Audi of America, Inc.
If NHTSA receives similar com­
plaints, it may open an investi­
gation, and if it finds that a
safety defects exists in a group
of vehicles, it may order a recall
and remedy campaign. Howev­
er, NHTSA cannot become in­
volved in individual problems between you, your dealer, or
Audi of America, Inc.
To contact the NHTSA, you may
either call:
Tel.: 1-888-327-4236 (TTY: 1-800-424-9153)
or
1-800-424-9 3 9 3
or you may write to: NHTSA
U.S. Department of Transporta­
tion 1200 New Jersey Ave., S. E.
West Building
Washington, DC 20590
You can also obtain other infor­
mation about motor vehicle
safety from:
http:/ /www.safercar.gov
Driving Safely 173
Applicable to Canada
If you live in Canada and you believe that your vehicle has a
defect that could cause a crash,
injury or death, you should im­
mediately inform Transport
Canada, Defect Investigations
and Recalls. You should also no­
tify Volkswagen Group Canada, Inc.
Canadian customers who wish
to report a safety-related de­
fect to Transport Canada, De­
fect Investigations and Recalls,
may either call Transport Cana­
da toll-free at:
Tel.: 1-800-333-0510 or
Tel.: 1-819-994-3328 (Ottawa region and from other coun­
tries)
TTY for hearing impaired: 1-888-675-6863
or contact Transport Canada by
mail at:
Transport Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Investiga­
tions Laboratory
80 Noel Street
Gatineau, QC
J8Z 0Al
•
•
'

174 Driving Safely
For additional road safety infor­
mation, please visit the Road
Safety website at:
http://www.tc .gc.ca/eng/
roadsafety/menu. htm

Safety belts
General notes
Always wear safety belts!
Wearing safety belts correctly saves lives!
This chapter explains why safety belts are nec­
essary, 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
improperly increases the risk of serious
personal injury and death .
- Safety belts are the single most effective
means available to reduce the risk of se­
rious injury and death in automobile acci­
dents . For your protection and that of
your passengers, always correctly wear
safety belts when the vehicle is moving.
- Pregnant women, injured, or physically
impaired persons must also use safety
belts. Like all vehicle occupants, they are
more like ly to be seriously injured if they
do not wear safety be lts . The best way to
protect a fetus is to protect the mother -
throughout the entire pregnancy.
Number of seats
Vehicles with five seats: Your vehicle has two
front seats and three rear seats. Each seating
position has a safety belt.
Vehicles with six seats:* Your vehicle has two
front seats, two seats in the second row and two seats in the third row. Each seating posi­
tion has a safety belt .
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.
Safety belts 175
A WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them
improperly increases the risk of serious
personal injury and death.
- Never strap more than one person, in­
cluding small children, into any belt. It is
especially dangerous to place a safety
be lt over a child sitting on your lap.
- Never let more people ride in the vehicle
than there are safety belts available .
- Be sure everyone riding in the vehicle is
properly restrained with a separate safe­
ty belt or child restraint.
Safety belt warning light
Your vehicle has a warning system for the
driver and front seat passenger (on USA mod­
els only) to remind you about the importance
of buckling-up.
Fig. 198 Safety bel t warn ing ligh t in the instru ment
cl uster -enla rged
Before driving off, always:
... Fasten your safety belt and make sure you
are wearing it properly .
"' Make sure that your passengers also buckle
up and properly wear their safety belts.
"' Protect children with a child restraint sys-
tem appropriate for the s ize and age.
The warning light . in the instrument cluster
lights up when the ignit ion is switched on as a
reminder to fasten the safety belts. In addi ­
tion, you will hear a warning tone for a certain
period of time.
Fasten your safety belt and make sure that
your passengers also properly put on their
safety belts.
•
•

17 6 S afet y belt s
_&. WARNING
-Sa fety belts are the sing le most effective
means available to reduce the risk of se­
rious injury and death in a utomob ile acci­
dents. For your protection and that of
your passengers, always correctly wear
safety belts when the vehicle is moving.
- Failure to pay attention to the warning
light that come on, could lead to person­
al injury .
Why safety belts?
Frontal collisions and the law of physics
Frontal crashes create very strong forces for
people riding in vehicles.
Fig. 199 Unbe lted occupants in a ve hicle h ead ing for a
wall
Fig. 2 00 Th e ve hicle c ras hes into the w all
The physical principles are simple . Both the
vehicle and the passengers possess energy
which varies with veh icle speed and body
weight . Engineers call this energy "kinetic en ­
ergy.''
The higher the speed of the vehicle and the g reater the vehicle's weight, the more energy
that has to be "absorbed" i n the crash. Vehicle speed is the most significant factor
. If
the speed doubles from 15 to 30 mph (25 to
50 km/h), the energy increases 4 times!
Because the passengers of this vehicle a re not
us ing sa fety belts ~
fig. 199, they will keep
moving at the same speed the vehicle was
moving just before the crash, until someth ing
stops them -here , the wa ll
Q fig. 200.
The same principles apply to people sitting in
a vehicle that is involved in a frontal collision .
Even at city speeds of 20 to 30 mph (30 to 50
km/h), the forces acting on the body can
reach one ton (2,000 lbs. o r 1,000 kg) or
more. At greater speeds, these forces are even
higher .
Peop le who do not use safety belts are also
not attached to their vehicle . In a frontal colli­
s ion they will also keep moving forward at the
speed their veh icle was t ravell ing just before
the crash . Of course, the laws of physics don't
just app ly to frontal collisions, they determine
what happens in all kinds of acc idents and col­
lis ions .

What happens to occupants not wearing
safety belts?
In crashes unbelted occupants cannot stop themselves from flying forward and being in­
jured or killed. Always wear your safety belts!
Fig. 201 A driver not wearing a safety belt is violently
thrown forward
Fig. 202 A rear p assenger not wearin g a safety belt
will fly forwar d an d st rike the driver
Unbelted occupants are not able to resist the
tremendous forces of impact by holding tight
or brac ing themselves. W ithout the benefit of
safety restraint systems, the unrestrained oc­
cupant will slam vio lent ly into the steering
wheel, instrument panel, windshield , or what­
ever else is in the way ¢
fig. 201. 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
vehicle 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
Safety belts 177
there to offer protection in those accidents in
which airbags are not supposed to deploy or
when they have already deployed. Unbelted
occupants can a lso 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 ¢
fig. 202. In a frontal coll ision 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. 203 D river is correctly rest ra in ed in a sudde n brak­
ing maneuver
Safety belts used properly can make a big dif­
ference. Safety belts help to keep passengers
in their seats, gradua lly 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
liJl,

178 Safety belts
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 substantial­
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!
Important safety instructions about
safety belts
Safety belts must always be correctly posi­ tioned across the strongest bones of your
body.
.. Always wear safety belts as illustrated and
described in this chapter.
.. Make sure that your safety belts are always
ready for use and are not damaged.
A WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them
improperly increases the risk of serious
personal injury and death. Safety belts can
work only when used correctly . -
Always fasten your safety belts correctly
before driving off and make sure all pas­
sengers are correctly restrained.
- For maximum protection, safety belts
must always be positioned properly on
the body.
- Never strap more than one person, in­
cluding small children, into any belt .
- Never place a safety belt over a child sit­
ting on your lap.
- Always keep feet in the footwell in front
of the seat while the vehicle is being driv­
en.
- Never let any person ride with their feet
on the instrument panel or sticking out
the window or on the seat.
- Never remove a safety belt while the ve­
hicle is moving. Doing so will increase
your risk of being injured or killed .
- Never wear belts twisted.
- Never wear belts over rigid or breakable
objects in or on your clothing, such as
eye glasses, pens, keys, etc., as these
may cause injury .
-Never allow safety belts to become dam­
aged by being caught in door or seat
hardware.
- Do not wear the shoulder part of the belt
under your arm or otherwise out of posi­
tion .
- Several layers of heavy clothing may in­
terfere with correct positioning of belts
and reduce the overall effectiveness of
the system.
- Always keep belt buckles free of anything that may prevent the buckle from latch­
ing securely .
- Never use comfort clips or devices that create slack in the shoulder belt . Howev­
er, special clips may be required for the
proper use of some child restraint sys­
tems .
- Torn or frayed safety belts can tear, and
damaged belt hardware can break in an
accident. Inspect belts regularly. If web-
bing , bindings, buckles, or retractors are .,,.