Head unit AUDI Q7 2013 Owner´s Manual

22 Driver in formation d ispl ay
Outside temperature display
Fig. 11 Display : outside temperature
At temperatures below 41 °F (+S °C) a snow­
flake symbol appears ahead of the tempera­
ture display . It is intended to remind the driv­
er to pay spec ial attent ion to
ic e on the roa d.
If the vehicle is stationary, or if you are driving
at a very low speed, the temperature shown in
the display might be slightly higher than the
actual outside temperature . Th is is caused by
the heat being rad iated from the engine .
If you have selected the °C (degrees Celsius)
unit for temperature in the MMI, the outside
temperature display also appears automat i­
cally in
°C.
A WARNING
- Never rely excl usively on the outside
temperatu re d isplay to determine if a
road surface is icy or not . Keep in mind
that road surfaces, especially bridges
and overpasses, could be ice covered and
s li ppery even at an outs ide temperature
above 41 °F (+ S °C).
- Always remember, even if the "snow­
flake" symbol (ice warn ing) does not ap­
pear in the display, black ice could be on
the road.
- Always reduce your speed and dr ive with
special care in cold weather conditions
when the chance of encountering icy road s urfaces increases .
Digital speedometer
Fig. 12 Display: Digi tal speedometer
Current speed appears in the disp lay. Speed is
shown in 1 mph measures (USA models) or 1
km/h measures (Canada models) .
You can switch the disp lay from m iles to kilo­
meters and vice versa via the MMI.
Open door or trunk lid warning
The pictogram alerts you when doors or the
rear lid have been left open .
Fig. 13 Display: open doo r or rea r lid wa rning
With the ign it ion sw itched on, the ope n door
or rear lid warning illuminates when at least
one door or the hood or the trunk lid is not
cl osed . The symbol a lso shows you
which
doo r(s) o r lid is not closed.
In the illustration
~ fig . 13 it is the dr iver's
doo r, the left rear door and the rear lid. As
soon as all the doors, the hood, the rear lid
and the f uel filler cap are prope rly closed, the
door and rear lid warning turns off and the
Driver Information System functions selected
are displayed again.

The IJI symbol illuminates when there is an
engine control malfunction. The indicator
light
[mi n the instrument cluster also illumi­
nates. The engine speed is limited to the
speed d isplayed in the driver information sys­
tem. Keep in mind that the engine speed will
not exceed the value displayed in the drive r in­
formation system, for example when down­
shifting.
Please go to an authorized Aud i dealer or oth­
e r qualified workshop to have the malfunction
repaired.
~ Diesel particulate filter clogged
Applies to vehicles: with diesel engine and diesel part icu­
late filter
B Particulate filter See owner's manual
When the II symbol illuminates, you can a l­
ter your driving style to assist the filter self­
cleaning process. Drive for approx imately
15
minutes with the selector lever in the S pos i­
tion at a min imum speed of 37 mph (60 km/
h) and an engine speed of approx imately
2,000 RPM. The temperature increase that
will resu lt from this can burn off the soot in
the filter. The symbol wi ll switch off when the
cleaning is successf ul. After a successful
cleaning, there is no need to bring the car to
an author ized dealer or qualified workshop
because this is part of normal vehicle opera­
tion .
If the symbo l
II does not switch off, see
your authorized dealer or other qualified
workshop to have the prob lem corrected.
F or more information on the diesel particu­
late filter, refer to¢ page
235.
A WARNING
Always adapt yo ur speed to the current
weathe r, road and traffic condit ions. You
should never disobey traffic laws in order
to follow dr iving recommendations.
-
Driver information display 37
~O Adapt ive light defective
Applies to vehicles: with adaptive light
mi adaptive light defective
When this symbol mi illuminates, it means
that adaptive light is defect ive. Go to an au­
thorized dea lership to have the headlights or
the control unit for the adaptive light re­
paired.
~ Ignition lock malfunction
If them symbo l in the display comes on,
there is a ma lfunction in the e lectronic igni­
tion lock. An additional driver message can be
displayed by pressing the
I CHECK! button:
Ignition lock defective
11> Drive to an authorized Audi dealer or quali­
fied workshop at your earl iest convenience
t o have the malfunction corrected.
~ Windshield wipers faulty
f?5 Windshield wiper defective
When this symbo1 £-.$ illuminates, it means
that the electronics for the windsh ield wipers
are defective. Please go to an authorized Audi
dealer or qualified workshop to have the
winds hield wiper system repaired.

The transmitter and battery a re located in the
head of the remote control. The receiver is lo­
cated inside the vehicle. The maxim um effec ­
tive range depends on several things. Remem­
ber, if the battery is weak, the effective range
decrease s.
If you need to replace the remote contro l, or if
you need to have it repaired, you must see
your author ized Audi dealer. Only then can
you use the key again .
Personalizing the ma ster key
When t he ignit ion is t urned off or when the
veh icle is locked, vari ous conven ience settings
are stored automatically and assigned to the
key that was used . The settings that are as­
signed to the maste r key are recalled auto ­
ma ticall y when the veh icle is unlocked, when
the door is opened o r when th e ignition is
sw itched on .
Sett ings are saved for the following systems :
- Climate control
- Central lock ing
-W indows
- Am bien ce light ing*
- Seat memory*
- Steering w heel heat ing*
- Adaptive cruise control*
- Audi side ass ist*
- Pa rking system*
The
Remote control key f unc tion mus t be ac­
t iv at ed in t he MMI ¢
page 74, so that the
set tings for the driver 's seat (i ncluding the
settings for the steering co lumn and exter ior
mirrors) are saved on the master key through
the seat memory when the vehicle is locked,
and a re set automatically when the ve hicle is
u nl ocked.
(D Tips
- If
the ignition is sw itched on, t he remote
contr ol system is deact ivated.
- The remote control system can be affec t­
ed by other systems operating in the
same frequency range close to the vehi-
Opening and clo sin g 39
cle, such as mo bile telep hones, televi ­
sion broadcast ing stations, etc .
- F or Declara tion of Com pliance to United
States FCC and In du stry Canada re gula­
ti ons¢
page 328 .
Check light in the master key
The check light in the m aster key provides in­
formation about different conditions .
Fig. 29 Ch eck l ig ht in t he m aster key
Check lig ht functions in the master key :
Vehicle within range of the key
If
the vehicle is w it hi n range of the key, the
c heck light comes on br iefly once when a b ut­
ton is pressed .
Vehicle outside the range of the key
If
t he vehicle is ou ts id e the r ange of the key,
the check light comes on brie fly once and
then shows the status of the vehicle door l ocks:
- If the ligh t is fla shin g qu ickl y, the vehicle is
no t locke d.
- If the ligh t is f lash ing slow ly, the vehicle is
loc ked .
State of master key battery
If
t h e ch ec k light does not come on, the bat­
te ry is d ead and has to b e re pla ced . In ad di­
tio n, w hen the b attery is dea d
the m symbo l
appe ars in t he instrumen t clu ster displ ay a s
well as the mess age:
Please change key battery
Battery replacement ¢ page 40.

114 Adapti ve crui se co ntrol
brake and take evasive action to avoid
collisions and other accident situations.
- Never allow the closing speed between
you and other vehicles to be so high that
the adaptive cruise control may not be
able to slow your vehicle safely. If clos­
ing speed is too high, you must apply the
brakes yourself to reduce the risk of a
rear-end crash.
- Never rest your foot on the accelerator peda l, especia lly when the adaptive
cruise control is be ing used. Pressu re on
the accelerator w ill override the ACC
braking function and prevent the brakes
from being applied when ACC detects a
situation when the brakes must be ap­
plied.
- Never use adaptive cruise contro l when
you cannot drive safe ly at a steady
speed, including on city streets, on wind­
ing roads or when road conditions are
poor (for example, on ice, gravel, in fog,
heavy rain or on wet roads that increase
the risk of hydroplaning) .
- The radar sensor's
vision can be reduced
by rain, snow and heavy road spray.
T hese and sim ilar condit ions can prevent
vehicles up a head from being accurately
detected and in some cases they may not
be detected at al l. Do not use ACC when
the radar sensors cannot accurately de­
tect vehicles moving ahead of yo u in traf­
fic.
- Always turn off adaptive cruise contro l
when entering turn lanes, exit lanes and
construction zones or in similar situa­
t ions because the vehicle will automati­
cally accelerate to the stored speed when
the road ahead is clear.
- To prevent unintended operation, always
switch ACC off when it is not be ing used.
(D Tips
- For safety reasons, the stored speed is
deleted when the ignition is turned off .
- The E lectronic Stab ilizat ion Control (ESC)
and the Anti-Slip Regulation (ASR) can­ not be deactivated when the adaptive cruise contro
l is switched on . If the ESC
and the Anti-Slip Regu lation (ASR) has
been deactivated and you then switch on
the adaptive cruise control, the ESC func­ tion will also be activated automatically.
- Damage caused by accidents and some m inor collisions can affect the radar sen­
sor settings and cause the system to
ma lf u nction or switch off completely.
- The radar sensor cover is heated. In win­
ter conditions, you should st ill check be­
fore dr iv ing to make su re it is free of ice
and snow. If necessary, clean the a rea
nea r the radar sensor ca refully
¢ fig. 126.
- To ensure that the radar sensor is not
bloc ked, foreig n objects (e.g. s tickers,
larger license plate mount s, add -on
par ts) mus t not cover the area near the
radar sensor ¢
fig. 126 . The area near
the radar sensor must not be pa inted, ei­
ther.
- For Declaration of Compliance to United
States FCC and Ind ustry Canada reg ula­
tions¢
page 328.
How does adaptive cruise control work?
Applies to vehicles : wit h adaptive c ruise contro l
Vehicles traveling ahead are detected with
the aid of a radar sensor .
Fig. 1 27 Bas ic pri ncip le d iag ram : Radar sensor meas ­
urement range
Adaptive cruise control uses a rada r senso r in
t h e front of the vehicle ¢
fig. 12 7. The system
has limitat ions ¢
page 125. Things that are
not moving in your lane and in your direction
of travel will not be detected. The sensor
measures the distance to reflect ive surfaces ..,.

12. Press and release the learn button on the
garage door opener motor.
.. Note : once the button is pressed, there are
30 seconds in which to initiate the next
step .
13. On the Homel ink® keypad inside the vehi ­
cle, firmly press and hold the Homelink ®
button previously programmed in phases
1 and 2 for two seconds and release. Re­
peat this sequence
twice .
.. Some vehicles may requ ire the press/hold/
release sequence up to three times to com ­
plete the training process .
.. Homelink ® should now activate your rolling
code equipped device.
If the 5 minute time limit is exceeded, the
emergency flashers will flash one time to in­
d icate that the process has been terminated.
In this case, repeat steps 4 through 9 .
If the emergency flashers do not flash
three
times (after about 15-60 seconds), program­
ming was not successful. In this case, repeat
steps 4 through 9.
Remote control units for garage door openers
in Canada are set to stop transmitting radio
frequency s ignals after two seconds. This time
may not be sufficient for the Homelink ® sys­
tem to learn the radio frequency s ignal. Per­
form all other steps as described above .
Operating the Homelink ® transmitter
Applies to vehicles: with Home link® universa l remote
control
The Homelink ® transmitter works in the
some manner as the original hondheld re­
mote control that come with the system.
mm
-
Fi g. 194 Overhead co nsole: Home link ® keypad
Homelink ® 163
.. Press the appropriate programmed button
Q), @) or @ to activate the desired remote
contro l function
~ A in General informa­
tion on page 161 .
Reprogramming a single button
Applies to vehicles: with Homelink® universal remote
control
A HomeLink ® button can be reprogrammed
individually without affecting the other but­
ton allocations.
Programming the overhead keypad
.. Press the appropr iate Homelink ® button
until the ind icator light begins flashing
slowly .
Programming the bumper mounted trans
mitter
1. Hold the original remote control at a dis­
t anc e between
0-6 in. (0 -15 cm) from the
bumper below the appropriate headlight
for your vehicle (use the shortest distance
possible).
2. Aim the remote control just below the
driver side headlight.
3. Press and hold the act ivation button on
the remote control.
4. The emergency flashers will flash
three
times
(after about 15 -60 seconds) when
the programming is successful. Now re­
lease the button on the remote control.
.. If the device utilizes a rolling code, please
follow phase 3 of¢
page 162, Program­
ming the Homelink ® transmitter
for rolling
code programming.
This procedure will cause the existing pro­
gramming on the Homelink ® button to be
erased!

184 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 dr iver's seat and steering wheel
properly ¢
page 166,
• Adjust the front passenger's seat properly
r=;page 72 ,
• Wear safety be lts properly
r=; page 178,
• Always properly use the proper child re-
stra int to protect children¢
page 205.
In a collision, airbags must inflate within the
blink of an eye and with considerable force .
The supplementa l 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 passenge r to sit properly at all
times.
By keeping room between your body and the
steering wheel and the front of the passenger
compartment, the airbag ca n inflate fully and
comp letely and provide supp lemental p rotec­
tion in ce rtain frontal collisions¢
page 166,
Proper occupant seating positions .
For detai ls
on the operat ion of the seat adjustment con­
trols ¢
page 72.
I t's especially important that children a re
properly restrained ¢
page 205.
There is a lot that the driver and the passen­
gers can and must do to help the individua l
safety features ins talled in your A udi work to­
gether as a system.
Prope r seat ing pos ition is important so that
the front airbag on the driver s ide can do i ts
job. If yo u have a physical impa irment or con- dition that prevents you from sitting properly
on the driver seat with the safety belt properly
fastened and reaching the peda ls , 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 for poss ible modi­
fica tions to your ve hicle.
When the airbag system deploys, a gas gener ­
ator will f il l the a irbags, break open t he pad­
ded cove rs, and i nflate between the steer ing
whee l and the dr iver and between the instru­
ment pane l and the front passenger. The a ir­
bags will deflate immediately after dep loy­
ment so tha t the front occupants can see
t h ro ugh 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 dep loyed. The airbags a lso
inflate with a great dea l of force and nothing
shou ld be in their way 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 o f th e
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 t riggering of the airbag system
depends on the vehicle dece lerat ion rate
ca used 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 o r even the lack of ve hicle damage
is not necessari ly an indication of whe ther an
airbag shou ld inflate or not .
IJll-

conditions is impossible in all conceiva­
ble s ituations that may happen during
the useful life of your vehicle.
- The Advanced A irbag System can deploy
in accordance with the "low risk" opt ion
under the U.S. Federa l Standard if a child
that is heavier than the typical one-year
old child is on the front passenger seat
and the other cond itions for airbag de­
ployment are met.
- Acc ident statist ics have shown that chil­
dre n are generally safe r in the rea r seat
area than in the front se ating posit io n.
- For their own safety , all children, espe­
ci ally 1 2 yea rs and younger, sho uld al­
w ays ride in the ba ck p roperly restrained
f or their age and size .
Advanced front airbag system
Your vehicle is equipped w it h a front Advanced
Ai rbag System in compl iance with United
States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
208 as applicable at the time your vehicle was
manufactured.
The front Advanced Airbag System supp le ­
ments the safety belts to provide addit iona l
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 decele rat io n is high enough .
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
all occupant rest raint system in your veh icle .
A lways remember that the airbag system can
only help to pro te ct you, if you a re s itting up­
right, wearing yo ur safe ty be lt and wearing i t
p roperly. This is why you and yo ur passenge rs
must always be properly restrained, not just
beca use the law requires you to be.
The Advanced Airbag System in your veh icle
h as been cer tified to meet the " low r is k" re ­
q uir ements 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 dep loyment crite­
ria are intended to he lp red uce the risk of in-
A irbag system 189
jury through interaction with the front ai rbag
that can occur, for examp le, by being too
close to the steering wheel and instr ument
panel when the airbag inflates.
In add ition, the system has been certi fied to
comply with the "s uppression" requirements
of the Sa fety Standa rd, to turn off the front
airbag for infants 12 months old and younger
who are restrained on the front passenger
seat in child restraints that are listed in the
Standard
~ page 207, Child restraints and
Advanced Airbags .
"Suppression" requires the front a irbag on the
passenger s ide to be turned off if:
- a child up to abo ut one year o f age is re ­
strained on the front passenger seat in one
of the rear-fac ing or fo rward-facing infant
restrai nts listed in Federal Motor Vehicle
Safety Standa rd 208 with wh ich the Ad­
vanced Ai rbag System in your ve hicl e was
cert ified. Fo r a listing of the chi ld res traints
t h at were used to certify you r vehi cle's com­
pliance w it h t he US Sa fe ty Standard
~page 207,
-weigh t less than a thres ho ld level stored in
the control unit is de tected on the fron t pas ­
senger seat .
When a person is dete cted on t he front pas ­
senger se at, weigh ing more than the tota l
weight of a chi ld tha t is about 1 year old re ­
stra ined in one of the rear-facing or forward ­
facing infant restraints ( listed in Federal Mo­
tor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 w ith which
the Advanced Airbag System in you r vehicle
was certified), the front airbag on the passen­ ger side may or may not de ploy.
The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on
whe n the electro nic contro l unit detects a to­
ta l we ight on the front passe nger seat that re­
quires the front airbag to be tu rned off . If the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does no t
come on, the front ai rbag on t he passe nger
s ide has not been turned off by the cont ro l
u ni t an d can dep loy if t he con trol un it senses
an impact that meets the cond itions stored i n
its memory . ..,. •
•

192 Airbag system
-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.
- 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 place them on the seat. If the weight­
sensing mat in the passenger seat is punctured it cannot work properly.
- Never carry things on your lap or carry
objects on the passenger seat. Such
items can increase the weight registered
by the weight-sensing mat and send the
wrong information to the airbag control
unit.
- Never store items under the front pas·
senger seat. Parts of the Advanced Air­
bag System under the passenger seat
could be damaged, preventing them and
the airbag system from working proper­
ly.
- Never place seat covers or replacement
upholstery that have not been specifical­
ly approved by Audi on the front seats.
- Seat covers can prevent the Advanced Airbag System from recognizing child re­
straints or occupants on the front pas­
senger seat and prevent the side airbag in the seat backrest from deploying prop­
erly.
- Never use cushions, pillows, blankets or
similar items on the front passenger
seat. The additional padding will prevent
the weight-sensing mat in the seat from
accurately registering the child restraint
or person on the seat and prevent the
Advanced Airbag System from function­
ing properly.
- If you must use a child restraint on the
front passenger seat and the child re- straint manufacturer's instructions
re­
quire the use of a towel, foam cushion or
something else to properly position the
child restraint, make certain that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes
on and stays on whenever the child re·
straint is installed on the front passen­
ger seat.
- If the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
does not come on and stay on, immedi­
ately install child restraint in a rear seat­
ing position and have the airbag system
inspected by your authorized Audi dealer.
How the Advanced Airbag System
components work together
The front Advanced Airbag System and the
side airbags supplement the protection of­
fered by the front three-point safety belts
with pretensioners and load limiters and the
adjustable head restraints to help reduce the
risk of injury in a wide range of accident and
crash situations. Be sure to read the impor­
tant information about safety and heed the
WARNINGS in this chapter.
Deployment of the Adv a need Airbag System
and the activation of the safety belt preten­
sioners depend on the deceleration measured
by the crash sensors and registered by the
electronic control unit. Crash severity depends
on speed and deceleration as well as the mass
and stiffness of the vehicle or object involved
in the crash .
When the electronic control unit registers a low severity crash and the safety belt is being
used, the airbag will not deploy. If the safety
belt is not being used, the first stage deploys,
followed by the second stage after a much lat· er time in the crash sequence.
If the electronic control unit registers a crash
of medium severity, the first stage of the air ·
bag deploys followed by the second stage at a
much later time in the crash sequence· re·
gardless of whether the safety belt is being
used or not . In higher severity crashes as reg­
istered by the electronic control unit, both the ..,.

first and second stages deploy almost at the
same time.
On the passenger side, regard less of safety
be lt use, the airbag will be turned off if the
weight on the passenger seat is less than the
amo unt programmed in the electronic control
un it. The front airbag on the passenger side
w ill also be turned off if one of the child safe­
ty seats that has been certified under Federal
Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 has been
recog nized on the seat . The
PASSENGER AIR
BAG OFF
light comes on and stays on to tell
you when the front Advanced Airbag on the passenger side has been t urned off
Q page 186, Child restraints on the front seat
- some important things to know .
_&. WARNING
To reduce the risk of injury when an airbag
inf lates, a lways wear safety belts properly.
- If you are unrestrained, lean ing forward,
sitting sideways or out of position in any
way, yo ur risk of inj ury is much higher.
- You w ill also receive serio us injuries and
cou ld even be killed if you are up against
the a irbag or too close to it when it in­
flates -even with an Advanced Airbag
Q page 184.
More important things to know about
front airbags
F ig. 2 11 Inflated front airbags
Safety belts are important to help keep front
seat occupants in the proper seated pos ition
so that airbags can unfo ld properly and pro ­
vide supplemental protection in a fronta l col­
l ision.
A irba g sy stem 193
The front airbags are designed to provide ad ­
ditional protection for the chest and face of
the driver and the front seat passenger when:
- safety belts are worn properly
- t he seats have bee n positioned so that the
occ upan t is properly seated as far as poss i­
b le from the airbag
- and the head restraints have been properly
adj usted
Because airbags inflate in the blink of an eye
with great force, t hings you have on your lap
or have placed on the seat co uld become dan­
gerous projecti les, and be p ushed in to you if
the a irbag inf lates.
When an airbag deploys, fine dust is re leased.
T his is no rma l and is not caused by a fi re in
the vehi cle. This dust is made up mos tly of a
powder used to lub ricate the airbags as they
deploy. It could irritate skin.
It is important to remembe r that wh ile the
s u pplementa l airbag system is designed to re­
duce the like lihood o f serious injuries, other
injuries, for example swelling, bruising and
minor abrasions, can a lso happen when air ­
bags inflate . A irbags do not protect the arms
or the lower parts of the body. Front airbags
supplement the th ree-point safety belts only
i n some frontal co llisions in which the vehicle
deceleration is high enough to deploy the air­
bags.
Front a irbags will not deploy :
-if the ignition is sw itched off when a crash
occurs
- in side collisions
- in rear-end co llisions
- in rollovers
- when the crash dece leration meas ured by
the air bag system is less than the minimum
threshold needed for airbag deployment as
reg istered by the electronic cont ro l unit
The front passenger airbag also will not
deploy:
- when the front passenger seat is not occu-
pied ..,.

inflates in side impacts and only when the ve­
hicle acceleration registered by the control
un it is high enough. If this rate is below the
reference value programmed into the contro l
unit, the side airbags will not be triggered,
even though the car may be badly damaged as
a result of the coll ision.
It is not possible to
define an airbag triggering range that will
cover eve ry possible angle of impact, since the
circumstances w ill vary considerably be tween
one co llision and another . Important factors
include, for examp le, the natu re (hard or soft)
of the impacting object, the angle of impact,
veh icle speed, etc. c::>
page 203, How side cur­
tain airbags work.
Aside from the ir normal safety function, safe ­
ty belts work to he lp keep the driver or front
passenger in posit ion in the event of a co lli­
sion so that the side curtain airbags can pro­
vide protection.
The airbag system is not a s ubstitute for your
safety belt. Rather, it is part of the overall oc­
cupant restraint system in your vehicle. Al­
ways remember that the airbag system can
only help to protect you if you are wearing
your safety belt and wear ing it prope rly. Thi s
i s another reason why you sho uld always wear
your safety bel ts, not just beca use the law re­
q ui res you to do soc::>
page 175, General
notes.
It is important to rememb er that while the
side curta in a irbag sys tem is designed to he lp
r educe the like lihood of se rious injur ies, other
in ju ries, for example, swell ing, bruising, and
minor abrasions can also be associated with
these airbags upon deployment. Remember
too, these a irbags w ill dep loy on ly once and
only in certain kinds of accidents - your safety be lts are a lways there to offer protection.
The side curtain airbag sy stem ba sicall y
consi sts of:
- The electronic control mod ule and external
s ide impact sensors
- The side curtain airbags above the front and rear side windows
A irba g sy stem 203
- The airbag indicator light in the instrument
panel
T he airbag system is mon itored e lec tronically
to make ce rtain i t is func tioning prope rly at all
times . Each time you turn on the ignit ion, the
airbag system indicator light will come on for
a few seconds (self diagnostics).
The side curtain airbag i s not activat ed :
- if the ignition is turned off
- in side co llisions whe n the acceleration
measured by the sensor is too low
- in rea r-end collisions.
A WARNING
- Safety belts and the airbag system will
only provide pro te ction when occup ants
are in the proper seating posi tion
c::>
page 71, General recommendations.
- If th e air bag ind icator light comes on
when the vehicle is being used, have the
system inspected immediately by your
authorized A udi dealer . The side curtain
airbag may not work properly even when
the vehicle acce lerat ion in a side collision
is high enough to activate the airbag.
How side curtain airbags work
Side curtain airbags con work together with
side airbags to help reduce the risk of head
and upper torso injuries for occupants who
ore properly restrained.
Fi g. 216 Illustrat io n of pr incip le: Inflated side curtai n
a irbags on the left s ide
-
The side curtain airbags inflate between the
occupant and the windows on the s ide of the
IIJ,,