Airbag system
The s ide curtain airbag system supp lements the
safety belts and can he lp to reduce the risk of in-
jury for occupants' heads and upper to rso . The
side curtain airbag inflates in s ide impacts and
only when the veh icle acce leration registered by
the contro l unit is high eno ugh . If this rate is be -
low t he refe rence value programmed into the
cont rol un it, t he s ide curta in a irbag will no t be
tr iggered, even though t he car may be bad ly
da mage d as a result of the collis ion.
It is not pos-
sib le t o def ine an a irbag tr iggering range that
will cover every possib le ang le of impact, since
the circumstances will vary considerably between
one collision and another. Important factors in-
clude, for example, the nature (hard or soft) of
the impacting object , the angle of impact, vehicle
speed, etc.
¢ page 164, How side curtain air-
bags work .
Aside from their normal safety function, safety
be lts work to help keep the driver or front pas-
senger in pos it io n in the event of a collision so
that t he side curtai n airbags can provide protec -
tion .
The airbag system is not a substitute for your
safety belt . Rathe r, it is part of the overa ll occu-
pant restrain t system in your veh icle . Always re-
membe r t hat th e airbag system can only help to
protect yo u if you a re we ar ing your safety bel t
and we a ring it pro perly . This is a nothe r reason
why you should always we ar your safety be lts,
not just because the law requires you to do so
¢ page 134, General information .
It is import ant t o remember th at whi le t he s ide
curt ain airbag system is des igned t o help reduce
the likelihoo d of serious injur ies, other injuries,
for example, swe lling, bruising, friction burns
and minor abrasions can also be assoc iated with
these airbags upon deployment . Remember too,
these airbags will deploy only once and only in
certa in kinds of acc idents - yo ur safety be lts are
a lways there to offer protec t ion.
The side curtain airbag system basically
consists of:
- The elect ronic control module and external s ide
im pact senso rs
164
- The sid e curta in airbags above t he front and
rear side windows with ejection mitigat ion fea-
tures
- The a irbag indicator light in t he instr ume nt
pa nel
The airbag system is mo nitored e lectron ically to
make certain it is func t ioning pro perly at all
times . Each t ime you switch on the ignit ion, the
airba g system ind icator light will come on for a
few seconds (se lf diagnostics) .
The side curtain airbag is not activated:
- if t he ignitio n is sw itched off,
- in side co llisions whe n the acce lerat ion meas-
ured by the sensor is too low,
- in rear-end collisions .
.&_ WARNING
- Safety bel t s and th e a irbag sys t em will only
provide prote ct ion when occup ants are in
t he prope r seat ing pos ition ¢
page 47,
Seats and storage.
- If the a irbag ind icator light¢ page 16
comes w he n t he veh icle is being used, have
the system inspected immediately by your
authorized Audi dealer. It is possib le tha t
the airbag will inflate when it is not sup -
posed to, or will not inflate w hen it should.
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 are properly re-
strained.
Fig. 160 Illustration of principle: Inflated side curta in air·
bags on t he left side ..,_
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