Airb a g syste m
Airbag system
Important information
Importance of wearing safety belts and
sitting properly
Airbags are only supplemental restraints . For
airbags to do their job, occupants must always
properly wear their safety belts and be in a prop -
er seating position.
For your safety and the safety of your passen-
ge rs, before driving off, always :
"' Adjust the dr iver's seat and steering wheel
properly ¢
page 132,
"' Adjust the front passenge r's seat properly
¢ page 61,
"' Wear safety belts properly ¢ page 142 ,
"' Always prope rly use the proper child restraint
to protect children
¢ page 168 .
In a coll isio n airbags must inflate wit hin the blink
of an eye and with cons iderable force . The sup-
plemental airbags can cause injuries if the driver
or the front seat passenger is not seated proper·
Ly. Therefore in order to help the airbag to do its
job, it is important, both as a dr iver and as a pas-
senger to sit properly at all t imes .
By keeping room between your body and the
steering whee l and the front of the passenger
compartment, the a irbag can inflate fully and
completely and provide supplemental protect ion
in certain frontal collisions ¢
page 132, Correct
passenger seating positions .
For details on the
operation of the seat adjustment con t rols
¢ page 61.
It's especially important that children are proper -
ly restra ined
¢ page 168 .
There is a lot that the driver and the passengers
can and must do to help the ind ividual safety fea-
tures installed in your Audi work together as a
system .
Proper seating posit ion is important so that the
front airbag on the drive r side can do its job. If
you have a physical impairment or cond ition that
prevents you from sitting properly on the driver
seat with the safety be lt properly fastened and
148
reaching the peda ls, special modifications to
your vehicle may be necessary.
Contact your aut horized Aud i dea ler, or call Audi
Customer Relat ions at 1-800-822-2834.
When the airbag sys t em dep loys, a gas generator
will fill the airbags, break open the padded cov-
ers, and inflate betwee n the steering wheel and
the driver and between the inst rument pa nel and
the front passenger . The a irbags will deflate im-
mediate ly after dep loyment so t hat the front oc-
cupants can see th rough the windsh ie ld again
without interruption.
All of th is takes place in the blink of an eye, so
fast that many people don't even rea lize that the
airbags have deployed. The airbags a lso inflate
with a great deal of force and nothing should be
in the ir way when they deploy. Front airbags in
combination with properly worn safety belts slow
down and lim it t he occupant's forward move-
ment . Together they he lp to prevent the driver
and front seat passenger from hitti ng pa rt s of
t he ins ide the veh icle while reducing the fo rces
acti ng on the occupant dur ing the cras h. In th is
way they help to reduce the risk of inju ry to the
head and uppe r body in the crash. Airbags do not
protect the arms or the lower parts of the body.
Both front airbags will not inflate in all frontal
collisions . The trigge ring of the airbag system de -
pends on the vehicle deceleration rate caused by
the coll is ion and registered by the electronic con-
tro l unit . If this rate is be low the reference value
programmed into the contro l unit, the airbags
will not be triggered, even though the car may be
badly damaged as a resu lt of the collision. Vehi-
cle damage, repa ir costs or even the lack of vehi-
cle damage is not ne cessari ly an indication of
whethe r an a irbag should infla t e or not.
It is not possib le to define a range of vehicle
speeds that will cove r every possible kind and an-
gle of impa ct that will always tr igger t he airbags ,
since the circumst an ces will vary cons iderably be-
tween one collision and anot her. Important fac-
tors include, for examp le, the natu re (hard or
soft) of the object which the car hits, t he angle of
impact, vehicle speed, etc . The front airbags will ..,_
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