126 Airbag syst em
with the safety belt buckles so that t he sen -
sors can send the correct information about
safety belt use to the electron ic control unit.
.&_ WARNING
Changing the vehicle 's s uspension includ-
ing use of unapproved tire-rim combina-
tions can change Advanced Airbag per-
formance and increase the risk of serious
personal injury in a crash .
- Never install suspens ion components
that do not have the same performance
character istics as t he components origi-
nally insta lled on yo ur vehicle.
- Never use ti re-rim comb inat io ns that
have not been approved by Audi.
.&_ WARNING
-
Items stored between the safety belt
buckle and the center console can cause
the senso rs in the buckle to send the
wrong information to the electronic con -
trol mod ule a nd prevent the Advanced Air-
bag System from work ing properly .
- Always make sure that nothing can inter-
fere with the safety belt buck les and that
they are not obstructed.
Knee airbags
Description of knee airbags
The knee airbag system can provide supple -
mental protection to properly restrained
front seat occupants .
Fig. 121 Driver's airbag
The drive r knee airbag is in the instrument
panel underneath the steering whee l
~ fig. 121, the air bag for the passenger is at
about the same height in the instrument pan-
el underneath the glove compartment .
The knee air bag offe rs addi t ional protec t ion
to the driver 's and passenger's knees lower
t high areas as a supplement to the protection
by the safety belts .
If t he fron t airbags dep loy, the knee airbags
also dep loy in frontal collisions when the de-
ployment threshold stored in the control unit
is met ~
page 120, More important things to
know about front airbags .
In add ition to their normal sa fety function,
safety belts help keeping the driver or front
passenger in position in a fronta l collision so
that the airbags can provide supp lemental
protection .
The airbag system is not a substitute for your
safety belt . Rather, it is part of the overa ll oc-
cupant restra int system in your vehicle. Al-
ways remember tha t the airbag system can
only he lp to protect you if you are wearing
you r safety belt and wea ring it properly . This
is why you should a lways wear your safety
belt, not jus t because the law requ ires you to
do so ~
page 103, General notes.
The safety belt buckle fo r t he driver and front
seat passenger have switch es that tell the air-
bag control module if the safety belt is being
used or not .
If t he sa fety belt is be ing used ,
t he knee a irbag will deploy at a slight ly higher
rate of dece leration than if the be lt is not be-
ing used . Therefore, in a particular collision, it
is possib le that an airbag will not dep loy at a
seating pos ition where the safety belt is being
used but will inflate at t he posit ion where t he
safety belt is not being used .
Remember too, airbags will deploy on ly once
and only in certa in kinds of accidents - your
safety belts are always there to offer protec-
t ion in those accidents in which airbags are
not supposed to deploy or whe n they have al-
ready dep loyed, for example when your vehi-
cle str ikes or is st ruck by ano t her after t he
first collision . ..,.
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