Trailer Towing Tips - Audi A3 Sedan 2015 Owner's Manual

200 Trailer towing
who is not properly wearing the restraints
provided by Audi.
Trailer towing tips
Important to know
Your vehicle hand les different ly when tow ing
a trailer because of the additional weight and
different weight distribution. Safety, perform -
ance and economy will greatly depend on how
carefully you load your trailer and operate
your rig.
Before you actually tow your trailer, practice
turning, stopp ing and backing up in an area
away from traffic. Keep practicing until you
have become completely familiar with the way
your vehicle-trailer combination behaves and
responds.
Backing up is difficult and requires practice.
Backing up with a trai ler genera lly requires
steering action opposite to that when backing
up your vehicle without a trailer.
Maintain a greater distance between your ve-
hicle and the one in front of you. You will need
more room to stop. To compensate for the
trailer, you will need a larger than normal
turn ing radius .
When passing, remember that you cannot ac-
celerate as fast as you normally would be-
cause of the added load. Make sure you have
enough room to pass . After passing, allow
plenty of room for your tra iler before chang-
ing lanes aga in.
Avoid jerky starts, sharp turns or rapid lane
changes .
(D
Tips
- Do not tow a tra iler during the break-in
period of your vehicle.
- If you tow a trailer, your Audi may re-
quire more frequent maintenance due to
the extra load
q
page 268.
Parking on a slope
Do not park on a slope with a trailer . If it can-
not be avoided, do so only after doing the fol-
lowing:
When parking:
.. Apply the foot brake.
.. Have someone place chocks under both the
vehicle and the trailer wheels .
.,. With chocks in place, slowly release the
brakes until the wheel chocks absorb the
load.
.. Turn the whee ls towards the curb.
.. Apply the parking brake.
.. Select the P selector lever position.
When restarting after parking:
.. Apply the foot brake .
.. Start the engine .
.. Select the D/S selector lever position.
.. Release the parking brake and slowly pull
out and away from the wheel chocks.
.. Stop and have someone retrieve the wheel
chocks .
(D
Tips
If you move the selector lever of the auto-
matic transmission to P before applying
the parking brake and before blocking the
whee ls, you may have to use more force
later to move the lever out of the P posi-
tion.