Airbag System - Audi A3 Sedan 2015 Owner's Manual

Airbag system
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-
gers, befo re driving off, always:
"' Adjust the driver's seat and steering wheel
properly
Q page 131,
"' Adjust the front passenger's seat properly
Q page 54,
"'Wear safety be lt s properly
C?
page 142,
"' Always proper ly use the proper child restraint
to protect children
Qpage 172.
In a coll ision, airbags must inflate within the
blink of an eye and with considerable force. The
supp lemental airbags can cause injuries if the
driver or the front seat passenger is not seated
properly . Therefore in order to he lp the airbag to
do its job, it is important, both as a driver and as
a passenger to sit properly at all times.
By keeping room between your body and the
steering whee l and the front of the passenger
compartment, the airbag can inflate fully and
completely and provide supplemental protection
in certain frontal collisions
c> page 131, Correct
passenger seating positions.
For details on the
operation of the seat adjustment controls
c>page54.
It's especially important that children are proper-
ly restrained
Qpage 172.
There is a lot that the driver and the passengers
can and must do to help the individual safety fea-
tures installed in your Audi work together as a
system .
Proper seat ing position is important so that the
front airbag on the driver side can do its job. If
you have a phys ical impairment or condition that
prevents you from sitt ing properly on the dr iver
seat with the safety be lt properly fastened and
148
reaching the pedals, or if you have concerns with
regard to the function or operation of the Ad-
vanced Airbag System, please contact your au-
thori zed Audi dea ler or qualified workshop, or
call Audi Customer Relations at 1-800-822-2834
for possible modifications to your vehicle.
When the airbag system dep loys, a gas generator
will fill the airbags, break open the padded cov-
ers, and inflate between the steering wheel and
the driver and between the instrument panel and
the front passenger . The a irbags will deflate im-
med iate ly after deployment so that the front oc-
cupants can see through the windshield again
without interruption.
All of th is takes place in the blink of an eye, so
fast that many people don't even realize that the
a irbags have deployed. The airbags also inf late
with a grea t deal of force and nothing should be
in their way when they dep loy. Front airbags in
combination with properly worn safety belts slow
down and limit the occupant's forward move-
ment . Together they he lp to prevent the driver
and front seat passenger from hitting parts of
the inside of the vehicle while reducing the forces
acting on the occupant during the crash . In this
way they help to reduce the risk of injury to the
head and upper body in the crash . Airbags do not
protect the a rms or th e lower parts of the body.
Both front a irbags w ill not inflate in all fronta l
collisions . The triggering of the a irbag system de-
pends on the veh icle deceleration rate caused by
the coll ision and registered by the electronic con -
trol un it. If th is rate is below the reference val ue
programmed into the control unit, the airbags
will not be triggered , even though the car may be
badly damaged as a result of the collision . Vehi-
cle damage, repair costs or even the lack of vehi-
cle damage is not necessarily an indication of
whether an a irbag should inflate or not.
Since the circumstances will vary considerably
between one collision and another, it is not possi-
ble to define a range of vehicle speeds that will
cover every possible kind and angle of impact
that w ill always trigger the airbags . Important
factors include, for example, the nature (hard or
soft) of the object wh ich the car hits, the angle of
impact, vehicle speed, etc. The front airbags will .,.