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that t he a irbags can provide s upplemental
protection.
The airbag system is not a s ubst itute for your
safety be lt. Rathe r, it is part of the overall oc-
cupant restraint system in your veh icle . Al-
ways remember that the airbag system ca n
only help to protect you if you are wearing
your safety belt and wearing it properly . This
is why you shou ld always wear your safety
be lt, not just because the law requires you to
do soc::> page 102, Why safety belts?.
The safety belt buck le for the driver and front
seat passenger have switches that tell the air-
bag control module if the safety belt is being
used or not . If the safety belt is being used,
the knee airbag will deploy at a slightly higher
rate of decelera t ion than if the belt is not be-
ing used. Therefore, in a par t icular collision , it
is poss ible th at an airbag will not deploy at a
seating position where the safety belt is being
used but will inflate at the position where the
safety belt is not be ing used.
Remembe r too, airbags will deploy only once
and only in certain kinds of accidents - your
safety belts are a lways there to offer protec -
tion in those acc idents in which airbags are
not supposed to deploy or when they have al-
ready deployed, for example when your vehi-
cle strikes or is struck by another after the
fi rst coll isio n.
This is just one of t he reasons why an a irbag is
not a substitute for the safety belt. The airbag
system works most effective ly when used with
the safety belts. Therefore, always wea r your
safety belts correctly .
It is important to remember that while the
supp lemental knee airbag system is designed
to reduce the likelihood of serious injur ies,
ot her injuries, fo r example, swel ling, bruising,
minor abrasions and friction burn s can also
occur when an air bag infl ates.
The knee airbag system basically consists
of :
- The elect roni c cont rol mod ule
A irba g sy stem
125
- Two inflatable ai rbags (airbag and gas gen -
erator), one for the driver and o ne for the
front passenger
- The a irbag indicator light in the instr ument
panel
The knee airbag system will not deploy:
- when the ignit ion is tu rned off
- in frontal collisions when the deceleration
meas ured by the cont rol unit is too low
- in side collisions
- in rear-end collisions
- in rollovers
- in the event of a system malfunction (warn-
ing/ind icator light is on)
c::>
page 14.
A
WARNING
- Safety belts and the airbag system can
only provide protection when occupa nts
are in the proper seating position
<::>page 118 .
- If the airbag ind icator light comes on
when the vehicle is being used, have the
syst em inspected immediately by your
author ized Audi dealer.
How knee airbags work
The risk of injury to the leg area can be re-
duced by fully deployed knee airbags.
Fig. 12 5
Inflated airbags prot ecting in a frontal colli-
s ion
-
The knee airbag system has been designed so
that the airbags for the dr iver and fro nt pas-
senger deploy in certain but not all frontal
collisions .
II>-
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