Airbag System; Important Information - Audi A8 2018 Owner's Manual

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Airbag system
Important information
Importance of wearing safety belts and
sitting properly
Airbags are only suppl emental restraints . For
airbags to do t heir 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 dr iving off, always:
.,. Adjust the dr iver's seat and steer ing wheel
prope rly~
page
209,
.,. Adjust the fro nt passenge r's seat prope rly
~page 54,
.,. We a r safety bel t s properly~ page 221,
.. Always properly use the proper child restraint
to protect chi ld ren
r=>page 249 .
In a coll ision, a irbags mus t infla t e wit hin t he
blink of an eye and with consi d erab le 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 dr iver and as
a passenger to sit properly at a ll t imes.
By keeping room between your body and t he
steer ing whee l and the front of the passenger
compa rtment, the a irbag can inflate fully and
comp lete ly and prov ide supplemental protect ion
in certa in frontal coll is ions r=> page 209, Correct
passenger seating positions.
For de t ails on the
operat ion of the seat adju stment cont rols
r=>page54 .
It's especially important that children a re proper-
ly restra ined r=>page 249.
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 togethe r as a
sys t em.
Proper seating posit ion is important so that the
front airbag on the driver side can do its job. If
you have a physical impairment or cond it ion that
prevents you from sitting properly on the driver
seat with the safety be lt prope rly fastened and
Airbag sys t e m
reaching the peda ls, or if you have concerns wit h
regard to the functio n or operatio n of the Ad-
vanced Airbag System, please contact you r a u-
thorized Audi dea le r or q ua lified workshop, or
call Audi Customer Relations at 1-800-822-2834
for poss ible modifications to your vehicle .
When the a irbag system dep loys, a gas generator
will fill the airbags, break open the padded cov-
ers, and inflate betwee n the stee ring wheel and
the driver and between the inst rument panel and
the fron t passenger . The a irbags w ill deflate im-
med iate ly after deployment so that t he front oc-
cupants can see t hrough t he winds hield aga in
wit hou t inte rru pt ion.
All of t his t akes place in t he bl ink of an eye, so
fast that many peop le don't even real ize that the
airbags have deployed. The airbags a lso infla t e
wit h a g reat deal of for ce and nothi ng should be
in the ir way when t hey 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 t he driver
and front seat passenger from hitting pa rts of
the ins ide of the vehicle whi le red ucing the forces
acting on the occupa nt dur ing the crash. In th is
way they help to red uce t he risk of injur y to the
head and uppe r body in the crash. Airbags do not
pro t ect t he arms or the lower pa rts of t he body.
Both front airbags will not inflate in all frontal
collisions. The t rigge ring of t he a irbag system de-
pends on the veh icle decelerat ion rate caused by
t he coll ision an d regis t ered by t he ele ct ronic con -
t rol unit. If t his rat e is be low t he refe re nce va lue
programmed int o the contro l unit, t he a irbags
will not be t riggered, even tho ugh t he car may be
badly damaged as a res ult of the collision. Vehi-
cle damage, repa ir costs or even the lack of vehi-
cle damage is not necessari ly an indication of
whethe r an a irbag should inflate or not.
Since the circumstances will vary cons iderably
between one collision and another, it is not possi -
ble to define a range of ve hicle speeds that will
cove r every poss ible kind and angle of impact
t hat w ill always trigge r t he a irbags. Importa nt
factors include, for examp le, the nat ure (hard or
soft) of the object which t he ca r hits, t he a ngle of
im pact, vehicle speed, etc. The front airbags will .,.
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