Trailer Towing Tips - Audi A4 2013 Owner's Manual

Trailer towing tips
Important to know
Your vehicle hand les different ly when tow ing
a t railer because of the addit ional weight and
different weight distribution . Safety, perform -
ance and economy will greatly depend on how
caref ully you load your trailer and operate
your rig.
Before you actua lly tow your t railer, pract ice
turning, stopp ing and backing up in an area
away from traffic. Keep practicing until you
have become comp lete ly fam iliar with the way
your vehicle-trailer comb ination behaves and
responds.
Backing up is difficult and requires practice .
Backing up with a tra iler genera lly requires
steer ing action opposite to that when backing
up your vehicle without a trailer.
Maintain a greater distance betwee n 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
turning radius .
When pass ing, 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 o page 280.
Trailer towin g 201
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 tra iler wheels .
.,. With chocks in place, slowly release t he
bra kes unt il t he whee l chocks absorb the
load .
.. Turn the whee ls towa rds t he curb.
.,. Apply t he parking brake.
.. Place an automat ic t ransm ission* in P, re-
spectively a manual transmission in first or
reverse gear.
When restarting after parking:
.. Apply t he foot brake .
.. Sta rt t he engine.
.. Move the selector lever to D/S, respectively
a man ual transmiss ion in first gear .
.. Release the parking brake and slowly pull
out and away from the wheel chocks.
.. Stop and have someone retr ieve the wheel
chocks.
@
Tips
If you move the selector lever of the auto-
matic transmissio n* to P before applying
the pa rking brake and before blocking the
whee ls, you may have t o use more force
later t o move the lever out of t he P posi-
tion.
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