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The knee airbag offers additiona l protect ion
to the driver's and passenger's knees and up-
per and lower thigh areas and supp lements
the protect ion provided by the safety belts.
If the front airbags deploy , the knee airbags
also deploy in fronta l collisions when the de -
ployment threshold stored in the control unit
is met c> page 159, More important things to
know about front airbags.
In addition to their normal safety function,
safety be lts he lp keep the driver or front pas -
senger in posit ion in a frontal coll is ion so that
the airbags can prov ide supplemental
protec-
tion .
The airbag system is not a subst itute for your
safety be lt. Rather, it is part of the overall oc-
cupant restraint system in your veh icle. Al-
ways remember that the airbag system can
only help to protect you if you are wea ring
your safety belt and wear ing it prope rly. This
is why you shou ld always wear you r safety
be lt, not just because t he law requires you to
do so c> page 140, General notes.
The safety belt buck le for the dr iver and front
seat passenge r have switc hes that tell the a ir-
bag con t rol mod ule if the safety belt is be ing
used or not . If the safety belt is being used,
the knee airbag will deploy at a slightly higher
rate of deceleration than if the belt is not be -
ing used. Therefore, in a particu lar collision, it
is poss ible that an airbag will not deploy at a
seating position where the safety belt is being
used but will inflate at the position whe re the
safety belt is not be ing used.
Remember too, airbags will deploy only once
and only in certain kinds of accidents - your
safety belts are always there to offer protec -
tion in those acc idents in which a irbags a re
not supposed to deploy or when they have a l-
ready deployed, fo r example whe n your veh i-
cle strikes or is st ruck by another afte r the
first coll is ion .
This is just one of the reasons why an a irbag is
not a substi t ute fo r the safety belt. The airbag
sys t em works most effective ly when used with
A irbag sys tem
167
the safety belts. Therefore, always wear your
safety belts correct ly.
It is important to remembe r that w hile the
supplementa l knee airbag system is designed
to reduce the likelihood of ser ious injuries,
other injuries, for example, swelling, bruising
and minor abrasions and friction burns can a l-
so occur when an airbag inflates.
The knee airbag system basically consists
of:
- The e lectronic control module
- Two inflatable ai rbags (airbag and gas gen -
erator), one for the driver and one for the
front passenger
- The ai rbag indicator light in the instrument
pane l
The knee airbag system will not deploy:
- when the ignit io n is switched off
- in frontal collisions when the deceleration
meas ured by t he con t rol un it 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) i=> page 19.
A
WARNING
- Safety belts and the airbag system can
only provide protection when occupa nts
are in the proper seating position
i=>page 159 .
- If the airbag ind icator light i=> page 19
comes when the veh icle is being used,
have the system inspe cted immediately
by your au t hori zed Audi dealer. It is pos-
sib le t ha t the airbag will infla t e when it
is not supposed to, or will not infla t e
when it should .
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