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Airbag
system
Important
things
to
know
Importance of wearing safety belts and
sitting properly
Airbags are only supplemental restraints. For
airbags to do their job , occupants must al-
ways properly wear their safety belts and be
in a proper seating position.
For your safety and the safety of your passen-
gers, before driving off, always:
""Adjust the dr iver's seat and steering wheel
properly ¢
page 120,
"" Adjust the front passenger's seat properly
¢ page 54,
""Wear safety be lts properly ¢
page 132,
""Always properly use the proper child re-
straint t o protect chi ldren
r::::>
page 161.
In a collision airbags must inflat e within th e
blink of an eye and with considerable force .
The supplemental
airbags can cause injuries if
the driver or the front seat passenger is not
seated properly . Therefore in order to help the
a irbag to do its job, it is important, both as a
driver and as a passenge r to s it properly at all
times.
By keeping room between your body and the
steer ing whee l and the front of the passenger
compartment,
the airbag can inflate fully and
comp lete ly and provide supplemental
protec-
tion in ce rt ain frontal collisions
r::::>
page 120,
Proper occupant seating positions.
For details
on the operation of the seat adjustment con-
trols
¢
page 54.
It's especially important that children are
properly restrained
r::::>
page 161.
There is a lot that the driver and the passen-
gers can and must do to help the ind ividua l
safety features installed in your Audi work to-
gether as a system.
Proper seat ing pos ition is important so that
the front airbag on the driver s ide can do its
job. If you have a physical impairment or con-
Airbag
system
137
dition that prevents yo u from sitting properly
on the driver seat with the safety belt properly
fastened and reaching the pedals, spec ial
modifications to your vehicle may be necessa-
ry.
Contact your authorized Audi dea ler, or call
Audi Customer Relations at 1-800-822-2834.
When t he airbag system dep loys, a gas gener-
ator will fill the airbags, break open the pad -
ded covers, and inflate between the steering
whee l and the dr iver and between the instru-
ment panel and the front passenger. The air-
bags will deflate immediately after deploy-
ment so that the front occupants can see
through the w indshield aga in without inter-
ruption .
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
inflate with a great deal of force and noth ing
shou ld be in th eir way when they deploy.
Front airbags in combination with properly
worn safety belts slow down and limit the oc-
cupant's forward movement. Together they
help to prevent the driver and front seat pas-
senge r from hitting parts of the inside the ve-
hicle while reducing the forces acting on the
occupant dur ing the crash. In this way they
help to reduce t he risk of injury to the head
and upper body in the crash . Airbags do not
protect the arms or the lower parts of the
body .
Both front a irbags w ill not inflate in all frontal
collisions . The triggering of the a irbag system
depends on the vehicle deceleration rate
caused by the collision and registered by the
electron ic control unit. If this rate is below
the reference value programmed into the con-
trol unit, the airbags will not be triggered,
even though the car may be bad ly damaged as
a resu lt of the collision . Vehicle damage, re-
pair costs or even the lack of ve hicle damage
is not necessarily an indication of whether an
airbag should inflate or not .
It is not possib le to define a range of vehicle
speeds that w ill cover every possible kind and ..,.
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