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position in a frontal collision so that the airbags
can provide supplemental
protection.
The airbag system is not a s ubst itute for yo ur
safety belt. Rather, it is part of the overa ll occu-
pant restraint system in your vehicle. Always re-
member that the airbag system can only help to
protect you if you are wearing your safety belt
and wear ing it properly . This is why you should
always wear your safety belt, not just because
the law requires you to do so c::, page 138, Gener-
al information.
Remember too, airbags will deploy only once and
only in certain kinds of accidents - your safety
be lts are always there to offer protection in those
accidents in which airbags are not supposed to
deploy or when they have a lready dep loyed, for
examp le when yo ur vehicle str ikes or is str uck by
anothe r afte r the f irst collis ion.
This is just one of the reasons why an airbag is
not a substitute for the safety belt. The a irbag
sys t em wo rks most effec t ively when used with
the safety belts. Therefore , always wear your
safety bel t s cor rect ly.
It is important t o remember that while the sup-
plemental knee a irbag sys tem is designed to re-
d uce t he likelihood of serious injur ies, other inju-
ries, fo r example, swell ing, bruising and minor
abrasions and fr iction burns can also occu r when
an airbag inf lates.
The knee airbag system basically consists of:
- The electronic contro l modu le
- Two inf latab le airbags (airbag and gas genera-
tor), one for t he dr iver and one fo r the front
passenge r
- The airbag ind icator light in the instrument
pane l
The knee airbag system will not deploy:
- when the ign ition is switched off
- in frontal collisions when the deceleration
measured by the control unit is too low
- in side collisions
- in rear-end collisions
- in rollovers
Airb a g sys tem
- in the event of a system malfunction (warning/
indicator light is on) c::, poge 18.
.&_
WARNING
-
- Safety belts and the airbag system can only
provide protect ion when occupants are in
the proper seat ing pos ition c::,page 154.
- If the airbag indicator light
c::,
page
18
comes when the veh icle is being used, have
the system inspected immediately by your
author ized Audi dealer. It is possible that
the airbag will inflate when it is not sup-
posed to, or will not inflate when it should.
How knee airbags work
The risk of injury to the leg area can be reduced
by fully inflated knee airbags .
Fig. 168
Inflated airbags prote cting in a fronta l collision
The knee air bag system has been d esigned so
that the airbags for the driver and front passen-
ger dep loy in certain but not all fronta l collisions.
If t he front airbags deploy, t he knee a irbags a lso
deploy in frontal coll isions when the deployment
t hreshold stored in the control unit is met .
When t he system deploys, t he airbags fill w ith a
prope llant gas, and infla t e between the lower
part of the instrument panel and t he driver and
the lower part of the instrument panel and the
front passenger
c::,
page 154, fig. 165 .
Althoug h they are not a soft pillow, they can
"cushion" the impact an d in t his way they can
help to red uce the risk of injury to the lower ex-
tremities.
All of th is takes place in t he blink of an eye, so
fast that many peop le don't even realize that the .,..
161
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