Audi A6 Typ 4G: Importance of wearing safety belts and sitting properly
Airbags are only supplemental restraints. For airbags to do their job, occupants must always properly wear their safety belts and be in a proper seating position.
For your safety and the safety of your passengers, before driving off, always:
- Adjust the driver's seat and steering wheel properly,
- Adjust the front passenger's seat properly,
- Wear safety belts properly,
- Always properly use the proper child restraint to protect children.
In a collision, airbags must inflate within the 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 airbag to do its job, it is important, both as a driver and as a passenger to sit properly at all times.
By keeping room between your body and the steering wheel and the front of the passenger compartment, the airbag can inflate fully and completely and provide supplemental protection in certain frontal collisions. For details on the operation of the seat adjustment controls.
It's especially important that children are properly restrained.
There is a lot that the driver and the passengers can and must do to help the individual safety features installed in your Audi work together as a system.
Proper seating position is important so that the front airbag on the driver side can do its job. If you have a physical impairment or condition that prevents you from sitting properly on the driver seat with the safety belt properly fastened and reaching the pedals, or if you have concerns with regard to the function or operation of the Advanced Airbag System, please contact your authorized Audi dealer or qualified workshop, or call Audi Customer Relations at 1-800-822-2834 for possible modifications to your vehicle.
When the airbag system deploys, a gas generator will fill the airbags, break open the padded covers, and inflate between the steering wheel and the driver and between the instrument panel and the front passenger. The airbags will deflate immediately after deployment so that the front occupants can see through the windshield again without interruption.
All of this takes place in the blink of an eye, so fast that many people don't even realize that the airbags have deployed. The airbags also inflate with a great deal of force and nothing should be in their way when they deploy. Front airbags in combination with properly worn safety belts slow down and limit the occupant's forward movement.
Together they help to prevent the driver and front seat passenger from hitting parts of the inside of the vehicle while reducing the forces acting on the occupant during the crash. In this way they help to reduce the 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 airbags will not inflate in all frontal collisions. The triggering of the airbag system depends on the vehicle deceleration rate caused by the collision and registered by the electronic control unit. If this rate is below the reference value programmed into the control unit, the airbags will not be triggered, even though the car may be badly damaged as a result of the collision. Vehicle damage, repair costs or even the lack of vehicle damage is not necessarily an indication of whether an airbag should inflate or not.
Since the circumstances will vary considerably between one collision and another, it is not possible to define a range of vehicle speeds that will cover every possible kind and angle of impact that will always trigger the airbags. Important factors include, for example, the nature (hard or soft) of the object which the car hits, the angle of impact, vehicle speed, etc. The front airbags will also not inflate in side or rear collisions, or in rollovers.
Always remember: Airbags will deploy only once, and only in certain kinds of collisions. Your safety belts are always there to offer protection in those situations in which airbags are not supposed to deploy, or when they have already deployed; for example, when your vehicle strikes or is struck by another vehicle after the first collision.
This is just one of the reasons why an airbag is a supplementary restraint and is not a substitute for a safety belt. The airbag system works most effectively when used with the safety belts.
Therefore, always properly wear your safety belts.
WARNING
Sitting too close to the steering wheel or instrument panel will decrease the effectiveness of the airbags and will increase the risk of personal injury in a collision.
- Never sit closer than 10 inches (25 cm) to the steering wheel or instrument panel.
- If you cannot sit more than 10 inches (25 cm) from the steering wheel, investigate whether adaptive equipment may be available to help you reach the pedals and increase your seating distance from the steering wheel.
- All vehicle occupants and especially children
must be restrained properly whenever riding
in a vehicle. An unrestrained or improperly
restrained child could be injured by striking
the interior or by being ejected from the vehicle
during a sudden maneuver or impact.
An unrestrained or improperly restrained child is also at greater risk of injury or death through contact with an inflating airbag.
- If you are unrestrained, leaning forward, sitting sideways or out of position in any way, your risk of injury is much higher.
- You will also receive serious injuries and could even be killed if you are up against the airbag or too close to it when it inflates - even with an Advanced Airbag.
- To reduce the risk of injury when an airbag inflates, always wear safety belts properly.
- Always make certain that children age 12 or younger always ride in the rear seat. If children are not properly restrained, they may be severely injured or killed when an airbag inflates.
- Never let children ride unrestrained or improperly restrained in the vehicle. Adjust the front seats properly.
- Never ride with the backrest reclined.
- Always sit as far as possible from the steering wheel or the instrument panel.
- Always sit upright with your back against the backrest of your seat.
- Never place your feet on the instrument panel or on the seat. Always keep both feet on the floor in front of the seat to help prevent serious injuries to the legs and hips if the airbag inflates.
- Never recline the front passenger's seat to
transport objects. Items can also move into
the area of the side airbag or the front airbag
during braking or in a sudden maneuver.
Objects near the airbags can become projectiles and cause injury when an airbag inflates.
WARNING
Airbags that have deployed in a crash must be replaced.
- Use only original equipment airbags approved by Audi and installed by a trained technician who has the necessary tools and diagnostic equipment to properly replace any airbag in your vehicle and assure system effectiveness in a crash.
- Never permit salvaged or recycled airbags to be installed in your vehicle.
