Audi Q5: Advanced front airbag system and children

Your vehicle is equipped with a front "Advanced Airbag System" in compliance with United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 208 as applicable at the time your vehicle was manufactured.

The Advanced Airbag system in your vehicle has been certified to meet the "low-risk" requirements for 3- and 5-year old children on the passenger side and small adults on the driver side.

The Low risk deployment criteria are intended to reduce the risk of injury through interaction with the airbag that can occur, for example, by being too close to the steering wheel and instrument panel when the airbag inflates. In addition, the system has been certified to comply with the "suppression" requirements of the Safety Standard, to turn off the front airbag for infants up to 12 months who are restrained on the front passenger seat in child restraints that are listed in the Standard.

Even though your vehicle is equipped with an Advanced Airbag system, all children, especially those 12 years and younger, should always ride in the back seat properly restrained for their age and size. The airbag on the passenger side makes the front seat a potentially dangerous place for a child to ride. The front seat is not the safest place for a child in a forward-facing child safety seat. It can be a very dangerous place for an infant or a larger child in a rearward-facing seat.

Advanced Airbags and the weight-sensing mat in the front seat

The Advanced Airbag System in your vehicle detects the presence of an infant or child in a child restraint on the front passenger seat using the weight-sensing mat in the seat cushion and the sensor below the safety belt latch on the front passenger seat that measures the tension on the safety belt.

The weight-sensing mat measures total weight of the child and the child safety seat and a child blanket on the front passenger seat. The weight on the front passenger seat is related to the design of the child restraint and its "footprint", the size and shape of the bottom of the child restraint as it sits on the seat. The weight of a child restraint and its "footprint" vary for different kinds of child restraints and for the different models of the same kind of child restraint offered by child restraint manufacturers.

The weight ranges for the individual types, makes and models of child restraints that the NHTSA has specified in the Safety Standard together with the weight ranges of typical infants and typical 1 year-old child have been stored in the control unit of the Advanced Airbag System. When a child restraint is being used on the front passenger seat with a typical 1 year-old child, the Advanced Airbag System compares the weight measured by the weight sensing mat with the information stored in the electronic control unit.

The electronic control unit also registers the tension on the front passenger safety belt. The tension on the safety belt for the front passenger seat will be different for an adult who is property using the safety belt as compared to the tension on the belt when it is used to attach a child restraint to the seat. The sensor below the latch for the safety belt for the front seat passenger measures the tension on the belt. The input from this sensor is then used with the weight to "decide", whether there is a child restraint with a typical 1 year-old child on the front passenger seat and whether or not the airbag must be turned off.

Child restraints and Advanced Airbags

Regardless of the child restraint that you use, make sure that it has been certified to meet United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and has been certified by its manufacturer for use with an airbag. Always be sure that the child restraint is properly installed at one of the rear seating positions. If in exceptional circumstances you must use it on the front passenger seat, carefully read all of the information on child safety and Advanced Airbags and heed all of the applicable WARNINGS. Make certain that the child restraint is correctly recognized by the weight-sensing mat inside the front passenger seat, that the front passenger airbag is turned off and that the airbag status is always correctly signaled by the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light.

Many types and models of child restraints have been available over the years, new models are introduced regularly incorporating new and improved designs and older models are taken out of production. Child restraints are not standardized. Child restraints of the same type typically have different weights and sizes and different 'footprints,' the size and shape of the bottom of the child restraint that sits on the seat, when they are installed on a vehicle seat. These differences make it virtually impossible to certify compliance with the requirements for advanced airbags with each and every child restraint that has ever been sold in the past or will be sold over the course of the useful life of your vehicle.

For this reason, the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has published a list of specific type, makes and models of child restraints that must be used to certify compliance of the Advanced Airbag System in your vehicle with the suppression requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208. These child restraints are:

Subpart A - Car bed child restraints

Subpart В - Rear-facing child restraints

Subpart C - Forward-facing and convertible child restraints

WARNING

To reduce the risk of serious injury, make sure that the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on and stays on whenever a child restraint is installed on the front passenger seat and the ignition is switched on.

• Take the child restraint off the front passenger seat and install it properly at one of the rear seat positions if the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does not stay on.
• Have the airbag system inspected by your authorized Audi dealer immediately.

Tips

The child seats listed in categories A to C have been statically tested by Audi only for the Advanced Airbag function.

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