2009 Audi S5: Warning - Cupholders

That's because I haven't used them yet. Had to read the manual first. ;) But if that's the case with styrofoam and you aren't supposed to use hard cups or glass, what can you use?

One can never underestimate the general stupidity (followed by litigation) of Americans.

Sad to say that's how it is now. Manufacturers of all type of products need to include these type of redundant instructions to compensate for those few that lack simple common sense. :-(

One can never underestimate the general stupidity (followed by litigation) of Americans.

Oh yeah; there are of course those lawyers who are all too eager to waste the courts' and companies time to defend said stupidity....

bimmerjay, so true.

Just another reason why I don't use the expression "common sense". Or "common courtesy", for that matter (at least in LA).

There's the lady that sued GM because she drove into a tree and her child became quadriplegic.
She's accusing GM of faulty seatbelts.
She didn't know seatbelts can't be used by kids directly. Child must have booster seat until they're 4'9", or the seatbelt will break their spine (as the belt is on the neck instead of the chest) instead and permanently paralyze them.

Plenty of legal crap for car companies to worry about.

My favorite warning was on a microwave not to dry your hair in it.

There are warning stickers all over my Speed Triple. I hate Safety Nazis...

Caroline Pardilla said:

"Wow. Is this because of that time that lady sued McDonalds because she spilled her Micky D's hot coffee on herself?"

Yes.

IMO there should be some statutory language that would prevent about 97% of the civil litigation that takes place in this country.

P.S.: My personal favorite is...

"May contain peanuts or other peanut products." Found on a jar of peanut butter.

"There are warning stickers all over my Speed Triple. I hate Safety Nazis..."

Peel them off.. First thing I do to every bike I've bought.

@ roadburner-I don't think I've heard anyone refer to a MS3 as a Speed Triple. Thats a good one.

My favorite:
"Warning: may cause drowsiness."

Usually found on sleeping pill containers.

My Sienna (thank goodness I don't have it anymore) had warnings that said: "This is a bottle holder. Do not place any uncapped beverages in this holder."

This reminds me of something. I used to work at a hotel in Cancun, Mexico for a few months. I worked in the VIP Guest Dept.

Paris Hilton was at the hotel, and she said verbatim, "The sand at the beach is too sandy"

tcd223 - Speed Triple is a motorcycle. Google it, its sweet.

tcd223, I can see why you thought that, but this is my Speed Triple:
http://www.carspace.com/roadburner/Albums/roadburner%27s%20Album/1996%20S3%203.JPG

Cool, you have the orange one, thats one sweet bike. I've been craving the new orange Street Triple R but I don't have the cash and good luck finding one.

I'm fine with "protect me from my stupidity" lawsuits.

Provided the litigant is willing to deal with the consequences of being legally branded as too stupid to take care of themselves.

I'm thinking mandatory helmet and elbow pads everywhere they go.

They should be required to warn others in advance that they might find a way in injure themselves with any sharp objects.

I noticed this same logo on the cupholder on my 2005 Audi a few months ago and didn't really care to research it.

My thoughts were it was either referring to some written detail in the manual about the cupholder, or stating not to rest a book on the cupholder. Not really sure what it's all about but I'd like to know myself.

I did a research project on Airbag Safety in College (just pretty much researched whether they were more beneficial than harmful blah blah)and came across 2 lawsuits that infuriated me (it's been a while so excuse me if my memory messes up the details)...

#1 was a Grandma who was following her daughter and family in her Dodge Caravan that had dual airbags. Her grandson (I think he was 7 or 8) was riding with her in the front seat with no seat belt. She ran a red light slammed into another car and the airbag paralized him from the neck down. They sued Chrysler and won even though she a) was at fault for the accident b) put someone under 12 up front when that's a big no-no and c) didn't make sure he at least had his seatbelt on. One expert in the case actually testified that the airbag saved his life and kept him in the car. I'm sure it was tragic, but the grandma was completely negligent in my opinion and that's probably why there are airbag warning stickers all over the stinking car now. The family was awarded quite a few million dollars (over 30 mil I think)

#2 I father in the early nineties bought his daughter a brand spanking new base model escort. She was driving on a mountain road, lost control of the Escort and was killed when her car went off the road straight into a tree. The father sued Ford for not making the Airbag standard in the escort when it was standard in some of the more expensive cars (before they were mandated by the Government). According to the case it was actually an extra cost option on the Escort but he didn't purchase it. Plus he couldn't have proved that the airbag would have actually saved her because the impact was pretty brutal. I think he won the case but I don't remember for sure.

Both of these situations are horribly tragic but that's what's so wrong and leads to all this stuff is that people immediately take the "i'm a victim stance" and it's somebody elses fault... now our owners manuals are 2,000 pages of warnings!

I did a research project on Airbag Safety in College (just pretty much researched whether they were more beneficial than harmful blah blah)and came across 2 lawsuits that infuriated me (it's been a while so excuse me if my memory messes up the details)...

#1 was a Grandma who was following her daughter and family in her Dodge Caravan that had dual airbags. Her grandson (I think he was 7 or 8) was riding with her in the front seat with no seat belt. She ran a red light slammed into another car and the airbag paralized him from the neck down. They sued Chrysler and won even though she a) was at fault for the accident b) put someone under 12 up front when that's a big no-no and c) didn't make sure he at least had his seatbelt on. One expert in the case actually testified that the airbag saved his life and kept him in the car. I'm sure it was tragic, but the grandma was completely negligent in my opinion and that's probably why there are airbag warning stickers all over the stinking car now. The family was awarded quite a few million dollars (over 30 mil I think)

#2 I father in the early nineties bought his daughter a brand spanking new base model escort. She was driving on a mountain road, lost control of the Escort and was killed when her car went off the road straight into a tree. The father sued Ford for not making the Airbag standard in the escort when it was standard in some of the more expensive cars (before they were mandated by the Government). According to the case it was actually an extra cost option on the Escort but he didn't purchase it. Plus he couldn't have proved that the airbag would have actually saved her because the impact was pretty brutal. I think he won the case but I don't remember for sure.

Both of these situations are horribly tragic but that's what's so wrong and leads to all this stuff is that people immediately take the "i'm a victim stance" and it's somebody elses fault... now our owners manuals are 2,000 pages of warnings!

oops sorry for the double post... we need a warning for that!

Ya warnings are definitely needed.
Someone can put a hard cup with hot coffee in it, hit the brakes hard for an emergency stop, the hard cup goes in the foot well and interferes with the pedals, the hot coffee goes on the right arm. So then the guy would lose direction control of steering, and lose control of braking, and die with his arm ripped off and face split in half.

Sorry, his fault. Car manufacturer is saved by legal warning labels placed in the car itself and the manual!

Our legal environment is vicious. You gotta print 200 pages of warnings for legal reasons, even if most owners choose to ignore them.

Then the TV news loves covering violent deaths and stories of "victims" and get all emotional with beautiful piano music in the background to make people feel sorry for the "victim". Good thing the car manufacturer can slam the manual down it court. "fool, it's right here. Go back to your grave and dig deeper bitch." Instead of getting sued for $10 million dollars and passing the cost onto future vehicle buyers.

On my A4, there is a warning on the rear passenger window regarding adjusting the rear head restraints to be level with your head. Wasn't expecting to see that one.