Keyser Wi

There's a symbol of a "manual" near the front cupholders. Any idea why?
Read the manual if you don't know what the middle slot is for?

hockeyfox

Is that a place to put the keyfob?

Keyser Wi

yes - if you have a naked one. I have mine in a case so not applicable for me.

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/q7-.../#post24878262

jallen0

And no, it does not charge the key fob. lol Just getting this out of the way before someone asks.

RickObe

And while we're on the subject of answering before it's asked: there's a little key symbol in the back left corner of the rubber tray behind the shift console. That's where you put the key to start the car if the fob battery is dead. An no, it doesn't charge the fob either.

youngdoc

Interesting! I was wondering why that was there. So if the battery is dead, how does placing the key fob there work, exactly?

Keyser Wi

This is just my common sense talking:
When there's battery power, the keyfob has power to transmit signal, functioning as an active RFID transmitter.
When the battery is drained, it functions as a passive (no-power, non-transmitting) RFID chip, just like the one on tap-to-pay credit cards. It's non-powered, but it still has information for the car to identify that it is the key for that car.

jallen0

Sometimes the car "loses" the identification that the key is in the car. When that happens it wants you to put the key fob in this area so it can reacquire the connection. Otherwise it acts as if the key has left the car and it shuts the car off.

RickObe

I assume there's a sensor coil right under that spot, so it's able to read the lockout chip in the key without the key needing a battery. I know this is possible because my remote starter has a battery-less key with a coil wrapped around it buried under the dash for this reason.

Here's the section of the owner's manual

dougaross

This may be an emergency sensor for starting car with key fob weak battery. I have 2016 A6 and there is something similar in my manual