# Procon-ten

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Safety restraint system used by Audi

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Sticker on the rear window of a **procon-ten** equipped Audi

**procon-ten** (lower case initial *"p"*) (an acronym for ***Pro**grammed **Con**traction-**Ten**sion*) is a [proprietary](/source/Property) *Safety Restraint System* (SRS), used by [German](/source/Germany) car manufacturer [Audi](/source/Audi) from 1986 until the mid-1990s.

[Audi](/source/Audi) was one of the last German manufacturers to employ [airbags](/source/Airbag) in their cars, mainly due to the high reliability and cost-effectiveness of the technology they [trademarked](/source/Trademark) as "procon-ten".

The procon-ten system used thick cables, similar to winch cables, running around the rear of the engine, and linked to it. In the event of a frontal impact, the force and momentum of the impact would shift the engine rearwards, tensioning and 'pulling' the cables, which were in turn connected to the [steering column](/source/Steering_column) and [seat belt](/source/Seat_belt) mounts. When the cable was pulled tight by the engine, the cables would pull the steering wheel towards the front of the car, clear of the driver, and also remove any slack in the seat belts, holding the occupants more firmly in their seats until the accident had finished.

Audi engines were by tradition mounted [longitudinally](/source/Longitudinal_engine), in front of the front wheels, as opposed to [transverse](/source/Transverse_engine) engine configuration. This meant the engine was very close to the front bumper, (especially on 5 cylinder variants) and that the [radiator](/source/Radiator_(engine_cooling)) often had to be offset to halfway down one side of the engine bay. One advantage of this technique is that the engine is one of the first things to be struck in a frontal impact, taking much of the force, and allowing for high responsiveness of the procon-ten system. One key disadvantage however, is that the system is relatively ineffective in an offset impact (rather than directly head-on) since the engine can only absorb part of the collision energy. It is also unsuitable for cars with a transverse engine configuration.

The procon-ten system was available for cars such as the [100 / 200](/source/Audi_100) and the [V8](/source/Audi_V8), as well as the [80 / 90](/source/Audi_80). It was discontinued in 1994, with the introduction of the new [A4](/source/Audi_A4) and [A8](/source/Audi_A8) series, and the [100-based Audi A6](/source/Audi_100#Audi_100_(C4,_1989–1993)), all in 1994, for the 1995 model year.

## External links

- [Safety steering column](https://web.archive.org/web/20130515062809/http://www.audiusa.com/us/brand/en/tools/advice/glossary/safety_steering_column.browser.html) from the Audi Glossary, mentioning the procon-ten system

- [Audi UK Demo (1991)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzaBJkpdoa8,)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Procon-ten](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procon-ten) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procon-ten?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.