How to enter your Audi radio code

Why is my Audi radio asking for a code?

SAFE is Audi's anti-theft mode. The unit noticed it lost power and has shut itself down until the correct four-digit code proves it is still in the right car.

You will meet it after any of these:

• The battery went flat, or was disconnected for work on the car
• The battery was replaced
• The radio fuse blew
• The car sat long enough for the battery to drain
• You bought the car and the previous owner never passed the code on

How do I enter the code on an Audi radio?

Order matters here more than on any other brand. Follow it exactly:

1. Turn the radio on. The display shows SAFE.
2. Press FM2 and RDS together and hold until 1000 appears on the display, then release.
3. Do not press those two buttons again at this point. If you do, the radio takes 1000 as your code attempt.
4. Use presets 1 to 4 to enter your four digits. Preset 1 is the first digit, preset 2 the second, and so on. Each press steps that digit up by one.
5. When the display shows your correct code, press FM2 and RDS together again and hold until the word SAFE appears, then release.

The radio unlocks and becomes usable shortly afterwards.

What a wrong code looks like

If the code was wrong, SAFE comes back — first flashing, then steady. You can run the steps again to try once more.

Because the entry sequence is fiddly, a failed attempt is often a mis-pressed button rather than a wrong code. Work through the five steps slowly the second time.

Before you disconnect the battery

If you have battery or electrical work coming up, find your code first. Far easier to have it in hand than to discover the radio is locked when the car comes back.

Need the Audi code itself?

Send us the details from your radio and we email your factory code back. Supplied by us directly — no third party.

Standard or express service — pricing on the order form.

Order your Audi radio code →