Removing and installing cigarette lighter: Audi A3
Step-by-step removing and installing cigarette lighter for the Audi A3: 8 steps. What to remove, in what order, and what to check after.
Taking the cigarette lighter out of an Audi A3 (8P, 2003–2012) is a short centre console job with a flat screwdriver. The lighter and its holder are one assembly clipped into the console; the holder cannot be split from the lighter, so a dead element means the whole unit is renewed. The procedure starts with all electrical equipment switched off and the key out. The lining mat comes out of its compartment, a cross-shaped section is broken out beneath it, and the screwdriver goes through that opening to lift the clip on the holder. The holder then pulls out of the console towards you and the connector is unplugged behind it. The only way to damage anything is to lever on the console trim instead of lifting the clip through the opening.
🧭 Before you start
Access is through the storage compartment beside the lighter: switch everything off, take out the key, lift the lining mat and break out the cross-shaped section beneath it. A flat screwdriver through that opening presses up the clip on the holder, which is then drawn out of the centre console with the lighter in it. Unplug the connector and take holder and lighter away as one unit; refitting is plugging in and pushing the holder home until the clip engages.
Fits: Audi A3 (8P, 2003–2012)
Don't miss
- Switch off all electrical equipment and remove the ignition key before the socket comes out.
- Lift out the lining mat first; the break-out cross is underneath it.
- The clip on the holder is released from behind, through the opening, not from the front.
- Holder and lighter come out as one; the holder cannot be dismantled from the lighter, renew the pair.
- Pull the holder in the direction of the arrow; levering at the console face marks the trim.
Written for this job from the workshop steps below · TorqFix editorial.
📋 Procedure
- Switch off all electrical equipment.
- Remove ignition key.
- Remove lining mat (5).
- Break out cross (4).
- Insert flat screwdriver through opening and press up clip on holder (2).
- Pull holder (2) with cigarette lighter (1) out of centre console (3) in direction of (arrow).
- Unplug electrical connector at cigarette lighter.
- Take out holder (2) with cigarette lighter (1). [Note: It is not possible to dismantle the component "holder with cigarette lighter".]
Other AUDI procedures
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Who makes these pages, and how
TorqFix was built by a mechanic — after a 2,700 km drive with five roadside repairs that no diagnostic tool could explain.
The figures on this page come from manufacturer workshop documentation and are shown as they are. The page is assembled automatically from that data — it is not written by an AI. The AI works in the chat, where it answers for your specific car. It writes nothing here.
Variants of the same model differ. Cross-check torque against the factory manual for your engine before final tightening.
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The story behind TorqFix →Workshop data on this page last updated 20 Sep 2026.