Suzuki XL7 Owner's Manual page 49

SEATS AND RESTRAINT SYSTEMS
WARNING
If something is between an occupant
and an airbag, the bag might not
inflate properly or it might force the
object into that person causing
severe injury or even death. The path
of an inflating airbag must be kept
clear. Do not put anything between
an occupant and an airbag, and do
not attach or put anything on the
steering wheel hub or on or near any
other airbag covering. And, if your
vehicle has roof-mounted rollover
airbags, never secure anything to the
roof of your vehicle by routing the
rope or tie down through any door or
window opening. If you do, the path
of an inflating side impact airbag will
be blocked. The path of an inflating
airbag must be kept clear.
When Should an Airbag Inflate?
The driver's and right front passenger's
frontal airbags are designed to inflate in
moderate to severe frontal or near-frontal
crashes. But they are designed to inflate
only if the impact exceeds a predetermined
deployment threshold. Deployment thresh-
olds take into account a variety of desired
deployment and non-deployment events
and are used to predict how severe a crash
is likely to be in time for the airbags to
inflate and help restrain the occupants.
Whether your frontal airbags will or should
1-37
deploy is not based on how fast your vehi-
cle is traveling. It depends largely on what
you hit, the direction of the impact and how
quickly your vehicle slows down.
In addition, your vehicle has "dual-stage"
frontal airbags, which adjust the restraint
according to crash severity. Your vehicle
has electronic frontal sensors which help
the sensing system distinguish between a
moderate frontal impact and a more severe
frontal impact. For moderate
impacts, these airbags inflate at a level
less than full deployment. For more severe
frontal impacts, full deployment occurs. If
the front of your vehicle goes straight into a
wall that does not move or deform, the
threshold level for the reduced deployment
is about 11 to 16 mph (17 to 26 km/h), and
the threshold level for a full deployment is
about 20 to 25 mph (32 to 40 km/h). The
threshold level can vary, however, with
specific vehicle design, so that it can be
somewhat above or below this range.
Frontal airbags may inflate at different
crash speeds. For example:
• If the vehicle hits a stationary object, the
airbags could inflate at a different crash
speed than if the vehicle hits a moving
object.
• If the vehicle hits an object that deforms,
the airbags could inflate at a different
crash speed than if the vehicle hits an
object that does not deform.
• If the vehicle hits a narrow object (like a
pole) the airbags could inflate at a differ-
ent crash speed than if the vehicle hits a
wide object (like a wall).
• If the vehicle goes into an object at an
angle the airbags could inflate at a differ-
ent crash speed than if the vehicle goes
straight into the object.
The frontal airbags (driver and right front
passenger) are not intended to inflate dur-
frontal
ing vehicle rollovers, rear impacts, or in
many side impacts.
Your vehicle has roof-mounted rollover air-
bags and a rollover sensor. Refer to "Air-
bag System" in this section. These
"rollover capable" airbags are intended to
inflate in moderate to severe side crashes,
during a rollover or in a severe frontal
impact. A roof-mounted rollover airbag will
inflate if the crash severity is above the
system's designed "threshold level." The
threshold level can vary with specific vehi-
cle design. Roof-mounted rollover airbags
are not intended to inflate in rear impacts.
Both roof-mounted rollover airbags will
deploy when either side of the vehicle is
struck or during a rollover, or in a severe
frontal impact.
In any particular crash, no one can say
whether an airbag should have inflated
simply because of the damage to a vehicle
or because of what the repair costs were.
For frontal airbags, inflation is determined
by what the vehicle hits, the angle of the