Front Seatbelt Pretensioners; Seatbelt With Shoulder Belt Pretensioner - Subaru Legacy Outback 2008 Owner's Manual

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Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags

Front seatbelt pretensioners

The driver's and front passenger's seat-
belts have a seatbelt pretensioner. The
seatbelt pretensioners are designed to be
activated in the event of an accident
involving a moderate to severe frontal
collision.
& Seatbelt with shoulder belt
pretensioner
The pretensioner sensor also serves as
the frontal SRS airbag sensor. If the
sensor detects a certain predetermined
amount of force during a frontal collision,
the front seatbelt is quickly drawn back in
by the pretensioner to take up the slack so
that the belt more effectively restrains the
front seat occupant.
When a seatbelt pretensioner is activated,
an operating noise will be heard and a
small amount of smoke will be released.
These occurrences are normal and not
harmful. This smoke does not indicate a
fire in the vehicle.
Once the seatbelt pretensioner has been
activated, the seatbelt retractor remains
locked. Consequently, the seatbelt cannot
be pulled out and retracted and therefore
must be replaced.
NOTE
. Seatbelt pretensioners are not de-
signed to be activated in minor frontal
impacts, in side or rear impacts or in
roll-over accidents.
. The driver's seat and passenger's
seat pretensioners and frontal SRS
airbag operate simultaneously.
. Pretensioners are designed to func-
tion on a one-time-only basis. In the
event that a pretensioner is activated,
we recommend that you have an
authorized SUBARU dealer replace
both the driver's and front passenger's
seatbelt retractor assemblies with gen-
uine SUBARU parts.
. If either front seatbelt does not
retract or cannot be pulled out due to
a malfunction or activation of the
pretensioner, we recommend that you
contact your SUBARU dealer as soon
as possible.
. If the front seatbelt retractor assem-
bly or surrounding area has been
damaged, we recommend that you
contact your SUBARU dealer as soon
as possible.
. When you sell your vehicle, we urge
you to explain to the buyer that it has
seatbelt pretensioners by alerting him
to the contents of this section.
WARNING
. To obtain maximum protection,
the occupants should sit in an
upright position with their seat-
belts properly fastened. Refer to
the "Seatbelts" section in this
chapter.
. Do not modify, remove or strike
the front seatbelt retractor as-
semblies or surrounding area.
This could result in accidental
activation of the seatbelt preten-
sioners or could make the sys-
tem inoperative, possibly result-
ing in serious injury. Seatbelt
pretensioners have no user-ser-
viceable parts. For required ser-
vicing of front seatbelt retractors
equipped with seatbelt preten-