僅 How Does The Air Bag System Operate - Kia SORENTO HEV 2023 Manual

Safety features of your vehicle
WARNING
僅 Even in vehicles with air bags, you
and your passengers must always
wear the safety belts provided in
order to minimise the risk and severity
of injury in the event of a collision or
in most rollover situations.
僅 SRS and pre-tensioners contain explo-
sive chemicals.
If scraping a vehicle without removing
SRS and pre-tensioners from a vehi-
cle, it may cause fire. Before scraping
a vehicle, contact a professional work-
shop. Kia recommends to visit an
authorised Kia dealer/service partner.
僅 Keep the SRS parts and wirings away
from water or any liquid. If the SRS
components are inoperative due to
exposure to water or liquids, it may
cause fire or severe injury.
How does the air bag system
operate
僅 Air bags are activated (able to inflate
if necessary) only when the ignition
switch or ENGINE START/STOP but-
ton is in the ON position and it can be
activated within about 3 minutes after
ignition off.
僅 Air bags inflate instantly in the event
of serious frontal or side collision (if
equipped with side air bag or curtain
air bag) in order to help protect the
occupants from serious physical
injury.
NOTICE
Rollover sensor
Also, the air bags inflate instantly in the
event of a rollover in order to help pro-
tect the occupants from serious physical
injury.
4 40
Air bag - supplemental restraint system
僅 There is no single speed at which the
air bags will inflate.
Generally, air bags are designed to
inflate based upon the severity of a
collision and its direction. These two
factors determine whether the sen-
sors produce an electronic deploy-
ment/ inflation signal.
僅 Air bag deployment depends on a
number of factors including vehicle
speed, angles of impact and the den-
sity and stiffness of the vehicles or
objects which your vehicle hits in the
collision. The determining, factors are
not limited to those mentioned above.
僅 The front air bags will completely
inflate and deflate in an instant.
It is virtually impossible for you to see
the air bags inflate during an accident.
It is much more likely that you will
simply see the deflated air bags hang-
ing out of their storage compartments
after the collision.
僅 In order to help provide protection in
a severe collision, the air bags must
inflate rapidly. The speed of air bag
inflation is a consequence of
extremely short time in which a colli-
sion occurs and the need to get the air
bag between the occupant and the
vehicle structures before the occu-
pant impacts those structures. This
speed of inflation reduces the risk of
serious or life-threatening injuries in a
severe collision and is thus a neces-
sary part of air bag design.
僅 However, air bag inflation can also
cause injuries which can include facial
abrasions, bruises and broken bones
because the inflation speed also
causes the air bags to expand with a
great deal of force.