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Airb a g syste m
The Advanced Airbag System in your veh icle has
been certified to comply with the Requirements
of United States Federa l Motor Vehicle Safety
Standard 208 as applicab le at the time your vehi-
cle was manufactured .
The Standard requires the front airbag on the
passenger side to be turned off ("suppressed") if
a child up to about one year of age restrained in
one of the rear-facing or forward-facing infant re-
straints listed in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety
Standard 208 with which the Advanced Airbag
System in your vehicle was cert ified has been in-
stalled on the front passenge r seat. For a listing
of the ch ild rest raints that we re used to ce rtify
compliance with the US Safety Standard
<=>
page 216.
The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light in the over-
head console tells you when the front Advan ced
Airbag on the passenger side has been t urned off
by the electronic control unit .
Each t ime you turn on the igni t ion, the
PASSEN·
GER AIR BAG OFF
light will come on fo r a few
seconds and:
- will stay on if the front passenger seat is not
occupied,
- will stay on if the electrical capac itance meas-
ured by the capac itive passenger detection sys-
tem fo r t he fron t passenger seat equals the
combined capaci t ance of an infant up to about
one year of age and one of the rearward-facing
or forward-facing chi ld restraints listed in Fed-
eral Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 with
which the Advanced Airbag System in your veh i-
cle was certif ied. For a listing of the child re-
straints that were used to cert ify your vehicle's
compliance with the U.S. Safety Standard
<=>
page 216.
- will stay on if there is a small ch ild or child re-
straint on the front passenger seat,
- will go off if the front passenger seat is occu-
pied by an adult as reg istered by the capacitive
passenger detection system
<=>
page 201, Mon-
itoring the Advanced Airbag System .
The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light comes on
when electrical capacitance registe red on the
front passenger seat is equa l to or less than the
192
combined capacitance of a typical 1 year -old in-
fant and one of the rearward-facing or forward-
facing child restraints listed in Federa l Motor Ve-
hicle Safety Standard 208 with which the Ad-
vanced Airbag System in your vehicle was certi-
fied .
If the total e lectr ica l capacitance registered on
the front passenger seat is more than that of a
typ ical 1 year-old chi ld but less than the weight
of a small adult, the front airbag on the passen -
ger side can deploy (the
PASSEN GER AIR BAG
OFF
light does not come on) .
If the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light does not
come on, the front airbag on the passenger side
has not been turned off by the electronic cont rol
unit and can dep loy if the control unit senses an
impact that meets the cond itions stored in its
memo ry.
For example, the airbag may deplo y if :
- a small ch ild that is heav ier than a typical 1
year-old child is on the front passenger seat
(regard less of whether the child is in one of the
child safety seats listed
r=!>
page 216),
or
- a child who has outgrown child restraints is on
the front passenge r seat .
If the front passenger airbag is turned off, the
PASSEN GER AIR BAG OFF
ligh t comes on in the
overhead console and stays on.
If the front passenger airbag dep loys, the Feder-
al Standard requires the airbag to meet the "low
risk" dep loyment criteria to reduce the risk of in-
jury through interaction with the airbag . "Low
risk" deployment occurs in those crashes that
take place at lower decele rations as defined in
the e lectronic contro l unit
r=> page 202, PASS EN-
GER AIR BAG OFF light.
Always remember, a ch ild seat or infant carrier
installed on the front seat may be st ruck and
knocked out of posit io n by the rapidly inflating
passenge r's airbag in a frontal collision. The a ir-
bag cou ld great ly reduce the effectiveness of the
child restraint and even ser iously injure the child
during inflation .
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