BMW 325i Sedan Product Information page 59

New seat-mounted front
side-impact airbags
Benefits
• Continue BMW's front side-impact
protection, standard in all current models
• Seat mounting allows greater freedom of
interior design
The 3 Series is BMW's first to employ seat-
mounted side-impact airbags, as opposed to
the door-mounted type of the predecessor
and other current BMW Series.
In their function of protecting occupants'
pelvis and thorax regions in side impacts, the
seat-mounted airbags are equal to the door-
mounted type, but offer greater freedom for
the interior designers to achieve their esthetic
and functional goals:
• Because the airbag is always positioned
exactly the same relative to the occupant
regardless of seat adjustment, it can be
smaller.
• Door-panel design can be further optimized
with respect to esthetics and placement of
functional elements, such as armrests, door
handles and power-window controls.
Rear side-impact airbags no
longer offered
Benefits
• Built-in safety in side impacts so great that
airbags are not needed
• Customers are not faced with the "side-
airbag-or-not" decision
Up to now, BMW has offered rear side-impact
airbags as an option at nominal cost in most
models, giving customers the choice of
having them or not. In presenting this option,
BMW Client Advisors were schooled to discuss
the issue of rear-seat side-impact airbags
with the customer, pointing out the benefits to
adults and potential risks to children and
infants riding in the back.
With the new 3 Series, the advances in side-
impact safety (described earlier) are such that
it is no longer necessary to offer rear-seat
sidebags. Customers can be assured that
children riding in the rear are appropriately
separated from side impacts, without having
to make a decision that can be difficult.
Further optimized 2-stage
front-impact airbags
Benefit
• Improved esthetics
In recent years, BMW front-impact airbags
have been intensely developed to optimize
their 2-stage, accident-severity-dependent
deployment characteristics, inflated shape,
and interaction with surrounding surfaces and
components.
In this last regard, a subtle but appreciated
evolution took place with introduction of the
6 Series, in that the passenger's-side airbag
involved no visible "break line" in the dash
surface; at the same time, the (invisible) airbag
opening was configured to optimize the
airbag's unfolding sequence and protective
capability.The 3 Series' dash also includes
this feature.
Automatic safety-belt tensioners
and force limiters front and rear
Benefit
• Long standard on BMW front safety belts,
these features now enhance the outboard
rear belts' effectiveness as well
Automatic tensioners tighten the belts in a
collision impact, further optimizing the restraint
of occupants by the belts.Their mechanism
(actuated pyrotechnically) is integrated into
the belt latch; upon impact the mechanism
moves the latch downward to tighten the
shoulder and lap belt portions directly.
Once the belts are tensioned, force limiters
place an upper limit on the amount of force
they can exert on the occupant's body.
Both these devices significantly enhance the
effectiveness of safety belts; both are stan-
dard on both front belts and the rear out-
board belts in the new 3 Series Sedans.
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