Volvo XC90 Owner's Manual page 86

SAFETY
Driver/passenger side airbags
The front airbags supplement the three-point
seat belts. For these airbags to provide the pro-
tection intended, seat belts must be worn at all
times.
Driver's and passenger's side airbags
The front airbag system
The front airbag system includes gas generators
surrounded by the airbags, and deceleration sen-
sors that activate the gas generators, causing the
airbags to be inflated with nitrogen gas.
As the movement of the seats' occupants com-
presses the airbags, some of the gas is expelled
at a controlled rate to provide better cushioning.
Both seat belt pretensioners also deploy, mini-
mizing seat belt slack. The entire process, includ-
ing inflation and deflation of the airbags, takes
approximately one fifth of a second.
84
The location of the front airbags is indicated by
SRS AIRBAG embossed on the steering wheel
pad and above the glove compartment, and by
decals on both sun visors and on the front and
far right side of the dash.
The driver's side front airbag is folded and
located in the steering wheel hub.
The passenger's side front airbag is folded
behind a panel located above the glove compart-
ment.
WARNING
•
The airbags in the vehicle are designed to
be a SUPPLEMENT to–not a replace-
ment for–the three-point seat belts. For
maximum protection, wear seat belts at all
times. Be aware that no system can pre-
vent all possible injuries that may occur in
an accident.
•
Never drive with your hands on the steer-
ing wheel pad/airbag housing.
•
The front airbags are designed to help
prevent serious injury. Deployment occurs
very quickly and with considerable force.
During normal deployment and depend-
ing on variables such as seating position,
one may experience abrasions, bruises,
swellings, or other injuries as a result
from deployment of one or both of the
airbags.
•
When installing any accessory equipment,
make sure that the front airbag system is
not damaged. Any interference in the sys-
tem could cause malfunction.
Front airbag deployment
•
The front airbags are designed to deploy dur-
ing certain frontal or front-angular collisions,
impacts, or decelerations, depending on the
crash severity, angle, speed and object
impacted. The airbags may also deploy in