Front Seat Belt Pretensioner And Load Limiting Systems - Mazda 2010 RX-8 Owner's Manual

RX-8_8AT5-EA-09E_Edition1 Page31
Wednesday, April 15 2009 10:32 AM
qUnfastening the Seat Belt
Depress the button on the seat belt buckle.
If the belt does not fully retract, pull it out
and check for kinks or twists. Then make
sure it remains untwisted as it retracts.
NOTE
If a belt does not fully retract, inspect it for
kinks and twists. If it is still not retracting
properly, have it inspected at an Authorized
Mazda Dealer.
Form No.8AT5-EA-09E
Button
Black plate (31,1)
Essential Safety Equipment
Seat Belt Systems
Front Seat Belt Pretensioner
and Load Limiting Systems
For optimum protection, the driver and
front passenger seat belts are equipped
with pretensioner and load limiting
systems. For both these systems to work
properly you must wear the seat belt
properly.
Pretensioners:
In moderate or severe frontal or near-
frontal accidents, the front air bag and
pretensioner systems deploy
simultaneously. The front seat belt
retractors remove slack quickly as the air
bags are expanding.
In addition, the pretensioner system for
the front passenger, like the front
passenger air bag, is designed to only
deploy in accordance with the total seated
weight on the front passenger seat. Any
time the air bags and front seat belt
pretensioners have fired they must be
replaced. For details, refer to the front
passenger seat weight sensors (page 2-44).
Load limiter:
The load limiting system releases belt
webbing in a controlled manner to reduce
belt force on the occupant's chest. While
the most severe load on a seat belt occurs
in frontal collisions, the load limiter has
an automatic mechanical function and can
activate in any accident mode with
sufficient occupant movement.
Even if the pretensioners have not fired,
the load limiting function must be
checked by an Authorized Mazda Dealer
after any collision.
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