Volvo S80 Owner's Manual page 21

01 Safety
Safety in the passenger compartment
01
Front airbags
The front airbag system
The front airbags supplement the three-point
seat belts. For these airbags to provide the
protection intended, seat belts must be worn
at all times.
The front airbag system includes gas genera-
tors surrounded by the airbags and a decel-
eration sensor that activates the gas genera-
tors, causing the airbags to be inflated with
nitrogen gas.
20
Location of the passenger's side front airbag
As the movement of the seats' occupants
compresses the airbags, some of the gas is
expelled at a controlled rate to provide better
cushioning. Both seat belt tensioners also
deploy, minimizing seat belt slack. The entire
process, including inflation and deflation of
the airbags, takes approximately one fifth of
a second.
The location of the front airbags is indicated
by "SRS AIRBAG" embossed on the steering
wheel pad and above the glove compart-
ment, 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 com-
partment.
WARNING
• The airbags in the vehicle are designed to
be a SUPPLEMENT to—not a replacement
for—the three-point seat belts. For maxi-
mum protection, wear seat belts at all
times. Be aware that no system can prevent
all possible injuries that may occur in an ac-
cident.
• Never drive a vehicle with a steering
wheel-mounted airbag with your hands on
the steering 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 depending
on variables such as seating position, one
may experience abrasions, bruises, swell-
ings, or other injuries as a result from de-
ployment of one or both of the airbags.
• When installing any accessory equip-
ment, make sure that the front airbag sys-
tem is not damaged. Any interference in the
system could cause malfunction.
Front airbag deployment
• The front airbags are designed to deploy
during certain frontal or front-angular colli-
sions, impacts, or decelerations, depend-
ing on the crash severity, angle, speed