Subaru 2006 Forester Owner's Manual page 84

Do not put any kind of cover or
clothes or other objects over either
front seatback and do not attach la-
bels or stickers to the front seat sur-
face on or near the SRS side airbag.
They could prevent proper deploy-
ment of the SRS side airbag, reduc-
ing protection available to the front
seat's occupant.
Operation
1
2
3
1) SRS side airbag deploys as soon as a
collision occurs.
2) SRS side airbag protects the front pas-
senger's head and chest.
3) After deployment, SRS side airbag
starts to deflate immediately.
Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags
The SRS side airbag can function only
when the ignition switch is in the "ON" po-
sition.
The driver's and front passenger's SRS
side airbags deploy independently of each
other since each has its own impact sen-
sor. Also, the SRS side airbag deploys in-
dependently of the frontal airbags in the
steering wheel and instrument panel.
An impact sensor is incorporated into
each of the vehicle's center pillars. If ei-
ther sensor detects a certain predeter-
mined amount of force during a side im-
pact collision, the control module sends a
signal to the side airbag module on the im-
pacted side of the vehicle, instructing it to
inflate the SRS side airbag. Then the side
airbag module produces gas, which in-
stantly inflates the SRS side airbag. After
deployment, the SRS side airbag will de-
flate in a few seconds.
The SRS side airbag deploys even when
no one occupies the seat on the side on
which an impact is applied.
100625
When the SRS side airbag deploys, a sud-
den, fairly loud inflation noise will be heard
and some smoke will be released. These
occurrences are a normal result of the de-
ployment. This smoke does not indicate a
fire in the vehicle.
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