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Advanced front airbag system and children
Your veh icle is equipped wit h a front "Advanced
Airbag System" in compliance wit h United States
Federal Motor Vehicle Safe ty Standard (FMVSS)
208 as applicable at the time your vehicle was
manufactured .
The Advanced Airbag system in your vehicle has
been certified to mee t the "low -risk" requ ire-
ments for 3- and 6-year o ld children on the pas -
senger side and small adults on the driver side.
The low risk deployment criteria are intended to
reduce the risk of injury through interaction with
the airbag that can occur, for example, by being
too close to the steering whee l and instrument
panel when the a irbag inflates . In add it io n, the
system has been cert ified to comply with the
"suppression" requiremen t s of t he Safety Stand-
ard, t o turn off t he front airbag for infa nts up t o
12 months who are restra ined on the front pas-
senger seat in child restraints that are listed in
the Standard.
Even t hough your vehicle is equ ipped with an Ad-
vanced Airbag syst em, all children, especia lly
those 12 years and younger, should always ride in
the back seat properly restrained for their age
and size. The airbag on the passenger side makes
the front seat a potent ially dangerous place for a
chi ld to ride. The fro nt seat is not the safes t place
for a child in a forward-facing child safety seat . It
can be a very dangerous place for a n infant or a
larger child in a rea rward-facing seat .
The vehicle's Advanced Airbag System has a ca-
pacitive passenger detect ion system in the front
passenger seat cush ion t hat ca n detec t the p res-
e nce of a baby o r a child in a child restra int sys-
tem on t his seat.
The capacit ive passenger detection system regis -
ters the changes that result in an electrical field
when a child, a child rest raint, and a baby bla nket
a re on the fron t passenger sea t . The change in
the meas ured ca pac it a nce due t o the presence of
a child,
a
chi ld restraint, and a baby blanket on
the front passenger seat is related to the child re-
straint system resting on the seat . The measu red
capacitance of a chi ld restraint system varies de-
Child s a f ety
pending on the type of syst em and specific make
and mode l.
The elec tr ical cap acit a nce of t he various types,
makes, and mo de ls of child restra ints specifie d
by the U.S.National Highway Traff ic Safety Ad-
ministration (NHTSA) in the relevant safety
standard are stored in the Advanced Airbag Sys-
tem control unit together w it h the capacitances
typ ical of infants and a 1-year old child. When a
child restra int is used on the front passenger seat
with a typ ica l 1 year-old infant, the Advanced Air-
bag System compa res the capacitance measu red
by the capacitive passenge r dete ction system
wit h t he dat a st ored in the elec tr onic con t rol
unit.
Child restraints and Advanced front airbag
system
Regardless of the child restra int that you use,
make sure that it has been cert ified to meet Unit-
ed States Federa l Moto r Vehicle Safety Standa rds
and has been certified by its manufacture r fo r
use with an a irbag. Always be sure t hat t he child
rest rain t is prope rly insta lled at one of the rear
sea ti ng pos itions. If in excep t ional circums tan ces
yo u must use it on the front passenge r seat, care -
fully read a ll of the information on chi ld safety
and Advanced Airbags and heed all of the appli -
cable WARNINGS. Make certain that the child
and child restra int are correctly recogni zed by the
capacit ive passenger detection system in the
front passenger seat, that the front passe nger
airbag is turned off, and that the a irbag status is
always cor rect ly signa led by the
PASSENGER AIR
BAG OFF
light .
Many types and models of child rest raints have
been available over the years, new mode ls a re in-
t rod uced regu larly incorporating new and im-
proved de signs and older mode ls are t ake n ou t of
produ ct io n. Child restra ints are not standar dized.
Child rest rain t s of t he same type typ ically have
different weights and sizes and different "foot-
prints", the size and shape of t he bottom of the
child restra int that sits on the seat, when they
are installed on a vehicle seat. These d ifferences
make it virtua lly impossib le to cert ify compliance
with the requirements for advanced airbags with .,.
169
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