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144
Airb a g sys tem
Even tho ugh your vehicle is equip ped with an
Advanced Airbag System , make certain that
a ll children, especially those 12 years and
younge r, a lways ride in the back seat properly
restra ined for their age and size. The airbag
on the passenger side makes the front seat a
potentially dangerous place for a ch ild to ride.
The front seat is not the safest place for a
child in a fo rward-facing ch ild safety seat. It
can be a very dangerous place for a n infant or
a child in a rea rward-facing seat.
The Advanced Airbag System in your veh icle
has been certified t o comp ly with the Requ ire-
men t s of Unit ed Sta t es Federa l Mot or Vehicle
Safety Standard 208 as applicable at the time
your veh icle was manufactured.
The Standard requires t he front a irbag on t he
passenger side to be t urned off ("sup-
pressed") if a child up to about one year of
age restrained in one of the rear -facing or for-
ward -facing infant restraints listed in Federal
Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 with which
the Advanced Airbag System in your vehicle
was certified has been installed o n the front
passenger seat . For a listing of the child re-
strai nts t hat we re used to certify compliance
with the US Safety Standard
r=v page 168.
The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light in the in-
strument panel te lls you when the front Ad-
vanced Airbag on the passenger side has been
turned off by the e lectronic control unit.
Each t ime you turn on the ignition, the
PAS-
SENGER AIR BAG OFF
light will come on for a
few seconds a nd:
- will stay on if the front passenger seat is not
occupied,
- will stay on if there is a small child or child
restraint on the front passenger seat,
- will go off if the front passenger seat is oc-
cupied by an adult as registered by the
weight-sensing mat
r=v page 153, Monitor-
ing the Advanced Airbag System .
The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light comes on
when the control un it detects a total weight
on the front passenger seat that requ ires the
fro nt airbag to be turned off.
If the total weight on the front passenge r
seat is more than that of a typica l 1 year -old
child but less than the weight of a small
adult, the front airbag on the passenger side
can deploy (the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light does not come on). If the
PASSENGER
AIR BAG OFF
light does not come on , the
front a irbag on the passeng e r side has not
been turn ed off by the elec tr oni c con tr ol unit
and can d eploy if t he control unit se nses an
impact that meets the cond itions stored in its
memo ry.
For example, the airbag may deploy
if:
- a small ch ild that is heav ier t han a typical 1
year-old ch ild is on the front passenger seat
(regard less of whethe r the child is in one of
t he child safety seats listed
r=v p age 168),
or
- a child who has outgrown ch ild restraints is
on t he front passenge r seat.
If the front passenger airbag is turned off, the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light comes on in
the instr ument cluster and stays on.
The front airbag on the passenger s ide may
not
deploy (the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
ligh t does not illum inate and stay lit) even if a
small adult o r teenager, or a passenger who is
not sitt ing up right with their back against a
non- recl ined ba ckrest wit h thei r feet on t he
vehicle floor in front of the sea t is on the front
passenger seat
r=v page 125 , Proper seating
position for the driver.
If t he fron t passenger a irbag dep loys, the
Fede ra l Standard req uires the airbag to meet
t he "low risk" dep loyment criteria to red uce
t he risk of injury t hrough interactio n wit h the
airbag. "Low risk" dep loyment occ urs in those
crashes that take place at lower dece lerat ions
as defined in the electronic control unit
r=v page 153, PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light .
Always remember, a ch ild safety seat or infant
carr ier installed on the front seat may be
struck and knocked out of posit ion by the rap-
idly inflat ing passenger 's airbag in a fronta l
collision . The a irbag could great ly reduce the
effectiveness of the ch ild restra int and even
seriously injure t he ch ild dur ing inflation .
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