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Airbag
syst em
How the Advanced Airbag System
components work together
The front Advanced Airbag System and the
side airbags supplement the protection of-
fered by the front three-point saf ety be lts
with pretensioners and load limiters and the
adjus t able head restr a ints* to help reduce the
risk of injury in a wide range of accident and
crash situat ions. Be sure to read the impor-
tant information about safety and heed the
WARNINGS in this chapter .
Deployment of the Advanced Airbag System
and the activat ion of the safety belt preten-
sioners depend on the decelerat ion measured
by the crash senso rs and regis t ered by the
e lectronic control unit. Crash sever ity depends
on speed and deceleration as well as the mass
and stiffness of the vehicle or object involved
in the crash.
On the passenger side, regard less of safety
be lt use, the front passenger fronta l airbag
will be turned off if the e lectrical capac itance
measured by the capacitive passenger detec-
tion system on the front passenge r seat is less
than the amount programmed in the electron-
ic control unit. The front passenger frontal air-
bag will also be turned off if the capacitance
measured by the system for the front passen-
ge r seat equa ls that of an infant of abo ut one
yea r of age in one of the child sea t s that was
used t o cer tif y the Advanced Airbag System
under Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
208 . The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
comes on and stays on to tell you when the
front Advanced Airbag System on the passen-
ger s ide has been turned off¢ page 153 .
A
WARNING
To reduce the risk of injury when a n airbag
inflates, a lways wear safety belts properly .
- If you are unrestrained, leaning forward,
sitting sideways or out of position in any
way, your risk of injury is much higher.
- You will also receive serious injuries and
could even be killed if you are up against
the a irbag or too close to it when it in-
flates - even with an Advanced Airbag
¢ page
140.
More important things to know about
front airbags
Fig. 124
Inflated front airbags
-
. ..
q
:r:
iZ
Safety be lts are important to he lp keep front
seat occupants in the proper seated position
so that a irbags can unfold proper ly and pro-
vide supplemental
protect ion in a frontal col-
lision .
The front airbags are designed to provide ad-
ditional protection for the chest and face of
the driver and the front seat passenger when :
- safety belts are worn proper ly,
- the seats have been positioned so that the
occupant is properly seated as far as poss i-
b le from the airbag ,
- and for adju stab le head restraints : the head
restraints have been properly adj usted .
Becau se airbags inflate in the blink of an eye
with great force, th ings you have on your lap
or have placed on the seat could become dan -
gerous projecti les, and be pushed into you if
the a irbag inf lates .
When an airbag deploys, fine dust is released.
This is no rma l and is not caused by a fire in
the vehicle . This dust is made up mostly of a
powder used to lubricate the airbags as they
deploy . It could irritate skin .
It is important to remembe r that while the
supplementa l airbag system is designed to re-
duce the likelihood of serious injur ies, other
injur ies, for examp le swelling, bruising and
minor abrasions, can also happen when air-
bags inflate . Airbags do not protect the arms
IIJI,
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