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the passenger seat . If the airbag de-
ploys, this can resu lt in serious or fatal
injuries.
- No objects of any kind should be car-
ried in the footwell area in front of the
driver's or passenger's seat. Bulky ob-
jects (shopping bags, for example) can
hamper or prevent proper deployment
of the airbag. Small objects can be
thrown through the vehicle if the ai r-
bag deploys and injure you or your pas-
sengers.
- Make sure there are no cracks, deep
scratches or other damage in the area of
the instrument pane l where the knee air-
bags are located.
- If children are incorrect ly seated, their
risk of injury increases in the case of an
accident ¢
page 138, Child Safety.
Side airbags
Description of side airbags
The airbag system can provide supplemental
protection to properly restrained front seat
occupants.
Fig. 128
Side a irbag locati on in the driver's seat
The s ide airbags are located in the sides of the
front seat backrests
r::}
fig. 128
facing the
doors. They are identified by the word "AIR-
BAG".
The side airbag syste m basically consists of:
- the electronic control module and external
side impact sensors
- the two side airbags located in the sides of
the front backrests
Airbag
system
135
- the airbag warning light in the instrument
cluster.
The airbag system is mon itored electronically
to make certain that it is functioning properly
at all times. Each time you turn on the igni-
tion, the airbag system indicator light will
come on for a few seconds (self diagnostics) .
The side airbag system supplements
the safe-
ty belts and can help to reduce the risk of in-
jury to the driver's and front passenger 's up-
per torso and head injuries on the side of the
vehicle that is struck in a side collision. The
airbag deploys only in side impacts and only
when the vehicle acceleration registered by
the control unit is high enough .
If
this rate is
below the reference value programmed into
the control unit, the side airbags will not be
triggered , even though the car may be badly
damaged as a result of the collision. It is not
possible to define an airbag triggering range
that will cover every possible angle of impact,
since the circumstances will vary considerably
between one collision and another. Important
factors include, for example, the nature (hard
or soft) of the impacting object, the angle of
impact, vehicle speed, etc.
¢ page 137, Im-
portant safety instructions on the side airbag
system .
Aside from their normal safety function, safe -
ty belts work to help keep the driver or front
passenger in position in the event of a side
collision so that the side airbags can provide
protection.
The airbag system is
not
a substitute for your
safety belt . Rather, it is part of the overall oc-
cupan t restra int system in your vehicle. Al-
ways remember that the side airbag system
can only help to protect you if you are wearing
your safety be lt and wearing it properly. This
is another reason why you should always wear
your safety be lts, not just because the law re-
quires you to do so¢
page 110, Why safety
belts? .
It is important to remember that while the
supplemental
side airbag system is designed
to reduce the likelihood of serious injuries,
IIJ>,
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