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The side airbags are located in the sides of the
front seat backrests
¢
fig.
169 and the rear back-
rest facing the doors.
The side airbags installed for the front seating
positions have been designed and certified to
he lp reduce the risk of injury that can be caused
by airbags when they inflate, part icular ly when
the occupant sitt ing next to it is not seated prop-
erly. The s ide airbag for the front passenger seat
can be used with properly insta lled child re
-
stra ints
.
Please be sure to read the important in-
formation and warnings whenever using a child
rest raint in a vehicle: Safety belts
¢
page
176
,
Airbag system
¢page 184,
Child safety
¢
page 209.
The side airbag
sys
tem basically con sists of:
-
the e lectron ic control modu le and externa
l
side
impact sensors
-
the two airbags located in the sides of the front
backrests and the two airbags* located in the
rear backrest
-
the a irbag warning light in the instrument clus-
ter
.
The airbag system is monitored electronically to
make certain that it is functioning properly at all
times. Each time you switch on the ign ition, the
airbag system indicato
r
light will come on for a
few seconds (self diagnostics).
The s ide airbag system supplements
the safety
belts and can help to reduce the risk of injury to
the dr iver 's, front and rear passenger's upper tor
-
so on the side of the veh icle that is struck in a
side coll is ion
.
The a irbag dep loys only
in
side im-
pacts and only when the vehi cle acceleration reg-
istered by the cont rol un it is high enough
.
If
t
his
rate is below the refe rence value programmed in-
to the cont rol unit, the side airbags
will
not be
triggered
,
even thoug
h
the car may be bad ly
damaged as a result of the collision. It is not pos
-
sib le to define an airbag tr igger ing range that
will cover every possib le ang le of impact, s ince
the circumsta nces will vary considerably between
one collision and another
.
Important fac
t
ors in-
clude, for example, the nature (hard or soft) of
the impact ing object, the angle of impact, vehicle
Airb
a
g
sys
tem
speed, etc.
¢
page 204, Important safety
in-
structions on the side airbag system
.
Aside from the
ir
no rm
al
safety funct io n, safety
belts work to he lp keep the dr iver
or
front pas-
senger in posi
t
ion in the event
of
a side collision
so that the side airbags can provide protectio
n.
The airbag system is
not
a substi
t
ute for you
r
safety belt.
Rat
her,
it
is par
t
of the ove rall occ
u-
pant restraint system in your vehicle
.
Always re
-
member that the side airbag system can only
help to protect you if you are wear ing you
r
safety
belt and wear ing it properly
.
This is another rea
-
son why you should a lways wear your safety
belts, not just because the law requires you to do
so
¢
page
176,
General notes
.
It is important to remember that while the sup-
plementa
l
side airbag system is designed to re-
duce the likelihood of ser ious injuries, other inju
-
ries, for example, swelling, bru ising, friction
burns and m ino
r
abras ions can also be assoc iated
with deployed side airbags. Remember
t
oo, side
airbags will deploy only once and only in certa in
kinds of accidents - your safety belts are
al
ways
there to offer protection
.
Vehicle damage, repair costs
or
even the lack of
vehicle damage a re not necess arily an ind ication
of over-sens it ive or fa iled
air
bag
act ivat
ion
.
In
some collisions, both front and side airbags may
inflate. Remember too, that airbags
will
dep loy
only once and only in certain kinds of collisions -
your safety belts are always there to offer protec-
t ion in those accidents in which airbags are not
supposed to deploy or when they have already
deployed
.
The side airbag system will not deploy
:
-
when the ignit ion is switched off
-
in side collisions when the acceleration meas
-
ured by the sensor is too low
-
in front-end collisions
-
in rear -end collisions
-
in rollovers
.
In some types of accidents the front a irbags, side
curtain airbags and side a irbags may be triggered
togethe
r.
.,..
203
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