Safety Belt Tensioner - BMW M COUPE Manual

Safety belt tensioner

178n
The safety belt tensioner responds to
severe collisions by tightening the belts
to ensure that occupants remain firmly
positioned in their seats. A gas-pres-
sure system retracts the buckle assem-
bly to tension the shoulder and lap belts
within fractions of a second. This tends
to reduce the tendency to slide under
the lap belt even more.
Inside rearview mirror with automatic dimmer
The interior rearview mirror with auto-
matic dimming feature reduces glare
from following traffic by adapting the in-
tensity of the reflected images to corre-
spond to levels of light registered by
the unit's sensors. The mirror reverts to
its undimmed setting as soon as the
light source disappears. One light sen-
sor is mounted on the front of the mirror
housing. This sensor, which is directed
forward, measures light intensity in the
area ahead of the vehicle. A second
light sensor is located on the lower
edge of the mirror. The electronic con-
trol system compares the light intensity
from front and rear. The difference pro-
vides the basic parameter used to mod-
ulate an electrical current and induce
chemical changes in a semisolid layer
incorporated in the lens.
The semisolid reacts chemically to this
electrical current, thus providing infi-
nitely-variable dimming of the mirror
(electrochromic technology).
As a result, it is no longer necessary to
dim the mirror manually, and the driver
can concentrate completely on traffic
conditions.
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