Methods Of Restraint In Addition To The Front Seat Belts - Renault Trafic Handbook

METHODS OF RESTRAINT IN ADDITION TO THE FRONT SEAT BELTS

Depending on the vehicle, they are
composed of:
– pretensioners,
– force limiter,
– air bags for driver and front pas-
senger.
These systems are designed to operate
independently or together in the event
of a front, side or rear impact.
There are three possibilities, depending
on the level of impact force:
– protection is provided by the seat
belt only;
– the pretensioner is triggered to rec-
tify belt position and seat belt slack;
– the air bag and the force limiter are
also triggered when there are severe
impacts.
1
Pretensioners
With the ignition on, during a significant
side, frontal or rear impact, piston 1 in-
stantly retracts the seat belt buckle, flat-
tening it against the body and thus in-
creasing its effectiveness.
Force limiter
Above a certain level of impact force,
this mechanism is used to limit the force
of the belt against the body so that it is
at an acceptable level.
(1/4)
– Have the entire restraint
system checked following
an accident.
– No operation whatso-
ever is permitted on any part of
the system (pretensioners, air
bags, computers, wiring) and the
system components must not
be reused on any other vehicle,
even if identical.
– To avoid incorrect triggering of
the system which may cause
injury, only qualified personnel
from an approved dealer may
work on the pretensioner and air
bag system.
– The electric trigger system may
only be tested by a specially
trained technician using special
equipment.
– When the vehicle is scrapped,
contact an approved dealer for
disposal of the pretensioner and
air bag gas generators.
1.27