SMART Fortwo coupe Operator's Manual page 38

Occupant safety
36
How an air bag operates
An air bag is inflated in a matter of
milliseconds. If an air bag is triggered,
the SRS indicator lamp 6 in the
instrument cluster illuminates.
! If the air bags are activated, you will
hear a loud noise and some dust may be
generated. The explosion fundamentally
represents no risk to your hearing.
An inflated air bag slows down and reduces
the movement of the occupant. When the
occupant makes contact with a front air bag
or head-thorax air bag (cabriolet only),
hot gas flows out of the inflated front air
bags and head-thorax air bags (cabriolet
only). This reduces the load on the
occupant's head and upper body. These air
bags are consequently deflated after the
accident.
Driver front air bag/passenger front air
bag
The front air bags are designed to reduce
the potential of injury in certain frontal
impacts.
Driver front air bag and passenger front
air bag are deployed
at the start of an accident with high
R
vehicle deceleration in the longitudinal
direction
independently of other air bags in the
R
vehicle being deployed
never in the event of a rollover, unless
R
high vehicle deceleration in the
longitudinal direction is detected
i
The front air bags in this vehicle have
been designed to inflate in two stages.
This allows the air bag to have different
rates of inflation that are based on the
rate of relevant vehicle deceleration
and a fastened or unfastened seat belt as
assessed by the air bag control unit.
On the passenger side, the front air bag
deployment is additionally influenced
by the passenger's weight category as
identified by the Occupant
Classification System (OCS)
( page 39).
Y
The lighter the passenger side occupant,
the higher the vehicle deceleration rate
required for the second stage inflation
of the air bag.
The air bags will not deploy in impacts
which do not exceed the system's
deployment thresholds. In such instances,
the seat belts are designed to protect you.
The passenger air bag will only be
deployed if
the system, based on OCS weight sensor
R
readings, senses that the passenger seat
is occupied and the 4 0
indicator lamp is not lit (
the impact exceeds a preset deployment
R
threshold
The driver front air bag is located in the
steering wheel housing, the passenger
front air bag above the glove box.
Driver front air bag
:
Passenger front air bag
;
page 41)
Y