124 Airbag system
Even though your vehicle is equipped with an
Advanced Airbag System, make certain that
all children, especially those 12 years and
younger, always ride in the back seat properly
restrained for their age and size. The airbag
on the passenger side makes the front seat a
potentially dangerous place for a child to ride.
The front seat is not the safest place for a
child in a forward-facing child safety seat. It
can be a very dangerous place for an infant or
a child in a rearward-facing seat.
The Advanced Airbag System in your veh icle
has been certified to comply with the require-
ments of United States Federal Motor Vehicle
Safety Standard 208 as applicable at the time
your vehicle was manufactured.
The Standard requires t he front airbag on the
passenger side to be turned off ("sup-
pressed") if a child up to about one year of
age restrained in one of the rear-facing or for-
ward -facing infant restraints listed in Federal
Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 with which
the Advanced Airbag System in your vehicle
was certified has been installed on the front
passenger seat . For a listing of the child re-
strai nts that we re used to certify compliance
with the US Safety Standard
r=v page 145.
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light in the in-
strument panel te lls you when the front Ad-
vanced Airbag on the passenger side has been
turned off by the electronic control unit.
Each t ime you turn on the ignition, the
PAS-
SENGER AIR BAG OFF
light will come on for a
few seconds and:
- will stay on if the front passenger seat is not
occupied,
- will stay on if there is a small child or child
restraint on the front passenger seat,
- will go off if the front passenger seat is oc-
cupied by an adult as registered by the
weight-sensing mat
r=v page 133, Monitor-
ing the Advanced Airbag System .
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on
when the control unit detects a total weight
on the front passenger seat that requires the
front airbag to be turned off.
If the total weight on the front passenge r
seat is more than that of a typica l 1 year -old
child but less than the weight of a small
adult, the front airbag on the passenger side
can deploy (the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light does not come on). If the PASSENGER
AIR BAG OFF
light does not come on, the
front airbag on the passenger side has not
been turned off by the elect ronic control unit
and can deploy if the control unit senses an
impact that meets the cond itions stored in its
memory .
For example, the airbag may deploy if:
- a small child that is heavier than a typical 1
year-old child is on the front passenger seat
(regard less of whether the child is in one of
the child safety seats listed
r=v page 145), or
- a child who has outgrown child restraints is
on the front passenger seat.
If the front passenger airbag is turned off, the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on in
the instrument cluster and stays on.
The front airbag on the passenger side may
not deploy (the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF
light does not illum inate and stay lit) even if a
small adult or teenager, or a passenger who is
not sitt ing upright with their back against a
non-reclined backrest with their feet on the
vehicle floor in front of the seat is on the front
passenger seat
r=v page 104, Proper seating
position for the driver.
If the front passenger airbag deploys, the
Federal Standard requ ires the airbag to meet
the "low risk" deployment criteria to reduce
the risk of injury t hrough interaction with the
airbag. "Low risk" dep loyment occurs in those
crashes that take place at lower dece lerat ions
as defined in the electronic control unit
r=v page 133, PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light .
Always remember, a child safety seat or infant
carr ier installed on the front seat may be
struck and knocked out of posit ion by the rap-
idly inflat ing passenger's airbag in a frontal
collision . The airbag could greatly reduce the
effectiveness of the child restraint and even
seriously injure the child during inflation .
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