of the passenger seat. If t he airbag de-
ploys, this can resu lt in serious or fata l
injuries.
- Never carry objects of any kind in the
footwell area in front of the driver's or
passenger's seat. Bulky objects (shop-
ping bags, for example) ca n interfere
with or prevent proper dep loyment of
the airbag . Small objects can be
thrown throug h the vehicle if the air-
bag deploys and injure you or your pas-
sengers.
- Make su re there are no cracks, deep
scratches or other damage in the area of
the instrument pane l where the knee air-
bags are located.
- If children are incorrect ly sea t ed, their
risk of injury increases in a collision
¢ page 173, Child Safety .
Side airbags
Description of side airbags
The airbag system can provide supplemental
protection to properly restrained occupants .
Fig. 163 Side airbag location in the driver's seat
The side a irbags are located in the sides of the
front seat ba ckrests
¢ fig . 163 a nd the rear
backrest facing the doors. They are identified
bytheword "AIRBAG".
The side a irbags installed for the front seating
positions have been designed and cer t ified t o
he lp red uce the risk of inj ury that can be
caused by airbags when they inflate, particu -
larly when the occupant sitting next to it is
not seated proper ly. The side airbag for the
front passenger seat can be used with proper-
A irba g sy stem 16 7
ly installed child restra ints . Please be sure t o
read the important informat ion and warnings
whenever using a child restra int in a vehicle:
Safety belts ¢
page 138, Airbag system
c>page 147, Child safety c>page 173 .
The side airbag system basically consists of:
- t he electro nic cont rol modu le and external
side impact sensors
- t he two a irbags located in the sides of t he
front backrests and the two a irbags* locat ed
in t he rear backrest
- t he airbag warning light in the inst rumen t
cluste r.
The airbag system is mon itored e lect ronically
to make certain that it is function ing properly
at all times. Each time you switch on the igni-
tion, t he airbag system indicator light will
come on for a few seconds (self diagnostics) .
The side airbag system supplements the safe -
ty bel t s and can help t o red uce t he risk of in-
jury to the dr iver's, fron t and rea r passenger's
upper torso on t he side of the veh icle t hat is
str uck in a side collision . The airbag dep loys
only in side impacts and only when the vehicle
acce lerat ion reg istered by the control unit is
high enough. If t his rate is below the refer-
ence value prog rammed into the control unit,
the side airbags will not be triggered, even
though the car may be bad ly damaged as a re-
su lt of the collision .
It is not possib le t o de -
fine an airbag triggering range that will cover
every possib le ang le of impact, since the cir-
cumstances will vary considerably be tween
one collisio n and another . Important factors
include, for example , the nature (hard or soft)
of the impacting objec t , the angle of impact,
vehicle speed, etc .
¢ page 169, Impor tant
safety instructions on the side airbag system .
Aside from their normal safety function, safe -
ty belts work to help keep the driver or front
passenger in position in the event of a side
collision so that the side airbags can provide
protection .
The airbag system is no t a substitute for your
safety belt. Rat her, it is part of the overall oc-
cupant restra int system in your vehicle .
IIJJ,
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