Child restraints on the front seat - some
important things to know
.. Be sure to read the important informat ion
and heed the WARNINGS for important de-
tails about children and Advanced Airbags
~ page 177.
Even though your vehicle is equipped with an
Advanced Airbag System, make certain that
a ll 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 fo r a
child in a fo rward-facing chi ld seat. It can be a
very dange rous place for an infant or a ch ild in
a rearward -facing seat.
The Advanced Airbag System in your veh icle
has been cert ified t o comp ly with the require-
men t s of United States Federa l Motor Vehicle
Safety Standard 208 as applicable at the time
your vehicle was manufactured.
The Standard requires t he front a irbag on the
passenger side to be t urned 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 wh ich
the Advanced Airbag System in your vehicle
was certified has been installed on the front
passenger seat . For a listing of the child re-
straints that were used to certify compliance
with the US Safety Sta ndard ~
page 179.
The PASSENG ER AIR BAG OFF light in the in-
strument panel tells you when the front Ad-
vanced Airbag on the passenger side has been
turned off by the e lectronic control unit.
Each t ime you sw itch on the ignit ion, 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,
A irbag sys tem 15 5
- will go off if the front passenger seat is oc-
cupied by an adult as registered by the
weight -sensing mat ¢ page 164, Monitor-
ing the Advanced Airbag System.
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on
whe n the contro l unit detects a tota l weight
on the front passenger seat that req uires the
front a irbag to be turned off.
If the total weight on the front passenger
seat is more than that of a typical 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 PASSENG ER
AIR BAG OFF
light does not come on, the
front a irbag on the passenger side has not
been t ur ned off by the elect ronic cont rol unit
and can deploy if t he control unit senses an
impact that meets t he cond itions stored in its
memory .
For exampl e, th e airb ag may deplo y if :
- a small ch ild that is heav ie r than a typical 1
year-old ch ild is on the front passenger seat
(regard less of whether the child is in one of
the child seats listed ¢
page 179), 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 instr ument 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 ad ult or teenager, or a passenger who is
not sitti ng uprig ht with their back against a
non -reclined back rest wit h thei r feet on the
vehicle floor in front of the sea t is on t he front
passenger seat ~
page 136, Proper seating
position for the driver.
If the fron t passenger airbag dep loys, the
Federa l Standard req uires the airbag to meet
the "low risk" dep loyment criteria to reduce
the risk of injury t hro ugh interact ion with the
airbag. "Low risk" dep loyment occurs in those
crashes that take place at lower dece lerat ions .,..
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