se at. It ca n be a very dangerous place fo r an
infant or a child in a rearward-facing seat .
The Advanced Airbag System in your ve hicle has
been ce rt ified to comp ly with the requ irements
of United States Federa l Motor Vehicle Safety
Standard (FMVSS) 208, as well as Canada Motor
Vehicle Safety Standard (CMVSS) 208 as applica -
ble at the time your veh icle was man ufactu red.
Accord ing to requ irements, the front Advanced
Airbag System o n the passenger s ide has been
cert ified for "suppression" for infants of about
12 month old and younger and fo r "low risk de-
ployment " for children aged 3 to 6 years old (as
defined in the standa rd).
The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light in the instru-
ment panel tells you when the front Advanced
Airbag on t he passenger side has been tu rned off
by t he elect ronic con t rol unit.
Each t ime you sw itch on t he ignit ion, the
PAS-
SENGER AIR BAG OFF light will come on fo r a
few seconds a nd:
- will stay on if the front passenger seat is not
occup ied,
- will stay on if there is a small child or chi ld re-
straint on the front passenge r seat,
- will go off if the front passenger seat is occu-
pied by an adult as reg istered by the weight-
sensing mat
c> page 23 7, Monitoring the Ad-
vanced Airbag System .
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on
when the control unit detects a total we ight on
the fro nt passenge r seat that requ ires the front
a irbag to be t urned off .
If the total weigh t on the front passenger seat is
mo re t han that of a typical 1 year -old child but
less t han the weight of a small adult , t he front
a irbag on the passenger side can deploy (the
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does not come
on). If t he
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does
not come on, the fr ont airbag on the passenger
side has not been turned off by the e lectronic
control unit and can dep loy if the control un it
~
senses an impact that meets the condit ions sto r-
....
~
ed in it s memory.
N
....
g For example, the airbag may deploy if:
:c
'<t
Airbag sys t e m
- a sma ll ch ild that is heav ier than a typ ica l 1
year -old child is on the front passenger seat
(regard less of whethe r the child is in one of the
child seats listed
c>page 251), or
- a child who has outgrown child rest raints is on
the front passenge r seat.
If t he front passenge r airb ag is t urned off, t he
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on in the
inst rument cluste r and stays on.
The front a irbag on the passenger side ma y
not
deploy (the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does
not illuminate and stay lit) even if a small adu lt
or teenager, or a passenge r who is not sitting up -
right with their bac k against a non-recl ined back-
res t with the ir feet on t he vehicle floor in front of
the seat is on the fron t passenger seat
c> page 209, Proper seating position for the driv -
er .
If the front passenger a irbag deploys, the Feder-
al Standard requires t he airbag to meet the "low
risk" deployment cr iteria to reduce the risk of in-
jury throug h interact ion wit h the airbag . "Low
risk" deployment occurs in t hose cr'1shes th'1t
t ake place at lowe r d ecele rations as defined in
t he e lect ron ic contr ol un it
c>page 237, PASSEN-
GER AI R BAG OFF light.
Always remembe r, a ch ild seat or infant ca rrier
insta lled on the front seat may be str uck a nd
knocked out of pos it ion by t he rap idly inflat ing
passenge r's airbag in a fron tal coll ision . The a ir-
bag cou ld great ly reduce the effectiveness of the
child rest raint and even seriously injure the child
during inflat ion.
For t his reason, an d beca use the back seat is the
safest place for children - when proper ly restrain -
ed according to their age and size - we strongly
recommend that chi ldren always sit in the back
seat
c> page 249, Child safety .
A WARNING
"--
-
A child in a rearward-fac ing child seat instal-
led on the fron t passenger seat will be se ri-
ously injured a nd ca n be killed if the fron t air-
bag inflates - even with an Advanced Airbag
Syst em.
229
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