and to the supplemen tal restr aint system compo-
nent s t hrough th e use of a com bina tion of soldered
splices, splice block connector s, an d ma ny differen t
types of wire harness ter minal conn ectors a nd insu-
lat ors. Refer to t he appropriate wiring information.
The wir ing in formation inclu des wirin g diagram s,
pr oper wire an d conn ector repair pr ocedures, fur ther
details on wire harness rout ing a nd ret ention, as well
as pin-out an d locat ion views for th e various wire
harness connectors, splices an d grounds.
OPERATION
ACTIVE RESTRAINTS
The pr imary passenger restra int s in this or any
other vehicle are the standar d equipmen t fa ctory-in-
st alled sea t belts. Sea t belts are r eferred to a s a n
active restrain t beca use the vehicle occupants ar e
required t o physically fa st en and properly a djust
these rest raints in order to benefit from t hem. See
the owner ’s manual in the vehicle glove box for m ore
information on the features, use a nd operation of all
of the factor y-in stalled active restraint s.
PASSIVE RESTRAINTS
The pa ssive restraint s are referred to as a supple-
ment al rest raint system becau se th ey wer e design ed
and are inten ded to en han ce t he pr otection for th e
occupant s of th e vehicle only when u sed in conjunc-
tion with the seat belts. They are referred to as pa s-
sive rest raints beca use the vehicle occupants are n ot
required to do an ything to m ake them operat e; how-
ever, the vehicle occupan ts must be wearing th eir
seat belts in order to obtain the maxim um safet y
benefit from the fa ctory-inst alled supplemen tal
restraint system.
The supplemental restr aint system electr ical cir-
cuits ar e continuou sly mon itored and con trolled by a
microprocessor and software contained within the
Airba g Cont rol Module (ACM). An a irba g in dicator in
the Elect roMechanica l Instr umen t Cluster (EMIC)
illuminates for about four seconds as a bulb test each
time the ignit ion switch is turned t o th e On or Sta rt
position s. Followin g the bulb test, th e airbag in dica-
tor is tu rned on or off by the ACM to indicate the
st atus of the supplemen tal rest raint system . If the
air bag in dicator comes on either solid or flashing at
any time ot her t han du ring th e bulb test , it indicates
that ther e is a problem in the su pplemen tal restr aint
system electrical circuits. Such a problem may cause
air bags not to deploy when required, or to deploy
when not r equired.
Deployment of the supplemen tal restra int s
depends u pon the an gle an d severit y of an impact .
Deployment is not based upon vehicle speed; rat her,
deployment is based upon the rat e of deceleration as
measu red by the forces of gra vity (G for ce) upon t he
impact sensor(s). When an impact is severe enough,
the micr opr ocessor in th e ACM signa ls th e infla tor of
the appropriate airbag un its t o deploy th eir airbag
cushion s. The front seat belt tensioners ar e pr ovided
with a deployment signa l by the ACM in con jun ction
wit h t h e dr iver a n d pa s sen ger a ir ba gs.
During a frontal veh icle impact, th e knee blockers
work in concert with properly fasten ed a nd a djusted
seat belts to restra in both t he driver a nd the front
seat passenger in the proper position for a n airbag
deployment. The knee blocker s also absor b an d dis-
tribute the cra sh energy from th e driver and the
front sea t passenger to th e structu re of the instr u-
ment pan el. Th e seat belt tension ers remove t he
slack from the front sea t belts to pr ovide furth er
assura nce tha t th e driver and fron t sea t passen ger
are proper ly positioned and r estra ined for an a irba g
deployment.
Typica lly, t he vehicle occupants r ecall more about
the event s preceding and followin g a collision th an
they do of an airba g deploymen t itself. This is
because the air bag deploymen t and defla tion occur so
rapidly. In a typical 48 kilomet er-per-hou r (30 mile-
per-hour) ba rrier im pa ct, from the moment of im pa ct
until the airba gs a re fully inflated takes only a few
milliseconds. Within one to two seconds from the
momen t of im pa ct, th e airba gs are almost en tirely
deflat ed. The times cit ed for these events are a pprox-
ima tions, which apply only to a barr ier impact at the
given speed. Actua l times will va ry somewhat ,
depending upon the vehicle speed, impact angle,
severity of th e impa ct, an d t he type of collision.
When the ACM mon itors a problem in any of th e
air bag syst em circuits or componen ts, in cluding the
seat belt tensioners, it st ores a fault code or Diagnos-
tic Trouble Code (DTC) in it s m emory circuit and
sends a har d wired output to t he EMIC t o tur n on
the airba g indicator. If t he EMIC detect s a problem
in th e airbag indicator or airbag in dicator circu it, the
cluster will fla sh the seatbelt indicator on an d off.
Proper t est ing of the supplemental restr aint system
components as well as the retrieval or erasure of a
DTC fr om the ACM requires the use of a diagnostic
sca n tool. Refer to th e appropriate diagnostic infor-
mation.
See the owner ’s manual in the vehicle glove box for
more in formation on the fea tures, use an d opera tion
of all of the fact ory-installed passive restraints.
8O - 4 RESTRAINTS VA
To Next Page
Loading...
