seats AUDI S3 SEDAN 2015 Owner's Manual

Safety belt s
Safety belts
General notes
Always wear safety belts!
Wearing safety belts correctly saves lives!
This chapter explains why safety belts are neces­
sary, how they work and how to adjust and wear
them correctly.
.. Read all the information that follows and heed
all of the instructions and WARNINGS.
&_ WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them im­
properly increases the risk of serious personal
injury and death.
- Safety belts are the single most effective
means available to reduce the risk of serious
injury and death in automobile accidents.
For your protection and that of your passen­
gers, always correct ly wear safety belts
when the vehicle is moving.
- Pregnant women, injured, or physically im­
paired persons must also use safety belts.
L ik e all veh icle occupants, they are more
likely to be seriously injured if they do not
wear safety be lts . The best way to protect a
fetus is to protect the mother - throughout
the ent ire pregnancy.
Number of seats
Your Audi has a total of five seating positions:
two in the front and three in the rear. Each seat­
ing position has a safety belt .
&_ WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them im­
properly increases the risk of serious personal
injury and death.
- Never strap more than one person, includ­
ing small ch ildren, into any belt. It is espe­
cially dangerous to place a safety belt over a
child sitting on your lap.
- Never let more people ride in the vehicle
than there are safety belts available.
140
-Be sure everyone riding in the vehicle is
properly restrained with a separate safety
belt or child restraint.
~ -Safety belt warning light
Your vehicle has a warning system for the driver
and front seat passenger (on USA models only) to remind you about the importance of buckling­
up .
Fig. 116 Safety belt warning light in the instrument cl us­
ter -enlarged
Before driving off, always:
.. Fas ten your safety belt and make sure you are
wearing it properly .
(0
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"' .. Make sure that your passengers also buckle up
and properly wear their safety belts .
.. Protect children with a child restraint system
appropriate for the s ize and age .
The warning light . in the instrument cluster
light s up when the ign it ion is on as a reminder to
fasten the safety belts . In add ition, you will hear
a warn ing tone for a certain pe riod of time.
Fasten your safety belt and make sure that your
passengers also properly put on their safety
belts .
&_ WARNING
-Safety belts are the sin gle most effect ive
means available to reduce the risk of serious
injury and death in automobile accidents.
F or your protection and that of your passen ­
gers, always correctly wear safety belts
when the vehicle is moving .
- Failure to pay attention to the warning light
that come on, cou ld lead to personal injury .
-

Safety belts
Never rely on airbags a lone for protection . Even
when they deploy, airbags provide only additional
protection . A irbags are not supposed to deploy in
all kinds of accidents. Although your Audi is
equipped w ith airbags, all vehicle occupants, in­
cluding the driver, must wear safety belts cor ­
rectly in orde r to min imize the risk of seve re in­
jury o r death in a crash .
Remember too, that airbags will deploy only once
and that your safety be lts are a lways there to of ­
fer protection in t hose accidents in which airbags
are not supposed to deploy or when they have a l­
ready deployed . Unbelted o ccupan ts can also be
thrown ou t of the vehicle where even mo re severe
or fata l injur ies can occur .
It is also important fo r the rea r passenge rs to
wear safety belts co rrectly. Unbe lted passenge rs
i n t he rear se ats endanger not only themselves
but also the driver and other passengers
~ fig . 120. In a frontal coll ision they wi ll be
thrown forward violent ly, where they can hit and
in ju re the driver and/or front seat passenger.
Safety belts protect
People think it's possible to use the hands to
brace the body in a minor collision . It 's simply
not true!
F ig . 121 Driver is correct ly restra ined i n a sudden b rak ing
m aneuver
Safety belts used properly can make a big differ­
ence. Safety belts help to keep passengers in
their seats , gradually reduce energy levels ap­
plied to the body in an accident, and he lp prevent
the uncont ro lled movement that can cause seri ­
ous injur ies. In add it ion, safety belts reduce the
danger of being throw n ou t of the vehicle.
142
Safety be lts attach passengers to the car and give
them the benefit of being s lowed down more
gently or "softly" through the "give" in the safety
belts, crush zones and other safety features eng i­
neered into today's veh icles. By "absorbing" the
ki net ic ene rgy over a longer period of time, the
safety be lts make the forces on the body more
"tole rable" and less li kely to cause injury .
Although these examples are based o n a frontal
collision, safety be lts can also substantially re ­
duce the r isk o f injury in other kinds o f crashes.
So, whether you're on a long tr ip or just go ing to
t he cor ne r store, always bu ckle up and ma ke sure
o thers do, too. Ac ciden t sta tis tics show that ve hi­
cle occupants properly wearing sa fe ty belts have
a lowe r risk of be ing injured and a much better
chance of surviving an accident. Pro perly using
safety belts a lso greatly increases the ab ility of
the supp lemental airbags to do their job in a col­
li sion. For this reason, wear ing a safety be lt is le­
gally required in most countries including much
of the United States and Canada .
Although your Audi is equipped with a irbags, you
still have to wear the safety belts provided. Front airbags, for example, are act ivated only in some
fron tal coll is io ns . The front airbags are not act i­
vated in a ll frontal col lisions, in s ide and rear co l­
li sio ns, in ro ll overs o r in cases whe re the re is not
eno ugh deceler ation th rough impac t to the front
of the vehicle . T he same goes for the other airbag
systems in your Audi. So, always wear your safety
belt and make sure everybody in your vehicle is
proper ly restrained!
Important safety instructions about safety
belts
Safety belts must always be correctly positioned
across the strongest bones of your body .
.,. Always wear safety belts as illustrated and de­
scribed in this chapter .
.,. Make s ure that your safety belts are always
ready fo r use and are not damaged .

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_& WARNING
Not wearing safety belts or wearing them im­
properly increases the risk of serious personal
injury and death. Safety belts can work only
when used correctly .
- Always fasten your safety belts correctly be­
fore driving off and make sure al l passen­
gers are correctly restrained.
- For maximum protection, safety belts must
always be pos itioned properly on the body.
- Never strap more than one person, includ­
ing small ch ildren, into any belt.
- Never place a safety belt over a child sitting
on your lap.
- Always keep feet in the footwell in front of
the seat while the vehicle is being driven.
- Never let any person ride with their feet on
the instrument panel or sticking out the
window or on the seat.
- Never remove a safety belt while the vehicle
is moving . Doing so will increase your risk of
being injured or killed.
- Never wear belts twisted.
- Never wear belts over rigid or breakable ob-
jects in or on your clothing, such as eye
glasses, pens, keys, etc., as these may cause
injury.
- Never allow safety belts to become dam­
aged by being caught in door or seat hard­
ware.
- Do not wear the shoulder part of the belt
under your arm or otherwise out of position.
- Several layers of heavy clothing may inter­
fere with correct positioning of belts and re­ duce the overall effectiveness of the system.
- Always keep belt buckles free of anything
that may prevent the buckle from latching
securely.
- Never use comfort clips or devices that cre­
ate slack in the shoulder be lt. However, spe­
cial clips may be required for the proper use
of some child restraint systems.
- Torn or frayed safety belts can tear, and
damaged belt hardware can break in an acc i­
dent. Inspect belts regularly. If webb ing,
bind ings, buckles, or retracto rs are dam-
Safety belts
aged, have belts replaced by an authorized
Audi dealer or qualified workshop.
- Safety belts that have been worn and loaded
in an accident must be replaced with the
correct replacement safety belt by an au­
thorized Audi dealer. Replacement may be
necessary even if damage cannot be clearly
seen. Anchorages that were loaded must al­
so be inspected.
- Never remove, modify, d isassemble, o r try
to repair the safety belts yourself.
-Always keep the belts clean. Dirty belts may not work properly and can impair the func­
tion of the inertia reel~
table Internal
cleaning on page 237.
Safety belts
Fastening safety belts
Safety first -everybody buckle up!
Fig. 122 Belt buck le and tongue on the d rive r's seat
To provide maximum protection, safety belts
must always be positioned correctly on the wear­
er's body.
.. Adjust the front seat and head restraint proper­
ly ¢
page 54, Front seats.
.. Make sure the seatback of the rear seat bench is
in an upright position and securely latched in
place before using the belt¢.&, .
.. Ho ld the belt by the tongue and pull it even ly
across the chest and pelvis ¢.&_ .
.. Insert the tongue into the correct buckle of
your seat until you hear it latch securely
¢ fig. 122 .
.. Pull on the belt to make sure that it is securely
latched in the buckle.
Ill>
143

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-A loose-fitting safety belt can cause serious
injuries by shifting its position on your body
from the strong bones to more vulnerable,
soft tissue and cause serious injury.
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other important information ¢
page 142.
Pregnant women must also be correctly
restrained
The best way to protect the fetus is to make sure
that expectant mothers always wear safety belts
correctly -throughout the pregnancy .
Fig. 124 Safety belt position during pregnancy
To provide maximum protection, safety belts
must always be positioned correctly on the wear­
er's body
c:> page 144.
• Adjust the front seat and adjustable head re­
straint* correctly¢
page 54, Front seats.
• Hold the belt by the tongue and pull it evenly
across the chest and pelvis ¢
fig. 124, c:> .&_.
• Insert the tongue into the correct buckle of
your seat until you hear it latch securely
¢page 143, fig. 122 .
•Pullon the belt to make sure that it is securely
latched in the buckle.
_& WARNING
Improperly positioned safety belts can cause
serious personal injury in an accident.
- Expectant mothers must always wear the
lap portion of the safety belt as low as pos­
sible across t he pelvis and below the round­
ing of the abdomen .
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other important information
¢ .&. in Fasten­
ing safety belts on page 144.
Safety belts
Unfastening safety belts
Unbuckle the safety belt with the red release
button only a~er the vehicle has stopped .
J-L
Fig. 125 Releasing the tongue from the buckle
• Push the red release button on the buckle
¢
fig. 125. The belt tongue will spring out of
the buckle
c:> .&_ .
• Let the belt wind up on the retractor as you
guide the belt tongue to its stowed position .
_& WARNING
-Never unfasten safety belt while the vehicle is
moving. Doing so will increase your risk of be­
ing injured or killed.
Adjusting the safety belt latch tongue
Fig. 126 Safety belt: la tch tongue cl ip (example)
.,.. Slide the clip so that you can easily reach the
belt latch when putting the safety belt on .
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145

Safety belts
Adjusting safety belt height
With the aid of the safety belt height adjust­
ment, the three point safety belt strap routing
can be fitted to the shoulder area, according to
body size.
F ig . 127 Safety belt height ad justment for t he front seats
- loop -a round f itt ings
The shou lder belt should lie as close to the center
of the collar bone as possib le and should fit well
on the body¢ .&.
in Safety belt position on
page 144 .
... Push
the loop-around fittings up ¢ fig . 127 @,
or
... squeeze together the (D button, and push the
l oop-around fit tings
down @.
... Pull the belt to make sure t hat the upper at ­
tachment is properly engaged .
A WARNING
Always read and heed all WARNINGS and oth­
er important information
¢ page 142.
(D Tips
With the front seats, the height adjustment
of the seat can a lso be used to adjust the po­
sition of the safety belts.
Improperly worn safety belts
Incorrectly positioned safety belts con cause se­ vere injuries.
Wearing safety be lts imprope rly can cause seri­
ous injury or death . Safety belts can on ly work
when they are correctly positioned on the body.
Improper seating positions reduce the effective­
ness of safety be lts and will
even i ncrease the risk
146
of injury and death by moving the safety belt to
critical areas of the body . Improper seating posi­
tions also increase the risk of serious in jury and
death when an airbag deploys and strikes an oc­
cupant who is not in the correct seating position.
A driver is responsible for the safety of all vehicle
occupants and especially for ch ildren . Therefore:
... Never permit anyone to assume an incorrect sit-
ting posit ion in the vehicle while traveling
¢ &_ .
A WARNING
Improperly worn safety belts increase the r isk
of serious personal inju ry and death wheneve r
a veh icle is being used.
- Always make sure that all vehi cle occupants
are correctly restrained and stay in a correct
seating position wheneve r the vehicle is be­
ing used .
- Always read and heed a ll WARNINGS and
o ther important informa tion
¢ page 142.
Belt tensioners
How safety belt pretensioners work
In front, side and rear -end collisions above a
particular severity and in a rollover, safety belts are tensioned automatically.
R ev ersib le safety belt t ensione rs
The safety belts on the front seats are equipped
with power reversib le tensioners. The fo llow ing
functions are availab le when the driver's/front
passenger's safety belts are fastened:
- Automatic tensio ners: at the start of a drive,
the safety belts automat ica lly adjust to the
passenger after a certain t ime period or vehicle
speed.
- In certain driving situations, the safety belts
may tighten with a reversible tensioning func­
tion
¢page 103.
-The safety belts may a lso tighten with this re-
vers ible tensioning function in minor collisions.
Pyrotechn ic safet y belt pretens ioner s
The safety belts are equipped with safety belt
pretensioners. The system is activated by sensors ..,.

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also not inflate in side or rear co llisions, or in roll­
overs .
Alwa ys rememb er: Airbag s wi ll deploy on ly once,
and on ly in cer tain kinds of collisions. Your safety
b e lts a re a lways there to offer protection in those
situations in which airbags are not supposed to
deploy, or when they have already deployed; for
examp le, when your vehicle str ikes or is struck by
another vehicle after the first collision.
This is just one of the reasons why an airbag is a
supp lementary restraint and is not a substitute
for a safety belt. The airbag system works most
effectively when used w ith the safety belts.
Therefore, always properly wear your safety belts
c::>page 140.
A WARNING
Sitting too close to the steer ing whee l o r in­
strument panel will decrease the effect ive­
ness of the airbags and will increase the risk
o f persona l injury in a coll is ion .
- Never sit closer than 10 inches (25 cm) to
the steering wheel or instrument panel.
- If you cannot sit more than 10 inches
(25 cm) from the steer ing whee l, investi­
gate whethe r adaptive equipment may be
available to help yo u reach the peda ls and
increase your seating distance from the
steering wheel.
- All veh icle occupants and especially children
must be restrained properly whenever riding
in a vehicle. An unrestrained or improperly
restrained child cou ld be injured by striking
the inte rior or by being ejected from the ve­
hicle during a sudden maneuver or impact.
An unrestrained or improperly restrained
child is also at greater risk of injury o r death
thro ugh contact wi th an infla ting airbag.
- If you are unrestrained, lean ing fo rward, sit­
t ing s ideways o r ou t of position in any way,
yo ur risk of in jury is much highe r.
- You w ill also receive serio us inju ries and
c ou ld even be killed if you are up against the
airbag or too close to it when it in flates -
even with an Advanced Ai rbag .
-
Airbag syste m
- To reduce the risk of injury when an a irbag
inflates, always wear safety belts properly
c::> page 143, Safety belts.
- Always make certain that ch ildren age 12 or
younger always ride in the rear seat. If chil­
dren a re not properly restrained, they may
be severe ly injured or killed when an a irbag
inflates.
- Never let ch ildren ride unrestrained or im­
properly rest rained in the vehicle . Ad just the
front seats p roperly .
- Never ride with the backrest reclined.
- Always sit as far as possible from the steer-
ing wheel or the instrument panel
c::> page 131.
- Always sit upright with your back against
the backrest of your seat .
- Never p lace your feet on the instrument
panel or on the seat. Always keep both feet
on the floor in front of the seat to help pre­
vent serious injur ies to the legs and hips if
the airbag inflates.
- Never recli ne the front passenger 's seat to
transport objects. Items can also move into
the area of the side airbag or the front air­
b ag during bra king or in a sudden maneu­
ver . Ob je cts near the airbags can become
p rojectiles and ca use inj ury when an airbag
inflates.
A WARNING
Airbags that have deployed i n a crash must be
replaced.
- Use on ly original equipment airbags ap­
proved by Aud i and installed by a trained
technician who has the necessary too ls and
d iagnostic equipment to properly rep lace
any airbag in your vehicle and assure system
effectiveness in a crash.
- Never permit salvaged or recycled airbags to
be installed in you r vehicle.
Child restraints on the front seat - some
important things to know
.,. Be s ure to read the importa nt information and
heed the WARNI NGS for important detai ls
149

Airbag system
about children and Advanced Airbags
¢page 172.
Even though your vehicle is equipped with an Ad­
vanced Airbag System, make certain that all chi l­
dren, especially those 12 years and younger, al­
ways 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
seat . It can be a very dangerous place for an in­
fant or a child in a rearward-facing seat.
The Advanced Airbag System in your veh icle has
been certified to comply w ith the requirements
of United States Federal Motor Veh icle Safety
Standard
208 as applicable at the time your vehi­
cle was manufactured.
The Standard requires the front airbag on the
passenger side to be turned off ("suppressed") if
a child up to about one year of age restrained in
one of the rear-facing or forward -facing infant re­
s traints listed in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety
Standard 208 with which the Advanced Airbag
System in your vehicle was certified has been in ­
stalled on the front passenger seat. For a listing
of the ch ild restraints that were used to certify
compliance with the US Safety Standard
¢page 174.
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light in the instru­
ment panel tells you when the front Advanced
Airbag on the passenger side has been turned off by the electron ic control unit .
Each time yo u switch 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 the electrical capacitance meas ­
ured by the capacitive passenger detection sys­
tem for the front passenger seat equals the combined capacitance of an infant up to about
one year of age and one of the rearward-facing
or forward-facing child restraints listed in Fed ­
eral Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
208 with
which the Advanced Airbag System in your vehi­
cle was cert ified. For a listing of the child re-
150
straints that were used to certify yo ur vehicle's
compliance with the U.S. Safety Standard
¢page 174.
-wi ll stay on if there is a small chi ld or child re­
straint on the front passenger seat,
- wi ll go off if the front passenger seat is occu ­
pied by an adu lt as registered by the capacitive
passenger detection system
¢ page 160, Mon­
itoring the Advanced Airbag System.
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes on
when electrical capacitance registered on the
front passenger seat is eq ua l to or less than the
combined capacitance of a typical
1 year-o ld in­
fant and one of the rearward-facing or forward­
facing child restraints listed in Federal Motor Ve­
hicle Safety Standard
208 with wh ich the Ad­
vanced Airbag System in your vehicle was certi­
fied.
If the total e lectr ica l capacitance registered on
the front passenger seat is more than that of a
typ ica l 1 year-old child but less than the weight
of a sma ll adult, the front airbag on the passe n­
ger 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 electronic contro l
unit and can deploy if the control un it senses an
impact that meets the cond itions stored in its
memory.
For example, the airbag may deploy if:
-a small ch ild that is heavier than a typical 1
year-old chi ld is on the front passenger seat (re­
gardless of whethe r the child is in one of the
child seats listed
¢page 174), or
- a child who has outgrown chi ld 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
i nst rument cluster and stays on.
If the front passenger airbag dep loys, the Federal
Standa rd requires the airbag to meet the "low
risk" deployment criteria to reduce the risk of in­
jury through interaction with the airbag. "Low
risk" deployment occurs in those crashes that

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take place at lowe r decelerations as defined in
the electronic contro l unit ¢
page 160, PASSEN­
GER AIR BAG OFF light.
Always remember, a chi ld seat or infant carrie r
installed on the front seat may be struck and
knocked out of position by the rapidly inflating
passenger's a irbag in a frontal collision . The air­
bag could greatly reduce the effectiveness of the
child restraint and even ser iously injure the ch ild
during inflation .
For this reason, and because the back seat is the
safest place for ch ildren -when properly restrain­
ed according to their age and s ize -we strongly
recommend that ch ild ren always s it in the back
seat
¢ page 172, Child safety .
A WARNING
A child in a rearward-facing child seat instal­
led on the front passenger seat w ill be seri­
ously in jured and can be killed if the front air­
bag inflates -even with an Advanced Airbag
System.
- T he inflating a irbag w ill hit the child seat or
infant carrier w ith great force and will
smash the child seat and child against the
backrest, center armrest, door or roof.
-
- Always install rear -facing child seats on the
rear seat.
- If you mus t install a rearward facing child
seat on the front passenger seat beca use of
exceptional circ umstances and the
PASSEN ·
GER AIR BAG OFF
light does not come on
and stay on, immediately install the rear­
facing child seat in a rear seating position
and have the a irbag system inspected by
yo ur Audi dealer.
- Forward-fac ing ch ild seats installed on the
front passenger's seat may interfere with
the deployment of the airbag and cause se­ rious persona l injury to t he ch ild.
A WARNING
If, in exceptional c ircumstances, you mus t in­
stall a forward-facing ch ild restraint on the
front passenger's seat :
- Always make sure the forward-fac ing seat
h as been designed and ce rtified by i ts man-
Airbag syste m
ufacturer for use on a front seat with a pas­
senger front and s ide a irbag.
- Never put t he fo rward-facing child restraint
up aga inst or very near the instrument pan­
el.
- Always move the passenge r seat into its
rearmost pos ition in the seat's fore and aft
ad justment range, as far away from the a ir­
bag as possible before installing the for­
ward-facing child restraint. The backrest
m ust be adjusted to an upr ight position .
- Make sure that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
li ght comes on and stays on all the time
wheneve r the ignit ion is switched on.
A WARNING
= -To reduce the risk of serious inju ry, ma ke su re
that t he
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF ligh t will
b e d isplayed whenever a ch ild restr aint is in­
stalled on the front passenger seat and the
ignition is switched on.
- If the PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light does
not stay on, pe rform the checks describe d
~ page 160, Monitoring the Advanced Air ·
bag System.
-Take the chi ld restraint off the front passen­
ge r seat and install it properly at one of the
rea r seat positions if the
PASSENGER AIR
BAG OFF
light does not stay on.
- Have the airbag system inspected by your
Aud i dealer immediately.
- Always carefu lly follow instr uctions from
child restraint manufacturers when instal­
ling child restraints.
A WARNING
If, in except ional circumstances, you m ust in­
stall a forward or rearward-fac ing ch ild re­
straint on the front passenger's seat:
- Improper installation of ch ild restra ints can
red uce their effectiveness or even prevent
them from providing any pro tect ion.
- An improperly installed ch ild restra int can
interfere with the airbag as it deploys and
serio usly injure or even kill the child -even
with an Advanced A irbag Sys tem.
~
151

Airb ag syst em
-Always carefully follow the manufacturer's
instructions provided with the child seat or
carr ier.
- Always make sure that there is nothing on
the front passenger seat that will cause the
capacit ive passenger detection system in
the seat to signal to the Airbag System that
the seat is occupied by a person when it is
not, or to signa l that it is occupied by some­
one who is heav ier than the person actually
sitting on the seat. The presence of addi­
tional objects could cause the passenger
front a irbag to be turned on when it should
be off, or could cause the airbag to work in a
way that is different from the way it would have worked without the object on the seat.
Front airbags
Description of front airbags
The airbag system can provide supplemental
protection to properly restrained front seat occu­
pants.
F ig. 128 Location of d river ai rbag: in steeri ng w heel
F ig. 129 Location of fro nt passenger's a irbag: in the i nstru­
m ent pane l
Your vehicle is equipped w ith an "Advanced Air­
bag System" in compliance with United States
152
Federa l Moto r Vehicle Safety Standard
(FMVSS) 208 as applicable at the time your vehi­
cle was manufactured. The safety be lts for the
seats have "pretensioners" that help to take slack
out of the belt system. The pretensioners are also
activated by the electronic control unit for the
airbag system.
The front safety belts also have load lim iters to
help reduce the forces applied to the body in a
crash .
The airbag for the driver is in the steering wheel
hub ¢
fig. 128 and the airbag for the front pas­
senger is in the instrument panel¢
fig. 129. The
genera l location of the airbags is marked ''AIR ­
BAG ".
There is a lot you need to know about the a irbags
in your vehicle. We urge you to read the detailed
information about airbags, safety belts and child
safety in this and the other chapte rs that make
up the owner's literature . Please be sure to heed
the WARN INGS - they are extremely important
for your safety and the safety of your passengers,
especially infants and small children .
A WARNING -
Never rely on airbags alone for protection.
- Even when they deploy, airbags provide only
supp lemental p rotection.
- Airbag wor k most effective ly when used
w it h properly worn safety belts.
- Therefore, alw ays wea r your safe ty belts and
ma ke sure that everybody in your vehicle is
properly rest rained.
- Always hold the s teer ing whee l w ith bo th
hands on the outside of the steer ing whee l
r im at the 9:00 o'clock and 3:00 o'clock po ­
sitions to help reduce the r isk of persona l in­
jury if the driver's airbag in flates.
- Never hold the steering wheel at the 12
o'clock position or with your hands any­
where inside the steering wheel or on the
steer ing whee l hub. Hold ing the steer ing
wheel the wrong way increases the risk of
severe in jury to the arms, hands , and head if
the dr iver airbag deploys .
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_& WARNING
Objects between you and the airbag will in­
crease the risk of injury in a crash by interfer­
ing with the way the airbag unfolds and/or by
being pushed into you as the airbag inflates.
- Always make sure nothing is in the front air-
bag deployment zone that could be struck
by the airbag when it inflates.
- Objects in the zone of a deploying airbag
can become projectiles when the airbag de­
ploys and cause serious personal injury.
- Never hold things in your hands or on your
lap when the vehicle is in use.
- Never place accessories or other objects
(such as cup holders, telephone brackets,
note pads, navigation systems, or things
that are large, heavy, or bulky) on the doors; never attach then to the doors or the wind­
shield; never place them over or near or at­
tach them to the area marked ,,AIRBAG" on
the steering wheel, instrument panel or the
seat backrests; never place them between
these areas and you or any other person in
the vehicle.
- Never attach objects to the windshield
above the passenger front airbag, such as
accessory GPS navigation units or music
players. Such objects could cause serious in­
jury in a collision, especially when the air­
bags inflate.
- Never recline the front passenger seat to
transport objects. Items can also move into
the deployment area of the side airbags or
the front airbag during breaking or in a sud­ den maneuver. Objects near the airbags can
fly dangerously through the passenger com­
partment and cause injury, particularly
when the seat is reclined and the airbags in­
flate.
_& WARNING
A person on the front passenger seat, espe­ cially infants and small children, will receive
serious injuries and can even be killed by be­
ing too close to the airbag when it inflates.
- Although the Advanced Airbag System in
your vehicle is designed to turn off the front
-
Airbag system
passenger airbag if an infant or a small child
is on the front passenger seat, nobody can
absolutely guarantee that deployment un­
der these special conditions is impossible in
all conceivable situations that may happen
during the useful life of your vehicle.
- The Advanced Airbag System can deploy in
accordance with the ,,low risk" option for 3-
and 6-year-old children under the U.S. Fed­
eral Standard if a child with electrical capac­
itance greater than the combined capaci­
tance of a typical one-year old infant re­
strained in one of the forward facing or rear­
ward-facing child seats with which your ve­
hicle was certified is on the front passenger
seat and the other conditions for airbag de­
ployment are met.
- Accident statistics have shown that children
are generally safer in the rear seat area than
in the front seating position .
- For their own safety, all children, especially
12 years and younger, should always ride in
the back properly restrained for their age
and size.
Advanced front airbag system
Your vehicle is equipped with a front Advanced
Airbag System in compliance with United States
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 asap­
plicable at the time your vehicle was manufac­
tured.
The front Advanced Airbag System supplements
the safety belts to provide additional protection
for the driver's and front passenger's heads and
upper bodies in frontal crashes. The airbags in­
flate only in frontal impacts when the vehicle de­
celeration is high enough.
The front Advanced Airbag System for the front
seat occupants is not a substitute for your safety
belts. Rather, it is part of the overall occupant re­
straint system in your vehicle. Always remember
that the airbag system can only help to protect
you, if you are sitting upright, wearing your safe-
ty belt and wearing it properly . This is why you ..,.
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