15 6
Deceleration sensors continuously
monitor the physical forces acting upon
the vehicle. If a frontal impact results in
deceleration, for which the protection
afforded by safety belts no longer suf-
fices, the gas generators of the driver's
and the passenger's airbags ignite
simultaneously. The passenger's air-
bag is activated only when a special
sensor indicates that the front passen-
ger's seat is occupied.
In the event of a severe side impact the
side airbag
* is activated on the side on
which the impact occurred.
The airbags, which are under the cover
of the steering wheel, in the instrument
panel or the side trim panels of the front
doors, are deployed and inflated by the
gas within a few milliseconds. In the
process they tear or push apart the pro-grammed separation points in their
upholstered covers.
Because the inflation process must be
virtually instantaneous, it is necessarily
accompanied by a certain amount of
ignition and inflation noise. The gas
which the system employs to inflate the
airbag is not dangerous, and the asso-
ciated smoke is quickly dissipated.
The entire process is completed within
one twentieth of a second.Automatic Stability Control plus Trac-
tion helps maintain stable and con-
trolled vehicle response by inhibiting
slip at the drive wheels.
The system employs special sensors to
monitor wheelspeed and relay the data
to the system's electronic control unit,
which uses this information to calculate
slip rates at the individual wheels.
Depending on the driving situation, two
forms of remedial action can then be
taken by the system: it reacts to slip-
page caused by large amounts of
excess torque by instructing the engine
management system to reduce power
output. As a supplementary measure,
the system will also respond to an
especially pronounced tendency to-
ward traction loss at either of the drive
wheels with automatic individual appli-
cation of the affected wheel's brakes.
This achieves a locking action compa-
rable with a controlled limited-slip dif-
ferential. This brake action is active up
to 25 mph (40 km/h). From 25 mph
(40 km/h) upward, a diminished brake
action improves the traction up to
60 mph (100 km/h).
390de012Airbags ASC+T*
