Hyundai Elantra 2010 Repair Manual

Safety features of your vehicle
44
3
Side air bag (if equipped)
Your vehicle is equipped with a side air
bag in each front seat. The purpose of
the air bag is to provide the vehicle's driv-
er and/or the front passenger with addi-
tional protection than that offered by the
seat belt alone. The side air bags are designed to deploy
only during certain side-impact collisions,
depending on the crash severity, angle,
speed and point of impact. The side air
bags are not designed to deploy in all
side impact situations.

OUN026109/OUN026110

B990B02LZ
WARNING
The side air bag is supplemental
to the driver's and the passen-
ger's seat belt systems and is not
a substitute for them. Therefore
your seat belts must be worn at
all times while the vehicle is in
motion. The air bags deploy only
in certain side impact conditions
severe enough to cause signifi-
cant injury to the vehicle occu-
pants.
For best protection from the side air bag system and to avoid being
injured by the deploying side air
bag, both front seat occupants
should sit in an upright position
with the seat belt properly fas-
tened. The driver's hands should
be placed on the steering wheel
at the 9:00 and 3:00 positions.
The passenger's arms and hands
should be placed on their laps.
(Continued)
(Continued)
Do not use any accessory seatcovers.
Use of seat covers could reduce or prevent the effectiveness of
the system.
Do not install any accessories on the side or near the side air bag.
Do not place any objects over the air bag or between the air bag
and yourself.
Do not place any objects (an umbrella, bag, etc.) between the
front door and the front seat.
Such objects may become dan-
gerous projectiles and cause
injury if the supplemental side air
bag inflates.
To prevent unexpected deploy- ment of the side air bag that may
result in personal injury, avoid
impact to the side impact sensor
when the ignition key is on.
If seat or seat cover is damaged, have the vehicle checked and
repaired by an authorized
Hyundai dealer. Inform them that
your vehicle is equipped with
side air bags and an occupant
classification system.

345
Safety features of your vehicle
Curtain air bag (if equipped)
Curtain air bags are located along both
sides of the roof rails above the front and
rear doors.
They are designed to help protect the
heads of the front seat occupants and
the rear outboard seat occupants in cer-
tain side impact collisions.The curtain air bags are designed to
deploy only during certain side impact
collisions, depending on the crash sever-
ity, angle, speed and impact. The curtain
air bags are not designed to deploy in all
side impact situations, collisions from the
front or rear of the vehicle or in most
rollover situations.
WARNING
In order for side and curtain air
bags to provide the best protec-
tion, both front seat occupants
and both outboard rear occu-
pants should sit in an upright
position with the seat belts prop-
erly fastened. Importantly, chil-
dren should sit in a proper child
restraint system in the rear seat.
When children are seated in the rear outboard seats, they must be
seated in the proper child
restraint system. Make sure to
put the child restraint system as
far away from the door side as
possible, and secure the child
restraint system in a locked posi-
tion.
(Continued)
OHD036125

OUN026090
(Continued)
Do not allow the passengers tolean their heads or bodies onto
doors, put their arms on the
doors, stretch their arms out of
the window, or place objects
between the doors and passen-
gers when they are seated on
seats equipped with side and/or
curtain air bags.
Never try to open or repair any components of the side curtain
air bag system. This should only
be done by an authorized
Hyundai dealer.
Failure to follow the above men-
tioned instructions can result in
injury or death to the vehicle occu-
pants in an accident.

Safety features of your vehicle
46
3
Why didn’t my air bag go off in a
collision? (Air bags are not
designed to inflate in every colli-
sion)
There are certain types of accidents in
which the air bag would not be expect-
ed to provide additional protection to
the vehicle’s occupants.
These include rear impacts, second or
third collisions in multiple impact
accidents, as well as low speed
impacts. Damage to the vehicle indi-
cates collision energy absorption, and
is not an indicator of whether or not
an air bag should have inflated.
Air bag collision sensors
(1) SRS control module
(2) Front impact sensor (3) Side impact sensor

OHD036026/OHD036028/OHD036029/OHD036030

347
Safety features of your vehicle
Air bag inflation conditions
Front air bag
Front air bags are generally designed to
inflate in moderate to severe frontal colli-
sions within a limited range of angles.
The impact forces measured by the front
impact sensor and SRS control module
determine whether or not to inflate the
front air bags.

1JBA3513
WARNING
Do not hit or allow any objects toimpact the locations where air
bags or sensors are installed.
This may cause unexpected air
bag deployment, which could
result in serious personal injury
or death.
If the installation location or angle of the sensors is altered in
any way, the air bags may deploy
when they should not or they may
not deploy when they should,
causing severe injury or death.
Therefore, do not try to perform
maintenance on or around the air
bag sensors. Have the vehicle
checked and repaired by an
authorized Hyundai dealer.
(Continued)
(Continued)
Problems may arise if the sensorinstallation angles are changed
due to the deformation of the
front bumper, body or B pillar
where side collision sensors are
installed. Have the vehicle
checked and repaired by an
authorized Hyundai dealer.
Your vehicle has been designed to absorb impact and deploy the
air bag(s) in certain collisions.
Installing aftermarket bumper
guards or replacing a bumper
with non-genuine parts may
adversely affect your vehicle’s
collision and air bag deployment
performance.

Safety features of your vehicle
48
3
Side and/or curtain air bags
Side impact and curtain air bags are gen-
erally designed to inflate in moderate to
severe side collisions. The impact forces
measured by the side impact sensor and
SRS control module determine whether
or not to inflate the side impact air bags. Although the front air bags (driver’s and
front passenger’s air bags) are designed
to inflate only in frontal collisions, they
also may inflate in other types of colli-
sions if the front impact sensors detect a
sufficient impact. Side air bags (side
and/or curtain air bags) are designed to
inflate only in side impact collisions, but
they may inflate in other collisions if the
side impact sensors detect a sufficient
impact.
If the vehicle chassis is impacted by
bumps or objects on unimproved roads
or sidewalks, air bags may deploy. Drive
carefully on unimproved roads or on sur-
faces not designed for vehicle traffic to
prevent unintended air bag deployment.
Air bag non-inflation conditions
In certain low-speed collisions the air
bags may not deploy. The air bags are
designed not to deploy in such cases
because they may not provide occu-
pant protection beyond the protection
of the seat belts in such collisions.

1JBA3515

1JBA3516

OUN026090

349
Safety features of your vehicle
Frontal air bags are not designed toinflate in rear collisions, because occu-
pants are moved backward by the
force of the impact. In this case, inflat-
ed air bags would provide additional
occupant protection. Front air bags are not designed to
inflate in side impact collisions,
because frontal air bag deployment
would not provide additional occupant
protection. In an angular collision, the force of
impact may direct the occupants in a
direction where the air bags would not
provide additional occupant protection,
and thus the sensors may not deploy
any air bags.

1VQA2087
1JBA3521
1JBA3516

Safety features of your vehicle
50
3
Frontal Air Bags may not inflate in
“under-ride” collisions where the colli-
sions energy is absorbed above the
vehicle’s front bumper. Air bags may not inflate in rollover acci-
dents unless the side of the vehicle is
struck with sufficient force. Air bags may not inflate if the vehicle
collides with objects such as a utility
pole or a tree, where the point of
impact is concentrated and the colli-
sion energy is absorbed by the vehicle
structure.

1JBA3517
1JBA3522
1JBA3518

351
Safety features of your vehicle
How does the air bag system
operate
Air bags are activated (able to inflate ifnecessary) only when the ignition
switch is turned to ON or START posi-
tion.
Air bags inflate instantly in the event of a serious frontal or side collision (if
equipped with side air bag or curtain
air bag) in order to help protect the
occupants from serious physical injury.
There is no single speed at which the air bags will inflate.
Generally, air bags are designed to
inflate by the severity of a collision and
its direction. These two factors deter-
mine whether the sensors send out an
electronic deployment/inflation signal.
Air bag deployment depends on a number of factors including vehicle
speed, angles of impact and the densi-
ty and stiffness of the vehicles or
objects which your vehicle hits in the
collision. Though, factors are not limit-
ed to those mentioned above.
The front air bags will completely inflate and deflate in an instant.
It is virtually impossible for you to see
the air bags inflate during an accident.
It is much more likely that you will sim-
ply see the deflated air bags hanging
out of their storage compartments after
the collision. In order to help provide protection in a
severe collision, the air bags must
inflate rapidly. The speed of air bag
inflation is a consequence of the
extremely short time in which a collision
occurs and the need to get the air bag
between the occupant and the vehicle
structures before the occupant impacts
those structures. This speed of inflation
reduces the risk of serious or life-
threatening injuries in a severe collision
and is thus a necessary part of air bag
design.
However, air bag inflation can also
cause injuries which normally can
include facial abrasions, bruises and
broken bones, and sometimes more
severe injuries because the inflation
speed also causes the air bags to
expand with a great deal of force.
There are even circumstances under which contact with the steer-
ing wheel air bag can cause fatal
injuries, especially if the occupant
is positioned excessively close to
the steering wheel.
WARNING
To avoid severe personal injuryor death caused by deploying air
bags in a collision, the driver
should sit as far back from the
steering wheel air bag as possi-
ble (at least 10 inches (250 mm)
away). The front passenger
should always move their seat as
far back as possible and sit back
in their seat.
Air bag inflates instantly in the event of collision, and passen-
gers may be injured by the air bag
expansion force if they are not in
proper position.
Air bag inflation may cause injuries which normally include
facial or bodily abrasions,
injuries from broken glasses or
burns by the air bag inflation
gasses.

Safety features of your vehicle
52
3
Noise and smoke
When the air bags inflate, they make a
loud noise and they leave smoke and
powder in the air inside of the vehicle.
This is normal and is a result of the igni-
tion of the air bag inflator. After the air
bag inflates, you may feel substantial dis-
comfort in breathing due to the contact of
your chest with both the seat belt and the
air bag, as well as from breathing the
smoke and powder. We strongly urge
you to open your doors and/or win-
dows as soon as possible after impact
in order to reduce discomfort and pre-
vent prolonged exposure to the
smoke and powder.
Though smoke and powder are non-
toxic, it may cause irritation to the skin
(eyes, nose and throat etc). If this is the
case, wash and rinse with cold water
immediately and consult a doctor if the
symptom persists.
Installing a child restraint on a front passenger’s seat is forbidden
Never place a rear-facing child restraint
in the front passenger’s seat. If the air
bag deploys, it would impact the rear-fac-
ing child restraint, causing serious or
fatal injury.
In addition, do not place front-facing child
restraint in the front passenger’s seat
either. If the front passenger air bag
inflates, it would cause serious or fatal
injuries to the child.

1JBH3051
WARNING
When the air bags deploy, the air
bag related parts in the steering
wheel and/or instrument panel
and/or in both sides of the roof rails
above the front and rear doors are
very hot. To prevent injury, do not
touch the air bag storage area’s
internal components immediately
after an air bag has inflated.

353
Safety features of your vehicle
Air bag warning light
The purpose of air bag warning light in
your instrument panel is to alert you of a
potential problem with your air bag -
Supplemental Restraint System (SRS).When the ignition switch is turned ON,
the indicator light should illuminate for
approximately 6 seconds, then go off.
Have the system checked if:
The light does not turn on briefly when
you turn the ignition ON.
The light stays on after illuminating for approximately 6 seconds.
The light comes on while the vehicle is in motion.
WARNING
Extreme Hazard! Do not use arearward facing child restraint on
a seat protected by an air bag in
front of it!
Never put a child restraint in the front passenger’s seat. If the front
passenger air bag inflates, it
would cause serious or fatal
injuries.
When children are seated in the rear outboard seats of vehicle
equipped with curtain air bag, be
sure to install the child restraint
system as far away from the door
side as possible, and secure the
child restraint system to be
locked in position.
Inflation of side or curtain air bag
could cause serious injury or
death due to the expansion
impact.

W7-147