1997 TOYOTA 4RUNNER Owners Manual

29
Remove excess length of the belt and adjust the belt position.
To shorten the belt, pull the free end of the belt. Position the lap belt as low as possible on your hipsÐnot on your waist, thn adjust it
to a snug fit.
CAUTION!
High-positioned and loose-fitting
lap belts could cause severe injuries
due to sliding under the lap belt
during a collision. Keep the lap belt
positioned as low on hips as possible.
To release the belt, press the buckle-
release button.The rear seat belts can be stowed
when not in use.
Seat belts must be stowed before you fold
the seat back. (See Rear seatsÐFold
down rear seatº in this chapter.)
ÐStowing rear seat belts

30
If your seat belt cannot be fastened se- curely because it is not long enough, a
personalized seat belt extender is avail-
able from your Toyota dealer free of charge.
Please contact your local Toyota dealer
so that the dealer can order the proper re-
quired length for the extender. Bring the heaviest
coat you expect to wear for prop-
er measurement and selection of length.
Additional ordering information is avail-
able at yout Toyota dealer.
CAUTION!
When using the seat belt extender,
observe the following. Failure to fol-
low these instructions could result
in less effectiveness of the seat belt
restraint system in case of vehicle accident, increasing the chance of
personal injury. Never use the seat belt extender if
you can fasten the seat belt with-
out it.
Remember that the extender pro-
vided for you may not be safe when
used on a different vehicle, or for
another person or at a different
seating position than the one origi-
nally intended for.
To connect the extender to the seat
belt, insert the tab into the seat belt
buckle so that the PRESSº signs onthe buckle-release buttons of the ex-
tender and the seat belt are both facing
outward as shown.
You will hear a click when the tab locks into the buckle.
When releasing the seatbelt, press on the
buckle-release button on the extender,not on the seat belt. This helps prevent
damage to the vehicle interior and extend-
er itself.
When not in use, remove the extender
and store in the vehicle for future use.
CAUTION!
After inserting the tab, make sure
the tab and buckle are locked and
that the seat belt extender is not twisted.
Do not insert coins, clips, etc. in
the buckle as this may prevent you
from properly latching the tab and buckle.
If the seat belt does not function
normally, immediately contact
your Toyota dealer. Do not use the
seat until the seat belt is fixed. It cannot protect an adult occupant
or your child from injury.
ÐSeat belt extender

31
The SRS (Supplemental Restraint Sys-
tem) airbags are designed to provide
further protection to the driver and
front passenger when added to the pri-
mary protection provided by the seatbelts.
In response to a severe frontal impact, the
SRS airbags work together with the seat
belt to help preventing or reduce injury by inflating, in order to decrease the likeli-
hood of the driver's or front passenger's
head or chest directly hitting the steering
wheel or dashboard. The passenger air-
bag is activated even with no passenger
in the front seat.This indicator comes on when the
ignition key is turned to the ACCº or
ONº position. It goes off after about 6
seconds. This means the SRS airbag
is operating properly.
The SRS airbag warning light system
monitors the airbag sensor assembly, in-
flators, warning light, interconnecting wir-
ing and power sources.The SRS airbag system is designed to
activate in response to a severe frontal
impact within the shaded area be-
tween the arrows in the illustration.
The SRS airbags will deploy if the severity
of the impact is above the designed
threshold level, comparable to an approxi-
mate 20 km/h (14 mph) collision when im-
pacting straight into a fixed barrier that
does not move or deform.
If the severity of the impact is below the
above threshold level, the SRS airbags
may not deploy.
SRS airbag

32
However, this threshold velocity will be
considerably higher if the vehicle strikes
an object, such as a parked vehicle or sign
pole, which can move or deform on im-
pact, or if it is
involved in an underride col-
lision (e.g. a collision in which the noise of
the vehicle underridesº, or goes under, the bed of a truck). It is possible with collision severity at the marginal level of airbag sensor detection
and activation that only one of your ve-
hicle's two airbags will deploy. For your safety of all occupants, be sure to always wear seat belts.
The SRS airbags are not designed to inflate if the vehicle is subjected to a
side or rear impact, if it rolls over, or if
it is involved in a low-speed frontalcollision.The SRS airbag system mainly consists
of the following components and their
locations are shown in the illustration.
1 SRS airbag warning light.
2 Steering wheel pad (airbag and inflat- or)
3 Passenger airbag module (airbag and inflator)
4 Airbag sensor assembly.
The airbag sensor assembly consists of a
safing sensor and airbag sensor.

33
In a severe frontal impact, sensor detects
deceleration and the system triggers the
airbag inflator. Then a chemical reaction
in the inflator momentarily fills the airbags
with non-toxic nitrogen gas to help re-
strain the forward motion of the occu- pants. When the airbag inflates, they produce a fairly
loud noise and release some smoke
along with the nitrogen gas. This is notharmful and does not indicate a fire. Be
sure to wash off any residue as soon as
possible to prevent minor skin irritation.
Deployment of the airbags happens in a
fraction of a second, so the airbags must
inflate with considerable force. While the
system is designed to reduce serious inju-
ries, it may also cause minor burns or
abrasions and swellings.
Parts of the airbag module (steering
wheel hub, dashboard) may be hot for several minutes, but the airbags them- selves w ill not be hot. The airbags are de-
signed to inflate only once.
A crash severe enough to inflate the air-
bags may break the windshield as the ve-
hicle buckles. In vehicles with a passen-ger airbag the windshield may also be
damaged by absorbing some of the force
of the inflating airbag.
CAUTION!
The SRS airbag system is de-
signed only as a supplement to
the primary protection of the driv-
er side aseat belt systems. The
driver is particularly susceptible
to death or serious injury if they
does not wear their seat belt;
when sudden braking or a colli-
sion occurs, they may be thrown
forward into the deploying SRS
aribag. To obtain a maximum
protection in an accident, the driv-
er and all passengers in the ve-
hicle should always wear their
seat belts when driving because
serious injuries can result to unre-
strained occupants. For instruc-
tions and precautions concerning
the seat belt system, see Seat
beltsº in this chapter.
A baby or small child who is too
small to use a seat belt should be
properly secured in a rear seat us-
ing a child restraint system.
Never use rear-facing child re-
straint system in the front seat be- cause the force of the rapid infla-
tion of the passenger airbag can cause severe injury to the child.

34
If you must use a forward-facing
child restraint system in the front seat, the seat must be moved as far
back as possible. For instructions
concerning the installation of a
child restratint system, see Child
restraintº in this chapter. Do not sit on the edge of the seat
or lean over the dashboard when
the vehicle is in use. The airbags
inflate with considerable speed
and force; you may be severely in-
jured. Sit up straight and well back
in the seat, and always use your
seat belt. Do not allow a child to stand up, or
to kneel on the front passenger
seat. The airbag inflates with con-
siderable speed and force; the
child may be severely injured.
Do not hold a child on your lap or in your arms. Use a child restraint
system in the rear seat. For in-
structions concerning the installa- tion of a child restraint system, see
Child restraintº in this chapter.

35
Do not put objects on or in front of
the dashboard or steering wheel
pad that houses the airbag sys-
tem. They might restrict inflation
or cause personal injury as they
are projected rearward.
Do not modify, remove or open
any component or wiring, such as
the steering wheel, column cover,
front passenger airbag, airbag
sensor assembly. Doing any of
these may cause sudden SRS air-
bag inflation or disable the sys-
tem, which could result in person-
al injury.
Failure to follow these instructions can result in severe injuries.
NOTICE
Do not perform any of the following changes without consulting your
Toyota dealer. Such changes caninterfere with proper operation ofthe SRS airbag system in some
cases.
Installation of electronic itemssuch as a mobile two-way radio,
cassette tape player or compact
disc player
Modification of the suspension system
Modification of the front endstructure
Attachment of a grille guard (bull
bar, kangaroo bar, etc.), snow-plow winches or any other equip-
ment to the front end
Repairs made on or near the frontend structure, console, steering
column, steering wheel or dash-board near the front passengerairbag.
This SRS airbag system has a service re-
minder indicator to inf orm the driver of op-
erating problems. If either of the following
conditions occurs, this indicates a mal-
function of the airbags. Contact your To-
yota dealer as soon as possible to service
the vehicle. The light does not come on when the
ignition key is turned to the ACCº or
ONº position, or remains on.
The light comes on while driving.

36
In the following cases, contact your Toyo-
ta dealer as soon as possible: The SRS airbag has been inflated.
The front part of the vehicle (shaded in the illustration) was involved in an ac-
cident not of the extent to cause the
SRS airbags to inflate
The pad section of the steering wheel
(shaded in the illustration) is scrat-
ched, cracked, or otherwise damaged. Toyota strongly urges the use of child
restraint systems for children small
enough to use them.
The laws of all fifty states in the U.S.A.
and Canada now require the use of a child
restraint system.
Your vehicle conforms to SAEJ1819.
If a child is too large for a child restraint
system,
the child should sit in the rear seat
and must be restrained using the vehicle's
seat belt. See Seat beltsº for details.CAUTION!
For effective protection in automo-
bile accidents and sudden stops,
children must be properly re-
strained using a seat belt or child
restraint system depending on the
age and size of the child. Holding a
child in your arms is not a substi-
tute for a child restraint system. In
an accident, the child can be
crushed against the windshield, or
between you and the vehicle's inte-
rior.
Toyota strongly urges use of a
proper child restraint system that
conforms to the size of the child
on the rear seat. According to acci-
dent statistics, the child is safer
when properly restrained in the
rear seat than in the front seat.
Never install a rear-facing child re-
straint system on the front seat. In
the event of an accident, the force
of the rapid inflation of the airbag can cause severe injury in a rear-
facing child restraint system is
installed on the front seat.
Unless it is unavoidable, do not
install a forward-facing child re-
straint system on the front seat.
If you must install a forward-fac-
ing child restraint system on the
front seat, move the seat as far back as possible.
Make sure that you have complied
with all installation instructions
provided by the child restraint
manufacturer and that the system is properly secured.
Child restraintÐ ÐChild restraint precautions