2001 Acura RL airbag off

Your Car's Safety Features

Airbags offer no protection in rear
impacts, rollovers, or minor
frontal or side collisions. Airbags can pose serious hazards.

To do their job, airbags must inflate with tremendous force andspeed. So while airbags help save
lives, they can cause minor injuries, or more serious or even fatal
injuries if occupants are not
properly restrained or sitting
properly.

What you should do: Always wear

your seat belt properly, and sit
upright and as far back as possible
from the steering wheel or
dashboard.
Seats & Seat-Backs
Your car's seats are designed to keep
you in a comfortable, upright position so you can take full
advantage of the protection offered
by seat belts and the energy absorbing materials in the seats.
How you adjust your seats and seat-
backs can also affect your safety. For example, sitting too close to thesteering wheel or dashboard
increases the risk of you or your
passenger being injured by striking
the inside of the car, or by an inflating airbag.
Reclining a seat-back too far reduces
the seat belt's effectiveness and increases the chance that the seat'soccupant will slide under the seat
belt in a crash and be seriously
injured.
What you should do: Move the front

seats as far back as possible, and
keep adjustable seat-backs in an
upright position whenever the car is

moving.

Head Restraints Head restraints can help protect you
from whiplash and other injuries. For
maximum protection, the back of
your head should rest against the center of the head restraint.
Door Locks
Keeping your doors locked reduces
the chance of being thrown out of
the car during a crash. It also helps prevent occupants from accidentallyopening a door and falling out, and
outsiders from unexpectedly opening
your doors.

Driver and Passenger Safety

Protecting Adults
6.Adjust the Steering Wheel
Adjust the steering wheel, if needed, so that the wheel points toward your
chest, not toward your face.
Pointing the steering wheel toward
your chest provides optimal protection from the airbag.
See page 71 for how to adjust the

steering wheel.
7.Maintain a Proper Sitting
Position
After all occupants have adjusted their seats and put on seat belts, it is
very important that they continue to sit upright, well back in their seats,
with their feet on the floor, until the
car is parked and the engine is off.
Sitting improperly can increase the
chance of injury during a crash. For
example, if an occupant slouches,
lies down, turns sideways, sits
forward, leans forward or sideways, or puts one or both feet up, the
chance of injury during a crash is
greatly increased. In addition, an occupant who is out of
position in the front seat can be seriously or fatally injured by
striking interior parts of the car, or
by being struck by an inflating front
airbag. Being struck by an inflatingside airbag can result in possibly
serious injuries.

CONTINUED

Driver and Passenger Safety

Sitting improperly or out of
position can result in serious
injury or death in a crash.
Always sit upright, well back in
the seat, with your feet on the

floor.

Additional Information About Your Airbags

During a frontal crash, your seat
belts help restrain your lower body
and torso. Your airbag provides a
cushion to help restrain and protect
your head and chest.
Since both airbags use the same sensors, both airbags normally
inflate at the same time. However, it is possible for only one airbag to
inflate.
This can occur when the severity of a collision is at the margin, or
threshold, that determines whetheror not the airbags will deploy. In
such cases, the seat belt will provide
sufficient protection, and the
supplemental protection offered by
the airbag would be minimal. After inflating, the front airbags
immediately deflate, so they won't
interfere with the driver's visibility,
or the ability to steer or operate other controls.
The total time for inflation and deflation is approximately one-tenth
of a second, so fast that most
occupants are not aware that the
airbags deployed until they see them
lying in their laps. After a crash, you may see what
looks like smoke. This is actuallypowder from the airbag's surface.
Although the powder is not harmful, people with respiratory problemsmay experience some temporary
discomfort. If this occurs, get out of
the car as soon as it is safe to do so.

U.S. Owners

For additional information on how
your airbags work, see the booklet

titled SRS: What You Need to Know

About Airbags that came with your

owner's manual.

Canadian Owners

For additional information on how
your airbags work, ask your dealer
for a copy of the booklet titled SRS:

What You Need to Know About Airbags.

Driver and Passenger Safety

Additional Information About Your Airbags
How the SRS Indicator Light
Works
The purpose of the SRSindicator light is to alert
you to a potential problem with your
front airbags. This light will also alert you to a potential problem with
your automatic seat belt tensioners (page 41); or your side airbags or
passenger's side airbag automatic
cutoff system (page 45).
When you turn the ignition ON (II), this indicator will light briefly then
go out. This tells you that the system is working properly. If the light comes on at any other
time, or does not come on at all, you should have the system checked by
your dealer. For example: If the SRS indicator light does not
come on after you turn the ignition

ON (II).
If the light stays on after the

engine starts.
If the light comes on or flashes on
and off while you drive.
If you see any of these indications,
your front or side airbags may not deploy, your passenger's side airbag
automatic cutoff system may not
work properly, or your seat belt tensioners may not work when you
need them. See your Acura dealer assoon as possible.

Driver and Passenger Safety
Ignoring the SRS indicator light
can result in serious injury or
death if the airbags, cutoff
system, or tensioners do not
work properly.
Have your vehicle checked by a
dealer as soon as possible if
the SRS light alerts you to a potential problem.

SRS

Additional Information About Your Airbags

How The Side Airbag Indicator
Light Works This light alerts you thatthe passenger's side airbag
has been automatically shut off.
To reduce the risk of injury from an inflating side airbag, your car has an
automatic cutoff system for the
passenger's side airbag.
Although Acura does not encourage children to ride in the front seat, thissystem is designed to shut off the
side airbag if a child leans sideways
and the child's head is in the side
airbag deployment path. If a small-statured adult leans
sideways, or larger adult slouches
and leans sideways into the
deployment path of the side airbag,
the system may also shut off the side
airbag.

If the side airbag indicator light
comes on, you should have the
passenger sit upright. Once the
passenger is out of the deployment
path of the side airbag, the system
will turn the airbag back on and the light will go out. A front seat passenger should not
use a cushion or other object as a
backrest. It may prevent the cutoff system from working properly.
When you turn the ignition ON (II), the indicator should light briefly and
go out (see page 55). If it doesn't
light, stays on, or comes on whiledriving without a passenger in the
front seat, have the system checked.
Driver and Passenger Safety

SIDE

AIRBAG

Indicator Lights

Lights On Indicator
(U.S. models only)

On cars with automatic lighting (see
page 64)

This indicator reminds you that the exterior lights are on. It comes on
when the light switch is in either the or position. If you turn the
ignition switch to ACCESSORY (I)
or LOCK (0) without turning off the
light switch, this indicator will
remain on. A reminder chime willalso sound when you open the driver's

door.

This indicator will also come on
when the light switch is in AUTO and the lights turn on automatically.
Cruise Control Indicator
This lights when you set the cruise control. See page 73 for information

on operating the cruise control.
Immobilizer System
Indicator
This indicator comes on for a few seconds when you turn the ignition
switch ON (II). It will then go off if
you have inserted a properly-coded ignition key. If it is not a properly-
coded key, the indicator will blink
and the engine will not start (see
page 78).
This indicator also blinks several times when you turn the ignitionswitch from ON (II) to ACCESSORY (I) or LOCK (0).
Malfunction Indicator
Lamp

See page 287.
Supplemental Restraint
System Indicator

This indicator lights when you turn the ignition switch ON (II). If itcomes on at any other time, it
indicates a potential problem with
your front airbags. This light will also alert you to a potential problem
with your side airbags, passenger's side airbag automatic cutoff system
or automatic seat belt tensioners.
For complete information, see page
45.

Side Airbag Indicator
This indicator lights when you turn the ignition switch ON (II). If itcomes on at any other time, it
indicates that the passenger's side airbag has automatically shut off.
For complete information, see page
47.

Instruments and Controls

SRS

SIDE
AIRBAG

CRUISE

CONTROL

Seat Heaters, Ski Sleeve

The HI or LO indicator lights and remains lit until you turn it off by
pushing the opposite side of theswitch lightly. The indicator will turn

off.
In HI, the heater turns off when the

seat gets warm, and turns back on
after the seat's temperature drops. It
continues to cycle as long as you
leave it set on HI. The HI indicator
remains lit as a reminder that you
have the heater on.
In LO, the heater runs continuously.It does not cycle with temperature

changes.

Because of the sensors for the side
airbag system, there is no heater in
the passenger's seat-back. Follow these precautions whenever
you use the seat heaters: Use the HI setting only to heat the
seats quickly. Select the LO
setting when the seats feel warm.
The HI setting draws large amounts of current from the
battery. Do not use the seat heaters, even
on the LO setting, if the engine is
left idling for an extended period.
They can weaken the battery, causing hard starting.
Ski Sleeve

The ski sleeve allows you to carry skis or other long objects safely
without soiling or damaging the
interior of your car. It attaches to the
trunk pass-through.
KNOB
To use the ski sleeve: 1. Pull down the rear seat armrest. Open the trunk pass-through
cover by sliding the knob down-
ward and pulling on the cover.

Instruments and Controls
LID