Your Car's Safety Features
Airbags
Your car has a Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) with front
airbags to help protect the heads and
chests of the driver and a front seat
passenger during a moderate tosevere frontal collision. All V6 models and 4-cylinder EX model
are standard and DX, LX models areoptional
Your car also has side airbags to help protect the upper torso of the driveror a front seat passenger during a
moderate to severe side impact.
The most important things you need to know about your airbags are: Airbags do not replace seat belts.
They are designed to supplement the seat belts.
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.
Driver and Passenger Safety
Your Car's Safety Features
Seats & Seat-Backs
Your car's seats are designed to keep
you in a comfortable, upright position so you can take fulladvantage 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 the steering 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's
occupant 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 accidentally opening a door and falling out, and
outsiders from unexpectedly opening
your doors.
Driver and Passenger Safety
Protecting Adults
If a seat belt does not seem to work
as it should, it may not protect the
occupant in a crash. No one should
sit in a seat with an inoperative seat
belt. Anyone using a seat belt that is
not working properly can be seriously injured or killed. Have your
Honda dealer check the belt as soon
as possible.
See page 40 for additional
information about your seat beltsystem and how to take care of your
belts.
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 67 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.
Driver and Passenger Safety
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 samesensors, 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 whether or 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 actually
powder from the airbag's surface.
Although the powder is not harmful,
people with respiratory problems
may 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 Your Side Airbags Work
Some models are equipped with sideairbags for the driver and a front
seat passenger. The airbags are
stored in the outer edges of the front
seat-backs, and both are marked
"SIDE AIRBAG." If you ever have a moderate to
severe side impact, the sensors will
detect rapid deceleration and signal
the control unit to instantly inflate either the driver's or the passenger's
side airbag.
Only one airbag will deploy during aside impact. If the impact is on the
passenger's side, the passenger's side airbag will deploy even if there
is no passenger.
To get the best protection from the side airbags, front seat occupantsshould wear their seat belts and sit
upright and well back in their seats. How the SRS Indicator Light
Works
The purpose of the SRSindicator light is to alert
you to a potential problem with your front airbags. On cars with side 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 46).
When you turn the ignition ON (II), this indicator will light up briefly
then go out. This tells you that thesystem is working properly.
CONTINUED
Driver and Passenger Safety
SRS
Additional Information About Your Airbags
If the light comes on at any other
time, or does not come on at all, youshould 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 Honda dealer
as soon as possible.
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 Honda does not encourage children to ride in the front, 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.
Driver and Passenger Safety
SIDEAIRBAG
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.
Additional Information About Your Airbags
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 while
driving without a passenger in the
front seat, have the system checked.
Driver and Passenger Safety
Indicator Lights
U.S.
Parking Brake and
Brake System Indicator
1. This indicator comes on when you turn the ignition switch ON (II). It
is a reminder to check the parking
brake. Driving with the parking
brake not fully released candamage the brakes and tires.
2. If the indicator remains lit after you have fully released theparking brake while the engine isrunning, or if it comes on while
driving, it can indicate a problem
in the brake system. For complete
information, see page 313 .
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 or automatic seat belt tensioners. This light willalso alert you to a potential problem
with your side airbags. For complete information, see page 47.
Side Airbag Indicator
Only on models equipped with side
airbags
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.
Malfunction IndicatorLamp
See page 311.
U.S.
Anti-lock Brake System
(ABS) Indicator
Only on models equipped with ABS (see
page 204)
This light normally comes on for a few seconds when you turn theignition switch ON (II), and when
the ignition switch is turned toSTART (III). If this light comes on at
any other time, there is a problem in
the ABS. If this happens, take the car to your dealer to have it checked.
With the light on, your car still has normal braking ability but no anti-
lock. For complete information, see
page 205.
Instruments and Controls
Canada
S R S
SIDEAIRBAG
A B S
Canada