2001 SAAB 9-3 child seat

30 SafetyFront passenger seat The airbags are interconnected and have a
common warning light, AIR BAG. The pas-
senger airbag module is housed in the
fascia above the glove compartment and is
marked ”SRS AIR BAG”.
Both airbags will be inflated in the event of a
moderate to severe frontal, or near-frontal
collision, even if the passenger seat is unoc-
cupied.
Side airbag
WARNING
Never secure a rear-facing child seat in
the right front seat of a car equipped with
a passenger airbag. Inflation of the airbag
in the event of an accident could seriously
injure or kill a child.
WARNING
 Children 12 and under can be killed by
the airbag.
 The back seat is the safest place for
children.
 Never allow a child to stand in front of
the seat or to sit on the lap of a
front-seat passenger. Serious injury or
death could result if the airbag is
inflated in a collision.
 The glove compartment must be
closed while travelling. An open
glove-compartment door could cause
leg injuries in the event of a collision.
 Never place anything on the dash or in
front of the seat as, in addition to being
a hazard to passengers, this could
interfere with the function of the airbag
in the event of an accident. The same
applies to the mounting of accessories
on the dash.
 Keep feet on the floor - never put feet
up on the dash, on the seat or out of
the window.
 Do not carry anything in your lap.
WARNING
 This car is equipped with side airbags
and no extra interior trim should be fit-
ted. Failure to observe this warning
could result in the side airbags not
inflating as intended and thus not pro-
viding the intended protection either.
 Never place any object in the area that
would be occupied by the inflated air-
bag.
 For optimum protection, sit upright in
the seat, with your safety belt correctly
fastened.
 The sensors for the side airbags are
fitted in the front doors.
IB986
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33 Safety
Frequently asked questions on func-
tion of the airbagDo you still need to wear a safety belt if air-
bags are fitted? Yes, always! The airbag merely supple-
ments the car’s normal safety system.
Moreover, the airbag will only be actuated in
a moderate to severe frontal, or near-frontal
collision, which means, of course, that it pro-
vides no protection in minor frontal colli-
sions, major rear-end or side-on collisions
or if the car rolls over.
The safety belts help reduce the chance of
the car occupants from being thrown around
and injured inside the car.
But they also ensure that, if a collision
occurs in which the airbags are inflated, the
airbag will make the optimum contact with
the occupant, i.e. square on from the front.
If the occupant meets the airbag in an offset
position, the protection afforded will be
reduced.
In addition, airbags provide no protection
against a secondary impact occurring in the
same incident. So there is no doubt about
the benefit of wearing safety belts at all
times.
Do not sit too close to the airbag: it needs
room to inflate.
The airbag inflates very quickly and power-
fully in order to protect an adult person in a
serious frontal collision.
How do I position the seat to leave room for
the airbag to inflate?Don’t have your seat too far forward.
Recline the seat back to increase the dis-
tance between you and the airbag. For short
drivers, special accessory pedal extensions
are available through your Saab dealer.
Airbags inflate extremely rapidly and with
great force - to be fast enough to protect an
adult in the seat. When do the airbags in the steering wheel
and passenger side of the dash board
inflate? The airbag will only be inflated under certain
predetermined conditions in a moderate to
severe frontal, or near-frontal collision,
depending on such factors as the force and
angle of the impact, the speed of the car on
impact, and the resistance to deformation of
the impacting object.
The airbag can only be activated once in the
same incident.
Do not attempt to drive the car after an
airbag has been inflated, even if it is possi-
ble.
What won’t trigger the airbag? The airbag will not be activated in all
front-end collisions. For instance, if the car
has hit something relatively soft and yielding
(e.g. a snow drift or a hedge) or a solid
object at a low impact speed, the airbag will
not necessarily be triggered. How loud is the inflation? The noise of the inflation is certainly loud,
but it is very short-lived and will not damage
your hearing. For a short time afterwards
you could experience a buzzing noise in
your ears.
Most people who have experienced it
cannot remember the noise of the inflation
at all - all they remember is the noise of the
crash. Can you still use a child seat in the front if a
passenger airbag is installed? Definitely not!
Children 12 and under can be injured or
killed by the airbag.
The BACK SEAT is the SAFEST place for
children.
NEVER put a child seat in the front.
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48 ConvertibleConvertibleGeneral safety instructions• Never touch the hinges and struts of the
soft top nor the upper beam of the wind-
shield while operating the soft top.
 After raising the soft top, always check
that it is properly secured to the top beam
of the windshield with the soft top locking
device before driving the car away.
After folding it down you should check that
the tonneau cover latches have engaged
properly. Otherwise it may come loose
while you are driving and cause injury.
 Do not operate the soft top with passen-
gers in the rear seat or bystanders right
next to the car. There is a risk of head inju-
ries while the soft top is in motion.
 Remove child car seats and children
before operating the soft top.
 Don’t operate the soft top in temperatures
below 23°F (-5°C).  Note that certain automatic carwashes
can do damage to fabric soft tops. This
applies to carwashes that use mechanical
feelers bearing against the body. We
advise against washing a Saab 9-3 Con-
vertible in automatic carwashes.
 Note that certain automatic car washes
can cause water to leak in places that nor-
mally would not leak. Do not direct high
pressure streams of water at the seals for
the conver tible top.
 Roof racks and ski holders must not be
mounted on the soft top.
 Under no circumstances should anything
be put into the storage space for the soft
top (under the tonneau cover) since this
could cause obstruction when the soft top
is being folded away.
 See that no luggage is resting against the
soft top stowage space since this could
interfere with the rasing and folding of the
soft top.  When the soft top is being operated, low-
ering or raising should be completed. Do
not leave the soft top partially raised or
lowered: after 20 seconds it will quickly
"settle down" when the hydraulic pres-
sure is automatically released.
 It is important that the telescopic locking
handle is completely pushed in when the
soft top is closed.
 Fold down any auxilliary mounted
antenna before raising the top to avoid
possible antenna or top damage (e.g.,
OnStar cellular antenna on windshield of
Conver tible).
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56 ConvertibleTrunk, 9-3 ConvertibleHooking up top storage bagMore space in the trunk can be obtained by
lifting the top storage bag up by the straps
under it and hooking them in the eyelets at
the top of the bag.
The top storage bag can only be hooked up
in this way when the top is raised. If you
attempt to lower the top while the bag is
hooked up, the SID will display the message
"CHECK SOFT TOP STORAGE"; see page
54.
Trunk lid lockUnlocking the trunk lid by using the remote
trunk release button on the driver’s door is
possible only when the top is fully lowered
or raised (note that the ignition must be in
position ON when the top is lowered).
The trunk button on the driver’s door is inop-
erative when the car is locked.Rear seatThe rear seat is intended for two passen-
gers.
The two rear seat positions have three-point
safety belts with inertia reels.
Lowering the rear seatbackTo increase the load-carrying capacity of
the car, the rear seatback can be folded for-
ward. This will be easier if the front seats are
not too far back.
1 Pass the rear safety belts under the
black handles at both ends of the back-
rest. This prevents the safety belts from
becoming caught when the seatback is
raised again.
2 The seatback is fitted with a lock at the
top near the left rear head restraint. Use
the ignition key to unlock the entire back-
rest. Remove the key.
3 Lower the seatback. (In Canada, if using
child seat top tether strap, detach from
anchorage in trunk prior to lowering the
seatback.).
NOTEIf the trunk lid is opened by unlocking it
with the key when the top is not fully raised
or lowered, damage to the trunk lid and/or
top system could result.
IB855
Suspending top bag
IB856
Lock for rear backrest cushion
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132 Interior equipment, trunkManually adjustable front seats with
”Easy Entry” function, Coupé and
Convertible versions Manual seats have a feature called ”Easy
Entry”, which facilitates movement to and
from the rear seat. Activate ”Easy Entry” as follows:
1 Raise the release lever and hold it in its
uppermost position until the backrest is
tipped forward.
2 Slide the seat forward. The whole seat is
now shifted to its forward position.
Resetting:
1 Slide the seat back to the desired
position.
2 Fold the backrest to the upright position.
Lock the front to rear seat adjustment.
After resetting you should ensure that the
backrest and seat are properly secured.
WARNING
 Always check that the catch engages
properly after the backrest is raised.
 Check also that the seat’s lateral
adjuster is properly secured by trying
to shift the seat. Both the backrest and
the whole seat must be locked in
place; otherwise you are at risk of
injury during braking or in a collision
especially if a rear-facing child seat is
fitted behind the backrest..
IB805
Manually adjusted front seat, Coupé and
Conver tible versions 1 Release lever, tipping backrest forward
2 Activation of the ”Easy Entry” feature when
the backrest is tipped forward
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133 Interior equipment, trunk
Electrically adjustable front seats
(certain variants)Both seats can be operated from outside
when one of the front doors is opened, to
improve access to the car.
For safety reasons, if the door is closed, the
seat can only be adjusted when the ignition
is ON.
Note, that both front seats can be adjusted
up to 30 seconds after the door has been
closed.
Height Raise the seat by lifting the front switch bar
straight up.
Lower the seat by pushing the front switch
bar down.
The same switch bar can be used to adjust
the height of the front and rear edges of the
seat independently by moving half of the
switch in the direction desired.
Legroom adjustment For power seats, slide the switch bar for-
ward or rearward to the desired position.
WARNING
The seats are actuated by powerful
motors. Bear this in mind when adjusting
the seat, and make sure that nothing gets
caught and damaged.
Bear in mind that children can be injured
if they play with the electrically-operated
seats.
Always remove the ignition key when you
leave the car to prevent personal injury
caused by the electrically adjustable
seats, for example, due to children play-
ing.
IB807
IB806
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145 Interior equipment, trunk
4 Lower the entire backrest cushion by pulling this same handle
(item 3) forward. At the same time, pivot the beam backwards.
IMPORTANT: When you replace the belt beam using the handle
(item 3), you must verify that it is properly locked and that the two
red "warning tabs" go down (thereby indicating that locking has
taken place properly).
5 To increase the volume, the rear head restraints can be removed
before the backrest cushion is lowered.
Lowering the right-hand part of the rear seat
WARNING
Never leave a child or animal unattended in the car. During sunny
weather the temperature in the cabin/luggage compartment can
climb to 160-180°F (70-80°C). Small children are very susceptible
to heat stroke.
The tail pipe of the exhaust system can become very hot during
driving. Bear this in mind when loading and unloading the car so
that children, for example, do not burn themselves.
WARNING
 If the head restraints have been removed, they must be stored
safely so that they cannot be thrown about and injure someone
while braking or in a collision.
 Do not ride in the rear seat without having remounted the head
restraints, and making sure they are properly locked in place.
 Whenever you handle any system containing moving parts,
such as the belt beam, always be careful not to get pinched.
 Never keep objects on the rear window shelf since they can be
thrown forward and cause personal injury during heavy brak-
ing or in the event of a collision.
 When the back seat has been put back in place, make certain
that the belt beam is locked firmly on both sides (the red warn-
ing tabs must go down). This is vital since the upper anchor-
ages for the safety belts are located in the belt beam.
The
belts will not restrain a rear seat occupant if the belt beam is
not properly latched
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148 Interior equipment, trunkTie downsFour tie downs for securing the load are
fitted inside the trunk. Place the load as far
in as possible.Trunk lightingTo the left in the trunk is a light which goes
on and off when the trunk lid is opened and
closed.
The lighting can also be turned on and off
using the button on the light housing. If the
trunk lid is left open, the lighting will go off
after 20 minutes to prevent the battery from
being drained.
WARNING
Load opening:
Always secure a load properly. You can,
for example, use the hip strap in the
center rear safety belt. This will reduce
the risk of having the load thrown about
during a collision and causing personal
injury.
Trunk:
Lay heavy suitcases flat on the floor.
Then place smaller and lighter items of
luggage on top.
Always secure heavy, bulky loads to the
four tie downs in the trunk. This will
reduce risk of having them thrown about
during heavy braking or during a collision
and causing personal injury. When the
backrest is lowered, narrow objects can
also be thrown around and cause injury.
You should thus secure them well.
To retain the car’s safe normal handling
characteristics, you must be careful not to
exceed its maximum load capacity, (see
page 244).
The tail pipe of the exhaust system can
become very hot during driving. Bear this
in mind when loading and unloading the
car so that children, for example, do not
burn themselves.
WARNING
 Never place any objects on top of the
rear parcel shelf. In the event of a col-
lision, unsecured cargo may present a
safety hazard and cause personal
injuries to vehicle occupants.
 Do not obstruct outward vision or the
ability to exit the vehicle when loading
the vehicle.
 When the rear seat backrest is placed
upright after having been folded for-
ward, ensure that all rear safety belts
are accessible and properly routed.
 Make sure that tire pressures are
properly adjusted in accordance with
altered vehicle weight (refer to tire
pressures in the Specifications sec-
tion of this manual).
IB854
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