2001 SUBARU LEGACY Owners Manual

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HB0353
HB0352
Do not sit or lean unnecessary close
to the front door.Do not rest your arm on either front door or its internal trim.
HB0354
Never allow a child to kneel on the front passenger ’s seat facing the side
window.
HB0355
Never allow a child to wrap his/her arms around the front seatback.
WARNING
Do not attach accessories to the door trim or near either SRS
side airbags and do not place objects near the SRS side airbags. In the event of the SRS side airbag deployment, they could bepropelled dangerously toward the vehicle ’s occupants and cause
injuries. Do not put any kind of cover or clothes or other objects over
either front seatback and do not attach labels or stickers to thefront seat surface on or near the SRS side airbag. They could pre-vent proper deployment of the SRS side airbag, reducing protec-tion available to the front seat ’s occupant.

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HS0353
Do not put any kind of cover over either seatback.Do not attach accessories to the door trim or near either side airbag and do not place objects near either side air- bag.
HB0366
The SRS sid e airb ag is stored in the d oor sid e of e ac h front seatb ac k,
whic h b ears an “SRS AIRBAG ” lab el.
In a mod erate to severe sid e imp ac t c ollision, the SRS sid e airb ag on the
imp ac ted sid e of the vehic le d ep loys b etween the oc c up ant and the
d oor p anel and sup p lements the seatb elt b y red uc ing the imp ac t on the
oc c up ant ’s c hest.
Operation
CAUTION
Do not touch the SRS side airbag system components around the front seatback with bare hands right after deployment. Doing socan cause burns because the components can be very hot as aresult of deployment.

1-68SRS side airbag deploys as soon as a collision occurs.
After deployment, SRS sideairbag starts to deflate immedi-
ately. HB0359
The SRS sid e airb ag c an func tion only when the ig nition switc h is in
the “ON ” p osition.
The d river ’s and front p asseng er ’s SRS sid e airb ag s d ep loy ind ep en-
d ently of eac h other sinc e eac h has its own imp ac t sensor. Also, the
SRS sid e airb ag d ep loys ind ep end ently of the fronta l airb ag s in the
steering wheel and instrument p anel.
An imp ac t sensor is inc orp orated into eac h of the v ehic le’s c enter p il-
lars. If either sensor d etec ts a c ertain p red etermi ned amount of forc e
d uring a sid e imp ac t c ollision, the c ontrol mod ule send s a sig nal to
the sid e airb ag mod ule on the imp ac ted sid e of the vehic le, instruc t-
ing it to inflate the SRS sid e airb ag . Then the sid e airb ag mod ule p ro-
d uc es g as, whic h instantly inflates the SRS sid e ai rb ag . After the d e-
p loyment, the SRS sid e airb ag immed iately starts to d eflate. The time
req uired from d etec ting imp ac t to d eflating of the SRS sid e airb ag af-
ter d ep loyment is shorter than the b link of an eye.
The SRS sid e airb ag d ep loys even when no one oc c up i es the seat on
the sid e of whic h an imp ac t is ap p lied .

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When the SRS sid e airb ag d ep loys, a sud d en, fairly
loud inflation
noise will b e heard and some smoke will b e released . These oc c ur-
renc es are normal result of the d ep loyment. This sm oke d oes not ind i-
c ate a fire in the vehic le.
The SRS sid e airb ag is d esig ned to d ep loy in the ev ent of an ac c id ent
involving a mod erate to severe sid e imp ac t c ollisio n. It is b asic ally not
d esig ned to d ep loy in lesser sid e imp ac t. Also, it is b asic ally not d e-
sig ned to d ep loy in frontal or rear imp ac ts b ec ause SRS sid e airb ag
d ep loyment would not help the oc c up ant in those sit uations.
Eac h SRS sid e airb ag is d esig ned to func tion on a o ne-time-only b a-
sis.
SRS sid e airb ag d ep loyment d ep end s on the level of forc e exp eri-
enc ed in the p asseng er c omp artment d uring a sid e im p ac t c ollision.
That level d iffers from one typ e of c ollision to an other, and it may have
no b earing on the visib le d amag e d one to the vehic l e itself.
n Example of the type of accident in which the SRS side airbag
will most likely deploy.
A severe sid e imp ac t near the front seat ac tivates the SRS sid e air-
b ag .
HB0313

1-70n
Examples of the types of accidents in which the SRS side air-
bag is unlikely to deploy.
There are many typ es of c ollisions whic h mig ht not nec essarily req uire
SRS sid e airb ag d ep loyment. In the event of ac c id en ts like those illus-
trated b elow, the SRS sid e airb ag may not d ep loy d e p end ing on the
level of ac c id ent forc es involved .
HB0363HB0362
HB0361 The vehicle strikes a telephone pole or similar object.
The vehicle is involved in a side impact in an area outside the passenger compartment.
The vehicle is involved inan oblique side impact.
HB1044AB
HB1045AB

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n
Examples of the types of accidents in which the SRS side air-
bag will basically not deploy.
The SRS sid e airb ag is b asic ally not d esig ned to d e p loy if the vehic le
is involved in a frontal c ollision or is struc k fro m b ehind . Examp les of
suc h ac c id ents are illustrated b elow.
HB1043BB
HB1046AB
In an ac c id ent where the vehic le is struc k from the sid e more than
onc e, the SRS sid e airb ag d ep loys only onc e on the first imp ac t.
Examp le: In the c ase of a d oub le sid e imp ac t c ollis ion, first with one
vehic le and immed iately followed b y another from th e same d irec tion,
the SRS sid e airb ag is ac tivated on the first imp ac t b ut not on the se-
c ond .
HB1071BB

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SRS airbag system monitors
HB4010EC
A d iag nostic system c ontinually monitors the read in ess of the SRS air-
b ag system (inc lud ing front seatb elt p retensioners) while the vehic le is
b eing d riven. The SRS airb ag system warning lig ht “AIRBAG ” will show
normal system op eration b y lig hting for ab out 6 sec ond s when the ig ni-
tion key is turned to the “ON ” p osition.
The following c omp onents are monitored b y the ind ic ator:
Front sub sensor (Rig ht hand sid e)
Front sub sensor (Left hand sid e)
Airb ag c ontrol mod ule (inc lud ing imp ac t sensors)
Frontal airb ag mod ule (Driver ’s sid e)
Frontal airb ag mod ule (Passeng er ’s sid e)
Sid e airb ag sensor (Driver ’s sid e — if eq uip p ed )
Sid e airb ag sensor (Passeng er ’s sid e — if eq uip p ed )
Sid e airb ag mod ule (Driver ’s sid e — if eq uip p ed )
Sid e airb ag mod ule (Passeng er ’s sid e — if eq uip p ed )
Seatb elt p retensioner (Driver ’s sid e)
Seatb elt p retensioner (Passeng er ’s sid e)
All related wiring
In the event of a malfunc tion ind ic ated b y any of f ollowing , the vehic le
should b e taken p romp tly to your nearest SUBARU d ea ler to have the
system c hec ked . Unless c hec ked and rep aired , the SR S airb ag s will not
func tion reliab ly:

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Flashing or flic kering of the ind ic ator lig ht.
No illumination of the warning lig ht when the ig nit ion switc h is first
turned to the “ON ” p osition.
Continuous illumination of the warning lig ht.
Illumination of the warning lig ht while d riving .
SRS airbag system servicing
WARNING
When discarding an airbag module or scrapping the entire car
damaged by a collision, consult your SUBARU dealer. The SRS airbag has no user-serviceable parts. Do not use
electrical test equipment on any circuit related to the SRS airbag
system. For required servicing of the SRS airbag, see your near-
est SUBARU dealer. Tampering with or disconnecting the sys-
tem’ s wiring could result in accidental inflation of the SRS airbag
or could make the system inoperative, which may result in seri-
ous injury. The wiring harnesses of the SRS airbag system arecovered with yellow insulation and system connectors are yellowfor easy identification.
CAUTION
If you need service or repair in areas listed below, we recommend
that you have an authorized SUBARU dealer perform the work. The
SRS airbag control module, impact sensors and airbag modules
are stored in these areas.
Under the center console
Inside each front fender
Steering wheel and column and nearby areas
Top of the dashboard on front passenger ’s side and nearby
areas Each front seat and nearby area (only for vehicle with SRS
side airbags) Inside each center pillar