2002 BMW M3 CONVERTIBLE ESP

44n
For relaxed and fatigue-free driving you
should select a sitting position that
reflects your personal requirements.
Correct position combines with safety
belts and airbags to enhance occupant
safety in the event of an accident. To
ensure that the vehicle's safety systems
provide you with optimal protection, we
request that you direct your careful
attention to the following section.
For supplementary information on
transporting children, refer to page 54.
Sitting correctly with airbags
Always maintain an adequate
distance between yourself and the
airbags. Always hold the steering wheel
by the rim to keep any chance of injury
to hands or arms to an absolute
minimum should the airbag be
deployed. Never allow any objects,
individuals or animals to obstruct the
areas between passengers and airbags.
Never use the front airbag's cover as a
storage tray or support for objects of
any kind. Never allow front passengers
to rest their feet or legs on the airbag
cover.<
For airbag locations and additional
information on airbags refer to page 53.
Safe with safety belts
Never allow more than one person
to wear a single safety belt. Never
allow infants or small children to ride in
a passenger's lap. Avoid twisting the
belt while routing it firmly across the
pelvis and shoulder, wear it as snugly
against your body as possible. Do not
allow the belt to rest against hard or
fragile objects in your pockets. Do not
route the belt across your neck, or run it
across sharp edges. Be sure that the
belt does not become caught or
jammed. Avoid wearing bulky clothing
and pull on the lap belt periodically to
retension it over your shoulders. In the
event of a frontal impact, a loose lap
belt could slide over the hips, leading to
abdominal injury. In addition, the safety
belt's restraint effectiveness is reduced
if the belt is worn loosely. Expectant
mothers should always wear their
safety belts, taking care to position the
lap belt against the lower hips, where it
will not exert pressure against the
abdominal area. Leave the rear safety
belts in the holders, if they are not
needed, to avoid unwanted movement
from the safety belts at high speeds.<
For information on using the safety
belts, refer to page 48.
When adjusting your seat, always
observe the following precautions
Never try to adjust your seat while
operating the vehicle. The seat
could respond with an unexpected
movement, and the ensuing loss of
vehicle control could lead to an acci-
dent. Never ride with the backrest
reclined to an extreme angle (especially
important for the front passenger to
remember). If you do so, there is a risk
that you will slide under the safety belt
in an accident, thus reducing the
protection provided by the safety belt.
With the wind deflector in place: never
push the front seats all the way back to
avoid damaging the wind deflector.<
Correct sitting position Seats

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OverviewControlsMaintenanceRepairsDataIndex
Head restraints Entering the rear
Do not remove the rear head
restraints as this would damage
them.<
For further information, please consult
your BMW center.
Do not use the rear head
restraints as storage shelves.
Always keep the travel path for the roll-
over protection system free and clear.
Under no circumstances should you put
any kind of cover (antimacassar) on the
head restraints (refer also to the
labeling on the head restraints).<
The Seat-integrated safety belt system
(SGS) allows for easy access to the
rear.
1. Lift the lever 1 up and tilt the back-
rest forward
2. Press and hold button 2 in driving
direction until the seat moves to the
desired position
3. After entering the rear, fold back and
lock the backrest
4. Press button 2 opposite the direction
of travel and hold. The seat moves
back into its previous position. If the
button 2 is released beforehand, the
seat stops in the respective position.
You can lock a backrest that has
been tilted forward. This is prac-
tical, for example, when entering the
rear seat while the vehicle is parked on
a hill. To do this, press against the
backrest until you hear it click into
place. It does not need to be released
with the lever 1 to tip it back into place
again.<
Lock both backrests while driving,
otherwise there is a danger of an
unexpected movement causing an
accident.<
The indicator lamp in the instrument
cluster flashes, when the backrest is
not locked, refer to page 18.

52n
Airbags 1 Front airbags on the driver and
passenger sides
2 Side airbags on the driver and
passenger sides (front and rear
*)
Protective effectThe front airbags protect the driver and
passenger in the event of a head-on
collision where the protection provided
by the safety belt alone would not be
adequate. The side airbags help
provide protection in the event of a
collision from the side. Each of the side
airbags is designed to help support the
seat occupant's upper body.
The side airbags in the rear
passenger area
* of your vehicle
may already have been deactivated
either at the time of manufacture or by a
BMW center. You may have them acti-
vated if you desire to do so. Please
contact your BMW center for additional
information.<
For information on the correct sitting
position, refer to page 44.
The airbags will not be triggered in
the event of a minor accident, a
vehicle rollover, or collisions from the
rear.<
Do not apply adhesive materials to
the cover panels of the airbags,
cover them or modify them in any other
way. Do not attempt to remove the
airbag restraint system from the
vehicle. In the event of a malfunction,
deactivation, or triggered actuation (as
a response to an accident) of the airbag
restraint system, consult your BMW
center for checking, repairs or removal.
Modifications may not be made on
either the wiring or the individual
components in the airbag system. This
includes the padded steering wheel
hub, the instrument panel, the side trim
panels of the front or rear doors and the
roof pillars or the sides of the front
headliner. Do not attempt to remove or
dismantle the steering wheel. To ensure
compliance with official safety regula-
tions, entrust disposal of airbag genera-
tors to a BMW center. Unprofessional
attempts to service the system could
lead to failure in an emergency or
undesired airbag activation, either of
which could result in personal injury. Do
not touch the individual components
directly after the system has been trig-
gered, as otherwise there is a danger of
burns.<

54n
Airbags
Transporting children safely
This is the right way a larger child
should sit wearing the safety belt when
rear side airbags (arrow) are provided.
Operational status
The indicator lamp in the instru-
ment cluster shows the airbag
system status starting in ignition
key position 1.
System operational:
>The indicator lamp comes on briefly,
when the ignition key is turned into
position 1 or 2
System malfunction:
>The indicator lamp fails to come on,
when the ignition key is turned
>The indicator lamp fails to go out
after the engine has been started, or
it comes on during normal driving.
Please respond to any malfunctions in
the system by immediately having it
inspected at your BMW center; other-
wise the airbag could fail to respond to
an accident in which both the angle and
the severity of the impact would
normally trigger airbag deployment.
Commercially available child seats
complying with the legal standard are
designed to be secured with a lap belt
or with the lap belt portion of a combi-
nation lap/shoulder belt. Improperly or
inadequately installed restraint systems
can increase the risk of injury to chil-
dren. Always read and follow the
instructions that come with the system.

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OverviewControlsMaintenanceRepairsDataIndex
Transporting children safelyIf you use a child-restraint system with
a tether strap, two additional tether
anchorage points (refer to the arrows in
the illustration) have been provided.
They are located under the convertible
top compartment lid. Depending on the
location selected for seating in the rear
passenger area, attach the tether strap
to the corresponding anchorage point
to secure the child-restraint system.
Lift the respective head restraint and
pass the tether strap between the head
restraint and the seat back.
Adjust the tether strap according to the
child restraint manufacturer's instruc-
tions.
Before installing any child-
restraint device or child seat,
please read the following:
Never install a rearward-facing child-
restraint system in the front passenger
seat of this vehicle.
Your vehicle is equipped with an airbag
supplemental restraint system for the
front passenger. Because the backrest
on any rearward-facing child-restraint
system (of the kind designed for infants
under 1 year and 20-30 lbs/9-14 kg)
would be within the airbag's deploy-
ment range, you should never mount
such a device in the front passenger
seat, as the impact of the airbag against
the child restraint's backrest could lead
to serious or fatal injuries. If it is neces-
sary for a child (not an infant) to ride in
the front seat, certain precautions
should be taken. First, move the
passenger seat as far away from the
instrument panel as possible. This
important precaution is intended to
maximize the distance between the
airbag and the child. Older children
should be tightly secured with the
safety belt.
Younger children should be secured in
an appropriate forward-facing child-
restraint system that has first been
properly secured with a safety belt.
Never install a rearward-facing child-
restraint system in the front passenger
seat. We strongly urge you to carefully
read and comply with the instructions
for installation and use provided by the
child restraint's manufacturer when-
ever you use such a device.
Always ensure that all occupants (of all
ages) remain properly and securely
restrained at all times.c
All rear seating positions in your vehicle
meet the recommendations of SAE
J1819, an industry recommended prac-
tice for securing child-restraint systems
in motor vehicles.

64n
Manual transmission Sequential M gearbox
* SMG II
Reverse Select only when the vehicle is
stationary. Press the shift lever to the
left to overcome the resistance.
As you do this, the backup lamps will
turn on automatically when the ignition
key is in position 2.
Do not hold the vehicle in place on
slopes by slipping or "riding" the
clutch. Use the parking brake instead.
Riding the clutch causes the clutch
assembly to wear out sooner.<
The conceptThe sequential M gearbox SMG II is an
automated manual gearbox with which
clutching and shifting is assumed by an
electro-hydraulic system.
The SMG II is operated via two shift
paddles on the steering wheel and the
selector lever in the center console.
It offers the following functions:
>Sequential and automated shifting
mode
>Ability to choose between different
driving programs (Drivelogic)
>Gradient assistance
>Upshift display (shift lights)
>Throttle blip
>Driving dependent functions:
The respective driving situation (e.g.
cornering, mountain driving, braking)
is detected by sensors and taken into
account accordingly for shifting, e.g.
to achieve optimum gear selection
during deceleration and subsequent
acceleration>Slip recognition at the rear axle for
increasing driving stability, e.g.
during downshifting on slippery road
surfaces
>Operating safety through protection
against misshifting.

66n
Sequential M gearbox
* SMG II
The warning stops after approx. 10
seconds. If you move the selector lever
into a forward or reverse position
during this time, a gear is automatically
engaged.
The SMG II has no park position
for securing the vehicle against
rolling.
The ignition key can be removed in any
selector lever position.<
Always engage the parking brake
when parking on downhill roads.
Engaging a gear may not sufficiently
secure the vehicle against rolling.<
Display in instrument clusterThe selector lever position, currently
engaged gear and selected driving
program are displayed in the instrument
cluster.
1 Engaged gear
2 Selected driving program
(corresponds to the number of illumi-
nated fields), refer to page 68
3 Tapping the selector lever to the right
switches over into the displayed shift
mode
4 "A" indicates an activated automated
mode.
R - Reverse positionOnly engage with the vehicle stopped
or at low speed, e.g. for "rocking free"
in deep snow.0 - Position 0Always engage before starting the
engine.
If the driving situation requires, e.g.
when downshifting on slippery roads,
the SMG II automatically disengages
and reengages the clutch, i.e. it is not
necessary to manually engage
position 0. S - Sequential modeIn the sequential mode all forward
gears are to be shifted by the driver.
Changeover from automated to
sequential mode:
>Tap the selector lever to the right
toward "S" or
>Change gears with the selector lever
or the shift paddles on the steering
wheel.
You do not need to reduce the throttle
for shifting.

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OverviewControlsMaintenanceRepairsDataIndex
Sequential M gearbox
* SMG II
Shifting gears with shift paddles on
steering wheel:
>To upshift, briefly pull the right
paddle "+"
>To downshift, briefly pull the left
paddle "Ð".
Shift paddles with various widths
matched to the shape of your
hand are available from your BMW
center.<
Shifting gears with selector lever:
>To upshift, pull the selector lever
backward "+"
>To downshift, push the selector lever
forward "Ð".
No automatic upshifting is carried out in
the sequential mode.
You accelerate from higher gears, e.g.
during passing, by manually down-
shifting.
In the following situations the SMG II
helps you "think" in the sequential
mode:
>Upshifts and downshifts are only
executed when the new gear will
provide a suitable combination of
vehicle and engine speed, i.e., down-
shifts that would cause the engine to
overrev will not be executed
>During a stop the gearbox is auto-
matically downshifted into the first
gear so that, e.g. before a traffic light,
it is only necessary to accelerate to
continue driving
>When the speed is reduced, the
gearbox is automatically down-
shifted shortly before a gear-depen-
dent minimum speed is reached
without you taking any action.
A - Automated modeEach time the engine is started, the
automated mode is activated as soon
as you move the selector lever into the
forward driving position.
In the automated mode all forward
gears are automatically shifted.
Changeover from sequential to auto-
mated mode: tap the selector lever to
the right toward "A". Watch the display
in the instrument cluster, refer to
page 66.
For rapid acceleration, e.g. during
passing, depress the accelerator pedal
completely (kick-down). The gearbox
now downshifts in dependence on the
selected driving program.
Even in the automated mode, you can
help specify the shifting point: if a gear-
dependent minimum speed is
exceeded, you can upshift by slowly
reducing pressure on the accelerator
pedal. In the process, the respective
driving situation is detected by sensors
and taken into account.