2003 SAAB 9-3 steering

35 Safety
Scrapping or working on airbag and
belt pretensionersFrequently asked questions on
function of the airbag
Do you still need to wear a safety belt if air-
bags are fitted?Yes, always! The airbag system compo-
nents merely supplement the car’s normal
safety system. Moreover, the front airbags
will only be actuated in a moderate to severe
frontal, or near-frontal crash, which means,
of course, that they provide no protection in
minor frontal crashes, major rear- or side-
crashes or if the car rolls over.
The safety belts help to reduce the sideway
movement of the body in a crash.
But they also ensure that, if a crash 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 posi-
tion, 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 , before they
are thrown forward, in a serious frontal
crash.
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.
WARNING
 Under no circumstances should any
modifications be made that affect the
steering wheel or the airbag’s electri-
cal circuitry.
 During any welding, both battery
cables must be disconnected and
covered.
 Before quick drying paint in the vicinity
of the electronic control module, the
module’s grounding points and wiring
must be covered.
 Airbags and safety belt pretensioners
must be deployed under controlled
conditions before the car is scrapped
or any of the system’s components are
removed. Airbags or belt pretension-
ers that have been deployed as a
result of a crash must be replaced by
new ones.
 Airbag-system components must
never be transferred for use in another
vehicle.
 All work involving the scrapping or
replacement of airbags or belt preten-
sioners must be carried out by autho-
rized personnel only.
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36 SafetyWhen 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 crash,
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 frontal
crashes. 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 neces-
sarily be triggered.
How loud is the inflation? The noise of the inflation is certainly loud,
but it is of an very short duration and will not
damage your hearing. For a short time after-
wards 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 or shorter
than55 inches (140 cn) can be killed by the
airbag.
The back seat is the safest place for chil-
dren.
Never put a rear-facing child seat in the
front.
Sit as far back as possible from the air bag.
Always use seat belts and child restraints.
What should I do if the AIR-BAG warning
light comes on? If the warning light is on, it means that a fault
has been detected in the system. The
airbag cannot be relied on to operate as
intended and it might even be activated
erroneously. You should therefore take the
car to an authorized Saab dealer as soon as
possible.Are the dust and fumes given off when the
airbag operates at all harmful? Most people who have remained in a car
with little or no ventilation for several min-
utes complained only of minor irritation of
the throat and eyes. Avoid as much as pos-
sible getting dust on your skin as there is a
risk of skin irritation.
If you suffer from asthma, the incident may
bring on an attack, in which case you should
follow the normal procedure advised by
your doctor. It is advisable to consult a
doctor afterwards.
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40 SecurityLocking/unlocking the carRemote locking and unlocking also control
the car alarm.
Remote locking
Press the button once: all doors and
the trunk lid locked.
The hazard warning lights will flash once to
confirm.
The car will be locked automatically
3 minutes after it is unlocked unless a door
or the trunk lid is opened.Remote unlocking
Pressing the button once: the driver´s
door and the fuel filler door is unlocked.
Press a second time to unlock the rest of the
doors and enable the trunk lid switch.
The hazard warning lights will flash twice to
confirm.
If a fault arises in the locking system, the
Saab Information Display (SID) will display:
Saab Information Display (SID), see page
64.
Intermittent malfunctioning
Equipment in the vicinity of the car that uses
the same frequency as the remote control
may cause interference to the remote con-
trol signal. In this case, retry from another
angle and aim at the receiver located by the
steering wheel.If remote unlocking should fail to work
1 Remove the traditional key from the
remote control by pressing the emblem
on the reverse of the remote control.
(This key only fits the front left-hand
door.)
2 Carefully remove the cover plate from
the keyhole in the door.
3 Unlock the door with the key.
The car alarm will be tripped. To silence the
alarm, insert the remote control into the igni-
tion switch.
WARNING
Leaving children or pets unattended in a
locked car is dangerous. It is also danger-
ous to leave children in a vehicle with the
ignition key. A child or others could be
badly injured or even killed.
Never lock anyone in the car.
Lock system failure.
Contact Saab dealer.
Locking/unlocking the front left-hand door
with the traditional key1 Lock
2 Unlock
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41 Security
Locking a car with dead batteryThe steering wheel lock requires sufficient
battery voltage to lock and unlock. If the bat-
tery voltage drops below a certain level
while the remote control is in the ignition
switch, you will not be able to remove the
remote control.
If you must leave the car, proceed as
follows:
1 Lock the car by pressing down the lock
buttons on the doors.
2 Lock the front left door from outside with
the traditional key (see page 40). The
car is now locked but the car alarm will
remain inactive.
Trunk lidOpening
The trunk lid is unlock and slightly opened
when the button on the remote control
or driver’s door is pressed once.
The hazard warning lights will flash three
times to confirm.
The movement sensor in the cabin will be
disarmed.
Closing
The trunk lid is locked when closed.
If the doors are locked when the trunk lid is
closed it is armed and the movement sensor
in the cabin will be armed.
Opening button on driver’s door
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72 Instruments and controlsSwitchesThe car’s exterior lights are off.
The headlights can be flashed.
The parking lights can be turned on irre-
spective of the position of the ignition
switch. If the parking lights are on and the
driver’s door is opened, a reminder to turn
them off will sound.
Do not use the parking lights alone while
driving.
The parking lights may be used in combina-
tion with the front fog lights (see page 74).Low beam headlights are turned on when
the ignition switch is turned to ON and
turned off when the switch is turned back to
LOCK.
High/low beamTo switch between high and low beam, pull
the control stalk all the way towards the
steering wheel. (Headlight switch must be
ON.)
The symbol on the main instrument
panel shows when the high beam is on.Headlight flasherTo flash your headlights, pull the control
stalk half-way towards the steering wheel.
The high beam will remain on until you
release the stalk.
Lights off
Parking lights
Headlights
Light switches
Dipswitch1 Headlight flasher
2 High/low beam
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73 Instruments and controls
Courtesy Headlamp FeatureA delay function allows the low beam head-
lights and back-up lights to remain on for
about 30 seconds after the driver’s door has
been closed.
To activate this function:
1 After turning off the engine, remove the
remote control.
2 Open the driver’s door.
3 Pull the control stalk all the way towards
the steering wheel.
The low beam headlights and reversing
lights will come on and remain on for
30 seconds when the door is closed.
Instrument lightingThe brightness of the instrument lighting
can be adjusted by pressing the button (+ or
- signs on the button above the NIGHT
PANEL button).
Headlight levelling(cars with Bi-Xenon headlights)
Cars with Bi-Xenon headlights are
equipped with an automatic headlight level-
ling system, with self-calibrates each time
the vehicle is started. If a fault arises in the
automatic headlight levelling system, the
headlights will be angled down to avoid daz-
zling drivers in oncoming traffic. Adjust your
speed accordingly as the range of the head-
lights will be reduced. Check fuse 20 in the
engine bay fuse box (see page 203).
A fault in the system will produce the follow-
ing message on the Saab Information Dis-
play (SID):
Special equipment is required for adjusting
the basic headlight alignment.Headlight levelling
malfunction.
Contact Saab dealer.
Adjusting instrument illumination
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75 Instruments and controls
Turn signal & lane change indicatorsThe stalk switch has an intermediate,
spring-loaded position that is useful for sig-
nalling when changing lanes or passing.
The stalk switch also has fixed positions for
indicating a right or left turn, that are can-
celled automatically when the steering
wheel is centered.If an indicator bulb breaks, the frequency
with which the indicators flash will be
doubled.
This frequency is also doubled if a trailer is
being towed and one of its indicator bulbs
breaks.
Hazard warning lightsThe button for the hazard warning lights is
located on the climate control panel.
When the button is pressed, all the direction
indicators and the symbol in the button flash
simultaneously.
If an indicator bulb breaks, the frequency
with which the indicators flash will be
doubled.
Hazard warning lights should only be used
if, because of an accident or breakdown, the
car constitutes a hazard to other road users.
WARNING
Switch on the hazard flashers if the car
has to be left at the roadside on account
of a crash, engine trouble or a flat tire.
If you carry a warning triangle or flares,
they should be set up along the side of the
road 50–110 yds. (50–100 metres)
behind your vehicle. If the car is not
clearly visible (e.g. over the brow of a hill
or bridge), place the triangle/flare even
further back.
Turn signal & lane change indicators1 Right
2 Left
Hazard warning light switch
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76 Instruments and controlsBack-Up The back-up lights come on automatically
when reverse gear is engaged or selected
with the ignition switched on.
Wipers and washersWindshield wipersPosition 1 is a spring-loaded position that
will produce a single sweep of the wipers.
In position 2 you can set the delay period for
intermittent wiping using the thumbwheel on
the stalk switch. There are 5 delay periods
from which to choose, ranging from 2 to
15 seconds.
The wipers always return to their home posi-
tion when the ignition is turned off.
To leave the wipers positioned vertically on
the windshield, proceed as follows:
1 Switch off the engine and remove the
remote control.
2 Activate the wipers within the next
16 seconds by pressing the stalk switch
down.
When the ignition is next switched on the
wipers will return to their home position.
WashersActivate the washers by pulling the stalk
switch towards the steering wheel.
When the washers are operated, the wipers
will make 3, 4 or 5 sweeps, depending on
how long the washers were kept on. If
the speed of the car is less than 12 mph
(20 km/h), the wipers will make an addi-
tional sweep after roughly 8 seconds.Windshield wipers0OFF
1 Single sweep
2 Intermittent wiping
3 Low speed
4 High speed
5 Windshield and headlight washing
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