Transporting children safely
56
Transporting children safely
The right place for children
Children always in the rear
Accident research shows that the safest
place for children in a vehicle is in the rear
seat.
Older children should be tightly secured
with a safety belt, after they have outgrown
a booster seat that is appropriate for their
age, height and weight.
A child sitting in the rear seat and not
properly restrained may place his or
her head on or near the airbag, if so
equipped. For example, a child Ñ even
though belted Ñ may fall asleep with his or
her head against the side airbag. It may be
difficult for a driver to ensure that children
in the rear seat will remain properly posi-
tioned at all times and do not place their
heads on or near the side airbags. There-
fore, we recommend that the rear side air-
bags, if provided, be deactivated if you plan
to transport children in the rear seat.<
Child-restraint system in the rear
Child-restraint systems appropriate for
every age group and weight are available
at your BMW center.
Children under 13 years of age and
children less than 5 ft/150 cm tall
should always ride in the rear and the
restraint systems should be secured with
the vehicleÔs safety belts.<
Younger children should be secured in an
appropriate forward-facing child-restraint
system that has first been properly secured
with a safety belt.
All rear sitting positions in your vehicle
meet the recommendations of SAE J1819,
an industry-recommended practice for
securing child-restraint systems in motor
vehicles.
Exception for the front passenger
seat
Should it become necessary to use
a child-restraint system on the front
passenger seat, the airbags on the passen-
ger's side must be deactivated. Your BMW
center will be glad to advise you.<
Never install a rearward-facing child-
restraint system in the front passen-
ger seat of this vehicle if the passenger air-
bag is not deactivated. If you do so, the
child could be severely injured when the
airbag is triggered.
Your vehicle is equipped with an airbag
supplemental restraint system for the front
passenger. Because the backrest on any
rearward-facing child-restraint system Ð of
the kind designed for infants under 1 year
and 20 Ibs./9 kg Ð would be within the air-
bag's deployment range, you should never
mount such a system in the front passenger
seat, since the impact of the airbag against
the child restraint's backrest could lead to
serious or fatal injuries.<
Installing child-restraint
systems
Before installing any child-restraint system
or child seat, read the following:
Observe the child-restraint system
manufacturer's instructions for instal-
lation and use. Otherwise the degree of
protection can be reduced.
After an accident, have all parts of the
child-restraint system and of the relevant
vehicle safety belt system checked by a
BMW center and replaced if necessary.<
Commercially-available child-restraint sys-
tems 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 children.
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Airbags
The following airbags are located under
the marked covers:
1Front airbags for driver and front
passenger
2Head airbags in front and rear
3Side airbags in front and rear
*
4Knee airbags for driver and front
passenger
Protective effect
The front airbags help protect the driver
and front passenger by responding to fron-
tal impacts in which safety belts alone
cannot provide adequate restraint. When
needed, the head and side airbags help
provide protection in the event of side
impact. The side airbags help restrain the
side of the occupant's upper torso, and the
head airbags help support the head while
also helping provide protection against any
objects penetrating into the passenger
compartment. The knee airbags help pro-
tect the legs against impact against the
cockpit.
The airbags are deliberately not triggered
in every impact situation, e.g. less severe
accidents, certain roll-over conditions, or
rear-end collisions.
The rear seat side airbags may
already have been deactivated by a
BMW center. Labels in the rear door open-
ing should indicate the status of your rear
seat side airbags. If you are uncertain of
their status, or wish to have the airbags
activated or deactivated, please contact
your BMW center.
tion, refer to page 44.
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 reten-
tion system from the vehicle. Never modify
or tamper with either the wiring or the indi-
vidual components in the airbag system.
This category includes the upholstery in the
center of the steering wheel, on the instru-
ment panel, the side trim panels on the
front or rear doors, and the roof pillars
along with the sides of the headliner.
Do not attempt to remove or dismantle the
steering wheel.
Do not touch the individual components
directly after the system has been trig-
gered, because there is a danger of burns.
If you note any indication of system mal-
function, if you desire to have an airbag
deactivated, or if the airbag retention sys-
tem is triggered in response to an accident,
you should always entrust all inspection,
repair and dismantling operations to your
BMW center.
Unprofessional attempts to service the sys-
tem could lead to failure in an emergency
or undesired airbag activation, either of
which could result in personal injury.
To ensure compliance with official safety
regulations, entrust disposal of airbag gen-
erators to a BMW center.<
Airbag warning information is also provided
on the sun visors.
