46 Safety
Occupant safety
This section
will familiarise you with the
most important features of the restraint
systems inyour vehicle. In the event of an
accident, your vehicle may collide with
another object ,e.g. another vehicle. This
may result in rapid acceleration or deceler-
ation of your vehicle. During this acce lera-
tion or deceleration ,the vehicle occupants
will be moved in the opposite direction to
the force of the impact. Ther eis therefore
the risk of vehicle occupants injuring them-
selves on the vehicle interior or on parts of
the vehicle. The purpose of supplemental
restraint systems – first and foremost the
seat belts supplemen ted where necessary
by belt tensioners, belt force limiters and
airbags – is to minimise this ris kof injury.
However, seat belts and airbag sare gener-
ally unable to prevent injuries caused by
objects pe netrating the vehicle from the
outside. The most important restraint syst
ems are:
! Seat belts
! Restraint systems for children, since
they are the most effective means of
reducing the extent to which occu-
pants are moved in the event of an
accident
Additional protection isprovided by:
! The SRS (S upplementa
l R estraint
S yste
m)comprising:
! Belt tensioners
! Belt force limiters
! Airba gs
! Roll-over bars (Cabriolet)
i An air bag increases the degree ofprotection
for vehicle occupant swear ingas eat belt and is
therefore to be considered onl yas an additional
re strai ntsystem tothe seat be lt. Airbags are not
a substitute for wearing a seat belt correctl yat
all tim es. This is because, on the one hand, air-
bags are not triggered in all types of accid ent,as
in som esituations the irdeploy mentwould not
increase the protection enjoyed bythe vehicle
occ upants ,provided they are wearing their seat
be lts correct ly. i
And on the other hand, ai rbag deployment
only provid esincreased prote ction if the seat
bel tis worn co rrectly, because:
! theb elt helps to keep the vehicle occupant
in the best position inrelation to the airbag
! thebelt protects to a lar geextent the vehicle
oc cupant from bei ngpropelled towards the
force of impact, e.g. in the event of afrontal
collision, and is there fore better able to
reduce the risk ofinjury
In an accident in which anairbag is triggered, its
deployment will only enhanc ethe protectio npro-
vided by the seat belt, if the seat belt isworn cor-
rectly. Occupant safety
Restr
aint syste ms 209en_d2.boo Seite
46Diens tag, 25 .Mai 2004 7:26 19
