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Do not allow anyone to lean his/her
head or any part of his/her body
against the door or the area of the
seat, pillar, rear pillar or roof side
rail from which the SRS side airbag
and curtain shield airbag deploy
even if he/she is a child seated in
the child restraint system. It is dan-
gerous if the SRS side airbag and
curtain shield airbag inflate, and the
impact of the deploying airbag
could cause death or serious injury
to the occupant.Improperly seated and/or restrained
infants and children can be killed
or seriously injured by the deploy-
ing airbags. An infant or child who
is too small to use a seat belt
should be properly secured using a
child restraint system. Toyota
strongly recommends that all in-
fants and children be placed in the
rear seats of the vehicle and prop-
erly restrained. The rear seats are
the safest for infants and children.
For instructions concerning the
installation of a child restraint sys-
tem, see “Child restraint” on page
85 in this Section.
The SRS side airbag and curtain shield
airbag system may not activate if the
vehicle is subjected to a collision from
the side at certain angles, or a collision
to the side of the vehicle body other
than the passenger compartment as
shown in the illustration.
The SRS side airbags and curtain shield
airbags are designed to inflate when the
passenger compartment area suffers a se-
vere impact from the side.
Always wear your seat belts properly.
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Condition and operation in the front passenger occupant classification system
Condition detected by the front
passenger occupant
classification system
Indicator/warning lightDevices
“AIRBAG ON” and “AIRBAG OFF”indicator lightsSRS warning light
Front
passenger ’s seat belt
reminder lightFront
passenger airbagSide airbag
on the front passenger seatCurtain shieldairbag in the front
passenger sideFront
passenger ’s seat belt
pretensioner
1. Adult∗ 1“AIRBAG ON”OffFlashing∗4Activated
2. Child∗2 or child
restraint system∗ 3“AIRBAG OFF”OffFlashing∗4Deactivated
Activated
Activated
3. UnoccupiedNot illuminatedOffOffDeactivatedDeactivated
4. There is a
malfunction in the
system
“AIRBAG OFF”OnOffDeactivatedActivated
∗1: The system judges a person of adult size as an adult. When a smaller adult sits in the front passenger seat, the system may
recognize him/her as a child depending on his/her physique and posture.
∗2: When a larger child who has outgrown a child restraint system sits in the front passenger seat, the system may recognize him/h er
as an adult depending on his/her physique or posture.
∗ 3: Never install a rear −facing child restraint system on the front passenger seat. A forward −facing child restraint system should only be
installed on the front passenger seat when it is unavoidable. (See “Child restraint” on page 85 in this Section as for installi ng the
child restraint system.)
∗ 4:
In the event that the front passenger does not wear a seat belt.
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Do not put objects under the front
passenger seat.
Child restraint systems installed on
the second seat should not contact
the front seatbacks.
The “AIRBAG ON” indicator light may be
illuminated (the front passenger airbag and
side airbag on the front passenger seat
may deploy) even if observing the above
cautions, when a child sits in, or a for-
ward −facing child restraint system is
installed on the front passenger seat. Re-
fer to all the cautions in “SRS airbags” on
page 66 and “Child restraint” on page 85
in this Section. Toyota strongly urges the use of ap-
propriate child restraint systems for
children.
The laws of all 50 states in the U.S.A.
and Canada now require the use of a
child restraint system.
Your vehicle conforms to SAEJ1819.
If a child is too large for a child restraint
system, the child s
hould sit in the rear
seat and must be restrained using the
vehicle’s seat belt. See “Seat belts” on
page 54 in this Section for details.
CAUTION
For effective protection in automo-
bile accidents and sudden stops, a
child must be properly restrained,
using a seat belt or child restraint
system depending on the age and
size of the child. Holding a child in
your arms is not a substitute for a
child restraint system. In an acci-
dent, the child can be crushed
against the windshield, or between
you and the vehicle’s interior.
Toyota strongly urges use of a
proper child restraint system which
conforms to the size of the child,
installed on the rear seat. Accord-
ing to accident statistics, the child
is safer when properly restrained in
the rear seat than in the front seat.
Never install a rear facing child re-
straint system on the front passen-
ger seat even if the “AIRBAG OFF”
indicator light is illuminated. In the
event of an accident, the force of
the rapid inflation of the front pas-
senger airbag can cause death or
serious injury to the child if the
rear facing child restraint system is
installed on the front passenger
seat.
Child restraint—
—Child restraint precautions
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