2008 KIA Optima Owner's Manual

Knowing your vehicle56 3(Continued)
- Never put a heavy load in the
front passenger seat.
- Never excessively recline the
front passenger seatback.
(Continued)
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- Never sit with hips shifted
towards the front of the seat.
- Never lean on the center console.
- Never sit on one side of the front
passenger seat.
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- Never place feet on the dashboard.
- Always sit in a proper seating posi-
tion.
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Knowing your vehicle
✽ ✽
NOTICE• If luggage or other objects are placed
on the front passenger's seat or if the
temperature of the seat changes while
the seat is unoccupied, the "PASSEN-
GER AIR BAG OFF" indicator may
blink. These conditions do not indi-
cate a problem.
• Do not put heavy objects on the front
passenger's seat. This may cause front
passenger air bag deployment in the
event of an accident, thus increasing
your repair costs.
(Continued)
Kia does not endorse nor will it
support any changes to any part
or structure of the vehicle that
could affect the advanced air bag
system, including the occupant
classification system.
Specifically, the front passenger
seat, dashboard or door should
not be replaced except by an
authorized Kia dealer using origi-
nal Kia parts designed for this
vehicle and model. Any other
such replacement or modification
could adversely affect the opera-
tion of the occupant classification
system and your advanced air
bags.
For the same reason, do not
attach anything to the seat, dash-
board or door, even temporarily. If
the system is adversely affected,
it could cause severe personal
injuries or death in a collision.
(Continued)
(Continued)
Do not place sharp objects on the
front passenger seat. These can
damage the occupant classifica-
tion system, if they puncture the
seat cushion.
Do not install accessory seat cov-
ers on the front seats, since these
will interfere with proper sensor
operation.
WARNING
The front seat passenger’s air bag
is much larger than the steering
wheel air bag and inflates with
considerably more force. It can
seriously hurt or kill a passenger
who is not in the proper position
and wearing the safety belt prop-
erly. The front passengers
should always move their seat as
far back as practical and sit back
in their seat.
It is essential that the front pas-
sengers always wear their safety
belts when vehicle is in motion,
even when the vehicle is moving
in a parking lot or up a driveway
into garage.
If the driver brakes the vehicle
heavily in urgent situations, occu-
pants will be thrown forward. If
front passengers are not wearing
the safety belts, they will be
directly in front of the air bags
when inflation occurs. In that sit-
uation, severe injury or death is
possible.
(Continued)

Knowing your vehicle58 3
Side air bag (if equipped)Side air bags are stored in the left side of
the driver’s seat and right side of the front
passenger’s seat.
If air bag inflation conditions are met
(side collision), they will inflate.
(Continued)
Never allow front passengers to
put their hands, feet or face on or
close to the instrument panel. In
the event of air bag deployment,
such a mispositioned occupant
would be likely to suffer severe
injury or death.
Never allow children, pregnant
women or weak persons to sit in
the front passenger seat. They
may be seriously injured by the
air bag inflation when air bag
deploys.
Do not use child restraint sys-
tems on the front passenger's
seat, as inflation may cause death
or severe personal injury.
Do not put objects or stickers on
the instrument panel. Do not
apply any accessory on the front
windshield glass and do not
install aftermarket mirrors or
accessories on the factory
installed rearview mirror. Any of
these could interfere with the
deployment of air bag inflation or
could hit your body at high speed
and cause severe bodily injury
and even death.
WARNING
- Seat covers,
damage and modifications
Do not use any accessory seat
covers for a vehicle equipped
with side air bags.
Use of seat covers could interfere
with side air bag deployment.
If seat is damaged, have the vehi-
cle checked and repaired by an
authorized Kia dealer. Inform
them that your vehicle is
equipped with side air bags and
an occupant detection system.
Do not make modifications or
additions to the seats as they may
cause the air bag system to mal-
function resulting in severe per-
sonal injury or death.
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359
Knowing your vehicle
Curtain air bag (if equipped)Curtain air bags are located along both
sides of the roof rails above the front and
rear doors.
They are designed to help protect the
heads of the front seat occupants and the
rear outboard seat occupants in certain
side impact collisions.
The curtain air bag deployment occurs
only on the side of the vehicle affected
by the impact. The side air bags (side and/or curtain
air bags) are not designed to deploy in
collisions from the front or rear of the
vehicle or in most rollover situations.
The curtain air bags are designed to
deploy only in certain side-impact colli-
sions, depending on the crash severity,
angle, speed and impact.
WARNING
In order for side air bags (side
and curtain air bags) to provide
its best protection, both front seat
occupants and both outboard
rear occupants should sit in an
upright position with the seat
belts properly fastened.
Importantly, children should sit in
a proper child restraint system in
the rear seat.
When children are seated in the
rear outboard seats, they must be
seated in the proper child
restraint system. Make sure to put
the child restraint system as far
away from the door side as possi-
ble, and secure the child restraint
system in a locked position.
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(Continued)
Do not allow the passengers to
lean their heads or bodies onto
doors, put their arms on the
doors, stretch their arms out of
the window, or place objects
between the doors and passen-
gers when they are seated on
seats equipped with side air
bags.
Never try to open or repair any
components of the side curtain
air bag system. This should only
be done by an authorized Kia
dealer.
If a small child is seated on the
rear outboard seat cushion, it is
probable that they will below the
deployment level of the side cur-
tain air bag and thus not protect-
ed by that air bag.
Failure to follow the above men-
tioned instructions can result in
injury or death to the vehicle occu-
pants in an accident.
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Knowing your vehicle60 3Why didn’t my air bag go off in a
collision? (Inflation and non-inflation conditions
of the air bag)There are many types of accidents in
which one or more of the air bags
would not be expected to provide
additional protection.
These include rear impacts, second or
third collisions in multiple impact acci-
dents, as well as low speed impacts.
Just because your vehicle is damaged
and even if it is totally unusable, don’t
be surprised that the air bags did not
inflate.
Air bag collision sensors(1)SRS control module
(2)Front impact sensor (if equipped)(3)Side impact sensor (if equipped)
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Knowing your vehicle
Air bag inflation conditionFront air bag
Front air bags (driver’s and front passen-
ger’s air bags) are designed to inflate
when the impact is delivered to front col-
lision sensors depending on the intensity,
speed or angles of impact of the front
collision - generally from an area a little
to the left to a little to the right of straight
ahead.
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WARNING
- Protecting air
bag module and sensors
Do not hit or allow any heavy
objects to hit the locations where
air bags or sensors are installed.
This may cause damage and
unexpected air bag deployment,
which could result in severe per-
sonal injury or death.
If the installation location or
angle of the sensors is altered in
any way, the air bags may deploy
when they should not or they may
not deploy when they should,
causing severe injury or death.
Therefore, do not try to perform
maintenance on or around the air
bag sensors. Have the vehicle
checked and repaired by an
authorized Kia dealer.
WARNING
- Body changes
Problems may arise if the sensor
installation angles are changed
due to the deformation of front
bumper, body or B pillar where
side collision sensors are
installed. In the event of a colli-
sion, have the vehicle inspected
by an authorized Kia dealer.
Your vehicle has been designed
to absorb impact and deploy the
air bag(s) in certain collisions.
Installing aftermarket bumper
guards or replacing a bumper
with non-genuine parts may
adversely affect your vehicles
collision and air bag deployment
performance.

Knowing your vehicle62 3Side air bags (if equipped)
Side air bags (side and/or curtain air
bags) are designed to inflate when an
impact is detected by side collision sen-
sors depending on the strength, speed or
angles of impact of side impact of side
impact collision or rollover.Although the front air bags (driver’s and
front passenger’s air bags) are designed
to inflate only in frontal collision, it may
inflate in any collision if front impact sen-
sors detect a sufficient impact. Side air
bags (side and/or curtain air bags) are
designed to inflate only in side impact
collision, it may inflate in any collision if
side impact sensors detect a sufficient
impact.
If the vehicle chassis is impacted by
bumps or objects on unimproved roads
or sidewalks, air bags may deploy. Drive
carefully on unimproved roads or on sur-
faces not designed for vehicle traffic to
prevent unintended air bag deployment.
To protect occupants, front air bags and
pre-tensioner seat belts may deploy in
certain side impact collisions.
Air bag non-inflation conditions In certain low-speed collisions the air
bags may not deploy. The air bags are
designed not to deploy in such cases
because the risk of injuries which can
be caused by the air bags exceeds the
benefits they provide in protecting
occupants.
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Knowing your vehicle
Frontal air bags are not designed to
inflate in rear collisions, because occu-
pants are moved backward by the
force of the impact. In this case, the air
bags do not provide protection. Front air bags may not inflate in side
impact collision, because occupants
move to the direction of the collision,
and thus in side impacts, frontal air bag
deployment does not provide occupant
protection.
However, side or curtain air bags may
inflate depending on the intensity, vehi-
cle speed and angles of impact. In a slant or angled collision, the force
of impact may direct the occupants in a
direction between the front and side air
bags, and thus the sensors may not
deploy any air bags.
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