2009 KIA Sorento warning

357
Knowing your vehicle
Curtain air bagCurtain 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 cer-
tain side impact collisions.
WARNING
The front seat passenger air bagis 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 prior to an impact, unbelt-
ed occupants will be thrown for-
ward. If the front passenger is not
wearing the safety belts, they will
be directly in front of the air bags
when deployment occurs. In that
situation, serious injury or death
is possible.
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Never allow front passenger toput 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/old and fee- ble persons/pregnant women to
sit on the front passenger’s seat.
They may be seriously injured by
the air bag inflation when air bag
deploys.
Do not put objects or stickers on the instrument panel. Do not
apply any accessory to the front
windshield. Do not install after-
market mirrors or accessories on
the factory-installed rearview mir-
ror. Any of these could interfere
with the deployment of the air bag
or could hit your body at high
speed and cause severe bodily
injury and even death.
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Knowing your vehicle58
3 The curtain air bag deployment occurs
only on the side of the vehicle affected
by the impact.
The curtain air bags are not designed to deploy during collisions from the
front or rear of the vehicle or in most
rollover situations.
The curtain air bags are designed to deploy only during certain side-impact
collisions, depending on the crash
severity, angle, speed and impact.
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Do not allow the passengers tolean 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 the
seats where curtain air bags are
equipped.
Never try to open or repair any components of the curtain air bag
system. This should be done only
by an authorized Kia dealer.
Failure to follow the above men-
tioned instructions can result in
severe injury or death to the vehicle
occupants in an accident.
WARNING
In order for the 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
safety belts properly fastened.
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 position.
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Knowing your vehicle60
3
WARNING
Do not hit or allow any objects to
impact the locations where air
bag or sensors are installed.
This may cause unexpected air
bag deployment, which could
result in severe personal 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 the
authorized Kia dealer.
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. Have the vehicle
checked and repaired by the
authorized Kia dealer.
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Your vehicle has been designedto 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.
Air bag inflation conditionFront air bag
Front air bags (driver’s and front passen-
ger’s air bags and driver’s knee air bag)
are designed to inflate when the impact
is delivered to front collision 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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Knowing your vehicle64
3How does the air bag system
operate Air bag only operates when the ignition
switch is turned to ON or START posi-
tion.
Air bags inflate instantly in the event of serious frontal or side collision in order
to help protect the occupants from seri-
ous physical injury.
There is no single speed at which the air bags will inflate.
Generally, air bags are designed to
inflate by the severity of a collision and
its direction. These two factors deter-
mine whether the sensors send out an
electronic deployment/inflation signal.
Air bag deployment depends on a number of factors including vehicle
speed, angles of impact and the densi-
ty and stiffness of the vehicles or
objects which your vehicle hits in the
collision. Though, factors are not limit-
ed to those mentioned above.
The front air bags will completely inflate and deflate in an instant.
It is virtually impossible for you to see
the air bags inflate during an accident.
It is much more likely that you will sim-
ply see the deflated air bags hanging
out of their storage compartments after
the collision. In order to help provide protection in a
severe collision, the air bags must
inflate rapidly. The speed of air bag
inflation has been determined by the
Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety
Standards (CMVSS) to reduce the like-
lihood of serious or life-threatening
injuries and is thus a mandatory part of
the air bag design.
However, air bag inflation can also
cause injuries which normally can
include facial abrasions, bruises and
broken bones, and sometimes more
serious injuries because the inflation
speed also causes the air bags to
expand with a great deal of force.
There are even circumstances under which contact with the steer-
ing wheel air bag can cause fatal
injuries, especially if the occupant
is positioned excessively close to
the steering wheel.
WARNING
To avoid severe personal injury ordeath caused by deploying air
bags in a collision, the driver
should sit as far back from the
steering wheel air bag as possi-
ble (at least 250 mm (10 inches)
away). The front passenger
should always move their seat as
far back as possible and sit back
in their seat.
Air bag inflates instantly in an event of collision, passengers
may be injured by the air bag
expansion force if they are not in
proper position.
Air bag inflation may cause injuries which normally include
facial or bodily abrasions, injuries
by broken glass or burns by the
explosives.

365
Knowing your vehicle
Noise and smokeWhen the air bags inflate, they make a
loud noise and they leave smoke and
powder in the air inside of the vehicle.
This is normal and is a result of the igni-
tion of the air bag inflator. After the air
bag inflates, you may feel substantial dis-
comfort in breathing due to the contact of
your chest to both the safety belt and the
air bag, as well as from breathing the
smoke and powder.We strongly urge
you to open your doors and/or win-
dows as soon as possible after impact
in order to reduce discomfort and pre-
vent prolonged exposure to the
smoke and powder.
Though the smoke and powder are non-
toxic, they may cause irritation (eyes,
nose and throat, etc.). Wash and rinse
with cold water immediately and consult
a doctor if symptoms persist. Installing a child restraint on a front
passenger seat is extremely danger-
ous and should never be done.
Never place a rear-facing child restraint
in the front passenger’s seat. If the air
bag deploys, it would impact the rear-fac-
ing child restraint, causing severe or fatal
injuries.
In addition, do not place front-facing child
restraint in the front passenger’s seat
either. If the front passenger air bag
inflates, it may cause severe or fatal
injuries to the child.
WARNING
When the air bags deploy, the air
bag related parts in steering wheel
and/or instrument panel and/or in
both sides of the roof rails above
the front and rear doors are very
hot. To prevent injury, do not touch
the air bag storage areas internal
components immediately after an
air bag has inflated.
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Knowing your vehicle66
3
Air bag warning lightThe purpose of air bag warning light in
your instrument panel is to alert you of a
potential problem with your air bag -
Supplemental Restraint System (SRS).
When the ignition switch is turned ON,
the indicator light should blink or illumi-
nate for approximately 6 seconds, then
go off.
Have the system checked if:
The light does not turn on briefly when
you turn the ignition ON.
The light stays on after the engine starts.
The light comes on while the vehicle is in motion.
Air bag (Supplemental Restraint
System) service Your Supplemental Restraint System is
virtually maintenance-free. There are no
parts which you can service.
You must have the system serviced
under the following circumstances:
If an air bag ever inflates, the air bagmust be replaced. Do not try to remove
or discard the air bag by yourself. This
must be done by an authorized Kia
dealer.
If the air bag warning indicator light alerts you to a problem, have the air
bag system checked as soon as possi-
ble. Otherwise, your air bag system
may be ineffective.
WARNING
Never put child restraint in thefront passenger seat. If the front
passenger air bag inflates, it may
cause severe or fatal injuries.
When children are seated in the rear outboard seats in which cur-
tain air bags are equipped, be
sure to put the child restraint sys-
tem as far away from the door
side as possible, and secure the
child restraint system to be
locked in position.
Inflation of curtain air bag could
cause severe injury or death due
to the expansion impact.
AIR
BAG
CAUTION
Do not modify any part of the air bag system. Modification could make the air bag system ineffectiveor could cause unnecessary deployment.

367
Knowing your vehicle
Repairing or scrapping the vehi-
cles Repairing steering wheel, instrumentpanel, center console or roofs, or
installing car audio around center con-
sole or painting front sheet metal could
disable the air bag system. Have them
checked by an authorized Kia dealer.
When leaving the vehicle at an autho- rized Kia dealer, inform that the vehicle
is equipped with air bag system, and
leave the owner’s manual in the vehi-
cle.
Since air bag system contains explo- sive chemical substances, contact an
authorized Kia dealer when scrapping
the vehicle.
WARNING
Do not modify your steeringwheel, seat or any other part of
the Supplemental Restraint
System. Modification could make
the system inoperable.
Do not work on the system’s com- ponents or wiring. This could
cause the air bags to inflate inad-
vertently, possibly seriously injur-
ing someone. Working on the sys-
tem could also disable the sys-
tem so that the air bags would not
deploy in a collision.
Any work on the SRS system, such as removing, installing,
repairing, or any work on the
steering wheel must be per-
formed by a qualified Kia techni-
cian. Improper handling of the air
bag system may result in serious
personal injury.

Knowing your vehicle68
3Air bag warning labelAir bag warning labels are attached to alert driver and passengers of potential risk of air bag system.
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