29 Safety
Airbag The AIRBAG system comprises an airbag in
the steering wheel, a front passenger airbag
and side airbags in the front seats.
The system supplements the protection
provided by the safety belts to further
enhance the safety of the occupants.
If a fault is detected in the AIRBAG, the
AIR BAG warning light on the main instru-
ment panel will come on (see pages 61
and 37). When the system is triggered by impact of a
frontal crash, the airbags in the steering
wheel and passenger side of the dash board
are inflated, after which they deflate through
vents in the back of the bags.
The entire process takes less than
0.1 second – literally, faster than the blink-
ing of an eye.
The driver and passenger airbags are
referred to as ‘smart’ airbags. This means
that the system compensates for factors
such as the force of the collision.Note:
The sensor reacts differently depending on
whether or not the front seatbelts on the
driver’s and passenger sides are used. Sit-
uations can therefore arise where only one
of the airbags inflates.
It is also possible for only the seatbelt pre-
tensioners to be activated and for the air-
bags to remain uninflated.
These airbags are triggered only by moder-
ate to severe frontal or near-frontal crashes.
They will not be activated by minor front-end
impacts, rear-end or side impacts, or by the
car rolling over.
WARNING
To reduce risk of injury:
Always wear your safety belt.
Always adjust your seat so that you
are as far back as possible but still
able to operate the pedals and reach
the steering wheel and controls com-
fortably.
Children 12 and under or shorter than
59 inches (150 cm) should always
travel in the rear seat as the car is fitted
with a passenger airbag.
Never fit a child seat in front of the pas-
senger airbag.
IB419
Inflated airbag (driver side) Inflation and deflation together take less than
0.1 second.
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31 Safety
IB3840
5
1
4
2
6
3
2
6
7
7
5
AIRBAG system with belt pretensioners1 Central sensor
2 Belt pretensioners (for both front safety belts)
3 Steering wheel with integral airbag
4 Passenger airbag
5 Side-airbag sensor
6 Side airbag
7 Front sensors
IB3841
Accessories and other equipment must
not be fitted to the surfaces marked as
these are where the airbags inflate in the
event of a crash.
IB417Moment of impact.
The sensors detect
deceleration and send
a signal via the cen-
tral sensor to the gas
generator that inflates
the airbag.
The inflating airbag
cushions the driver.
Airbag now fully
inflated.
The airbag starts to
deflate.
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33 Safety
Passenger Sensing SystemVehicles with a passenger sensing system
have indicator LEDs on the fascia. The indi-
cators will be lit during the system check
when you turn your ignition key to ST or ON.
When the system check is complete, either
the ON or the OFF LED, will be lit. See
AIRBAG warning light on page 61.
The passenger sensing system will turn off
the right front passenger’s frontal airbag
and side airbag under certain conditions.
The driver’s airbags is not part of the pas-
senger sensing system.
The passenger sensing system works with
sensors that are part of the right front pas-
senger’s seat and safety belt. The sensors
are designed to detect the presence of a
properly-seated occupant and determine if
the passenger’s frontal airbag should be
enabled (may inflate) or not.
Accident statistics show that children are
safer if they are restrained in the rear rather
than the front seat.Saab recommends that child restraints be
secured in a rear seat, including an infant
riding in a rear-facing infant seat, a child
riding in a forward-facing child seat and an
older child riding in a booster seat.
Your vehicle has a rear seat that will accom-
modate a rear-facing child restraint. A label
on your sun visor says, “Never put a
rear-facing child seat in the front.” This is
because the risk to the rear-facing child is so
great, if the airbag deploys.
IB3952
Passenger Airbag Status Indicator.
USA
IB3953
Passenger Airbag Status Indicator,
Canada
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36 SafetySide airbags
The side airbags, which help protect the
upper body are integrated in the outside
edges of the front seat backrests.
In a side impact, only the airbag on that side
will be activated, and only then if certain pre-
determined conditions are met such as the
force and angle of the impact, the speed of
the car on impact, and at which point on the
car’s side the impact occurs.
The sensors, which are fitted in the front
doors, sense the rise in pressure caused by
the door panel being pressed in during an
impact condition. The side airbag trigger will
be commanded based on the characteris-
tics of this pressure rise.
WARNING
This car is equipped with side airbags
and no extra interior trim should be fit-
ted. Failure to observe this warning
could result in the side airbags not
inflating as intended and thus not pro-
viding the intended protection either.
Never place any object in the area that
would be occupied by the inflated air-
bag.
For optimum protection, sit upright in
the seat, with your safety belt correctly
fastened.
The sensors for the side airbags are
fitted in the front doors. We advise
against doing any work on the doors
that could affect the moisture barrier in
the door or the airbag sensors. It is
essential that the moisture barrier
(thick plastic film) in the front door is
not damaged in any way.
Improvement of the anticorrosion
treatment of the doors should only be
carried out by a workshop. We recom-
mend that you contact an authorized
Saab dealer. Otherwise there is a risk
that the side impact sensor and the
moisture barrier in the front door could
be damaged.
The side airbags will inflate only in the
event of a side impact; not in the event
of a front or rear-end crash or of the
car’s rolling over.
Damage or wear to the seat cover, or
the seat seam, in the area of the side
airbag must immediately be repaired.
We recommend that you contact an
authorized Saab dealer.
Do not modify the speaker installation
in the front doors or install speakers
other than those specifically approved
by Saab.
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37 Safety
AIRBAG warning light
WARNING
If the airbag readiness light stays on
after you start your vehicle, it means
the airbag system may not be working
properly. See page 61. The airbags in
your vehicle may not inflate in a crash,
or they could even inflate without a
crash.
To help avoid injury to yourself or oth-
ers, have your vehicle serviced right
away if the airbag readiness light stays
on after you start your vehicle.
IB1182
Side airbag inflated
IB1707
Side airbag components 1 Side airbag
2Sensor
3 Moisture barrier
4 Text on seat
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54 SecurityOverview of LED signals and SID messagesSome signals may differ between model variants for different
countries. Status LED signal
Activation (during 10-second delay). Comes on for 10 seconds.
Alarm activated (after delay). Flashes once every other
second.
Deactivation. Comes on for 2 seconds.
Alarm not activated. Off.
Door, trunk lid/tailgate or hood open
or opened during delay period.Flashes three times per sec-
ond for 10 seconds.
Unlocking the trunk lid/tailgate. Flashes three times per sec-
ond for 10 seconds.
Closing of door, trunk lid/tailgate or
hood after delay period.Comes on for 10 seconds.
Car immobilized but not locked.
Car alarm not activated.Flashes twice at three sec-
onds intervals.
Fault in a switch serving doors, hood
or trunk lid.Flashing (instead of being
on continuously) during
delay period.
SID message Reason/action
Theft protection failure.
Contact service.Probably a fault in one of the sensors
or the horn.
Have the car checked by a workshop.
We recommend that you contact an
authorized Saab dealer.
Key not accepted.
Contact service.Fault in key transmitter or in igni-
tion-switch receiver.
Turn ignition switch to ON and press
the unlock button on the key. Start
the engine.
Have the car checked by a workshop.
We recommend that you contact an
authorized Saab dealer.
Remote control battery
low. Replace battery.Fit a new battery in the key. We rec-
ommend that you contact an autho-
rized Saab dealer.
REMOTE KEY
TRANSPONDRTurn the ignition key to position ON
and then press the button for open-
ing the trunk lid. Saab Information
Display (SID) displays the number of
keys and transmitters (transponders)
coded to the car.
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65 Instruments and controls
Speedometer(U.S. speedometer shown)
The speedometer receives signals from the
wheel sensors in the ABS system.
Cars sold in U.S.: The speedometer dis-
plays the speed of the car in miles per hour
(mph).
Cars sold in Canada: The speedometer dis-
plays the speed of the car in kilometres per
hour (km/h).
Fuel gauge Fuel-tank capacity, 18.5 US gal. (70 liters).
The fuel gauge shows the amount of fuel left
in the tank. When this is down to about
2.5 gal. (10 liters), a warning light on the
main instrument panel will come on (see
page 61).
Because of the fuel remaining in the tank,
the amount of fuel required to fill the tank
may be less than the specified tank capac-
ity. Use the Saab Information display (SID)
to check the approximate distance that can
be traveled on the remaining fuel
(see page 68).
IB4120
IB3850
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77 Instruments and controls
Wipers and washers There are three intermittent wiper positions.
Moving the control stalk to the
spring-loaded position between 0 and 2 will
produce a single sweep of the wipers.
The wipers are designed for optimal clean-
ing at all driving speeds. At higher speeds,
it may be possible to detect a slight ”sweep-
ing” sound. This may be due to the
increased air pressure on the blades at
higher speeds.Headlight washers3If low beam is on, the headlights are washed
every fifth time the windshield washers are
used or if 2 minutes have elapsed since the
windshield was last washed. The headlight
washers cannot be activated separately.
The headlight washers are of the high-pres-
sure type, which means that other parts of
the car may become wet if you activate the
washers while the car is stationary.
Rain sensing wipers3
The rain sensor automatically controls the
windshield wipers. The sensor is located on
the windshield beside the rearview mirror.
The system varies between single sweeps
of the windshield and continuous wiping
depending on how much water or snow
there is on the windshield.
Activate the system by lifting the control
stalk to position 1. The wipers make one
sweep for reference to see how much water
and snow is on the windshield. In future, the
sensor compares the amount of water and
snow on the windshield with this reference
value.
WARNING
Turn the rain sensor off if the ignition is
ON when clearing snow and ice from the
windshield, to avoid personal injury.NOTICETo avoid damaging the windshield wip-
ers, turn the rain sensor off before wash-
ing the car in an automatic carwash.
IB359
0
41
2
3
0OFF
1 Intermittent operation
2 Low speed
3 High speed
4 Washers
12
IB569
Control for setting wiper delay1 Long delay
2 Short delay
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