2011 SUBARU FORESTER Owners Manual

1-48Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags
WARNING
The SRS side airbag and SRS
curtain airbag are designed as only
a supplement to the primary protec-
tion provided by the seatbelt. They
do not do away with the need to
fasten seatbelts. It is also important
to wear your seatbelt to help avoid
injuries that can result when an
occupant is not seated in a proper
upright position.
WARNING
. Do not sit or lean unnecessarily
close to either front door. The
SRS side airbag is stored in both
front seat seatbacks next to the door, and it provides protection
by deploying rapidly (faster than
the blink of an eye) in the event of
a side impact collision. However,
theforceofSRSsideairbag
deployment may cause injuries
if your head or other parts of the
body are too close to the SRS
side airbag.
. Since your vehicle is equipped
with SRS curtain airbags, do not
sit or lean unnecessarily close to
the front or rear door on either
side. Also, do not put your head,
arms and hands out of the win-
dow. The SRS curtain airbag on
each side of the cabin is stored in
the roof side (between the front
pillar and a point over the rear
seat), and it provides protection
by deploying rapidly (faster than
the blink of an eye) in the event of
a side impact or a rollover. How-
ever, the force of its deployment
may cause injuries if your head is
too close to it.
WARNING
Do not rest your arm on either front
door or its internal trim. It could be
injured in the event of SRS side
airbag deployment.

WARNING
. Never allow a child to kneel on
the front passenger ’s seat facing
the side window or to wrap his/
her arms around the front seat
seatback. In the event of an
accident, the force of the SRS
side airbag deployment could
injure the child seriously be-
cause his/her head or arms or
other parts of the body are too
close to the SRS side airbag.
Since your vehicle is also
equipped with a front passen-ger ’s SRS frontal airbag, children
aged 12 and under should be
placed in the rear seat anyway
and should be properly re-
strained at all times.
. Never allow a child to kneel on
any passenger ’s seat facing the
side window or put their head,
arms and hands out of the win-
dow. In the event of an accident,
the force of the SRS curtain
airbag deployment could injure
the child seriously because his/
her head is close to the SRS
curtain airbag.
WARNING
. Do not attach accessories to the
door trim or near either SRS side
airbags and do not place objects
near the SRS side airbags. In the
event of the SRS side airbag
deployment, they could be pro-
pelled dangerously toward thevehicle ’s occupants and cause
injuries.
. Do not attach a hands-free micro-
phone or any other accessory to
a front pillar, a center pillar, a rear
pillar, the windshield, a side win-
dow, an assist grip, or any other
cabin surface that would be near
a deploying SRS curtain airbag.
Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags
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1-50Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags
A hands-free microphone or
other accessory in such a loca-
tion could be propelled through
the cabin with great force by the
curtain airbag, or it could prevent
correct deployment of the curtain
airbag. In either case, the result
could be serious injuries.
. Never hang or place coat hangers
or other hard or pointed objects
near the side windows. If such
items are present when the SRS
curtain airbags deploy, they
could be thrown through the
passenger compartment and
cause serious injuries. They
could also prevent proper opera-
tion of the SRS curtain airbags.WARNING
Do not put any kind of cover or
clothes or other objects over either
front seatback and do not attach
labels or stickers to the front seat
surface on or near the SRS side
airbag. They could prevent proper
deployment of the SRS side airbag,
reducing protection available to the
front seat ’s occupant.
! Operation
The SRS side airbag and SRS curtain
airbag can function only when the ignition
switch is in the “ON ”position.
The driver ’s and front passenger ’s SRS
side airbags and SRS curtain airbags deploy independently of each other since
each has its own impact sensor. There-
fore, they may not both deploy in the same
accident. Also, the SRS side airbag and
SRS curtain airbag deploys independently
of the driver
’s and front passenger ’s SRS
frontal airbags in the steering wheel and
instrument panel.
An impact sensor, which senses impact
force, is located in each of the left and
right center pillars and rear wheel houses.
Another impact sensor, which also senses
impact force, is located under the rear
center seat. In addition, a rollover sensor
is located inside the airbag control mod-
ule. If one of the center pillar impact
sensors and the impact sensor that is
located under the rear center seat to-
gether sense an impact force above a
predetermined level in a side collision, the
control module causes both the SRS side
airbag and curtain airbag on the impacted
side to inflate regardless of whether the
rear wheel house impact sensor on the
same side senses an impact. If one of the
rear wheel house impact sensors and the
impact sensor that is located under the
rear center seat together sense a suffi-
ciently strong impact force, the control
module causes only the SRS curtain
airbag on the impacted side to inflate. If
the rollover sensor detects rollover of the

vehicle, the control module inflates the
curtain airbags. After the deployment, the
SRS side airbag immediately starts to
deflate. The time required from detection
of an impact to deflation of an SRS side
airbag after deployment is shorter than the
blink of an eye.
The SRS curtain airbags remain inflated
for a while following deployment then
slowly deflates.
The SRS side airbag and SRS curtain
airbags deploy even when no one occu-
pies the seat on the side on which an
impact is applied.
When the SRS side airbag and SRS
curtain airbags deploy, a sudden, fairly
loud inflation noise will be heard and some
smoke will be released. These occur-
rences are a normal result of the deploy-
ment. This smoke does not indicate a fire
in the vehicle.
CAUTION
Do not touch the SRS side airbag
system components around the
front seat seatback with bare hands
right after deployment. Doing so can
cause burns because the compo-
nents can be very hot as a result ofdeployment. After deployment, do not touch any
part of the SRS curtain airbag
system (from the front pillar to the
part of the roof side over the rear
seat). Doing so can cause burns
because the components can be
very hot as a result of deployment.
The SRS side airbag and SRS curtain
airbags are designed to deploy in the
event of an accident involving a moderate
to severe side impact collision. Also, in the
case of a rollover, the SRS curtain airbags
deploy. They are basically not designed to
deploy in a lesser side impact. Also, they
are basically not designed to deploy in
frontal or rear impacts because SRS side
airbag and SRS curtain airbag deploy-
ment would not help the occupant in thosesituations.
Each SRS side airbag and SRS curtain
airbags are designed to function on a one-
time-only basis.
SRS side airbag and SRS curtain airbag
deployment depend on the level of force
experienced in the passenger compart-
ment during a side impact collision. That
level differs from one type of collision to
another, and it may have no bearing on
the visible damage done to the vehicle
itself. Also, the SRS curtain airbags
deploy depending on the vehicle ’s position and inclination at the time of the rollover. !
Example of the type of accident in
which the SRS side airbag will most
likely deploy.
A severe side impact near the front seat
activates the SRS side airbag and SRS
curtain airbag. Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags
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1-52Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags
! Examples of the types of accidents in which the SRS curtain airbag will most
likely deploy.
1) A severe side impact near the front seat
or the rear seat activates the SRS curtain airbag.
2) The vehicle rolls onto its side or the roof.
3) If the angle of vehicle tip-up is marginal or if the skidding vehicle ’s tires hit a
curbstone laterally.

!Examples of the types of accidents in which it is possible that the SRS side
airbag and the SRS curtain airbag will deploy.1) Hitting a curb, edge of pavement or hard
surface
2) Falling into or jumping over a deep hole
3) Landing hard or vehicle falling
It is possible that the SRS side and curtain
airbags will deploy if a serious impact
occurs to the underside of your vehicle.
Some examples are shown in the illustra-tion. Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags
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1-54Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags
! Examples of the types of accidents in which the SRS side airbag is unlikely to
deploy.
1) The vehicle is involved in an oblique
side-on impact.
2) The vehicle is involved in a side-on impact in an area outside the vicinity of
the passenger compartment.
3) The vehicle strikes a telephone pole or similar object.
4) The vehicle is involved in a side-on impact from a motorcycle.
5) The vehicle rolls onto its side or roof.
There are many types of collisions which
might not necessarily require SRS side
airbag deployment. In the event of acci-
dents like those illustrated, the SRS side
airbag may not deploy depending on the
level of accident forces involved.

!Examples of the types of accidents in which the SRS curtain airbag is unlikely
to deploy.1) The vehicle is involved in an oblique
side-on impact.
2) The vehicle is involved in a side-on impact in an area outside the vicinity of
the passenger compartment.
3) The vehicle is involved in a side-on impact from a motorcycle.
There are many types of collisions which
might not necessarily require SRS curtain
airbag deployment. In the event of acci-
dents like those illustrated, the SRS
curtain airbag may not deploy depending
on the level of accident forces involved. Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags
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