116 Airbag sys te m
- Always move the passenger seat into its
rearmost position in the seat's fore and
aft adjustment range, as far away from
the a irbag as poss ible, before insta lling
the forward-facing child restraint. The backrest must be adjusted to an upr ight
posit ion.
- Make sure that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
light comes on and stays on all the
t ime w henever the ignition is switched
on.
Advanced Airbag System components
The fron t passenger sea t in your vehicle h as a
lot of very important par ts of the Advanced
Airbag System in it. These parts include t he
weight -sensing mat, sensors, wiring, brack
ets, and more. The function of the system in
the front passenger seat is checked by the
e lectronic control un it when the ignit ion is on.
The control unit mon itors the Advanced Air
bag System and turns the airbag indicator
l ight on when a ma lfunction in t he system
components is detected. The func tion of the
a ir bag ind icator light is described in greater
detai l be low . Because the front passenger
seat contains important parts of the Ad
vanced A irbag System, you m ust take care to
prevent it from be ing damaged. Damage to
the seat may prevent the Advanced Airbag for
the front passenger seat from doing its job in
a crash .
The front Advanced Airb ag Sy stem
consists of the following:
- Crash sensors in the front of the veh icle that
measure veh icle acceleration/deceleration
to provide information to the Advanced Air
bag System abou t the seve rity of the crash.
- An electron ic co ntrol unit, with integ rated
crash sensors for front and side impacts .
T he cont ro l unit "dec ides " w het her to fire
the front airbags based on the information
received from the crash senso rs . The contro l
unit a lso "decides" whethe r the safety be lt
pretensioners should be activated . -
An Advanced A irbag w ith gas generator for
the driver inside the steering w heel hub.
- An Advanced A irbag w ith gas generato r in
side the inst rument panel for the front pas
senger.
- A we ight -sensing mat unde r th e upho ls tery
pa dding of the front passenger seat cushion
that measures the total weight on the seat .
The informat ion registered is sent continu
ously to the electronic control unit to regu late deployment of the front Advanced Air
bag on the passenger side .
- An airbag monitoring sys tem and indicator
light in t he instrument cluster
c::> page 120.
- The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light comes
on and stays on in the center of the instru
ment panel
c::> page 120, fig. 123 and tells
you when the front Advanced Airbag on the passe nger side has been tu rned off.
- A senso r below the safety be lt latch fo r the
front seat passenger to measure the tension on t he safety be lt. The tension on the safety
be lt a nd the weight regis tered by the
weight-sensing mat he lp the cont rol uni t
"decide" whether the front airbag fo r the
front passenger seat should be turned off or
not
c> page 111, Child restraints on the
fron t seat -some important things to
know.
-A sensor in the safety belt latch fo r the driv
er and for the front seat passenger that
senses whether t hat safety belt is latched or
not and transmits this information to t he
elect ronic control un it .
,&. WARNING
D amage to the fron t passenger seat can
p revent the fro nt airbag from wor king
properly.
- I mp roper repai r or d isassembly of the
front passenge r and dr ive r sea t will pre
vent the Advanced Air bag System from
functioning p roperly.
- Repairs to the front passenge r seat m ust
be pe rformed by qualifie d and p roperly
trained workshop personnel.
- Never remove the front passenger o r
d river seat from t he vehicle .
-
120 Airbag system
Monitoring the
Advanced Airbag
System
I Airbag monitoring indicator light
Two separate indicators monitor the function
of the Advanced Airbag System: the airbag
monitoring indicator light and the
PASSEN
GER AIR BAG OFF
light.
The Advanced Airbag System (includ ing the
e lectronic control un it, sensor circuits and sys
tem wiring) is monit ored cont inuous ly to
make sure that it is functioni ng properly
wheneve r the ignit io n is on. Each t ime yo u
turn on the igni tion, the airbag mon itoring in
d icator light
I will come on for a few se co n ds
(sel f di agnos tic s) .
The system must be inspected when the
indicator light
I :
- does not come on when t he ignit io n is
swi tched o n,
- does not go ou t a few seconds afte r yo u
h ave swi tched on the ign ition, o r
- comes on wh ile d riving .
If an airbag system malfunct ion is detected,
the ind icator light will first start flash ing to
catch the driver's attention and then stay on
continuously to se rve as a constant reminde r
to have the system inspected immediately.
If a malfunction occurs that turns the front
a ir bag on the passenger side off, the
PASSEN
GER AIR BAG OFF
li ght w ill come on and stay
on w henever the ign ition is on.
_& WARNING
An air bag system tha t is no t funct ionin g
prope rly ca nno t pro vide supplemen tal p ro
t ection in a fron tal crash .
-If the air bag indic ator li ght co mes on, it
means that there may be somet hing
wron g wit h the Adva nce d Airbag System.
It is possible t hat the air bag will inflate
when it is not s upposed to, or w ill not in
flate when it should.
-
- Have the airbag system inspected imme
diate ly by yo ur autho rized Au di dea le r.
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light
Fi g. 1 23 Sect ion from the instr um en t pa nel: PASSEN
GER AIR BAG O FF lig ht
The PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light is located
i n t he center of the inst rument pa ne l
<=> fig . 123.
The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light wi ll come
o n and stay on to tell you w hen the front Ad
vanced Airbag on the passenge r side has been
turned off by the electro nic contro l unit. Each
t ime you turn on the igni tion, the
PASSEN
GER AIR BAG
OFF light will flas h for a few
se co nds a nd:
- w ill stay on if the fro nt passenge r seat is not
occu pied,
- will stay on if the re is a small ch ild or child
restrai nt on the front passenge r seat,
- will go out if the front passenge r seat is oc
cupied by an adult as registered by the
weight-sens ing mat.
The
PASSENGER AIR BAG OFF light must
come on and stay on
if the ignition is on and
- a car bed has been installed on the front
seat, or
- a rearward-facing child rest raint has been
installed on the front passenger seat, o r
- a forwar d-fac ing ch ild restra int has been in
stalled on the front passenger seat, or
- t he weight reg iste red on the fron t passen
ge r seat is equal to or less t han the com
bined weig ht of a typical 1 year -o ld restra in
ed in one of the rear-facing or forward-fac-
ing infant restra ints listed in Federal Motor ..,.