2012 KIA Forte Owner's Manual

349
Safety features of your vehicle
✽
✽NOTICE
• Be sure to read information about the
SRS on the labels provided on the sun
visor.
• Advanced air bags are combined with pre-tensioner seat belts to help provide
enhanced occupant protection in
frontal crashes. Front air bags are not
intended to deploy in collisions in which
sufficient protection can be provided by
the pre-tensioner seat belt alone.WARNING
Manufacturers are required by gov-
ernment regulations to provide a
contact point concerning modifica-
tions to the vehicle for persons with
disabilities, which modifications
may affect the vehicle’s advanced
air bag system. However, 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 detection system.
Specifically, the front passenger
seat, dashboard or door should not
be replaced except by an author-
ized KIA dealer using original KIA
parts designed for this vehicle and
model. Any other such replacement
or modification could adversely
affect the operation of the occupant
detection system and your
advanced air bags. For the same
reason, do not attach anything to
the seat, dashboard or door, even
temporarily. If the system is
adversely affected, it could cause
severe personal injuries or death in
a collision.
(Continued)
Never place a child in any child or
booster seat in the front seat.
ABC – Always Buckle Children in the back seat. It is the safest
place for children of any age to
ride.
Front and side air bags can injure occupants improperly positioned
in the front seats.
Move your seat as far back as practical from the front air bags,
while still maintaining control of
the vehicle.
You and your passengers should never sit or lean unnecessarily
close to the air bags. Improperly
positioned drivers and passen-
gers can be severely injured by
inflating air bags.
Never lean against the door or center console – always sit in an
upright position.
Do not allow a passenger to ride in the front seat when the PAS-
SENGER AIR BAG “OFF” indica-
tor is illuminated, because the air
bag will not deploy in the event of
a moderate or severe frontal
crash.
(Continued)
WARNING
Always use seat belts and child
restraints – every trip, every time,
everyone! Air bags inflate with con-
siderable force and in the blink of
an eye. Seat belts help keep occu-
pants in proper position to obtain
maximum benefit from the air bag.
Even with advanced air bags,
improperly and unbelted occupants
can be severely injured when the
air bag inflates. Always follow the
precautions about seat belts, air
bags and occupant safety con-
tained in this manual.
To reduce the chance of serious or
fatal injuries and receive the maxi-
mum safety benefit from your
restraint system: (Continued)

Safety features of your vehicle
50
3
(Continued)
No objects should be placed over
or near the air bag modules on
the steering wheel, instrument
panel, and the front passenger's
panel above the glove box,
because any such object could
cause harm if the vehicle is in a
crash severe enough to cause
the air bags to deploy.
Never place covers, blankets or aftermarket seat warmers on the
passenger seat as these may
interfere with the occupant detec-
tion system.
Do not tamper with or disconnect SRS wiring or other components
of the SRS system. Doing so
could result in injury, due to acci-
dental deployment of the air bags
or by rendering the SRS inopera-
tive.
(Continued)(Continued)
If the SRS air bag warning lightremains illuminated while the
vehicle is being driven, have an
authorized KIA dealer inspect the
air bag system as soon as possi-
ble.
Air bags can only be used once – have an authorized KIA dealer
replace the air bag immediately
after deployment.
The SRS is designed to deploy the front air bags only when an
impact is sufficiently severe and
when the impact angle is less
than 30° from the forward longitu-
dinal axis of the vehicle.
Additionally, the air bags will only
deploy once. Seat belts must be
worn at all times.
Front air bags are not intended to deploy in side-impact, rear-
impact or rollover crashes. In
addition, front air bags will not
deploy in frontal crashes below
the deployment threshold.
(Continued)
1JBB3520
1JBA3514
1JBA3522
Side impact
Rear impact
Rollover

351
Safety features of your vehicle
C040600ATD-EC
Side impact air bag (if equipped)
Your vehicle is equipped with a side
impact air bag in each front seat. The
purpose of the air bag is to provide the
vehicle's driver and/or the front passen-
ger with additional protection than that
offered by the seat belt alone.
(Continued)
Sitting improperly or out of posi-tion can result in serious or fatal
injury in a crash. All occupants
should sit upright with the seat
back in an upright position, cen-
tered on the seat cushion with
their seat belt on, legs comfort-
ably extended and their feet on
the floor until the vehicle is
parked and the ignition key is
removed.
The SRS air bag system must deploy very rapidly to provide
protection in a crash. If an occu-
pant is out of position because of
not wearing a seat belt, the air
bag may forcefully contact the
occupant causing serious or fatal
injuries.(Continued)
Even though your vehicle isequipped with the occupant
detection system, do not install a
child restraint system in the front
passenger seat position. A child
restraint system must never be
placed in the front seat. The infant
or child could be severely injured
or killed by an air bag deployment
in case of an accident.
Children age 12 and under must always be properly restrained in
the rear seat. Never allow chil-
dren to ride in the front passen-
ger seat. If a child over 12 must
be seated in the front seat, he or
she must be properly belted and
the seat should be moved as far
back as possible.
For maximum safety protection in all types of crashes, all occu-
pants including the driver should
always wear their seat belts
whether or not an air bag is also
provided at their seating position
to minimize the risk of severe
injury or death in the event of a
crash. Do not sit or lean unneces-
sarily close to the air bag while
the vehicle is in motion.
(Continued)
OTD039022
1LDA2056

Safety features of your vehicle
52
3
The side impact air bags are designed to
deploy only during certain side-impact
collisions, depending on the crash sever-
ity, angle, speed and point of impact. The
side air bags are not designed to deploy
in all side impact situations.(Continued)
Do not use any accessory seat
covers.
Use of seat covers could reduce or prevent the effectiveness of
the system.
Do not install any accessories on the side or near the side impact
air bag.
Do not place any objects over the air bag or between the air bag
and yourself.
Do not place any objects (an umbrella, bag, etc.) between the
front door and the front seat.
Such objects may become dan-
gerous projectiles and cause
injury if the supplemental side air
bag inflates.
To prevent unexpected deploy- ment of the side impact air bag
that may result in personal injury,
avoid impact to the side impact
sensor when the ignition switch
is on.
(Continued)WARNING
The side impact air bag is sup-plemental to the driver's and the
passenger's seat belt systems
and is not a substitute for them.
Therefore your seat belts must be
worn at all times while the vehicle
is in motion. The air bags deploy
only in certain side impact condi-
tions severe enough to cause
significant injury to the vehicle
occupants.
For best protection from the side impact air bag system and to
avoid being injured by the
deploying side impact air bag,
both front seat occupants should
sit in an upright position with the
seat belt properly fastened. The
driver's hands should be placed
on the steering wheel at 9:00 and
3:00 positions. The passenger's
arms and hands should be
placed on their laps.
(Continued)

353
Safety features of your vehicle
C040700AUN
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 cer-
tain side impact collisions.The curtain air bags are designed to
deploy only during certain side impact
collisions, depending on the crash sever-
ity, angle, speed and impact. The curtain
air bags are not designed to deploy in all
side impact situations, collisions from the
front or rear of the vehicle or in most
rollover situations.
OMG037051
OUN026090
(Continued)
If the seat or seat cover is dam-
aged, have the vehicle checked
and repaired by an authorized
KIA dealer. Inform that your vehi-
cle is equipped with side impact
air bags.

Safety features of your vehicle
54
3
(Continued)
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.
Failure to follow the above men-
tioned instructions can result in
injury or death to the vehicle occu-
pants in an accident.WARNING
In order for side and curtain air bags to provide its best protec-
tion, both front seat occupants
and both outboard rear occu-
pants should sit in an upright
position with the seat belts prop-
erly fastened. Importantly, chil-
dren 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
possible, and secure the child
restraint system in a locked posi-
tion.
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 impact
and/or curtain air bags.
(Continued)

355
Safety features of your vehicle
C040800ATD
Why didn’t my air bag go off in a
collision? (Inflation and non-infla-
tion conditions of the air bag)
There are many types of accidents in
which the air bag would not be expect-
ed to provide additional protection.
These include rear impacts, second or
third collisions in multiple impact
accidents, as well as low speed
impacts. In other words, 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
(3) Side impact sensor (if equipped)
OTD039039NC/OMG035052/OHD036029/OMG035053
123

Safety features of your vehicle
56
3
C040801APB
Air bag inflation conditions
Front air bags
Front air bags are designed to inflate in a
frontal collision depending on the intensi-
ty, speed or angles of impact of the front
collision.
1JBA3513
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 serious 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 an
authorized KIA dealer.
(Continued)
(Continued)
Problems may arise if the sensorinstallation angles are changed
due to the deformation of the
front bumper, body or B pillar
where side collision sensors are
installed. Have the vehicle
checked and repaired 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.