2013 FORD TAURUS airbag

PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION
WARNING:Always drive and ride with your seatback upright
and the lap belt snug and low across the hips.
WARNING:To reduce the risk of injury, make sure children sit
where they can be properly restrained.
WARNING:Never let a passenger hold a child on his or her lap
while the vehicle is moving. The passenger cannot protect the
child from injury in a collision.
WARNING:All occupants of the vehicle, including the driver,
should always properly wear their safety belts, even when an
airbag supplemental restraint system (SRS) is provided.
WARNING:It is extremely dangerous to ride in a cargo area,
inside or outside of a vehicle. In a collision, people riding in these
areas are more likely to be seriously injured or killed. Do not allow
people to ride in any area of your vehicle that is not equipped with
seats and safety belts. Be sure everyone in your vehicle is in a seat and
using a safety belt properly.
WARNING:In a rollover crash, an unbelted person is significantly
more likely to die than a person wearing a safety belt.
WARNING:Each seating position in your vehicle has a specific
safety belt assembly which is made up of one buckle and one
tongue that are designed to be used as a pair. 1) Use the shoulder belt
on the outside shoulder only. Never wear the shoulder belt under the
arm. 2) Never swing the safety belt around your neck over the inside
shoulder. 3) Never use a single belt for more than one person.
WARNING:When possible, all children 12 years old and under
should be properly restrained in a rear seating position.
Safety Belts33
2013 Taurus
Owners Guide gf, 1st Printing
USA(fus)

WARNING:Safety belts and seats can become hot in a vehicle
that has been closed up in sunny weather; they could burn a
small child. Check seat covers and buckles before you place a child
anywhere near them.
WARNING:Front and rear seat occupants, including pregnant
women, should wear safety belts for optimum protection in an
accident.
All seating positions in this vehicle have lap and shoulder safety belts. All
occupants of the vehicle should always properly wear their safety belts,
even when an airbag supplemental restraint system is provided.
The safety belt system consists of:
•Lap and shoulder safety belts.
•Shoulder safety belt with automatic locking mode, (except driver
safety belt).
•Height adjuster at the front outboard seating positions
•Retractor and anchor pretensioner at the front outboard seating
positions.
•Belt tension sensor at the front outboard passenger seating position.
•Safety belt warning light and chime. Refer toSafety Belt
Warning Light and Indicator Chimelater in this chapter.
•Crash sensors and monitoring system with readiness
indicator. Refer toCrash Sensors and Airbag Indicatorin
theSupplemental Restraint Systemchapter.
The safety belt pretensioners are designed to activate in frontal,
near-frontal and side collisions, and in rollovers. The safety belt
pretensioners on the retractor and anchor at the front seating positions
are designed to tighten the safety belts firmly against the occupant’s
body when activated. This helps increase the effectiveness of the safety
belts. In frontal collisions, the safety belt pretensioners can be activated
alone or, if the collision is of sufficient severity, together with the front
airbags.
34Safety Belts
2013 Taurus
Owners Guide gf, 1st Printing
USA(fus)

PERSONAL SAFETY SYSTEM™
The Personal Safety System provides an improved overall level of frontal
crash protection to front seat occupants and is designed to help further
reduce the risk of airbag-related injuries. The system is able to analyze
different occupant conditions and crash severity before activating the
appropriate safety devices to help better protect a range of occupants in
a variety of frontal crash situations.
Your vehicle’s Personal Safety System consists of:
•Driver and passenger dual-stage airbag supplemental restraints.
•Front outboard safety belts with pretensioners, energy management
retractors (first row only), and safety belt usage sensors.
•Driver’s seat position sensor
•Front passenger sensing system
•Passenger airbag off/on indicator lamp
•Front crash severity sensors.
•Restraints Control Module (RCM) with impact and safing sensors.
•Restraint system warning light and backup tone.
•The electrical wiring for the airbags, crash sensor(s), safety belt
pretensioners, front safety belt usage sensors, driver seat position
sensor, front passenger sensing system, and indicator lights.
How does the Personal Safety System work?
The Personal Safety System can adapt the deployment strategy of your
vehicle’s safety devices according to crash severity and occupant
conditions. A collection of crash and occupant sensors provides
information to the Restraints Control Module. During a crash, the
Restraints Control Module may activate the safety belt pretensioners
and/or either one or both stages of the dual-stage airbag supplemental
restraints based on crash severity and occupant conditions.
42Personal Safety System
2013 Taurus
Owners Guide gf, 1st Printing
USA(fus)

PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION
WARNING:Airbags DO NOT inflate slowly or gently, and the risk
of injury from a deploying airbag is the greatest close to the trim
covering the airbag module.
WARNING:All occupants of the vehicle, including the driver,
should always properly wear their safety belts, even when an
airbag supplemental restraint system is provided.
WARNING:Always transport children 12 years old and under in
the back seat and always properly use appropriate child
restraints.
WARNING:Never place your arm over the airbag module as a
deploying airbag can result in serious arm fractures or other
injuries.
WARNING:Airbags can kill or injure a child in a child seat.
NEVER place a rear-facing child seat in front of an active airbag.
If you must use a forward-facing child seat in the front seat, move the
seat all the way back.
WARNING:Do not attempt to service, repair, or modify the
airbag supplemental restraint systems or its fuses. Contact your
authorized dealer as soon as possible.
WARNING:Several airbag system components get hot after
inflation. Do not touch them after inflation.
WARNING:If the airbag has deployed, the airbag will not
function again and must be replaced immediately. If the airbag is
not replaced, the unrepaired area will increase the risk of injury in a
collision.
Supplementary Restraints System43
2013 Taurus
Owners Guide gf, 1st Printing
USA(fus)

WARNING:All occupants of the vehicle, including the driver,
should always properly wear their safety belts, even when an air
bag supplemental restraint system is provided.
The airbags are a supplemental restraint system and are designed to
work with the safety belts to help protect the driver and right front
passenger from certain upper body injuries. Airbags DO NOT inflate
slowly; there is a risk of injury from a deploying airbag.
Note:You will hear a loud bang and see a cloud of harmless powdery
residue if an airbag deploys. This is normal.
The airbags inflate and deflate rapidly upon activation. After airbag
deployment, it is normal to notice a smoke-like, powdery residue or smell
the burnt propellant. This may consist of cornstarch, talcum powder (to
lubricate the bag) or sodium compounds (e.g., baking soda) that result
from the combustion process that inflates the airbag. Small amounts of
sodium hydroxide may be present which may irritate the skin and eyes,
but none of the residue is toxic. While the system is designed to help
reduce serious injuries, contact with a deploying airbag may also cause
abrasions or swelling. Temporary hearing loss is also a possibility as a
result of the noise associated with a deploying airbag. Because airbags
must inflate rapidly and with considerable force, there is the risk of
death or serious injuries such as fractures, facial and eye injuries or
internal injuries, particularly to occupants who are not properly
restrained or are otherwise out of position at the time of airbag
deployment. Thus, it is extremely important that occupants be properly
restrained as far away from the airbag module as possible while
maintaining vehicle control.
Routine maintenance of the airbags is not required.
SOS POST-CRASH ALERT SYSTEM™
The system flashes the turn signal lamps and sounds the horn
(intermittently) in the event of a serious impact that deploys an airbag
(front, side, side curtain or Safety Canopy) or the safety belt
pretensioners.
The horn and lamps will turn off when:
•the hazard control button is pressed
•the panic button is pressed on the remote entry transmitter, or
•the vehicle runs out of power.
44Supplementary Restraints System
2013 Taurus
Owners Guide gf, 1st Printing
USA(fus)

DRIVER AND PASSENGER AIRBAGS
WARNING:Never place your arm or any objects over an airbag
module. Placing your arm over a deploying airbag can result in
serious arm fractures or other injuries. Objects placed on or over the
airbag inflation area may cause those objects to be propelled by the
airbag into your face and torso causing serious injury.
WARNING:Airbags can kill or injure a child in a child seat.
Never place a rear-facing child seat in front of an active airbag. If
you must use a forward-facing child seat in the front seat, move the
seat all the way back.
The driver and front passenger
airbags will deploy during significant
frontal and near frontal collisions.
The driver and passenger front airbag system consists of:
•Driver and passenger airbag modules
•Crash sensors and monitoring system with readiness
indicator. Refer toCrash Sensors and Airbag Indicator
later in this chapter.
•Front passenger sensing system.
Proper Driver and Front Passenger Seating Adjustment
WARNING:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) recommends a minimum distance of at least 10 in.
(25 cm) between an occupant’s chest and the driver airbag module.
To properly position yourself away from the airbag:
•Move your seat to the rear as far as you can while still reaching the
pedals comfortably.
•
Recline the seat slightly (one or two degrees) from the upright position.
Supplementary Restraints System45
2013 Taurus
Owners Guide gf, 1st Printing
USA(fus)

After all occupants have adjusted their seats and put on safety belts, it’s
very important that they continue to sit properly. A properly seated
occupant sits upright, leaning against the seat back, and centered on the
seat cushion, with their feet comfortably extended on the floor. Sitting
improperly can increase the chance of injury in a crash event. For
example, if an occupant slouches, lies down, turns sideways, sits forward,
leans forward or sideways, or puts one or both feet up, the chance of
injury during a crash is greatly increased.
Children and Airbags
WARNING:Airbags can kill or injure a child in a child seat.
NEVER place a rear-facing child seat in front of an active airbag.
If you must use a forward-facing child seat in the front seat, move the
seat all the way back.
Children must always be properly
restrained. Accident statistics
suggest that children are safer when
properly restrained in the rear
seating positions than in the front
seating position. Failure to follow
these instructions may increase the
risk of injury in a collision.
FRONT PASSENGER SENSING SYSTEM
WARNING:Even with Advanced Restraints Systems, children 12
and under should be properly restrained in a rear seating
position.
WARNING:Sitting improperly out of position or with the seat
back reclined too far can take off weight from the seat cushion
and affect the decision of the front passenger sensing system, resulting
in serious injury or death in a crash.
Always sit upright against your seatback, with your feet on the floor.
46Supplementary Restraints System
2013 Taurus
Owners Guide gf, 1st Printing
USA(fus)

WARNING:To reduce the risk of possible serious injury:
Do not stow objects in seat back map pocket (if equipped) or
hang objects off seat back if a child is in the front passenger seat.
Do not place objects underneath the front passenger seat or between
the seat and the center console (if equipped).
Check the “passenger airbag off” or “pass airbag off” indicator lamp for
proper airbag status.
Failure to follow these instructions may interfere with the passenger
seat sensing system.
WARNING:Any alteration/modification to the front passenger seat
may affect the performance of the front passenger sensing system.
This system works with sensors that are part of the front passenger’s
seat and safety belt to detect the presence of a properly-seated occupant
and determine if the front passenger’s frontal airbag should be enabled
(may inflate) or not.
The front passenger sensing system
uses a passenger airbag status
indicator which will illuminate
indicating that the front passenger
frontal airbag is either ON (enabled)
or OFF (disabled). The indicator
lamp is located in the center stack
of the instrument panel.
Note:The passenger airbag status indicator OFF and ON lamps will
illuminate for a short period of time when the ignition is first turned on
to confirm it is functional.
The front passenger sensing system is designed to disable (will not
inflate) the front passenger’s frontal airbag when the front passenger seat
is unoccupied, or a rear facing infant seat, a forward-facing child
restraint, or a booster seat is detected.
•When the front passenger sensing system disables (will not inflate) the
front passenger frontal airbag, the passenger airbag status indicator
will illuminate the OFF lamp and stay lit to remind you that the front
passenger frontal airbag is disabled.
•If the child restraint has been installed and the passenger airbag status
indicator illuminates the ON lamp, then turn the vehicle off, remove
the child restraint from the vehicle and reinstall the restraint following
the child restraint manufacturer’s instructions.
Supplementary Restraints System47
2013 Taurus
Owners Guide gf, 1st Printing
USA(fus)