2014 SUBARU TRIBECA Owners Manual

1-58Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags
both driver’s and front passenger’s SRSfrontal airbags may be activated when thevehicle sustains a hard impact in theundercarriage area from the road surface(such as when the vehicle plunges into adeep ditch, is severely impacted orknocked hard against an obstacle on theroad such as a curb).

!Examples of the types of accidents in which deployment of the driver’s/driver’s and front passenger’s SRS frontal airbag(s) is unlikely to occur
1) The vehicle strikes an object, such as atelephone pole or sign pole.2) The vehicle slides under the load bed ofa truck.3) The vehicle sustains an oblique offsetfrontal impact.4) The vehicle sustains an offset frontalcollision.
There are many types of collisions whichmight not necessarily require deploymentof driver’s/driver’s and front passenger’sSRS frontal airbag(s). In the event ofaccidents like those illustrated, the dri-ver’s/driver’s and front passenger’s SRSfrontal airbag(s) may not deploy depend-ing on the level of accident forces in-volved.
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!Examples of the types of acci-dents in which the driver’s/dri-ver’s and front passenger’s SRSfrontal airbag(s) is/are not de-signed to deploy in most cases
The driver’s and front passenger’s SRS
frontal airbags are not designed to deployin most cases if the vehicle is struck fromthe side or from behind, or if it rolls onto itsside or roof, or if it is involved in a low-speed frontal collision.
1) First impact2) Second impact
In an accident where the vehicle isimpacted more than once, the driver’sand/or front passenger’s SRS frontalairbag(s) will deploy only once on the firstimpact.
Example: In the case of a double collision,first with another vehicle, then against aconcrete wall in immediate succession,once either or both of the driver’s and frontpassenger’s SRS frontal airbags is/areactivated on the first impact, it/they will not
be activated on the second impact.
&SRS side airbag and SRS
curtain airbag
The SRS side airbag is stored in the doorside of each front seat seatback, whichbears an“SRS AIRBAG”label.
In a moderate to severe side impactcollision, the SRS side airbag on theimpacted side of the vehicle deploysbetween the occupant and the door paneland supplements the seatbelt by reducingtheimpact to the occupant’s chest andwaist. The SRS side airbag operates onlyfor front seat occupants.
The SRS curtain airbag on each side ofthe cabin is stored in the roof side(betweenthe front pillar and a point overthe second-row seat). An“SRS AIRBAG”mark is located at the top of each centerpillar.
In a moderate to severe side impactcollision,the SRS curtain airbag on theimpacted side of the vehicle deploysbetween the occupant and the sidewindow and supplements the seatbelt byreducing the impact on the occupant’shead.
In a rollover, SRS curtain airbags on bothsides of the vehicle deploy between theoccupant and the side window and sup-

plement the seatbelt by reducing theimpact to the occupant’s head.
The SRS curtain airbag does not operatefor third-row seat occupants.
WARNING
The SRS side airbag and SRScurtain airbag are designed as onlya supplement to the primary protec-tion provided by the seatbelt. Theydo not do away with the need tofasten seatbelts. It is also importantto wear your seatbelt to help avoidinjuries that can result when anoccupant is not seated in a properupright position.
WARNING
.Do not sit or lean unnecessarilyclose to either front door. TheSRS side airbag is stored in bothfront seat seatbacks next to thedoor, and it provides protectionby deploying rapidly (faster thanthe blink of an eye) in the event ofa side impact collision. However,the force of SRS side airbagdeployment may cause injuriesif your head or other parts of thebody are too close to the SRSside airbag.
.Since your vehicle is equippedwith SRS curtain airbags, do notsit or lean unnecessarily close tothe frontor rear door on eitherside. Also, do not put your head,arms and hands out of the win-dow. The SRS curtain airbag oneach side of the cabin is stored inthe roof side (between the frontpillar and a point over the sec-ond-row seat), and it providesprotection by deploying rapidly(faster than the blink of an eye) inthe event of a side impact or arollover. However, the force of itsdeployment may cause injuries ifyour head is too close to it.
WARNING
Do not rest your arm on either frontdoor or its internal trim. It could beinjured in the event of SRS sideairbag deployment.
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1-62Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags
WARNING
.Never allow a child to kneel onthe front passenger’s seat facingthe side window or wrap his/herarms around the front seat seat-
back. In the event of an accident,the force of the SRS side airbagdeployment could injure the childseriously because his/her heador arms or other parts of thebody are too close to the SRSside airbag.
Since your vehicle is alsoequipped with a front passen-ger’s SRS frontal airbag, childrenaged 12 and under should beplaced in a rear seat anyway andshould be properly restrained atall times.
.Never allow a child to kneel onany passenger’s seat facing theside window or put their head,arms or hands out of the window.In the event of an accident, theforceof the SRS curtain airbagdeployment could injure the childseriously because his/her head isclose to the SRS curtain airbag.
WARNING
.Do not attach accessories to thedoor trim or near either SRS sideairbags and do not place objectsnear the SRSside airbags. In theevent of the SRS side airbagdeployment, they could be pro-pelled dangerously toward thevehicle’s occupants and causeinjuries.
.Do not attach a hands-free micro-phone or any other accessory toa front pillar, a center pillar, a rearpillar, the windshield, a side win-dow, an assist grip, or any othercabin surface that would be neara deploying SRS curtain airbag.

Ahands-freemicrophoneorother accessory in such a loca-tion could be propelled throughthe cabin with great force by thecurtain airbag, or it could preventcorrect deployment of the curtainairbag. In either case, the resultcould be serious injuries.
WARNING
Do not hang coat hangers or otherhard or pointed objects on the coathooks. If such items were hangingon the coat hooks during deploy-ment of the SRS curtain airbags,they could cause serious injuries bycoming off the coat hooks and beingthrown through the cabin or by
preventing deployment of the cur-tain airbags.
Before hanging clothing on the coathooks, make sure there are no sharpobjects in the pockets. Hang cloth-ing directly on the coat hooks with-out using hangers.
WARNING
Do not put any kind of cover orclothes or other objects over eitherfront seatback and do not attachlabels or stickers to the front seatsurface on or near the SRS sideairbag. They could prevent properdeployment of the SRS side airbag,reducingprotection available to the
front seat’s occupant.
!Operation
The SRS side airbag and SRS curtainairbag can function only when the ignitionswitch is in the“ON”position.
The driver’s and front passenger’s SRSside airbags and SRS curtain airbagsdeploy independently of each other be-cause each has its own impact sensor.Therefore, they may not both deploy in thesame accident. Also, the SRS side airbagand SRS curtain airbag deploys indepen-dently of the driver’s and front passen-ger’s SRS frontal airbags in the steeringwheel and instrument panel.
An impact sensor, which senses impactforce, is located in each of the left and
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1-64Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags
right center pillars and rear wheel houses.Another impact sensor, which also sensesimpact force, is located under the second-row center seat. In addition, a rolloversensor is located inside the airbag controlmodule.
If one of the center pillar impact sensorsand the impact sensor that is locatedunder the second-row center seat to-gether sense an impact force above apredetermined level in a side collision, thecontrol module causes both the SRS sideairbag and curtain airbag on the impactedside to inflate regardless of whether therear wheel house impact sensor on thesame side senses an impact. At this time,the driver’s and front passenger’s seatbeltpretensioners also operate at the sametime.
If one of the rear wheel house impactsensors and the impact sensor that islocated under the second-row center seattogether sense an impact force above apredetermined level in a side collision, thecontrol module causes only the SRScurtain airbag on the impacted side toinflate.
If the rollover sensor detects rollover of thevehicle, the control module inflates theSRS curtain airbags. At this time, thedriver’s and front passenger’s seatbelt
pretensioners also operate at the sametime.
After deployment, the SRS side airbagimmediately starts to deflate. The timerequired from detection of an impact todeflation of an SRS side airbag afterdeployment is shorter than the blink ofan eye.
The SRS curtain airbag remains inflatedfor a while following deployment thenslowly deflates.
The SRS side airbag and SRS curtainairbag deploy even when no one occupiesthe seat on the side on which an impact isapplied.
When the SRS side airbag and SRScurtain airbag deploy, a sudden, fairly loudinflation noise will be heard and somesmoke will be released. These occur-rences are a normal result of the deploy-ment. This smoke does not indicate a firein the vehicle.
CAUTION
Do not touch the SRS side airbagsystem components around thefront seat seatback with bare handsright after deployment. Doing so cancause burns because the compo-nents can be very hot as a result of
deployment.
After deployment, do not touch anypart of the SRS curtain airbagsystem (from the front pillar to thepart of the roof side over thesecond-row seat). Doing so cancause burns because the compo-nents can be very hot as a result ofdeployment.
The SRS side airbag and SRS curtainairbag are designed to deploy in the eventof an accident involving a moderate tosevere side impact collision. Also, in thecase of a rollover, the SRS curtain airbagdeploys.They are not designed to deployin most lesser side impacts. Also, they arenot designed to deploy in most frontal ormost rear impacts because SRS sideairbag and SRS curtain airbag deploy-ment would nothelp the occupant in thosesituations.
Each SRS side airbag and SRS curtainairbag are designed to function on a one-time-only basis.
SRS side airbag and SRS curtain airbagdeployments depend on the level of forceexperiencedin the passenger compart-ment during a side impact collision. Thatlevel differs from one type of collision toanother, and it may have no bearing on

the visible damage done to the vehicleitself. Also, the SRS curtain airbag de-ploys depending on the vehicle’s positionand inclination at the time of the rollover.
!Example of the type of accidentin which the SRS side airbag willmost likely deploy
A severe side impact near the front seatactivates the SRS side airbag.
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