2015 KIA Optima Features

347
Safety features of your vehicle
Any child age 12 and under should
ride in the rear seat. Children too
large for child restraints should use
the available lap/shoulder belts. No
matter what type of crash, children of
all ages are safer when restrained in
the rear seat.
✽ ✽NOTICE
Do not modify or replace the front
passenger seat. Don't place anything
on or attach anything such as a blan-
ket, front seat covers or after market
seat heater to the front passenger
seat. This can adversely affect the
occupant detection system.
If the occupant detection system is
not working properly, the SRS air
bag warning light on the instru-
ment panel will illuminate because
the passenger's front air bag is con-
nected with the occupant detection
system. If there is a malfunction of
the occupant detection system, the
PASSENGER AIR BAG “OFF” indi-
cator will not illuminate and the pas-
senger's front air bag will inflate in
frontal impact crashes even if there is
no occupant in the front passenger's
seat.Driver's and passenger's front
air bag
Your vehicle is equipped with an
Advanced Supplemental Restraint
(Air Bag) System and lap/shoulder
belts at both the driver and passen-
ger seating position.
OTF034033
OTF030034
Driver’s front air bag
Passenger’s front air bag

Safety features of your vehicle
48
3
The indications of the system's pres-
ence are the letters "AIR BAG"
embossed on the air bag pad cover
in the steering wheel and the pas-
senger's side front panel pad above
the glove box.
The SRS consists of air bags
installed under the pad covers in the
center of the steering wheel and the
passenger's side front panel above
the glove box.
The purpose of the SRS is to provide
the vehicle's driver and/or the front
passenger with additional protection
than that offered by the seat belt sys-
tem alone in case of a frontal impact
of sufficient severity. The SRS uses
sensors to gather information about
the driver's seat position, the driver's
and front passenger's seat belt
usage and impact severity. The advanced SRS offers the ability
to control the air bag inflation with
two levels. A first stage level is pro-
vided for moderate-severity impacts.
A second stage level is provided for
more severe impacts.
The passenger’s front air bag is
designed to help reduce the injury of
children sitting close to the instru-
ment panel in low speed collisions.
However, children are safer if they
are restraint in the rear seat.
According to the impact severity,
seating position and seat belt usage,
the SRSCM (SRS Control Module)
controls the air bag inflation. Failure
to properly wear seat belts can
increase the risk or severity of injury
in an accident.
Additionally, your vehicle is equipped
with an occupant detection system in
the front passenger's seat. The occu-
pant detection system detects the
presence of a passenger in the front
passenger's seat and will turn off the
front passenger's air bag under cer-
tain conditions. For more detail, see
"Occupant detection system" in this
section.
Do not place any objects that may
cause magnetic fields near the front
seat. These may cause a malfunction
of the seat track position sensor.

349
Safety features of your vehicle
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Side impact
Rear impact
RolloverManufacturers 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. Advanced air bags are combined
with pre-tensioner seat belts to help
provide enhanced occupant protec-
tion in frontal crashes. Front air bags
are not intended to deploy in colli-
sions in which sufficient protection
can be provided by the pre-tensioner
seat belt alone.
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 crash-
es below the deployment threshold.
WARNING - Replacement/
modifications
The front passenger seat, dash-
board or door should not be
replaced except by an author-
ized Kia dealer using original
Kia parts designed for this vehi-
cle and model. Any other such
replacement or modification
could adversely affect the oper-
ation of the occupant detection
system and your advanced air
bags.
WARNING - SRS Wiring
Do not tamper with or discon-
nect SRS wiring or other com-
ponents of the SRS system.
Doing so could result in injury,
due to accidental deployment of
the air bags or by rendering the
SRS inoperative.

Safety features of your vehicle
50
3
Side air bag
❈ The actual air bags in the vehicle may differ
from the illustration.
Your vehicle is equipped with a side
air bag in each front seat. The purpose of the air bag is to pro-
vide the vehicle's driver and/or the
front passenger with additional pro-
tection than that offered by the seat
belt alone.
The side air bags are designed to
deploy only during certain side-
impact collisions, depending on the
crash severity, angle, speed and
point of impact. The side air bags are
not designed to deploy in all side
impact situations.
The side air bag is supplemental 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 operation.
For best protection from the side air
bag system and to avoid being
injured by the deploying side 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 steer-
ing wheel at the 9:00 and 3:00 posi-
tions. The passenger's arms and
hands should be placed on their laps.
WARNING - Unexpected
deployment
Avoid impact to the side air bag
sensor when the ignition switch
is ON to prevent unexpected
deployment of the side air bag.
OTD030035
OTD030036
Front
WARNING - Deployment
Do not install any accessories
including seat covers, on the
side or near the side air bag as
this may affect the deployment
of the side air bags.

351
Safety features of your vehicle
If seat or seat cover is damaged,
have the vehicle checked and
repaired by an authorized Kia dealer.
Inform that your vehicle is equipped
with side air bags and an occupant
detection system.Curtain air bag
❈The actual air bags in the vehicle may differ
from the illustration.
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 occu-
pants in certain side impact colli-
sions.
The curtain air bags are designed to
deploy only during certain side
impact collisions, depending on the
crash severity, 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.
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 pas-
sengers when they are seated on
seats equipped with side and/or cur-
tain air bags.
✽ ✽
NOTICE
Never try to open or repair any com-
ponents of the side curtain air bag
system. This should only be done by
an authorized Kia dealer.
WARNING - Flying
objects
Do not place any objects (an
umbrella, bag, etc.) between the
front door and the front seat.
Such objects may become dan-
gerous projectiles if the side
airbag inflates.
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OTF030038

Safety features of your vehicle
52
3
Why didn’t my air bag go off in
a collision? (Inflation and non-
inflation conditions of the air
bag)
There are many types of accidents
in which the air bag would not be
expected to provide additional
protection.
These include rear impacts, sec-
ond or third collisions in multiple
impact accidents, as well as low
speed impacts.
OTF034039N/OTF034040/OTF034041/OMG035053/OTF030048N
(1) SRS control module
(2) Front impact sensor (3) Side impact sensor
(4) Side impact sensor
Air bag collision sensors

353
Safety features of your vehicle
Problems may arise if the sensor
installation 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.
Installing aftermarket bumper guards
or replacing a bumper with non-gen-
uine parts may adversely affect your
vehicle’s collision and air bag deploy-
ment performance.Air bag inflation conditions
Front air bags
Front air bags are designed to inflate
in a frontal collision depending on
the intensity, speed or angles of
impact of the front collision.
WARNING - Air bag sensors
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 per-
sonal 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.
Therefore, do not try to per-
form maintenance on or
around the air bag sensors.
Have the vehicle checked and
repaired by an authorized Kia
dealer.
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Safety features of your vehicle
54
3
❈ The actual air bags in the vehicle may differ
from the illustration.
Side air bags
Side air bags (side and/or curtain air
bags) are designed to inflate when
an impact is detected by side colli-
sion sensors depending on the
strength, speed or angles of impact
resulting from a side impact collision. Although the front air bags (driver’s
and front passenger’s air bags) are
designed to inflate in frontal colli-
sions, they also may inflate in other
types of collisions if the front impact
sensors detect a sufficient frontal
force in another type of impact. Side
and curtain air bags are designed to
inflate in certain side impact colli-
sions. They may inflate in other type
of collisions where a side force is
detected by the sensors.
If the vehicle chassis is impacted by
bumps or objects on unimproved
roads or sidewalks, air bags may
deploy. Drive carefully on unim-
proved roads or on surfaces not
designed for vehicle traffic to prevent
unintended air bag deployment.
Air bag non-inflation conditions
In certain low-speed collisions the
air bags may not deploy. The air
bags are designed not to deploy in
such cases because they may not
provide benefits beyond the pro-
tection of the seat belts in such col-
lisions.
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