
SAFETY BELT MINDER
Belt-Minder™
This feature supplements the safety belt
warning function by providing additional
reminders by intermittently sounding a chime
and illuminating the safety belt warning light
when the driver seat or front passenger seat
is occupied and the safety belt is unbuckled.
The system uses information from the front
passenger sensing system to determine if a
front seat passenger is present and therefore
potentially in need of a warning. To avoid
activating the Belt-Minder feature for objects
placed in the front passenger seat, warnings
will only be given to front seat occupants as
determined by the front passenger sensing
system.
If the Belt-Minder warnings have expired
(warnings for about five minutes) for one
occupant (driver or front passenger), the
other occupant can still activate the
Belt-Minder feature. Then...
If...
The Belt-Minder feature will not activate.
The driver and front passenger safety belts are buckled before the
ignition is turned on or less than 1-2 minutes have elapsed since the ignition has been turned on...
The Belt-Minder feature is activated - the safety belt warning light
illuminates and the warning chime sounds for six seconds every 25
seconds, repeating for about five minutes or until the safety belts are buckled.
The driver or front passenger safety belt is not buckled when the
vehicle has reached at least 6 mph (9.7 km/h) and 1-2 minutes have elapsed since the ignition has been turned on...
The Belt-Minder feature is activated - the safety belt warning light
illuminates and the warning chime sounds for six seconds every 25
seconds, repeating for about five minutes or until the safety belts are buckled.
The driver or front passenger safety belt becomes unbuckled for
about one minute while the vehicle is traveling at least 6 mph (9.7
km/h) and more than 1-2 minutes have elapsed since the ignition has been turned on...
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Deactivating and Activating the Belt-Minder
Feature
WARNING
While the system allows you to
deactivate it, this system is designed
to improve your chances of being safely
belted and surviving an accident. We
recommend you leave the system activated
for yourself and others who may use the
vehicle. To reduce the risk of injury, do not
deactivate or activate the system while
driving the vehicle. Note:
The driver and front passenger
warning are deactivated and activated
independently. When deactivating or
activating one seating position, do not
buckle the other position as this will
terminate the process.
Read Steps 1 - 4 thoroughly before
proceeding with the programming
procedure. Before following the procedure, make sure
that:
•
The parking brake is set.
• The transmission is in park (P) or neutral
(N).
• The ignition is off.
• The driver and front passenger safety
belts are unbuckled.
1. Turn the ignition on. Do not start the vehicle.
2. Wait until the safety belt warning light turns off (about one minute). After Step
2, wait an additional five seconds before
proceeding with Step 3. Once Step 3 is
started, the procedure must be
completed within 30 seconds.
3. For the seating position being disabled, buckle then unbuckle the safety belt
three times at a moderate speed, ending
in the unbuckled state. After Step 3, the
safety belt warning light will turn on.
4. While the safety belt warning light is on, buckle and then unbuckle the safety belt.
After Step 4, the safety belt warning light
will flash for confirmation. •
This will disable the feature for that
seating position if it is currently enabled.
• This will enable the feature for that
seating position if it is currently disabled.
CHILD RESTRAINT AND SAFETY
BELT MAINTENANCE
Inspect the vehicle safety belts and child
safety seat systems periodically to make sure
they work properly and are not damaged.
Inspect the vehicle and child seat safety belts
to make sure there are no nicks, tears or
cuts. Replace if necessary. All vehicle safety
belt assemblies, including retractors, buckles,
front safety belt buckle assemblies, buckle
support assemblies (slide bar-if equipped),
shoulder belt height adjusters (if equipped),
shoulder belt guide on seat back (if
equipped), child safety seat LATCH and
tether anchors, and attaching hardware,
should be inspected after a crash. Read the
child restraint manufacturer's instructions for
additional inspection and maintenance
information specific to the child restraint.
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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.
The Vehicle Personal Safety System consists
of:
•
Driver and passenger dual-stage airbag
supplemental restraints.
• Front seat outboard safety belts with
pretensioners, energy management
retractors and safety belt usage sensors.
• Driver seat position sensor.
• Front passenger sensing system.
• Passenger airbag off and on indicator
lamp.
• Front crash severity sensors.
• Restraints control module with impact
and safing sensors. •
Restraint system warning light and
backup tone.
• The electrical wiring for the airbags, crash
sensors, 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 the 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 deploy the
safety belt pretensioners, one or both stages
of the dual-stage airbags based on crash
severity and occupant conditions.
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PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
WARNINGS
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. All occupants of your vehicle, including
the driver, should always properly wear
their safety belts, even when an airbag
supplemental restraint system is provided.
Failure to properly wear your safety belt
could seriously increase the risk of injury or
death. Always transport children 12 years old
and under in the back seat and always
properly use appropriate child restraints.
Failure to follow this could seriously increase
the risk of injury or death. Never place your arm over the airbag
module as a deploying airbag can
result in serious arm fractures or other
injuries. WARNINGS
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 upon which the
child seat is installed all the way back. Do not attempt to service, repair, or
modify the airbag supplemental
restraint systems or its fuses as you could
be seriously injured or killed. Contact your
authorized dealer as soon as possible. Several airbag system components get
hot after inflation. Do not touch them
after inflation as this may result in serious
injury. 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 crash. 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 (for
example, 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.
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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.
DRIVER AND PASSENGER
AIRBAGS WARNINGS
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. 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 upon which the
child seat is installed all the way back. The driver and front passenger airbags will
deploy during significant frontal and near
frontal crashes.
The driver and passenger front airbag system
consists of:
•
driver and passenger airbag modules.
• front passenger sensing system. · crash sensors and monitoring
system with readiness indicator.
See Crash Sensors and Airbag
Indicator (page 55).
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Proper Driver and Front Passenger
Seating Adjustment
WARNING
National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) recommends
a minimum distance of at least 10 inches (25
centimeters) 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.
After all occupants have adjusted their seats
and put on safety belts, it is 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 upon which the
child seat is installed 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 crash.
FRONT PASSENGER SENSING
SYSTEM
WARNINGS
Even with Advanced Restraints
Systems, children 12 and under should
be properly restrained in a rear seating
position. Failure to follow this could seriously
increase the risk of injury or death. 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 seat back, with your feet on the floor.
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The system consists of the following:
•
A label or embossed side panel
indicating that side airbags are fitted to
your vehicle.
• Side airbags located inside the driver and
front passenger seatbacks.
• Front passenger sensing system. ·Crash sensors and monitoring
system with readiness indicator.
See Crash Sensors and Airbag
Indicator (page 55).
Note: The passenger sensing system will
deactivate the passenger seat-mounted side
airbag if it detects an empty passenger seat. The design and development of the side
airbag system included recommended
testing procedures that were developed by
a group of automotive safety experts known
as the Side Airbag Technical Working Group.
These recommended testing procedures
help reduce the risk of injuries related to the
deployment of side airbags.
DRIVER KNEE AIRBAG
A driver's knee airbag is located under the
instrument panel. During a crash, the
restraints control module may activate the
driver's knee airbag based on crash severity
and occupant conditions. Under certain crash
and occupant conditions, the driver’
s knee
airbag may deploy but the driver’ s front
airbag may not activate. As with front and
side airbags, it is important to be properly
seated and restrained to reduce the risk of
death or serious injury. Make sure the knee airbag is
operating properly.
See Crash
Sensors and Airbag Indicator
(page
55). SAFETY CANOPY™ WARNINGS
Do not place objects or mount
equipment on or near the headliner at
the siderail that may come into contact with
a deploying curtain airbag. Failure to follow
these instructions may increase the risk of
personal injury in the event of a crash. Do not lean your head on the door. The
curtain airbag could injure you as it
deploys from the headliner. Do not attempt to service, repair, or
modify the curtain airbags, its fuses,
the A, B, or C pillar trim, or the headliner on
a vehicle containing curtain airbags as you
could be seriously injured or killed. Contact
your authorized dealer as soon as possible. All occupants of your vehicle including
the driver should always wear their
safety belts even when an airbag
supplemental restraint system and curtain
airbag is provided. Failure to properly wear
your safety belt could seriously increase the
risk of injury or death.
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CRASH SENSORS AND AIRBAG
INDICATOR
WARNING
Modifying or adding equipment to the
front end of your vehicle (including
frame, bumper, front end body structure and
tow hooks) may affect the performance of
the airbag system, increasing the risk of
injury. Do not modify the front end of your
vehicle. Your vehicle has a collection of crash and
occupant sensors which provide information
to the restraints control module which
deploys (activates) the front safety belt
pretensioners, driver airbag, passenger
airbag, seat mounted side airbags, and the
Safety Canopy. Based on the type of
accident (frontal impact, side impact or
rollover) the restraints control module will
deploy the appropriate safety devices. The restraints control module also monitors
the readiness of the above safety devices
plus the crash and occupant sensors. The
readiness of the safety system is indicated
by a warning indicator light in the instrument
cluster or by a backup tone if the warning
light is not working. Routine maintenance of
the airbag is not required.
A difficulty with the system is indicated by
one or more of the following:
•
The readiness light will not illuminate
immediately after the ignition is turned
on.
• The readiness light will either flash or
stay lit.
• A series of five beeps will be heard. The
tone pattern will repeat periodically until
the problem, the light or both are
repaired. If any of these things happen, even
intermittently, have the supplemental
restraint system serviced at an authorized
dealer immediately. Unless serviced, the
system may not function properly in the
event of a crash.
The safety belt pretensioners and the airbag
supplemental restraint system is designed
to activate when your vehicle sustains frontal
or sideways deceleration sufficient to cause
the restraints control module to deploy a
safety device or when a certain likelihood of
a rollover event is detected by the rollover
sensor.
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