2016 KIA Soul Owner's Manual

Safety features of your vehicle
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Curtain air bag
Curtain air bags are located along
both sides of the roof rails above the
front and rear doors. They are designed to help protect
occupants in certain side impacts
and to help prevent them from eject-
ing out of the vehicle as a result of a
rollover, especially when the seat-
belts are also in use.
The curtain air bags are designed to
deploy during certain side impact col-
lisions, depending on the crash sever-
ity, angle, speed and point of impact.
The side and/or curtain air bags do
not only deploy on the side of the
impact but also on the opposite side.
Also, the curtain air bags on both
sides of the vehicle will deploy in cer-
tain rollover situations.
The curtain air bags are not
designed to deploy in all side impact
or rollover situations.
Do not allow the passengers to lean
their heads or bodies against the
doors, put their arms on the doors,
stretch their arms out of the window
or place objects between the doors
and passengers when they are seat-
ed on seats equipped with side
impact and/or curtain air bags.
✽ ✽
NOTICE
Never try to open or repair any com-
ponents of the side and curtain air
bag system. This should only be
done by an authorized Kia dealer.
❈ The actual air bags in the vehicle may dif-
fer from the illustration.
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Safety features of your vehicle
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
expected to provide additional
protection.
These include rear impacts, sec-
ond or third collisions in multiple
impact accidents, as well as low
speed impacts.Air bag collision sensors
(1) SRS control module/Rollover sensor
(2) Front impact sensor(3) Side impact sensor
(4) Side pressure sensor
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Safety features of your vehicle
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Problems may arise if the sensor
installation angles are changed
due to the deformation of the front
bumper, front end module, body or
front doors and/or B pillar where
side collision sensors are installed.
Have the vehicle checked and
repaired by an authorized Kia deal-
er.
Installing bumper guards (or side step or running board) or replacing
a bumper (or front door module)
with non-genuine parts may
adversely affect your vehicle’s col-
lision and air bag deployment per-
formance.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.
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WARNING
- Air bag sensors
Do not hit or allow any objects to impact the locations where
air bags 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
Side air/or curtain air bags
Side air bags (side and/or curtain air
bags) are designed to inflate when an
impact is detected by side collision
sensors depending on the strength,
speed or angles of impact resulting
from a side impact collision.Also, the side and curtain air bags are
designed to inflate when a rollover is
detected by a rollover sensor.
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. Side air bag
and/or curtain air bags may also
inflate where rollover sensors indi-
cate the possibility of a rollover
occurring (even if none actually
occurs) or in other situations, incluid-
ing when the vehicle is tilted while
being towed. Even where side and/or
curtain air bags would not provide
impact protection in a rollover, how-
ever, they will deploy to prevent ejec-
tion of occupants, especially those
who are restrained with seat belts.
If the vehicle chassis is impacted by
bumps or objects on unimproved
roads, the air bags may deploy. Drive
carefully on unimproved roads or on
surfaces not designed for vehicle
traffic to prevent unintended air bag
deployment.
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❈
The actual air bags in the vehicle may dif-
fer from the illustration.

Safety features of your vehicle
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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. Air bags are not designed to inflate
in rear collisions, because occu-
pants are moved backward by the
force of the impact. In this case,
inflated air bags would not be able
to provide any additional benefit. Front air bags may not inflate in
side impact collisions, because
occupants move to the direction of
the collision, and thus in side
impacts, frontal air bag deployment
would not provide additional occu-
pant protection.
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Safety features of your vehicle
In an angled collision, the force ofimpact may direct the occupants in
a direction where the air bags
would not be able to provide any
additional benefit, and thus the
sensors may not deploy any air
bags. Just before impact, drivers often
brake heavily. Such heavy braking
lowers the front portion of the vehi-
cle causing it to “ride” under a vehi-
cle with a higher ground clearance.
Air bags may not inflate in this
"under-ride" situation because
deceleration forces that are detect-
ed by sensors may be significantly
reduced by such “under-ride” colli-
sions. Front air bags may not inflate in
rollover accidents because front
airbag deployment would not pro-
vide additional occupant protection.
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Safety features of your vehicle
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Air bags may not inflate if the vehi-
cle collides with objects such as
utility poles or trees, where the
point of impact is concentrated to
one area and the full force of the
impact is not delivered to the sen-
sors.
SRS Care
The SRS is virtually maintenance-
free and so there are no parts you can
safely service by yourself. If the SRS
air bag warning light does not illumi-
nate, or continuously remains on,
have your vehicle immediately
inspected by an authorized Kia dealer.
Any work on the SRS system, such
as removing, installing, repairing, or
any work on the steering wheel, the
front passenger’s panel, front seats
and roof rails must be performed by
an authorized Kia dealer. Improper
handling of the SRS system may
result in serious personal injury. For cleaning the air bag pad covers,
use only a soft, dry cloth or one
which has been moistened with plain
water. Solvents or cleaners could
adversely affect the air bag covers
and proper deployment of the sys-
tem.
If components of the air bag system
must be discarded, or if the vehicle
must be scrapped, certain safety
precautions must be observed. An
authorized Kia dealer knows these
precautions and can give you the
necessary information. Failure to fol-
low these precautions and proce-
dures could increase the risk of per-
sonal injury.
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Safety features of your vehicle
Adding equipment to or modi-
fying your air bag-equipped
vehicle
If you modify your vehicle by changing
your vehicle's frame, bumper system,
front end or side sheet metal or ride
height, this may affect the operation of
your vehicle's air bag system.
Air bag warning label
Air bag warning labels, some
required by the Canada Motor
Vehicle Safety Standards (CMVSS),
are attached to the sunvisor to alert
the driver and passengers of poten-
tial risks of the air bag system.
WARNING- Tampering
with SRS
Do not tamper with or discon-
nect SRS wiring, or other com-
ponents of the SRS system.
Doing so could result in the
accidental inflation of the air
bags or by rendering the SRS
inoperative.
WARNING- Towing
Vehicle
Always have the ignition off
when your vehicle is being
towed. The side air bags may
inflate if the vehicle is tilted
such as when being towed
because of the rollover sensors
in the vehicle.
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