Safe driving
Safety
Saf e driv
in
g
Safety first! WARNING
● This m
anual contains important informa-
tion about the operation of the vehicle, both
for the driver and the passengers. The other
sections of the on-board documentation also
contain further information that you should
be aware of for your own safety and for the
safety of your passengers.
● Ensure that the on-board documentation is
kept in the
vehicle at all times. This is espe-
cially important when lending or selling the
vehicle to another person. WARNING
Driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs,
medication or n ar
cotics may result in severe
accidents and even loss of life.
● Alcohol, drugs, medication and narcotics
may
significantly alter perception, affect re-
action times and safety while driving, which
could result in the loss of control of the vehi-
cle. Driving advice
B ef
or
e driving For your own safety and the safety of your
pa
s
sengers, always note the following points
before every trip:
– Make sure that the vehicle's lights and turn
signal
s are working properly.
– Check tyre pressure.
– Ensure that all windows provide a clear and
good v
iew of the surroundings.
– Make sure all luggage is secured
›› ›
page 114.
– Make sure that no objects can interfere
with the pedal
s.
– Adjust front seat, head restraint and mir-
rors
properly according to your size.
– Ensure that the passengers in the rear
seats alw
ays have the head restraints in
the in-use position ›››
page 51.
– Instruct passengers to adjust the head re-
straints
according to their height.
– Protect children with appropriate child
seats and pr
operly applied seat belts
››› page 64.
– Assume the correct sitting position. Instruct
your pa
ssengers also to assume a proper
sitting position ›››
page 48. –
Fas
ten your seat belt securely. Instruct your
passengers also to fasten their seat belts
properly ››› page 52.
What affects driving safety? As a driver, you are responsible for yourself
and y
our p
assengers. When your concentra-
tion or driving safety is affected by any cir-
cumstance, you endanger yourself as well as
others on the road ››› , for this reason:
– Always pay attention to traffic and do not
g et di
stracted by passengers or telephone
calls.
– Never drive when your driving ability is im-
paired (e.
g. by medication, alcohol, drugs).
– Observe traffic laws and speed limits.
– Always reduce your speed as appropriate
for ro
ad, traffic and weather conditions.
– When travelling long distances, take
break
s regularly - at least every two hours.
– If possible, avoid driving when you are tired
or stre
ssed. WARNING
When driving safety is impaired during a trip,
the risk of
injury and accidents increases. 47
Technical data
Advice
Operation
Emergencies
Safety
Safety
Safety equipment Never put your safety or the safety of your
pa
s
sengers in danger. In the event of an acci-
dent, the safety equipment may reduce the
risk of injury. The following points cover part
of the safety equipment in your SEAT:
● three-point seat belts,
● belt tension limiters for the front seats,
● Belt tensioners for the front seats,
● front airbags,
● side airbags in the front seat backrests,
● “ISOFIX” anchor points for child seats in
the re ar s
ide seats with the “ISOFIX” system,
● rear head restraints with in-use position
and non-use pos
ition,
● adjustable steering column.
The safety
equipment mentioned above
works together to provide you and your pas-
sengers with the best possible protection in
the event of an accident. However, these
safety systems can only be effective if you
and your passengers are sitting in a correct
position and use this equipment properly.
Safety is everyone's business! Correct position of the vehicle
occup
ants
Correct sitting position Fig. 64
The proper distance between driver
and s t
eerin
g wheel. Fig. 65
Correct belt web and head restraint
po s
ition
s The correct sitting positions for the driver and
p
a
s
sengers are shown below. If your physical constitution prevents you
from maint
aining the correct sitting position,
contact a specialised workshop for help with
any special devices. The seat belt and airbag
can only provide optimum protection if a cor-
rect sitting position is adopted. SEAT recom-
mends taking your car in for technical serv-
ice.
For your own safety and to reduce the risk of
injury in the event of an accident or sudden
braking or manoeuvre, SEAT recommend the
following positions:
Valid for the driver:
● Adjust the seat backrest to an upright posi-
tion so that
your back rests completely
against it.
● Adjust the seat so that there is a distance
of at l
east 25 cm between the steering wheel
and your chest ››› Fig. 64 and so that you can
hold the steering wheel with both hands on
the outside of the ring at the 9 o'clock and 3
o'clock positions with your arms slightly
bent.
● The adjusted steering wheel must face your
ches
t and not your face.
● Adjust the driver seat forwards or back-
ward
s so that you are able to press the accel-
erator, brake and clutch pedals to the floor
with your knees slightly angled and the dis-
tance between your knees and the dash pan-
el is at least 10 cm ››› Fig. 64.
48
Safe driving
● Adju s
t
the height of the driver seat so that
you can easily reach the top of the steering
wheel.
● Keep both feet in the footwell so that you
have the
vehicle under control at all times.
● Adjust and fasten your seat belt correctly
›››
page 52.
Valid for the passenger:
● Adjust the seat backrest to an upright posi-
tion so that
your back rests completely
against it.
● Move the front passenger seat back as far
as po
ssible for optimum protection should
the airbag deploy.
● Always keep your feet in the footwell while
the vehic
le is in motion.
● Adjust and fasten your seat belt correctly
›››
page 52.
Valid for the passengers in the rear section:
● Adjust the head restraint so that its upper
edge is
at the same level as the top of your
head, or as close as possible to the same lev-
el as the top of your head and under no cir-
cumstances below eye level. Keep the back
of your neck as close as possible to the head
restraint ››› Fig. 64 and ››› Fig. 65.
● Short people must lower the head restraint
to the fir s
t anchorage position, even if your
head is below its upper edge. ●
Tal l
people must raise the head restraint
completely.
● Always keep your feet in the footwell while
the vehic
le is in motion.
● Adjust and fasten your seat belt correctly
›››
page 52.
Adjusting the steering wheel position Read the additional information carefully
›› ›
page 14.
Adjust the steering wheel before your trip
and only when the vehicle is stationary.
Adjust the correct distance between the driv-
er and the steering wheel ››› Fig. 64 using the
controls on the driver seat ›››
page 12. WARNING
Incorrect use of the steering wheel adjust-
ment f u
nction and an incorrect adjustment of
the steering wheel can result in severe or fa-
tal injury.
● After adjusting the steering column, push
the lever firm
ly upwards to ensure the steer-
ing wheel does not accidentally change posi-
tion while driving.
● Never adjust the steering wheel while the
vehicl
e is in motion. If you need to adjust the
steering wheel while the vehicle is in motion,
stop safely and make the proper adjustment. ●
The adju s
ted steering wheel should be fac-
ing your chest and not your face so as not to
hinder the driver's front airbag protection in
the event of an accident.
● When driving, always hold the steering
wheel with both h
ands on the outside of the
ring at the 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions
to reduce injuries when the driver's front air-
bag deploys.
● Never hold the steering wheel at the 12
o'clock
position or in any other manner (e.g.
in the centre of the steering wheel). In such
cases, if the driver's airbag deploys, you may
sustain injuries to your arms, hands and
head. Danger of injuries due to an incorrect
s
ittin
g po
sition Number of seats
The
v
ehic
le has a total of 4 seats: 2 front
seats and 2 rear seats. Each seat is equipped
with a seat belt.
If the seat belts are worn incorrectly or not at
all, the risk of severe injuries increases. Seat
belts can provide optimal protection only if
the belt web is properly worn. Being seated
in an incorrect position means the seat belt
cannot offer its full protection. This could re-
sult in severe and even fatal injuries. The risk »
49
Technical data
Advice
Operation
Emergencies
Safety
Safety
of severe or fatal injuries is especially height-
ened when a dep lo
y
ing airbag strikes a vehi-
cle occupant who has assumed an incorrect
sitting position. The driver is responsible for
all passengers in the vehicle, particularly
children.
The following list shows just some examples
of incorrect sitting positions which can be
dangerous to all vehicle occupants.
When the vehicle is in motion:
● Never stand in the vehicle.
● Never stand on the seats.
● Never kneel on the seats.
● Never tilt your seat backrest too far to the
rear
.
● Never lean against the dash panel.
● Never lie on the rear seats.
● Never sit on the front edge of a seat.
● Never sit sideways.
● Never lean out of a window.
● Never put your feet out of a window.
● Never put your feet on the dash panel.
● Never put your feet on the surface of a seat
or seat b
ackrest.
● Never travel in a footwell.
● Never travel on a seat without wearing the
seat belt
. ●
Never carr
y any person in the luggage com-
partment. WARNING
An incorrect sitting position in the vehicle
can l e
ad to severe injuries or death in the
event of sudden braking or manoeuvres, colli-
sion or accidents or if the airbag deploys.
● Before the vehicle moves, assume the prop-
er sitting po
sition and maintain it throughout
the trip. This also includes fastening the seat
belt.
● Never transport more people than there are
seats
with a seat belt available in the vehicle.
● Children must always be protected with an
appro
ved child restraint system suited to
their height and weight ››› page 64,
››› page 58.
● Always keep your feet in the footwell while
the vehic
le is in motion. Never, for example,
put your feet on the surface of a seat or on
the dash panel and never put them out of a
window. Otherwise the airbag and seat belt
offer insufficient protection and the risk of in-
jury in the event of an accident is increased. WARNING
Before every trip, adjust the seat, the seat
belt and the he a
d restraints and instruct your
passengers to fasten their seat belts proper-
ly.
● Move the front passenger seat back as far
as po
ssible. ●
Adjus t
the driver seat so that there is at
least 25 cm distance between your chest and
the hub of the steering wheel. Adjust the
driver seat so that you are able to press the
accelerator, brake and clutch pedals to the
floor with your knees slightly angled and that
the distance between your knees and the
dash panel is at least 10 cm. If your physical
constitution prevents you from meeting these
requirements, contact a specialised work-
shop to make any modifications required.
● Never drive with the seat backrest tilted far
back.
The further the seat backrests are tilted
to the rear, the greater the risk of injury due
to incorrect positioning of the belt web or to
the incorrect sitting position!
● Never drive with the seat backrest tilted
forw
ards. Should a front airbag deploy, it
could throw the seat backrest backwards and
injure the passengers of the rear seats.
● Sit as far away as possible from the steer-
ing wheel and the d
ash panel.
● Keep your back straight and resting com-
plet
ely against the seat backrest and the
front seats correctly adjusted. Never place
any part of your body in the area of the airbag
or very close to it.
● If passengers on the rear seats are not sit-
ting in an upright po
sition, the risk of severe
injury due to incorrect positioning of the belt
web increases. 50
Safe driving
WARNING
Incorrect seat adjustment may lead to acci-
dents and sev
ere injuries.
● Only adjust the seats when the vehicle is
station
ary, as the seats could move unex-
pectedly while the vehicle is in motion and
you could lose control of the vehicle. Further-
more, an incorrect position is adopted when
adjusting the seat.
● Only adjust the height, seat backrest and
forw
ards or backwards position of the seat
when there is nobody in the seat adjustment
area.
● There must be no objects blocking the front
seat a
djustment area. Adjusting the rear head restraints
Fig. 66
Adjusting the rear head restraints All seats are equipped with a head restraint. The front seat head restraints are integrated
in the b
ac
k
rests and adjusting them is not
possible.
Adjusting height
● Push the head restraint up or down in the
direction of the arr
ow with the button press-
ed ››› Fig. 66 1
› ›› .
● The head restraint must engage securely in
po s
ition.
C
orrect adjustment of head restraints
Adjust the head restraint so that its upper
edge is at the same level as the top of your
head, or as close as possible to the same lev-
el as the top of your head and under no cir-
cumstances below eye level. Keep the back
of your neck as close as possible to the head
restraint.
Adjusting the head restraint for short people
Set the head restraint in the first anchorage
position, even if your head is below its upper
edge. When the head restraint is at its low-
est, it is possible that a small gap remains
between it and the seat backrest.
Adjusting the head restraint for tall people
Raise the head restraint completely. WARNING
Travelling with the head restraints removed
or improperly a
djusted increases the risk of
severe or fatal injuries in the event of acci-
dents and sudden braking or manoeuvres.
● Always fit and adjust the head restraint
properly whenev
er a person is occupying a
seat.
● All vehicle occupants must correctly adjust
the head r
estraint according to their height to
reduce the risk of back injuries in the event of
an accident. The upper edge of the head re-
straint must be as close as possible to the
same level as the top of your head and under
no circumstances below eye level. Keep the
back of your neck as close as possible to the
head restraint.
● Never adjust the head restraint while the
vehicl
e is in motion. Pedal area
P ed
a
ls Do not allow floor mats or other objects to
o
b
s
truct the free passage of the pedals.
Floor mats should leave the pedal area free
and unobstructed and be correctly secured in
the footwell zone. »
51
Technical data
Advice
Operation
Emergencies
Safety
Seat belts
●
Av oid d
amaging the seat belt by jamming it
in the door or the seat mechanism.
● If the fabric or other parts of the seat belt
are dam
aged, the seat belts could break in
the event of an accident or sudden braking.
● Always have damaged seatbelts replaced
immediately
by seat belts approved for the
vehicle in question by SEAT. Seat belts which
have been worn in an accident and stretched
must be replaced by a specialised workshop.
Renewal may be necessary even if there is no
apparent damage. The belt anchorage should
also be checked.
● Never attempt to repair, modify or remove a
seat belt
yourself. All repairs to seat belts, re-
tractors and buckles must be carried out by a
specialised workshop. Warning lamp
Fig. 67
Warning lamp on the instrument pan-
el Fig. 68
Indication of seat belt status in the
re ar se
ats on the instrument panel display
It lights up or flashes on
the instrument panel
Driver's seat belt not
fastened or front
passenger seat belt
not fastened if the
front passenger seat
is occupied.
Fasten seat belts!
Objects on the front
passenger seat.Remove any objects from the
front passenger seat and store
them safely.
On the instrument panel
display
A passenger in the
rear seats has not
fastened their seat
belt, if the seat is oc-
cupied.*
Fasten seat belts!
On the instrument panel
display
A passenger in the rear seats has fastened their seat
belt, if the seat is occupied.* Several warning and control lamps light up
for a f
ew sec
onds when the ignition is switch-
ed on, signalling that the function is being
verified. They will switch off after a few sec-
onds.
An audible warning will be heard if the seat
belts are not fastened as the vehicle drives
off and reaches a speed of more then
25 km/h (15 mph) or if the seat belts are un-
fastened while the vehicle is in motion. The
seat belt warning lamp will also flash.
The warning lamp does not switch off until
the driver and front passenger fasten their
seat belts while the ignition is switched on.
Seat belt status display for rear seats
The seat belt status display on the instru-
ment panel informs the driver, when the igni-
tion is switched on, whether any passengers
in the rear seats have fastened their seat
belts. The symbol indicates that the pas-
senger in this seat has fastened “his or her”
seat belt ›››
Fig. 68.
The seat belt status is displayed for around
30 seconds when a seat belt in the rear seats
is fastened or unfastened. You can switch off
this display by pressing the 0.0 / SET button.
»
53Technical data
Advice
Operation
Emergencies
Safety
Safety
The seat belt status flashes for a maximum of
30 sec ond
s
when a seat belt in the rear seats
is unfastened while the vehicle is in motion.
An audible warning will also be heard if the
vehicle is travelling at over 25 km/h
(15 mph).
The protective function of seat belts Fig. 69
Drivers with properly worn seat belts
w i
l
l not be thrown forward in the event of sud-
den braking. Properly worn seat belts hold the occupants
in the pr
oper po
s
ition. They also help prevent
uncontrolled movements that may result in
serious injury and reduce the risk of being
thrown out of the vehicle in case of an acci-
dent.
Vehicle occupants wearing their seat belts
correctly benefit greatly from the ability of the
belts to absorb kinetic energy. In addition, the front part of your vehicle and other pas-
sive s
afety features (such as the airbag sys-
tem) are designed to absorb the kinetic ener-
gy released in a collision. Taken together, all
these features reduce the releasing kinetic
energy and consequently, the risk of injury.
This is why it is so important to fasten seat
belts before every trip, even when "just driv-
ing around the corner".
Ensure that your passengers wear their seat
belts as well. Accident statistics have shown
that wearing seat belts is an effective means
of substantially reducing the risk of injury
and improving the chances of survival when
involved in a serious accident. Furthermore,
properly worn seat belts improve the protec-
tion provided by airbags in the event of an
accident. For this reason, wearing a seat belt
is required by law in most countries.
Although your vehicle is equipped with air-
bags, the seat belts must be fastened and
worn. The front airbags, for example, are only
triggered in some cases of head-on collision.
The front airbags will not be triggered during
minor frontal or side collisions, rear-end colli-
sions, rollovers or accidents in which the air-
bag trigger threshold value in the control unit
is not exceeded.
Therefore, you should always wear your seat
belt and ensure that all vehicle occupants
have fastened their seat belts properly before
you drive off! Using seat belts Twisted seat belt
If it
i
s difficult to remove the seat belt from
the guide, the seat belt may have become
twisted inside the side trim after being
wound too quickly on unfastening:
● Pull out the seat belt completely, carefully
pul
ling on the latch plate.
● Untwist the belt and guide it back, assist-
ing it b
y hand.
The seat belt must be fastened even if it is
impossible to untwist it. In this case, the
twisted area must not be in an area in direct
contact with your body. Have the seat belt
untwisted urgently by a specialised work-
shop. WARNING
An improperly handled seat belt increases
the risk of
sustaining severe or fatal injuries.
● Regularly check that the seat belts and
their components
are in perfect condition.
● Always keep your seat belt clean.
● Do not jam or damage the seat belt or rub it
with sharp edg
es.
● Make sure there are no liquids or foreign
bodies on the l
atch plate and in the buckle.54
Seat belts
Head-on collisions and the laws of
ph y
s
ics Fig. 70
A driver not wearing a seat belt is
thr o
wn f
orward violently. Fig. 71
The unbelted passenger in the rear
se at
i
s thrown forward violently, hitting the
driver who is wearing a seat belt. It is easy to explain how the laws of physics
w
ork
in the c
ase of a head-on collision: when
a vehicle starts moving, a type of energy called “kinetic energy” is created both in the
pas
sengers and inside the vehicle.
The amount of “kinetic energy” depends on
the speed of the vehicle and on the weight of
the vehicle and of its passengers. The higher
the speed and the greater the weight, the
more energy there is to be “absorbed” in an
accident.
The most significant factor, however, is the
speed of the vehicle. If the speed doubles
from 25 km/h (15 mph) to 50 km/h
(30 mph), for example, the corresponding ki-
netic energy is multiplied by four.
Because the vehicle occupants in our exam-
ple are not restrained by seat belts, in the
event of crashing against a wall, all of the oc-
cupants' kinetic energy will be absorbed
solely by said impact.
Even at speeds of 30 km/h (19 mph) to
50 km/h (30 mph), the forces acting on bod-
ies in a collision can easily exceed one tonne
(1000 kg). At greater speed these forces are
even higher.
Vehicle occupants not wearing seat belts are
not “attached” to the vehicle. In a head-on
collision, they will move forward at the same
speed their vehicle was travelling just before
the impact. This example applies not only to
head-on collisions, but to all accidents and
collisions. Even at low speeds the forces acting on the
body in a co
llision are so great that it is not
possible to brace oneself with one's hands.
In a frontal collision, unbelted passengers
are thrown forward and will make violent con-
tact with the steering wheel, dash panel,
windscreen or whatever else is in the way
››› Fig. 70.
It is also important for rear passengers to
wear seat belts properly, as they could other-
wise be thrown forward violently through the
vehicle interior in an accident. Passengers in
the rear seats who do not use seat belts en-
danger not only themselves but also the front
occupants ››› Fig. 71.
55
Technical data
Advice
Operation
Emergencies
Safety