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Safety system of your vehicle
2
To help provide protection, the airbags must inflate rapidly. The speed of air bag inflation is a con-
sequence of extremely short timein which to inflate the air bag
between the occupant and the
vehicle structures before the occu-
pant impacts those structures. This
speed of inflation reduces the risk
of serious or life-threatening
injuries and is thus a necessary
part of air bag design.
However, the rapid air bag inflation
can also cause injuries which can
include facial abrasions, bruises
and broken bones because theinflation speed also causes the air
bags to expand with a great deal of
force.
There are even circumstances under which contact with the air
bag can cause fatal injuries, espe-cially if the occupant is positioned
excessively close to the air bag.
You can take steps to reduce the risk
of being injured by an inflating air
bag. The greatest risk is sitting too
close to the air bag. An air bag needs
space to inflate. It is recommended that drivers sit as
far as possible between the center of
the steering wheel and the chest while
still maintaining control of the vehicle.
When the SRSCM detects a suffi-
ciently severe impact to the front of
the vehicle, it will automatically
deploy the front air bags.
OHM039102N
■Driver’s front air bag (1)
To reduce the risk of serious
injury or death from an inflating
air bag, take the following pre-cautions:
NEVER place a child restraint
in the front passenger seat.
Always properly restrain chil-
dren under age 13 in the rear
seats of the vehicle.
Adjust the front passenger's
and driver’s seats as far to the
rear as possible while allow-
ing you to maintain full con-
trol of the vehicle.
Hold the steering wheel with
hands at the 9 o'clock and 3
o'clock positions.
Never place anything or any-
one between the air bag andthe seat occupant.
Do not allow the front passen-
ger to place their feet or legs
on the dashboard.
WARNING
