2020 Seat Tarraco Owner's manual

Safe driving
WARNING
Risk of suffering severe head injuries If peo-
pl e t
aller than 1.60 m travel in the third row,
they may receive severe head injuries in
the event of an accident.

Safety
WARNING
Incorrect use of the steering wheel adjust-
ment function and an incorr ect adjustment
of the st
eering wheel can result in severe or
fatal injury.

Seat belts
Seat belts
The whys and wher ef
ores of
seat belts
Control lamps i
It lights up red
Driver or passenger has not fastened seat belt. The control lamp i lights up t
o r

emind the
driver to fasten their seat belt.
Before starting the vehicle:

Safety
the front part of your vehicle and other pas-
siv e saf
ety 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 driving
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 in-
volved 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, overturns or accidents in which the air-
bag trigger threshold value in the control unit
is not exceeded. Important safety instructions for
the use of seat belts

Seat belts
Head-on collisions and the laws of
physics Fig. 8
A driver not wearing a seat belt is thrown
f orw
ard violently. Fig. 9
The unbelted passenger in the rear seat
is thr o

wn forward violently, hitting the driver
who is wearing a seat belt. The effects of the laws of physics in the case
of a head-on collision ar
e easy t

o explain: the
moment a vehicle starts moving, a type of en- ergy called “kinetic energy” starts acting on
both the vehicl

e and its passengers.
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
they are, the more energy there is to be “ab-
sorbed” in the event of 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 kinetic ener-
gy is multiplied by four.
Given that the passengers of the vehicle in
our example do not have their seat belts fas-
tened, in the event of a collision the entire
amount of the passengers' kinetic energy will
be only absorbed by the mentioned 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 collision are so great that it is not possible to brace oneself with one's hands. In
a front
al collision, unbelted passengers are
thrown forward and will make violent contact
with the steering wheel, dash panel, wind-
screen or whatever else is in the way
››› Fig. 8.
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. 9
.
19

Safety
How to properly adjust your
seat belt Fast
ening and unfastening the seat
belt Fig. 10
Insert the latch plate of the seat belt
int o the buckl

e. Fig. 11
Release the seat belt

Seat belts
Correct seat belt position Fig. 12
Correct seat belt and headrest posi-
tions, vie w
ed from front and the side. Fig. 13
Position of seat belt during pregnancy. Seat belts offer their maximum protection in
the e
v

ent of an accident and reduce the risk
of sustaining severe or fatal injuries only when
they are properly positioned. Furthermore, if
the webbing is correctly positioned, the seat belt will hold the vehicle occupants in the op-
timum position to ensur

e the airbag provides
the maximum protection. The seat belt must
therefore always be worn and the webbing
correctly positioned.
Incorrectly worn seat belts can cause severe
or even fatal injuries ››› page 13, Correct sit-
ting position of vehicle occupants.

Safety
belt webbing, contact a specialised work-
shop f
or help with any special de
vices to
ensure the optimum protection of the seat
belt and airbag. SEAT recommends taking
your car in for technical service. Seat belt height adjustment
Fig. 14
Next to the front seats: belt height ad-
just er

. Using the height adjusters for the front seats
and the out
er seats of the second r

ow, the
position of the seat belts can be adjusted in
the shoulder area according to the height of
the occupant: