Owner’s Manual - Page 72

For MII 2012.

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70 Ensuring you are correctly and safely seated
WARNING
In the event of a fault in the airbag system, the airbag may not trigger
correctly, may fail to trigger or may even trigger unexpectedly, leading to
severe or fatal injuries.
Have the airbag system checked immediately by a Specialised work-
shop.
Never mount a child seat in the front passenger seat or remove the
mounted child seat! The front passenger airbag may deploy during an ac-
cident in spite of the fault.
CAUTION
Always pay attention to any lit lamps and to the corresponding descriptions
and instructions to avoid damage to the vehicle.
Description and function of the airbag
The airbag can protect vehicle occupants in the event of an accidents, cush-
ioning the movement of the occupants in the direction of the collision in
frontal and side accidents.
Deployed airbags fill with a propellant gas. This causes the airbag covers to
break and the airbags to deploy extremely quickly in their entire deploy-
ment space within fractions of a second. When an occupant with the seat
belt properly fastened puts pressure on the inflated airbag, the propellant
gas escapes to absorb the force of the impact and slow the movement. This
reduces the risk of severe or fatal injuries. Airbag deployment does not
mean that other types of injury such as swelling, bruising and skin injuries
can be ruled out. Upon deployment of the airbag, friction can cause the
generation of heat.
Airbags do not protect the arms or the lower part of the body.
The most important factors for triggering the airbag are the type of accident,
the angle of impact, the vehicle speed and the characteristics of the object
the vehicle hits. Therefore, airbags are not triggered every time the vehicle
is visibly damaged.
The activation of the airbag system depends on the magnitude of the decel-
eration of the vehicle caused by a collision, which registers through an elec-
tronic control unit. If the deceleration magnitude value is below the refer-
ence value programmed in the control unit, the airbags will not deploy de-
spite serious damage being caused to the vehicle by the accident. Damage
suffered by the vehicle, reparation costs or absence of damage suffered
from the accident are not indications of whether an airbag should have
been deployed. Due to the varying nature of collision situations, it is impos-
sible to define a speed range of the vehicle and reference values. For this
reason, it is not possible to cover all types of collisions and collision angles
resulting in the deployment of the airbag. Factors necessary for the airbag
to be deployed can be, the characteristics of the object (hard or soft)
against which the vehicle collides, the collision angle and the vehicle
speed.
Airbags act in conjunction with three-point seat belts in the event of certain
accidents, when the vehicle deceleration rate is severe enough to trigger
the airbags. Airbags only deploy once and only under certain circumstan-
ces. Seat belts remain present to offer protection in situations where air-
bags are not triggered or where they have already deployed. For example,
when a vehicle hits another after an initial collision or is hit by another vehi-
cle.
The airbag system is an integral part of the vehicle's passive safety system.
The airbag system can only work effectively when the occupants are wear-
ing their seat belts correctly and have adjusted the head restraints properly
⇒ page 48.
Vehicle safety components
The following safety equipment makes up the vehicle safety design to re-
duce the risk of severe and fatal injuries. Depending on the vehicle equip-
ment, some equipment may not be fitted in the vehicle or may not be avail-
able in some markets.
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