Subaru 2006 B9 Tribeca - Manual (Page 88)

Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags
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ploy independently of each other since
each has its own impact sensor. There-
fore, they may not both deploy in the same
accident. Also, the SRS side airbag and
SRS curtain airbag deploys independently
of the driver’s and front passenger’s SRS
frontal airbags in the steering wheel and
instrument panel.
An impact sensor is located in each of the
left and right center pillars and rear wheel
houses. If a center pillar impact sensor
senses an impact force above a predeter-
mined level in a side collision, the control
module causes both the SRS side airbag
and curtain airbag on the impacted side to
inflate regardless of whether the rear
wheel house impact sensor on the same
side senses an impact. If it is a rear wheel
house impact sensor alone that senses a
sufficiently strong impact force, the control
module causes only the SRS curtain air-
bag on the impacted side to inflate. After
deployment, the SRS side airbag immedi-
ately starts to deflate. The time required
from detection of an impact to deflation of
an SRS side airbag after deployment is
shorter than the blink of an eye.
The SRS curtain airbag remains inflated
for a while following deployment then
slowly deflates.
The SRS side airbag and SRS curtain air-
bag deploy even when no one occupies
the seat on the side on which an impact is
applied.
When the SRS side airbag and SRS cur-
tain airbag deploy, a sudden, fairly loud in-
flation noise will be heard and some
smoke will be released. These occurrenc-
es are a normal result of the deployment.
This smoke does not indicate a fire in the
vehicle.
The SRS side airbag and SRS curtain air-
bag are designed to deploy in the event of
an accident involving a moderate to se-
vere side impact collision. It is basically
not designed to deploy in a lesser side im-
pact. Also, it is basically not designed to
deploy in frontal or rear impacts because
SRS side airbag and SRS curtain airbag
deployment would not help the occupant
in those situations.
Each SRS side airbag and SRS curtain
airbag are designed to function on a one-
time-only basis.
SRS side airbag and SRS curtain airbag
deployment depend on the level of force
experienced in the passenger compart-
ment during a side impact collision. That
level differs from one type of collision to
another, and it may have no bearing on
the visible damage done to the vehicle it-
self.
Do not touch the SRS side airbag
system components around the
front seat seatback with bare hands
right after deployment. Doing so can
cause burns because the compo-
nents can be very hot as a result of
deployment.
After deployment, do not touch any
part of the SRS curtain airbag sys-
tem (from the front pillar to the part
of the roof side over the rear seat).
Doing so can cause burns because
the components can be very hot as
a result of deployment.