How does the personal safety system work, Front crash severity sensor, Driver’s seat position sensor – Mazda 2008 Tribute User Manual
Page 82: Seating and safety restraints
How does the Personal Safety System
ி work?
The Personal Safety System
can adapt the deployment strategy of your
vehicle’s safety devices according to crash severity and occupant
conditions. A collection of crash and occupant sensors provides
information to the Restraints control module (RCM). During a crash, the
RCM activates the seat belt pretensioners and/or either one or both
stages of the dual-stage airbag supplemental restraints based on crash
severity and occupant conditions.
The fact that the pretensioners or airbags did not activate for both front
seat occupants in a collision does not mean that something is wrong with
the system. Rather, it means the Personal Safety System
determined
the accident conditions (crash severity, belt usage, etc.) were not
appropriate to activate these safety devices. Front airbags and
pretensioners are designed to activate only in frontal and near-frontal
collisions, not rollovers, side-impacts, or rear-impacts unless the collision
causes sufficient longitudinal deceleration.
Driver and passenger dual-stage airbag supplemental restraints
The dual-stage airbags inflation energy is tailored to crash severity, belt
use, driver seat position, and other factors. A lower, less forceful energy
level is provided for more common, moderate-severity impacts. A higher
energy level is used for the most severe impacts unless the driver’s seat
is forward for a small occupant. Refer to Airbag supplemental
restraints section in this chapter.
Front crash severity sensor
The front crash severity sensor enhances the ability to detect the
severity of an impact. Positioned up front, it provides valuable
information early in the crash event on the severity of the impact. This
allows your Personal Safety System
to distinguish between different
levels of crash severity and modify the deployment strategy of the
dual-stage airbags and seat belt pretensioners.
Driver’s seat position sensor
The driver’s seat position sensor allows your Personal Safety System
to
tailor the deployment level of the driver dual-stage airbag based on seat
position. The system is designed to help protect smaller drivers sitting
close to the driver airbag by providing a lower airbag output level.
2008 Tribute (j14)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA (fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
82