Seating and safety restraints – FORD 2000 Taurus User Manual

Page 79

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• The electrical wiring for the air bags, crash sensor(s), safety belt

pretensioners, front safety belt usage sensors and driver’s seat position
sensor.

How does the personal safety system work?

The Personal Safety System uses a collection of sensors to gather
information about the driver’s seat position, driver and front outboard
passenger’s safety belt usage and accident severity. Then, dual-stage
inflating air bags are combined with safety belt pretensioners and energy
management retractors to help provide enhanced occupant protection in
frontal crashes.

The driver’s seat position sensor determines if the seat is fore or aft of a
reference position. Similarly, the safety belt usage sensors determine if
the driver and front outboard passenger safety belts are fastened. These
sensors provide the ability to tailor the air bag deployment based upon
how close the driver’s seat is to the steering wheel and whether or not
the safety belts are fastened.

The dual-stage air bags offer the ability to tailor the air bag inflation with
two energy levels. A lower, less forceful energy level is provided for more
common, moderate-severity impacts. A higher energy level is provided
for the most severe impacts. Whether or not the air bag deploys at all
can also be different for the driver versus the passenger based upon
driver’s seat position and safety belt usage allowing further tailoring of
the system.

Determining if the personal safety system is operational

The Personal Safety System uses a warning indicator light in the
instrument cluster or a back-up tone to indicate the condition of the
system. Refer to the Restraints Warning Indicator section in the
Instrumentation chapter. Routine maintenance of the Personal Safety
System is not required.

The RCM (restraints control module) monitors its own internal circuits
and the circuits for the air bag supplemental restraints, crash sensor(s),
safety belt pretensioners, front safety belt usage sensors and driver’s seat
position sensor. In addition, the RCM also monitors the restraints
warning indicator light in the instrument cluster. A difficulty with the
system is indicated by one or more of the following:
• The indicator light will either

flash or stay lit.

Seating and safety restraints

79

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