Subaru 2004 Legacy - Manual (Page 59)

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Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags
Front seatbelt pretensioners
The driver’s and front passenger’s seatbelts have a
seatbelt pretensioner. The seatbelt pretensioners are
designed to be activated in the event of an accident in-
volving a moderate to severe frontal collision.
The pretensioner sensor also serves as a SRS frontal
airbag sensor. If the sensor detects a certain predeter-
mined amount of force during a frontal collision, the
front seatbelt is quickly drawn back in by the retractor
to take up the slack so that the belt more effectively re-
strains the front seat occupant.
When a seatbelt pretensioner is activated, an operat-
ing noise will be heard and a small amount of smoke
will be released. These occurrences are normal and
not harmful. This smoke does not indicate a fire in the
vehicle.
Once the seatbelt pretensioner has been activated,
the seatbelt retractor remains locked. Consequently,
the seatbelt can not be pulled out and retracted and
therefore must be replaced.
NOTE
y Seatbelt pretensioners are not designed to acti-
vate in minor frontal impacts, in side or rear im-
pacts or in roll-over accidents.
y
The driver’s seat and passenger’s seat preten-
sioners and frontal airbag operate simultaneous-
ly.
y
Pretensioners are designed to function on a
one-time-only basis. In the event that a preten-
sioner is activated, both the driver’s and front pas-
senger’s seatbelt retractor assemblies must be re-
placed and only by an authorized SUBARU dealer.
When replacing seatbelt retractor assemblies, use
only genuine SUBARU parts.
y
If either front seatbelt does not retract or cannot
be pulled out due to a malfunction or activation of
the pretensioner, contact your SUBARU dealer as
soon as possible.
HS1067BA