2008 Mazda RX-8 Owner's Manual - Page 26

Essential Safety Equipment Seat Belt Systems qUnfastening the Seat Belt Depress the button on the buckle. If the belt does not fully retract, pull it out and check for kinks or twists. Then make sure it remains untwisted as it retracts. Front Seat Belt Pretensioner and Load Limiting Systems For optimum protection, the driver and front passenger seat belts are equipped with pretensioner and load limiting systems. For both these systems to work properly you must wear the seat belt properly. Pretensioners: In moderate or severe frontal or nearfrontal accidents, the front air bag and pretensioner systems deploy simultaneously. The front seat belt retractors remove slack quickly as the air bags are expanding. In addition, the pretensioner system for the front passenger, like the front passenger air bag, is designed to only deploy in accordance with the total seated weight on the front passenger seat. Any time the air bags and seat belt pretensioners have fired they must be replaced. For details, refer to the front passenger seat weight sensors (page 2-40). Load limiter: The load limiting system releases belt webbing in a controlled manner to reduce belt force on the occupant's chest. While the most severe load on a seat belt occurs in frontal collisions, the load limiter has an automatic mechanical function and can activate in any accident mode with sufficient occupant movement. Even if the pretensioners have not fired, the load limiting function must be checked by an Authorized Mazda Dealer. Button NOTE If a belt does not fully retract, inspect it for kinks and twists. If it is still not retracting properly, have it inspected at an Authorized Mazda Dealer. 2-14