2007 Subaru Outback Owner's Manual - Page 53

1-28 Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags Front seatbelt pretensioners seat occupant. When a seatbelt pretensioner is activated, an operating 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. 100121 NOTE The driver's and front passenger's seatbelts have a seatbelt pretensioner. The seatbelt pretensioners for the driver's seat and front passenger's seat operate at the same time as the frontal, and side SRS airbags. If the vehicle rolls over, they operate simultaneously with the curtain airbag. The front and side airbag sensors and the rollover sensor are used as the pretensioner sensors. If a sensor detects a certain predetermined amount of force during a frontal collision, a side impact collision or a rollover collision of the vehicle, the front seatbelt is quickly drawn back in by the retractor to take up the slack so that the belt more effectively restrains the front Seatbelt pretensioners are not designed to activate in minor frontal impacts, in minor side impacts or rear impacts. The seatbelt pretensioners for the driver's seat and front passenger's seat operate at the same time as the frontal, and side SRS airbags. If the vehicle rolls over, they operate simultaneously with the curtain airbag. Pretensioners are designed to function on a one-time-only basis. In the event that a pretensioner is activated, both the driver's and front passenger's seatbelt retractor assemblies must be replaced and only by an authorized SUBARU dealer. When replacing seat- belt retractor assemblies, use only genuine SUBARU parts. 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. If the front seatbelt retractor assembly or surrounding area has been damaged, contact your SUBARU dealer as soon as possible. When you sell your vehicle, we urge you to explain to the buyer that it has seatbelt pretensioners by alerting him to the contents of this section. To obtain maximum protection, occupants should sit in an upright position with their seatbelts properly fastened. Refer to "Seatbelts" section in this chapter.