2007 Dodge Dakota Owner Manual - Page 48

48 THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE STARTING YOUR VEHICLE • Driver and Front Passenger Seat Belt Pretensioners • Passenger Airbag Disable (PAD) Indicator Light (Extended Cab Vehicles Only) • Passenger Side frontal Airbag ON/OFF Switch (Extended Cab Vehicles Only). How the Airbag System Works • The Occupant Restraint Controller (ORC) determines if a frontal collision is severe enough to require the airbags to inflate. The front airbag inflators are designed to provide different rates of airbag inflation from direction provided by the ORC. The ORC may also modify the rate of inflation based on the occupant size provided by the Occupant Classification Module. The ORC will not detect roll over. The ORC also monitors the readiness of the electronic parts of the system whenever the ignition switch is in the START or RUN positions. These include all of the items listed above except the steering wheel and column, and knee bolsters. If the key is in the OFF position, in the ACC position, or not in the ignition, the airbags are not on and will not inflate. During a moderate-to-severe rear impact the ORC may deploy the seat belt pretensioners alone. Also, the ORC turns on the AIRBAG warning light and PAD indicator light in the instrument panel for 6 to 8 seconds for a self-check when the ignition is first turned on. After the selfcheck, the AIRBAG warning light will turn off. If the ORC detects a malfunction in any part of the system, it turns on the AIRBAG warning light either momentarily or continuously. A single chime will sound if the light comes on again after initial start up.