1998 Ford Ranger Owner Guide 1st Printing - Page 48

Seating and safety restraints The right front passenger air bag is not designed to restrain occupants in the center front seating position. Do not put anything on or over the air bag module. Placing objects on or over the air inflation area may cause those objects to be propelled by the air bag into your face and torso causing serious injury. Do not attempt to service, repair, or modify the Air Bag Supplemental Restraint System or its fuses. See your Ford or Lincoln-Mercury dealer. Children and air bags For additional important safety information, read all information on safety restraints in this guide. Children must always be properly restrained. Failure to follow these instructions may increase the risk of injury in a collision. Air bags can kill or injure a child in a child seat. Child seats should never be placed in the front seats, unless passenger air bag switch is turned off. See Passenger air bag deactivate switch. How does the air bag supplemental restraint system work? The air bag SRS is designed to activate when the vehicle sustains sufficient longitudinal deceleration. The fact that the air bags did not inflate in a collision does not mean that something is wrong with the system. Rather, it means the forces were not of the type sufficient to cause activation. Air bags are designed to inflate in frontal and near-frontal collisions, not rollover, side-impact, or rear-impacts. 48