2001 Ford F250 Owner's Manual - Page 109

Seating and safety restraints Removing the blocker beam without installing snow plow attachment hardware may effect air bag deployment in a crash. Do not operate the truck unless either the blocker beam or snow plow attachment hardware is installed on the vehicle. 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. An infant in a rear-facing seat faces a high risk of serious or fatal injuries from a deploying passenger air bag. Rear facing infant seats should NEVER be placed in the front seats, unless the passenger air bag is turned off. See Passenger air bag ON/OFF 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. 109