2001 Ford Taurus Owner Guide 1st Printing - Page 91

Seating and safety restraints When are the front air bags and pretensioners deployed? Front air bags and pretensioners are designed to activate in frontal and near-frontal collisions, not rollover, side-impacts, or rear-impacts unless the collision causes sufficient longitudinal deceleration. The fact that the pretensioners or air bags did not activate in a collision does not mean that something is wrong with the system. Rather, it means the Personal Safety System determined the occupant conditions or crash severity were not appropriate to activate these safety devices. Safety belt precautions Always drive and ride with your seatback upright and the lap belt snug and low across the hips. To reduce the risk of injury, make sure children sit where they can be properly restrained. Never let a passenger hold a child on his or her lap while the vehicle is moving. The passenger cannot protect the child from injury in a collision. All occupants of the vehicle, including the driver, should always properly wear their safety belts, even when an air bag SRS is provided. It is extremely dangerous to ride in a cargo area, inside or outside of a vehicle. In a collision, people riding in these areas are more likely to be seriously injured or killed. Do not allow people to ride in any area of your vehicle that is not equipped with seats and safety belts. Be sure everyone in your vehicle is in a seat and using a safety belt properly. 91