1999 Lexus ES 300 Owners Manual - Page 162
1999 Lexus ES 300 Manual
Page 162 highlights
COMFORT ADJUSTMENT The driver and front passenger airbags and seat belt pretensioners are designed to activate in response to a severe frontal impact within the shaded area between the arrows in the illustration. There may be the case that the driver and passenger airbags and seat belt pretensioners will not activate with such an impact in which the occupant wearing the seat belt correctly would not get serious injury. The driver and front passenger airbags and seat belt pretensioners will work if the severity of the impact is above the designed threshold level, comparable to an approximate 25 km/h (15 mph) collision when impacting straight into a fixed barrier that does not move or deform. If the severity of the impact is below the above threshold level, the driver and front passenger airbags and seat belt pretensioners may not work. However, this threshold velocity will be considerably higher if the vehicle strikes an object, such as a parked vehicle or sign pole, which can move or deform on impact, or if it is involved in an underride collision (e.g. a collision in which the nose of the vehicle "underrides", or goes under, the bed of a truck, etc.). It is possible with collision severity at the marginal level of driver and passenger airbag sensor detection and activation that only one of your vehicle's driver and front passenger airbags and seat belt pretensioners will work. For the safety of all occupants, be sure to always wear seat belts. 142