2005 Mazda Tribute Owner's Manual - Page 80

Seating and Safety Restraints The front passenger sensing system can automatically turn off the passenger front air bag. The system is designed to help protect small (child size) occupants from air bag deployments when they are improperly seated or restrained in the front passenger seat contrary to proper child-seating or restraint usage recommendations. Even with this technology, parents are STRONGLY encouraged to always properly restrain children in the rear seat. The sensor also turns off the passenger front air bag and seat-mounted side air bag (if equipped) when the passenger seat is empty to prevent unnecessary replacement of air bag(s) after a collision. When the front passenger seat is occupied and the sensing system has turned off the passenger's frontal air bag, the "pass air bag off" indicator will light and stay lit to remind you that the front passenger frontal air bag is off. See Front passenger sensing system in the airbags section of this chapter. Front safety belt usage sensors The front safety belt usage sensors detect whether or not the driver and front outboard passenger safety belts are fastened. This information allows your Personal Safety System to tailor the air bag deployment and safety belt pretensioner activation depending upon safety belt usage. Refer to Safety belt section in this chapter. Front safety belt pretensioners The safety belt pretensioners at the front outboard seating positions are designed to tighten the safety belts firmly against the occupant's body during a frontal or near-frontal collision. This maximizes the effectiveness of the safety belts and helps properly position the occupant relative to the air bag to improve protection. The safety belt pretensioners can be either activated alone or, if the collision is of sufficient severity, together with the air bags. Front safety belt load limiter The front outboard safety belt load limiter allows webbing to be pulled out of the retractor in a gradual and controlled manner in response to the occupant's forward momentum. This helps reduce the risk of force-related injuries to the occupant's chest by limiting the load on the occupant. Refer to Load limiter feature section in this chapter. 80 REVIEW COPY 2005 Mazda Tribute (j14), Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt) (own2002), Market: USA_English (fus)