2006 Saab 9-3 Owner's Manual - Page 45

Safety Scrapping or working on airbag and belt pretensioners WARNING • Under no circumstances should any modifications be made that affect the steering wheel or the airbag's electrical circuitry. • During any welding, both battery cables must be disconnected and covered. • Before quick drying paint in the vicinity of the electronic control module, the module's grounding points and wiring must be covered. • Airbags and safety belt pretensioners must be deployed under controlled conditions before the car is scrapped or any of the system's components are removed. Airbags or belt pretensioners that have been deployed as a result of a crash must be replaced by new ones. • Airbag-system components must never be transferred for use in another vehicle. • All work involving the scrapping or replacement of airbags or belt pretensioners must be carried out by authorized personnel only. 45 Frequently asked questions on function of the airbag Do you still need to wear a safety belt if airbags are fitted? Yes, always! The airbag system components merely supplement the car's normal safety system. Moreover, the front airbags will only be actuated in a moderate to severe frontal, or near-frontal crash, which means, of course, that they provide no protection in minor frontal crashes, major rear- or sidecrashes or if the car rolls over. The safety belts help to reduce the sideway movement of the body in a crash. But they also ensure that, if a crash occurs in which the airbags are inflated, the airbag will make the optimum contact with the occupant, i.e. square on from the front. If the occupant meets the airbag in an offset position, the protection afforded will be reduced. In addition, airbags provide no protection against a secondary impact occurring in the same incident. So there is no doubt about the benefit of wearing safety belts at all times. Do not sit too close to the airbag: it needs room to inflate. The airbag inflates very quickly and powerfully in order to protect an adult, before they are thrown forward, in a serious frontal crash. How do I position the seat to leave room for the airbag to inflate? Don't have your seat too far forward. Recline the seat back to increase the distance between you and the airbag. For short drivers, special accessory pedal extensions are available through your Saab dealer. Airbags inflate extremely rapidly and with great force - to be fast enough to protect an adult in the seat.