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Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags
& Seatbelt maintenance
Front seatbelt pretensioners
To clean the seatbelts, use a mild soap
and lukewarm water. Never bleach or dye
the belts because this could seriously
affect their strength.
When a seatbelt pretensioner is activated,
an operating noise will be heard and a
small amount of smoke will be released.
These occurrences are normal and not
harmful. This smoke does not indicate a
fire in the vehicle.
Inspect the seatbelts and attachments
includi ng the webbing and all hardware
periodically for cracks, cuts, gashes,
tears, damage, loose bolts or worn areas.
Replace the seatbelts even if only minor
damage is found.
Once the seatbelt pretensioner has been
activated, the seatbelt retractor remains
locked. Consequently, the seatbelt can not
be pulled out and retracted and therefore
must be replaced.
CAUTION
. Keep the belts free of polishes,
oils, chemicals and particularly
battery acid.
. Never attempt to make modifications or changes that will prevent
the seatbelt from operating properly.
restrains the front seat occupant.
NOTE
The driver’s and front passenger’s seatbelts have a seatbelt pretensioner. The
seatbelt pretensioners for the driver’s seat
and front passenger’s seat operate at the
same time as the frontal, and side SRS
airbags. If the vehicle rolls over, they
operate simultaneously with the curtain
airbag.
The front and side airbag sensors and the
rollover sensor are used as the pretensioner sensors. If a sensor detects a
certain predetermined amount of force
during a frontal collision, a side impact
collision or a rollover collision of the
vehicle, the front seatbelt is quickly drawn
back in by the retractor to take up the
slack so that the belt more effectively
. Seatbelt pretensioners are not designed to activate in minor frontal
impacts, in minor side impacts or rear
impacts.
. The seatbelt pretensioners for the
driver’s seat and front passenger’s
seat operate at the same time as the
frontal, and side SRS airbags. If the
vehicle rolls over, they operate simultaneously with the curtain airbag.
. Pretensioners are designed to function on a one-time-only basis. In the
event that a pretensioner is activated,
both the driver’s and front passenger’s
seatbelt retractor assemblies must be
replaced and only by an authorized
SUBARU dealer. When replacing seat-