Subaru WRX & WRX STI Manuals 2015 WRX & WRX STI Owner's Manual | Page 45

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Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags/Front seatbelt pretensioners

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.

Front seatbelt pretensioners
The driver’s and front passenger’s seatbelts have a seatbelt pretensioner. The
seatbelt pretensioners are designed to be
activated in the event of an accident
involving moderate to severe frontal and
side collisions.
The pretensioner sensor also serves as
follows.
. SRS frontal airbag sensor
. Side impact sensor (front door impact
sensor)

& Seatbelt with shoulder belt
pretensioner
NOTE
This section is applicable to the driver’s side seatbelt.

If the sensor detects a certain predetermined amount of force during frontal or
side collisions, the front seatbelt is quickly
drawn back in by the retractor to take up
the slack so that the belt more effectively
restrains the driver.
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.
Once the seatbelt pretensioner has been
activated, the seatbelt retractor remains
locked. Consequently, the seatbelt cannot
be pulled out and retracted and therefore
must be replaced.