Subaru WRX & WRX STI Manuals 2016 WRX & WRX STI Owner’s Manual | Page 46

Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags/Front seatbelt pretensioners

NOTE

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.

1-17

Front seatbelt pretensioner

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.

. Seatbelt pretensioners are not designed to activate in minor impacts or
in rear impacts.
. In cases of frontal collisions, the
following components will operate simultaneously.
– Seatbelt pretensioner for driver
– Seatbelt pretensioner for front
passenger
– SRS frontal airbag for driver
– SRS frontal airbag for front passenger*
– SRS curtain airbags (both sides)
(if an offset frontal collision occurs)
*: This does not operate if the occupant
detection system deactivates airbag operation. For details, refer to “Front
passenger’s SRS frontal airbag” F1-40.

. In cases of side collisions, the
following components will operate simultaneously.
– SRS curtain airbag (impacted
side)
– SRS side airbag (impacted side)
(when both the satellite safing sensor and any of the center pillar
impact sensors/front door impact
sensors sense an impact force)
– Seatbelt pretensioner for driver
(when both the satellite safing sen– CONTINUED –