Seat belts are the primary means of occupant restraint. Seat
Belts help to keep the occupant inside the passenger compartment and to ride
down the crash forces more gradually during the following events:
• | Frontal impact type crashes. |
• | Rear impact type crashes. |
• | Side impact type crashes. |
• | Roll-over type crashed. |
All seat belts have emergency locks in the retractors. During normal
operation, the retractors remain unlocked to allow free movement of the occupant's
upper body under normal driving conditions. The seat belt webbing is locked
into position by a pendulum that causes a locking bar to engage a cog on the
spool of the retractor mechanism under the following conditions:
• | Rapid extraction of the seat belt webbing from the retractor. |
• | The speed of the vehicle changes abruptly. |
• | The direction of the vehicle changes abruptly. |
• | The vehicle is on a steep upgrade or downgrade. |
In conjunction with the seat belts, this vehicle is equipped with a
Supplemental Inflatable Restraint (SIR) System. Refer to the Supplemental
Inflatable Restraint (SIR) Section for more information.