3310045 - E7030 AIRBAG - Description (Euro 3)

Description

The car may be fitted with an electronically-controlled safety system that sets off the front seat belt pretensioners and the driver's air bag, passenger air bag and sidebags in the case of frontal and/or side impact of a certain severity.An electronic control unit manages the entire system by controlling all the components and activating the restraint systems (pretensioners and airbags) as necessary.

The control unit has two different intervention levels:

• at the first level only the pretensioners are activated
• the second level the system operates both airbags and pretensioners.

The control unit is located under the centre console of the vehicle and is fixed securely to the bodyshell. in this way, the deceleration sensors located inside the unit are close to the centre of gravity and measure whole car deceleration accurately.The driver's Air Bag module is located at the centre of the steering wheel; it is fitted on a tilting plate which enables the horn to be operated. The plate houses a metal container which holds the folded air bag and a gas generator that inflates the bag. A clock spring device allows the air bag module connection leads to turn with the steering wheel without the risk of breakage. The passenger Air Bag module is located in the dashboard, above the glove compartment and is fixed directly to the vehicle crossmember by means of a special bracket.The passenger Air Bag can be deactivated manually by means of a specific switch.The switch, which is ignition-activated, is located at the end of the facia on the passenger side and is accessible only with the door open. When the key is turned to OFF, the control unit also controls the activation of a passenger air bag disablement warning light on the instrument panel.The pretensioner is a device built into the front seat belt reel.They intervene, in the case of an impact of a certain magnitude, to recover the inevitable extension of the belts due to the action of the body weight, keeping the body close to the seat backrest.

The control unit is self-diagnostic:

• it detects and memorizes any faults
• it recognizes the various components and the type of fault
• it signals the onset of these faults via the special warning light.

System activations following a particularly serious impact are memorized by the control unit.For further details, see DESCRIPTION AND OPERATION 5580E.The system control unit supply line is protected by a fuse located in the junction unit.

carefully observe the safety regulations when working on the airbag system. For further details see PROCEDURES 5580C'