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, the front seatbelt is quickly drawn back in by the retractor to take up the slack so that the belt more effectively restrains the front seat occupant.

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 can not be pulled out and retracted and therefore must be replaced.

NOTE
- Seatbelt pretensioners are not designed to activate in minor frontal or side impacts or in rear impacts.

- When you sell your vehicle, we urge you to explain to the buyer that it has seatbelt pretensioners by alerting the buyer to the contents of this section.

- To obtain maximum protection, the occupants should sit in an upright position with their seatbelts properly fastened. Refer to “Seatbelts”.

- When discarding front seatbelt retractor assemblies or scrapping the entire vehicle due to collision damage or for other reasons, consult your SUBARU dealer.

• System monitors
• System servicing
• Precautions against vehicle modification