Mazda 3 Owners Manual: Front Seat Belt Pretensioner and Load Limiting Systems

For optimum protection, the driver and front passenger seat belts are equipped with pretensioner and load limiting systems. For both these systems to work properly you must wear the seat belt properly.

Pretensioners: When a collision is detected, the pretensioners deploy simultaneously with the air bags.

For vehicles with the front passenger occupant classification system, the pretensioners deploy simultaneously with the air bags when a roll-over is also detected.

For deployment details, refer to the SRS Air Bag Deployment Criteria .

The seat belt retractors remove slack quickly as the air bags are expanding.

Any time the air bags and seat belt pretensioners have fired they must be replaced.

A system malfunction or operation conditions are indicated by a warning.

Refer to Warning/Indicator Lights on .

Refer to Air Bag/Seat Belt Pretensioner System Warning Beep on .

(With Front Passenger Occupant Classification System)

In addition, the pretensioner system for the front passenger, like the front and side passenger air bag, is designed to only deploy in accordance with the total seated weight on the front passenger seat.

For details, refer to the front passenger seat weight sensors .

Load limiter: The load limiting system releases belt webbing in a controlled manner to reduce belt force on the occupant's chest. While the most severe load on a seat belt occurs in frontal collisions, the load limiter has an automatic mechanical function and can activate in any accident mode with sufficient occupant movement.

Even if the pretensioners have not fired, the load limiting function must be checked by an Authorized Mazda Dealer.

NOTE

• The pretensioner system may not operate depending on the type of the collision. For details, refer to the SRS Air Bag Deployment Criteria .
• Some smoke (non-toxic gas) will be released when the air bags and pretensioners deploy. This does not indicate a fire. This gas normally has no effect on occupants, however, those with sensitive skin may experience light skin irritation. If residue from the deployment of the air bags or the pretensioner system gets on the skin or in the eyes, wash it off as soon as possible.