22

� Do not drive with the head re-straints removed.

Toyota recommends that the driver andpassengers in the vehicle be properly re-strained at all times with the seat beltsprovided. Failure to do so could increasethe chance of injury and/or the severity ofinjury in accidents.Child. Use a child restraint system ap-propriate for the child until the child be-comes large enough to properly wear thevehicle’s seat belts. See “Child restraint”for details.If a child is too large for a child restraintsystem, the child should sit in the rear seatand must be restrained using the vehicle’sseat belt. According to accident statistics,the child is safer when properly restrainedin the rear seat than in the front seat.If a child must sit in the front seat, the seatbelts should be worn properly. If an acci-dent occurs and seat belts are not wornproperly, the force of the rapid inflation ofthe airbag may cause serious injury to thechild.

Do not allow the child to stand up or kneelon either rear or front seats. An unre-strained child could suffer serious injuryduring emergency braking or a collision.Also, do not let the child sit on your lap. Itdoes not provide sufficient restraint.If the shoulder belt falls across the child’sneck or face, move the child to the centerposition and use the center lap belt.Pregnant woman. Toyota recommendsthe use of a seat belt. Ask your doctor forspecific recommendations. The lap beltshould be worn securely and as low aspossible over the hips and not on thewaist.Injured person. Toyota recommends theuse of a seat belt. Depending on the injury,first check with your doctor for specificrecommendations.

Seat belts−−Seat belt precautions

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CAUTION!

Persons should ride in their seatsproperly wearing in their seat beltswhenever the vehicle is moving.Otherwise, they are much morelikely to suffer serious bodily injuryin the event of sudden braking or acollision.When using the seat belts, observethe following:� Use the belt for only one person at

a time. Do not use a single belt fortwo or more people−even chil-dren.

� Avoid reclining the seatbacks toomuch. The seat belts provide maxi-mum protection when the seat-backs are in the upright position.(Refer to the seat adjustment in-structions.)

� Be careful not to damage the beltwebbing or hardware. Take carethat they do not get caught orpinched in the seat or side doors.

� Inspect the belt system periodical-ly. Check for cuts, fraying andloose parts. Damaged partsshould be replaced. Do not disas-semble or modify the system.

� Keep the belts clean and dry. Ifthey need cleaning, use a mildsoap solution or lukewarm water.Never use bleach, dye, or abrasivecleaners−they may severely weak-en the belts.

� Replace the belt assembly (includ-ing bolts) if it has been used in asevere impact. The entire assem-bly should be replaced even ifdamage is not obvious.

� Replace the font seat belt if thewarning label under the sleeve canbe seen. The warning label, ”RE-PLACE BELT”, will appear if thebelt receives a severe impact orother force.

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Adjust the seat as needed (front seatsonly) and sit up straight and well backin the seat. To fasten your belt, pull itout of the retractor and insert the tabinto the buckle.You will hear a click when the tab locksinto the buckle.The seat belt length automatically adjuststo your size and the seat position.The retractor will lock the belt during asudden stop or on impact. It also may lockif you lean forward too quickly. A slow,easy motion will allow the belt to extend,and you can move around freely.

If the seat belt cannot be pulled out of theretractor, firmly pull the belt and release it.You will then be able to smoothly pull thebelt out of the retractor.When a passenger’s shoulder belt is com-pletely extended and is then retractedeven slightly, the belt is locked in that posi-tion and cannot be extended. This featureis used to hold the child restraint systemsecurely. (For details, see “Child restraint”in this chapter.) To free the belt again, fullyretract the belt and then pull the belt outonce more.

CAUTION!

� After inserting the tab, make surethe tab and buckle are locked andthat the belt is not twisted.

� Do not insert coins, clips, etc. inthe buckle as this may prevent youfrom properly latching the tab andbuckle.

� If the seat belt does not functionnormally, immediately contactyour Toyota dealer. Do not use theseat until the seat belt is fixed. Itcannot protect an adult occupantor your child from injury.

Seat belts with an adjustable shoulderanchor—

Adjust the shoulder anchor positionto your size.To adjust the anchor position, pull theknob out and slide it up or down. Releasethe knob and make sure the anchor islocked in position.

—Front seat belts and rearoutside seat belts

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CAUTION!

Always make sure the shoulder beltis positioned across the center ofyour shoulder. The belt should bekept away from the neck, but not falling off your shoulder. Failure todo so could reduce the amount ofprotection in an accident and causesevere injuries in a collision.

Adjust the position of the lap andshoulder belts.Position the lap belt as low as possible onyour hips−not on your waist, then adjust itto a snug fit by pulling the shoulder portionupward through the latch plate.

CAUTION!� High−positioned lap belts and

loose−fitting belts both couldcause severe injuries due to slid-ing under the lap belt during a col-lision. Keep the lap belt positionedas low on hips as possible.

� For your safety, do not place theshoulder belt under your arm.

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To release the belt, press the buckle−release button and allow the belt to re-tract.If the belt does not retract smoothly, pullit out and check for nicks or twists. Thenmake sure it remains untwisted as it re-tracts.

Sit up straight and well back in theseat. To fasten your belt, insert the tabinto the buckle.You will hear a click when the tab locksinto the buckle.If the belt is not long enough for you, holdthe tab at a right angle to the belt and pullon the tab.

CAUTION!� After inserting the tab, make sure

the tab and buckle are locked andthat the belt is not twisted.

� Do not insert coins, clips, etc. inthe buckle as this may prevent youfrom properly latching the tab andbuckle.

� If the seat belt does not functionnormally, immediately contactyour Toyota dealer. Do not use theseat until the seat belt is fixed. Itcannot protect an adult occupantor your child from injury.

—Rear center seat belt

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Remove excess length of the belt andadjust the belt position.To shorten the belt, pull the free end of thebelt.Position the lap belt as low as possible onyour hips−not on your waist, then adjust itto a snug fit.

CAUTION!High−positioned and loose−fittinglap belts could increase the chanceof injury due to sliding under the lapbelt during a an accident or otherunintended results. Keep the lap beltpositioned as low on your hip boneas possible.

To release the belt, press the buckle−release button.

If your seat belt cannot be fastened se-curely because it is not long enough, apersonalized seat belt extender is avail-able from your Toyota dealer free ofcharge.Please contact your local Toyota dealerso that the dealer can order the proper re-quired length for the extender. Bring theheaviest coat you expect to wear for prop-er measurement and selection of length.Additional ordering information is avail-able at your Toyota dealer.

CAUTION!

When using the seat belt extender,observe the following. Failure tofollow these instructions could re-sult in less effectiveness of the seatbelt restraint system in case of ve-hicle accident, increasing thechance of personal injury.

� Never use the seat belt extender ifyou can fasten the seat belt with-out it.

—Seat belt extender

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� Remember that the extender pro-vided for you may not be safe whenused on a different vehicle, or foranother person or at a differentseating position than the one origi-nally intended for.

To connect the extender to the seatbelt, insert the tab into the seat beltbuckle so that the “PRESS” signs onthe buckle−release buttons of the ex-tender and the seat belt are both facingoutward as shown.You will hear a click when the tab locksinto the buckle.When releasing the seat belt, press on thebuckle−release button on the extender,not on the seat belt. This helps preventdamage to the vehicle interior and extend-er itself.When not in use, remove the extenderand store in the vehicle for future use.

CAUTION!

� After inserting the tabs, make surethe tabs and buckle are locked andthat the belt is not twisted.

� Do not insert coins, clips, etc. inthe buckle as this may prevent youfrom properly latching the tabsand buckle.

� If the seat belt does not functionnormally, it cannot protect yourchild from injury. Contact your To-yota dealer immediately. Do notuse the built−in child restraint un-til the seat belt is fixed.

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The SRS (Supplemental Restraint Sys-tem) airbags are designed to providefurther protection to the driver andfront passenger when added to the pri-mary protection provided by the seatbelts.In response to a severe frontal impact, theSRS airbags work together with the seatbelts to help preventing or reduce injury byinflating, in order to decrease the likeli-hood of the driver’s or front passenger’shead or chest directly hitting the steeringwheel or dashboard. The passenger air-bag is activated even with no passengerin the front seat.

This indicator comes on when theignition key is turned to the “ACC” or“ON” position. It goes off after about 6seconds. This means the SRS airbagsare operating properly.The SRS airbag warning light systemmonitors the airbag sensor assembly, in-flators, warning light, interconnecting wir-ing and power sources

The SRS airbag system is designed toactivate in response to a severe frontalimpact within the shaded area be-tween the arrows in the illustration.The SRS airbags will deploy if the severityof the impact is above the designedthreshold level, comparable to an approxi-mate 20 km/h (14 mph) collision when im-pacting straight into a fixed barrier thatdoes not move or deform.If the severity of the impact is below theabove threshold level, the SRS airbagsmay not deploy.

SRS airbags (for driver andfront passenger)

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However, this threshold velocity will beconsiderably higher if the vehicle strikesan object, such as a parked vehicle or signpole, which can move or deform onimpact, or if it is involved in an underridecollision (e.g. a collision in which the noiseof the vehicle “underrides”, or goes under,the bed of a truck.It is possible with collision severity at themarginal level of airbag sensor detectionand activation that only one of your ve-hicle’s two airbags will deploy.For your safety, be sure to always wearyour seat belts.

The SRS airbags are not designed toinflate if the vehicle is subjected to aside or rear impact, if it rolls over, or ifit is involved in a low−speed frontalcollision.

The airbag sensor assembly consists of asafing sensor and airbag sensor.In a severe frontal impact, sensors detectdeceleration and the system triggers theairbag inflators. Then a chemical reactionin the inflators momentarily fills the air-bags with non−toxic nitrogen gas to helprestrain the forward motion of the occu-pants.

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When the airbags inflate, they produce afairly loud noise and release some smokealong with the nitrogen gas. This is notharmful and does not indicate a fire. Besure to wash off any residue as soon aspossible to prevent minor skin irritation.Deployment of the airbags happen in afraction of a second, so the airbags mustinflate with considerable force. While thesystem is designed to reduce serious inju-ries, it may also cause minor burns orabrasions and swellings.Parts of the airbag module (steeringwheel hub, dashboard) may be hot forseveral minutes, but the airbags them-selves will not be hot. The airbags are de-signed to inflate only once.A crash severe enough to inflate the air-bags may break the windshield as the ve-hicle buckles. In vehicles with a passen-ger airbag the windshield may also bedamaged by absorbing some of the forceof the inflating airbag.

CAUTION!� The SRS airbag system is de-

signed only as a supplement tothe primary protection of the driv-er side and front passenger sideseat belt systems. The front seatoccupants are particularly sus-ceptible to death or serious injuryif they do not wear their seat belts;when sudden braking or a colli-sion occurs, they may be thrownforward into deployed SRS air-bags. To obtain maximum protec-tion in an accident, the driver andall passengers in the vehicleshould always wear their seatbelts when driving because deathor serious injuries can result tounrestrainted occupants. For in-structions and precautions con-cerning the seat belt systems, see“Seat belts” in this chapter.

� A baby or small child who is toosmall to use a seat belt should beproperly secured in a rear seatusing a child restraint system.

� Never put a rear−facing child re-straint system in the front seat be-cause the force of the rapid infla-tion of the passenger airbag cancause death or serious injury tothe child.

32

� A forward−facing child restraintsystem should be put on the frontseat only when it is unavoidable.Always move the seat as far backas possible because the force of adeploying airbag could causedeath or serious injury to the child.For instructions concerning theinstallation of a child restraint sys-tem, see “Child restraint” in thischapter.

� Do not sit on the edge of the seator lean over the dashboard whenthe vehicle is in use. The airbagsinflate with considerable speedand force; you may be killed or se-riously injured. Sit up straight andwell back in the seat, and alwaysuse your seat belt.

� Do not allow a child to stand up, orto kneel on the front passengerseat. The airbag inflates with con-siderable speed and force; thechild may be killed or seriously in-jured.

� Do not hold a child on your lap orin your arms. Use a child restraintsystem in the rear seat. For in-structions concerning the installa-tion of a child restraint system, see“Child restraint” in this chapter.

33

� Do not put objects on or in front ofthe dashboard or steering wheelpad that houses the airbag system.They might restrict inflation orcause serious injury as they areprojected rearward by the force ofdeploying airbags.

� Do not modify or remove any wir-ing. Do not modify, remove, strikeor open any components, such asthe steering wheel column cover,front passenger airbag cover,front passenger airbag, airbagsensor assembly. Doing any ofthese may cause sudden SRS air-bag inflation or disable the sys-tem, which could result in death orserious injury.

Failure to follow these instructionscan result in death or serious inju-ries.

Do not perform any of the followingchanges without consulting yourToyota dealer. Such changes caninterfere with proper operation ofthe SRS airbag system in somecases.�Installation of electronic items

such as a mobile two−way radio,cassette tape player or compactdisc player

�Modification of the suspensionsystem

�Modification of the front endstructure

�Attachment of a grille guard (bullbar, kangaroo bar, etc.), snow-plow, winches or any other equip-ment to the front end

�Repairs made on or near the frontend structure, console, steeringcolumn, steering wheel or dash-board near the front passengerairbag

NOTICE

34

This SRS airbag system has a service re-minder indicator to inform the driver of op-erating problems. If either of the followingconditions occurs, this indicates a mal-function of the airbags. Contact your To-yota dealer as soon as possible to servicethe vehicle.� The light does not come on when the

ignition key is turned to the “ACC” or“ON” position, or remains on.

� The light comes on while driving.

In the following cases, contact your Toyo-ta dealer as soon as possible:� The SRS airbags have been inflated.� The front part of the vehicle (shaded in

the illustration) was involved in an ac-cident not of the extent to cause theSRS airbags to inflate

� The pad section of the steering wheelor front passenger airbag cover(shaded in the illustration) isscratched, cracked, or otherwise dam-aged.

The SRS (Supplemental Restraint Sys-tem) airbag is designed to provide fur-ther protection to the driver when add-ed to the primary protection providedby the seat belt.In response to a severe frontal impact, theSRS airbag works together with the seatbelt to help preventing or reduce injury byinflating, in order to decrease the likeli-hood of the driver’s head or chest directlyhitting the steering wheel.

35

This indicator comes on when theignition key is turned to the “ACC” or“ON” position. It goes off after about 6seconds. This means the SRS airbagsare operating properly.The SRS airbag warning light systemmonitors the airbag sensor assembly, in-flators, warning light, interconnecting wir-ing and power sources

The SRS airbag system is designed toactivate in response to a severe frontalimpact within the shaded area be-tween the arrows in the illustration.The SRS airbags will deploy if the severityof the impact is above the designedthreshold level, comparable to an approxi-mate 20 km/h (14 mph) collision when im-pacting straight into a fixed barrier thatdoes not move or deform.If the severity of the impact is below theabove threshold level, the SRS airbagsmay not deploy.

However, this threshold velocity will beconsiderably higher if the vehicle strikesan object, such as a parked vehicle or signpole, which can move or deform on im-pact, or if it is involved in an underride col-lision (e.g. a collision in which the noise ofthe vehicle “underrides”, or goes under,the bed of a truck.For the safety of all occupants, be sure toalways wear your seat belts.

36

The SRS airbag is not designed to in-flate if the vehicle is subjected to a sideor rear impact, if it rolls over, or if it isinvolved in a low−speed frontal colli-sion.

The airbag sensor assembly consists of asafing sensor and airbag sensor.In a severe frontal impact, sensors detectdeceleration and the system triggers theairbag inflators. Then a chemical reactionin the inflators momentarily fills the air-bags with non−toxic nitrogen gas to helprestrain the forward motion of the occu-pants.When the airbags inflate, they produce afairly loud noise and release some smokealong with the nitrogen gas. This is notharmful and does not indicate a fire. Besure to wash off any residue as soon aspossible to prevent minor skin irritation.

Deployment of the airbags happen in afraction of a second, so the airbags mustinflate with considerable force. While thesystem is designed to reduce serious inju-ries, it may also cause minor burns orabrasions and swellings.The steering wheel hub may be hot forseveral minutes, but the airbag itself willnot be hot. The airbag is designed to in-flate only once.

CAUTION!The SRS airbag system is designedonly as a supplement to the primaryprotection of the driver side seatbelt system. The driver is particular-ly susceptible to death or seriousinjury if he/she does not wear his/her seat belt; when sudden brakingor a collision occurs, he/she may bethrown forward into the deployingSRS airbag. To obtain maximumprotection in an accident, the driverand all passengers in the vehicleshould always wear their seat beltswhen driving. For instructions andprecautions concerning the seatbelt system, see “Seat belts” in thischapter.

37

CAUTION!� Do not put objects on the steering

wheel pad. They might restrictinflation or cause serious injury asthey are projected rearward by theforce of deploying airbags.

� Do not modify or remove any wir-ing. Do not modify, remove, strikeor open any components, such asthe steering wheel column cover,front passenger airbag cover, frontpassenger airbag, airbag sensorassembly. Doing any of these maycause sudden SRS airbag inflationor disable the system, which couldresult in death or serious injury.

Failure to follow these instructionscan result in death or serious inju-ries. Do not perform any of the following

changes without consulting yourToyota dealer. Such changes caninterfere with proper operation ofthe SRS airbag system in somecases.�Installation of electronic items

such as a mobile two−way radio,cassette tape player or compactdisc player

�Modification of the suspensionsystem

�Modification of the front endstructure

�Attachment of a grille guard (bullbar, kangaroo bar, etc.), snow-plow, winches or any other equip-ment to the front end

�Repairs made on or near the frontend structure, console, steeringcolumn or steering wheel

NOTICE

38

This SRS airbag system has a service re-minder indicator to inform the driver of op-erating problems. If either of the followingconditions occurs, this indicates a mal-function of the airbags. Contact your To-yota dealer as soon as possible to servicethe vehicle.� The light does not come on when the

ignition key is turned to the “ACC” or“ON” position, or remains on.

� The light comes on while driving.

In the following cases, contact your Toyo-ta dealer as soon as possible:� The SRS airbags have been inflated.� The front part of the vehicle (shaded in

the illustration) was involved in an ac-cident not of the extent to cause theSRS airbags to inflate

� The pad section of the steering wheel(shaded in the illustration) isscratched, cracked, or otherwise dam-aged.

Toyota strongly urges the use of childrestraint systems for children smallenough to use them.The laws of all fifty states in the U.S.A.and Canada now require the use of a childrestraint system.Your vehicle conforms the SAEJ1819.If a child is too large for a child restraintsystem, the child should sit in the rear seatand must be restrained using the vehicle’sseat belt. See “Seat belts” for details.

CAUTION!� For effective protection in auto-

mobile accidents and suddenstops, children must be properlyrestrained using a seat belt orchild restraint system dependingon the age and size of the child.Holding a child in your arms is nota substitute for a child restraintsystem. In an accident, the childcan be crushed against the wind-shield, or between you and the ve-hicle’s interior.

Child restraint——Child restraint precautions