Principles of Operation (How Does It Work?)

Air Bag Supplemental Restraint System Operation (SRS)

The air bag system is a single point sensing system with remote side impact satellite sensors for side air bags.

In the event of a severe frontal impact the driver front air bag and passenger front air bag will activate.

In the event of a severe side impact either the driver or passenger side impact air bag will be deployed depending on which side the impact occurred.

Air bag deployment will only occur in the event of a severe collision with the ignition switch in the RUN position.

The air bag system provides an auxiliary power supply, sufficient to deploy the frontal air bags for a minimum of 150 ms in the event of failure in the vehicle power supply. The back-up power supply is discharged within 60 seconds after disconnecting the battery positive terminal or battery ground cable. This makes sure that the frontal air bag system remains operative.

Electronic Crash Sensor

WARNING: WHEN THE AIR BAGS HAVE BEEN DEPLOYED DURING A COLLISION, THE ECS WILL STORE A DIAGNOSTIC TROUBLE CODE (DTC) B1231 IN ITS MEMORY. INSTALL A NEW ECS IF THE AIR BAGS HAVE BEEN DEPLOYED.

The Electronic Crash Sensor (ECS) is located centrally near the steering column in a protected position behind the instrument panel. The ECS is mounted in a vertical position to facilitate longitudinal impact sensing. The ECS consists of an auxiliary power supply, accelerometer, safing sensor, Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) and a microprocessor.

Impact sensing and evaluation for frontal impacts is supported internally within the ECS whereas side impacts are detected and evaluated by two side air bag satellite sensors.

The accelerometer consists of a micromechanical silicon sensor that produces an electrical signal when deceleration or acceleration occurs.

The safing sensor is designed to prevent unintentional deployment of the frontal air bags.




Air Bag Warning Indicator

If the air bag system is operating correctly, the air bag warning indicator illuminates for three seconds after the ignition is switched on. If there is a malfunction or a fault, the air bag warning indicator will illuminate continuously or flash a Lamp Fault Code (LFC). If more than one concern is detected at the same time, the LFC for the concern with the highest priority ranking will be displayed first. Flash codes do not denote the priority of the code (that is, LFC one does not necessarily mean this is ranked priority one).

Comprehensive diagnostics of the air bag system is possible through the use of a scan tool or SBDS via the Data Link Connector (DLC).