Restraints and Safety Systems: Service Precautions
WARNINGS - RESTRAINT SYSTEM
WARNING: To avoid serious or fatal injury during and following any seat belt or child restraint anchor service, carefully inspect all seat belts, buckles, mounting hardware, retractors, tether straps, and anchors for proper installation, operation, or damage. Replace any belt that is cut, frayed, or torn. Straighten any belt that is twisted. Tighten any loose fasteners. Replace any belt that has a damaged or ineffective buckle or retractor. Replace any belt that has a bent or damaged latch plate or anchor plate. Replace any child restraint anchor or the unit to which the anchor is integral that has been bent or damaged. Never attempt to repair a seat belt or child restraint component. Always replace damaged or ineffective seat belt and child restraint components with the correct, new and unused replacement parts listed in the DaimlerChrysler Mopar(R) Parts Catalog.
WARNING: To avoid serious or fatal injury on vehicles equipped with side curtain airbags, disable the supplemental restraint system before attempting any occupant restraint controller diagnosis or service. The occupant restraint controller contains a rollover sensor, which enables the system to deploy the side curtain airbags in the event of a vehicle rollover event. If an occupant restraint controller is accidentally rolled during service while still connected to battery power, the side curtain airbags will deploy. Disconnect and isolate the battery negative (ground) cable, then wait two minutes for the system capacitor to discharge before performing further diagnosis or service. This is the only sure way to disable the supplemental restraint system. Failure to take the proper precautions could result in accidental airbag deployment.
WARNING: To avoid serious or fatal injury on vehicles equipped with airbags, disable the supplemental restraint system before attempting any steering wheel, steering column, airbag, occupant classification system, seat belt tensioner, impact sensor, or instrument panel component diagnosis or service. Disconnect and isolate the battery negative (ground) cable, then wait two minutes for the system capacitor to discharge before performing further diagnosis or service. This is the only sure way to disable the supplemental restraint system. Failure to take the proper precautions could result in accidental airbag deployment.
WARNING: To avoid serious or fatal injury on vehicles equipped with airbags, before performing any welding operations disconnect and isolate the battery negative (ground) cable and disconnect all wire harness connectors from the Occupant Restraint Controller (ORC). Failure to take the proper precautions could result in accidental airbag deployment and other possible damage to the supplemental restraint system circuits and components.
WARNING: To avoid serious or fatal injury, do not attempt to dismantle an airbag unit or tamper with its inflator. Do not puncture, incinerate, or bring into contact with electricity. Do not store at temperatures exceeding 93° C (200° F). An airbag inflator unit may contain sodium azide and potassium nitrate. These materials are poisonous and extremely flammable. Contact with acid, water, or heavy metals may produce harmful and irritating gases (sodium hydroxide is formed in the presence of moisture) or combustible compounds. An airbag inflator unit may also contain a gas canister pressurized to over 17.24 kPa (2500 psi).
WARNING: To avoid serious or fatal injury when handling a seat belt tensioner retractor, proper care should be exercised to keep fingers out from under the retractor cover and away from the seat belt webbing where it exits from the retractor cover.
WARNING: To avoid serious or fatal injury, replace all restraint system components only with parts specified in the DaimlerChrysler Mopar(R) Parts Catalog. Substitute parts may appear interchangeable, but internal differences may result in inferior occupant protection.
WARNING: To avoid serious or fatal injury, the fasteners, screws, and bolts originally used for the restraint system components must never be replaced with any substitutes. These fasteners have special coatings and are specifically designed for the restraint system. Any time a new fastener is needed, replace it with the correct fasteners provided in the service package or specified in the DaimlerChrysler Mopar(R) Parts Catalog.
WARNING: To avoid serious or fatal injury when a steering column has an airbag unit attached, never place the column on the floor or any other surface with the steering wheel or airbag unit face down.