Design features of the passive safety system

Passive safety system (SRS) The Ford Fusion combines frontal airbags for the driver and passenger in the front seat and seat belts for the driver and all passengers in a complex. The retractable seat belts for the driver and front passenger are equipped with pyrotechnic pretensioners installed in the belt buckles. For passengers in the rear seat, three-point inertial belts are provided. On request, side airbags located in the backs of the front seats can be installed.

Warning! Airbags do not replace seat belts. Moreover, when the car is moving, the driver and front passenger must be sure to wear their seat belts, since in the event of a traffic accident, a deployed airbag itself can cause serious injury to a person who is not wearing a seat belt.

The SRS includes:

• a driver airbag module located in the steering wheel hub and consisting of a folded airbag shell and an inflator;
• the front passenger airbag module, located in the instrument panel on the passenger side and consisting of a folded airbag shell and an inflator;
• driver and front passenger side airbag modules (installed depending on the vehicle), located in the outer side parts of the front seat backs and consisting of a folded cushion shell and a gas generator;

• an electronic control unit installed under the lining of the floor tunnel and controlling the system;

• seat belts;

• front belt pretensioners (built into the front seat belt buckles).

The strength and direction of impact in a traffic accident is determined by the electronic control unit (ECU) passive safety systems using two electronic accelerometers (shock sensors), installed on the thresholds of the body under their facings. At the signal of the accelerometers, the control unit activates the airbags.


In the event of a frontal impact of a certain force, the ECU receives a signal from the accelerometers and, by issuing a command to the pyrotechnic elements of the pretensioners, increases the tension of the belts before activating the airbags. Pretensioners provide timely response to an emergency deceleration of the car, pulling the driver and front passenger to the seatbacks, and also prevent them from further moving forward by inertia and getting injured from a deployed airbag.

Note. The seat belt pretensioner mechanism is always activated before the airbag.

Additional elements of the passive safety system also include head restraints mounted on the backs of the driver's and front passenger's seats. The head restraints prevent damage to the cervical vertebrae of occupants in the event of a severe rear impact or airbag deployment.

The removal and installation of the driver's airbag, belts and the safety system control unit is described below, since the driver's airbag must be removed for steering repair work. Side airbags should only be removed by workshops with specially trained personnel. Adjustment of the position of the head restraints and their removal are described in sec. 1 «Vehicle device» (see «Front seat adjustment»).