Volkswagen Tiguan Owners Manual: Child restraints and the Advanced front airbag system

Read and follow the introductory information and safety information first⇒Introduction to the subject 

Advanced front airbag system and children

Your vehicle is equipped with a front Advanced Airbag System that complies with United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 208 and with Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (CMVSS) 208 as applicable at the time your vehicle was manufactured.

The Advanced Airbag System in your vehicle has been certified to meet the low risk requirements for 3 and 6 year-old children (as defined in the standard) on the passenger side and small adults on the driver side. Low risk deployment occurs in those crashes that take place at lower decelerations as defined in the electronic control unit. The low risk deployment criteria are intended to reduce the risk of injury through interaction with the airbag that can occur in these collisions, for example, by being too close to the steering wheel and instrument panel when the airbag inflates.

In addition, the system has been certified to comply with the suppression requirements of the Safety Standard, to turn off the front airbag automatically for infants up to 12 months who are restrained on the front passenger seat in child restraints that are listed in the Standard.

Even though your vehicle is equipped with an Advanced Airbag System, all children, especially those 12 years and younger, must always ride in the back seat properly restrained for their age and size. The airbag on the passenger side makes the front seat a potentially dangerous place for a child to ride. The front seat is not the safest place for a child in a forward-facing child seat. It is a very dangerous place for an infant or a larger child in a rearward-facing seat.

The Advanced Airbag System in your vehicle detects the presence of an infant or child in a child restraint on the front passenger seat using the weight-sensing mat in the seat cushion and the sensor in the safety belt buckle on the front passenger seat that measures the tension on the safety belt.

The weight-sensing mat measures total weight of the child and the child seat and a child blanket on the front passenger seat. The weight registered on the front passenger seat is related to the design of the child restraint and its footprint, i.e. the size and shape of the bottom of the child restraint as it sits on the seat. The weight of a child restraint and its footprint vary for different kinds of child restraints and for the different models of the same kind of child restraint offered by child restraint manufacturers.

The weight ranges for the individual types, makes and models of child restraints that the NHTSA has specified in the Safety Standard, together with the weight ranges of typical infants and typical 1 year-old children, have been stored in the control unit of the Advanced Airbag System. When a child restraint is being used on the front passenger seat for a typical 1 year-old infant, the Advanced Airbag System compares the weight measured by the weight-sensing mat with the information stored in the electronic control unit.

A sensor in the safety belt buckle for the front seat passenger measures the tension on the belt and sends this information to the electronic control module for the airbag system. The tension on the safety belt for the front passenger seat will be different for an adult, who is properly using the safety belt, as compared to the tension on the belt when it is used to attach a child restraint to the seat. The input from this sensor is then used with the weight to decide whether there is a child restraint with a typical 1 year-old child on the front passenger seat and whether or not the airbag must be turned off.

Child restraints and Advanced Airbags

No matter what child restraint you use, make sure that it has been certified to meet U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213 (FMVSS 213) or, if you live in Canada, Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213 (CMVSS 213). Also make sure that the child restraint you are using has been certified by its manufacturer for use with an airbag. Always be sure that the child restraint is properly installed at one of the rear seating positions. If in exceptional circumstances you must use it on the front passenger seat, carefully read all of the information on child safety and Advanced Airbags and heed all of the applicable WARNINGS. Make certain that the child restraint is correctly recognized by the weight-sensing mat inside the front passenger seat, that the passenger front airbag is switched off, and that the airbag status is always correctly signaled by the PASSENGER AIR BAG light.

Many types and models of child restraints have been available over the years, new models are introduced regularly incorporating new and improved designs and older models are taken out of production. Child restraints are not standardized. Child restraints of the same type typically have different weights and sizes and different footprints, the size and shape of the bottom of the child restraint that sits on the seat, when they are installed on a vehicle seat. These differences make it virtually impossible to certify compliance with the requirements for Advanced Airbags with each and every child restraint that has ever been sold in the past or will be sold over the course of the useful life of your vehicle.

For this reason, the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has published a list of specific types, makes and models of child restraints that must be used to certify compliance of the Advanced Airbag System in your vehicle with the suppression requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208. These child restraints are:

A. Car beds, manufactured on or after September 1, 2004:

Valid from September 1, 2009:

• Angel Guard Angel Ride AA2403FOF

B. Rearward-facing child restraint systems, manufactured on or after September 1, 2004

(When the restraint system comes equipped with a removable base, compliance has to be certified with or without the base).

Valid from September 1, 2009:

• Century Smart Fit 4543

• Cosco Arriva 22-013 PAW and base 22-999 WHO

• Evenflo Discovery Adjust Right 212

• Graco Infant 8457

• Graco Snugride

• Peg Perego Primo Viaggio SIP IMUN00US

From September 1, 2010:

• Century Smart Fit 4543

• Cosco Arriva 22-013 PAW and base 22-999 WHO

• Evenflo Discovery Adjust Right 212

• Graco Infant 8457

• Graco Snugride

• Peg Perego Primo Viaggio SIP IMUN00US

C. Forward-facing convertible child restraint systems, manufactured on or after September 1, 2004

Valid from September 1, 2009:

• Britax Roundabout E9L02xx

• Cosco Touriva 02519

• Cosco Summit Deluxe High Back Booster 22-262

• Cosco High Back Booster 22-209

• Evenflo Tribute V 379xxxx

• Evenflo Medallion 254

• Evenflo Generations 352xxxx

• Graco ComfortSport

• Graco Toddler SafeSeat Step 2

• Graco Platinum Cargo

Warning

To reduce the risk of serious injury, always make sure that the PASSENGER AIR BAG light comes on and stays on whenever a child restraint is installed on the front passenger seat and the ignition is switched on.

• Take the child restraint off the front passenger seat and install it properly at one of the rear seat positions if the PASSENGER AIR BAG light does not come on and stay on.

• Have the airbag system inspected immediately by your authorized Volkswagen dealer or authorized Volkswagen Service Facility.