Volkswagen Tiguan Owners Manual: The dangers of using child restraints on the front seat.

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

The airbag on the front passenger side makes the front seat a potentially dangerous place for a child to ride, even if the vehicle is equipped with an Advanced Airbag System. The front seat is a very dangerous place for an infant or small child in a rearward facing child restraint. The front seat is also not the safest place for a child in a forward-facing child restraint. All children, especially 12 years and younger, must always ride on the back seat and be properly restrained for their age and size.

During a frontal collision, a child seat or infant carrier on the front seat could be hit and knocked out of position by the inflating front passenger airbag. The airbag could significantly reduce the effectiveness of the child restraint and even seriously injure a child while deploying.

Because of this danger, and because children are generally better protected on the rear seat when properly restrained for their age and size, we strongly urge you to always make sure that children ride on the rear seat ⇒ Advanced Airbag System, infants, child restraints and children on the front seat .

Danger!

A front seat passenger, especially an infant or small child, will be seriously injured and can even be killed if too close to the airbag when it deploys – even an Advanced Airbag.

• All vehicle occupants and especially children must be restrained properly whenever riding in a vehicle. An unrestrained or improperly restrained child could be injured by striking the interior or by being ejected from the vehicle during a sudden maneuver or impact. An unrestrained or improperly restrained child is also at greater risk of injury or death through contact with an inflating airbag.

• Accident statistics show that children are safer on the rear seat than on the front seat.

• A suitable child restraint properly installed and used at one of the rear seating positions provides the highest degree of protection for infants and small children in most accident situations.

• Although the Advanced Airbag System has been designed to switch off when an infant or small child is on the front passenger seat in a child seat that was used during the certification process for the Advanced Airbag System, no one can guarantee with absolute certainty that the airbag will never deploy under these particular conditions in all conceivable situations for the duration of your vehicle's use.

• The Advanced Airbag System can deploy in accordance with the low risk option for 3- and 6-year-old children under the U.S. Federal Standard if a child who is heavier than the combined weight of a typical 1-year-old infant restrained in one of the forward facing or rearward-facing child seats with which your vehicle was certified is on the front passenger seat and the other conditions for airbag deployment are met.

• For their own safety, all children, especially 12 years and younger, must always ride on the back seat properly restrained for their age and size.

• When installing a child restraint, always carefully follow the manufacturer's instructions.

Danger!

Children on the front seat of any vehicle, even one with Advanced Airbags, can be seriously injured or even killed when an airbag inflates.

• A child in a rearward-facing child seat installed on the front passenger seat will be seriously injured and can be killed if the front airbag inflates.

• The inflating airbag will hit the child seat or infant carrier with great force and will smash the child seat and the child against the seat backrest, center armrest, door, or roof.

• Always install rearward-facing child seats on the rear seat.

• Although the Advanced Airbag System in your vehicle is designed to turn off the front airbag when a rearward-facing child restraint has been installed on the front passenger seat, nobody can absolutely guarantee that deployment is impossible in all conceivable situations that may happen during the useful life of your vehicle.

• If you have, in exceptional circumstances, nevertheless decided to install a rearward-facing child seat on the front passenger seat and the PASSENGER AIR BAG light does not come on and stay on whenever the ignition is on, immediately install the rearward-facing seat in a rear seating position and have the airbag system inspected immediately by an authorized Volkswagen dealer or an authorized Volkswagen Service Facility.

Warning

Forward-facing child restraints installed on the front passenger seat may interfere with the deployment of the airbag and cause serious personal injury to the child.

• If exceptional circumstances require the use of a forward-facing child restraint on the front passenger seat, the following special precautions must be taken for the safety and well-being of the child:
  • Always make sure that the forward-facing child restraint has been designed and certified for use on a front passenger seat with a front airbag and a side airbag.
  • Always carefully follow the manufacturer's instructions provided for the child seat or infant carrier.
  • Never install a child safety seat without a properly attached top tether strap if the child restraint manufacturer's instructions require the top tether strap to be used.
  • Never put the forward-facing child restraint up against or very near the instrument panel.
  • Always set the safety belt upper anchorage to the adjustment position that permits proper installation in accordance with the child restraint manufacturer's instructions.
  • Always move the passenger seat to the highest position in the up and down adjustment range and move it back to the rearmost position in the seat's fore and aft adjustment range, as far away from the airbag as possible, before installing the forward-facing child restraint.
  • Always make sure that nothing is in the way that prevents the front passenger seat from being moved all the way back to the rearmost position in its fore and aft adjustment range.
  • Always make sure that the backrest is in the upright position.
  • Never place additional items on the seat that can increase the total weight registered by the weight-sensing mat and cause injury in a crash.
  • Always make sure that the PASSENGER AIR BAG light comes on and stays on all the time whenever the ignition is switched on.
  • If the PASSENGER AIR BAG light does not come on and stay on, immediately install the forward-facing child seat in a seating position on the rear seat and have the airbag system inspected by an authorized Volkswagen dealer or an authorized Volkswagen Service Facility.

• Always buckle the child seat firmly in place even when no child is sitting in it. A loose child seat can fly around the vehicle during a sudden stop or in a collision.

• Always read and heed all WARNINGS whenever using a child restraint in the vehicle: ⇒ Safety belts , ⇒ Airbag system , ⇒ Child safety and child restraints .