2003 Pontiac Vibe Safety

PONTIAC VIBE FEATURES COMPREHENSIVE PACKAGE OF SAFETY FEATURES, CRASH AVOIDANCE, CRASH PROTECTION AND PERSONAL SECURITY

DETROIT – The Pontiac Vibe builds on GM’s reputation for safety and security with its world-class structural design and other notable safety achievements.

Vibe provides a full array of crash avoidance and crash protection benefits normally associated with larger, higher-priced vehicles. It offers dual front air bags of a two-stage design, and optional seat-mounted side air bags. All-wheel drive is available, and an antilock brake system (ABS) is standard on AWD and GT models.

“Vibe is built upon a highly efficient body architecture, which not only offers cavernous interior and cargo space comparable to small SUVs,” said Vehicle Line Executive Jerry Gillespie, “but also has a large safety cage and crumple zones, with steel frame and body panels designed to absorb energy in a crash and resist passenger-compartment intrusion.”

Solid Construction

The Vibe program had lofty construction goals and met them with precision. The goal was to achieve a stiff overall structure with a large cabin, upright rails, minimized squeaks and rattles, and a minimized pillar size for good visibility.

The vehicle is a unibody construction with a large safety cage and frame and body panels constructed of steel.

Active and Passive Safety Features

Comfortable lap and shoulder belts with pretensioners and force limiters are provided for the front seats, along with warning lamps that illuminate when those seatbelts are not properly fastened.

Front seat positions also have adjustable upper anchors to permit routing the shoulder belt to suit a wide range of physiques and inboard-belt-to-seat attachments so that the anchor point moves fore-and-aft in synch with seat-position adjustments, for outstanding versatility in positioning the belt to suit. Uniform child restraint anchors are provided in the rear seat.

In addition, Vibe offers dual front air bags of a two-stage design, and optional seat-mounted side air bags. The purpose of the side air bag is to increase the available energy absorption between an impacting object and a front seat occupant.

Vibe also features an available theft deterrent system designed to sound an alarm if any of the side doors or rear hatch is forcibly unlocked or if the battery terminal is disconnected and then reconnected again. The alarm blows the horn intermittently and flashes the headlights, turn signals and interior lights. If any door is forcibly unlocked, all other doors will lock automatically.

The system will be automatically set 30 seconds after all passengers have exited and the door has been locked. When the system is set the security system indicator lamp will flash.

Other safety and security features include: the aforementioned ABS and AWD systems, GPS Navigation, remote keyless entry, child safety door locks, power window lockout switch, daytime running lights with auto-on and delay-entry lighting.

“Comprehensive safety features are increasingly important to younger buyers, particularly to women,” said Craig Bierley, Vibe brand manager. “Vibe’s full array of both active and passive safety features, especially the security of all-wheel drive, will certainly appeal to these buyers.”

# # #