Seats and Restraints

Safety Belt Pretensioners

~1min read

This vehicle has safety belt pretensioners for front outboard occupants. Although the safety belt pretensioners cannot be seen, they are part of the safety belt assembly.

They can help tighten the safety belts during the early stages of a moderate to severe frontal or near frontal crash if the threshold conditions for pretensioner activation are met. And, if the vehicle has side impact airbags, safety belt pretensioners can help tighten the safety belts in a side or rear crash.

Pretensioners work only once. If the pretensioners activate in a crash, the pretensioners and possibly other parts of the safety belt system will need to be replaced. See Replacing Safety Belt System Parts after a Crash.

Test yourself

A quick Cadillac CTS quiz: every answer comes with an explanation and a link to the manual page.