1994 PONTIAC BONNEVILLE Owners Manual

Seats & Restraint Systems
How To Wear Safety
Belts
Properly
Adults
This section is only for people of adult
size.
Be aware that there are special things to
know about safety belts and children.
And there are different rules for smaller
children and babies.
If a child will be
riding in your Pontiac, see the section
located later
in this part called “Children.’’
Follow those rules for everyone’s
protection.
First, you’ll want to know which restraint
systems your vehicle has.
We’ll start with the driver position.
Driver Position
This section describes the driver’s
restraint system.
lap-Shoulder Belt
The driver has a lap-shoulder belt. Here’s
low to wear it properly.
I. Close and lock the door.
2. Adjust the seat (to see how, see
“Seats” in the Index)
so you can sit up
straight.
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3: Pick up the latch plate and pull the
belt across you. Don’t let
it get
twisted.
4. Push the latch plate into the buckle
until
it clicks.
Pull up
on the latch plate to make sure
it is secure. If the belt isn’t long
enough, see “Safety Belt Extender” at
the end of this section.
Make sure the release button on the
buckle
is positioned so you would be
able to unbuckle the safety belt
quickly
if you ever had to.
I I
The lap part of the belt should be worn
low and snug on the hips, just touching
the thighs. In a crash, this applies force
to
the strong pelvic bones. And you’d be
less likely
to slide under the lap belt. If
you slid under it, the belt would apply
force at your abdomen. This could cause
serious
or even fatal injuries. The
shoulder belt should go over the shoulder
and across the chest. These parts
of the
body are best able to take belt restraining
forces.
The safety belt locks if there’s
a sudden
stop or crash.
Shoulder Belt Height Adjuster
You can move the shoulder belt adjuster
to the height that is right for you.
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l7.< .
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Seats & Restraint Systems
I Lap-Shoulder Belt (CONK)
To move it up or down, squeeze the
release handle. When you release the
handle, try to move
it down a little to
make sure it has locked into position.
You can move the adjuster up from a
lower position by pushing the bottom of
the release handle. Adjust the
height
so that the shoulder
portion of the belt is properly positioned
on your shoulder, away from your face
and neck.
To help you find a height that is right for
you, follow these guidelines:
For a tall person: Use the upper or
upper-middle position.
For a person
of averaEe heipht: Use a
position somewhere in the middle.
For a short person: Use the lower or
lower-middle position.
IIIIIIIIIIII
Q: What’s wrong with this?
A: The shoulder belt is too loose. It
won’t give nearly as much protection
this way.
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Q: What’s wrong with this?
A: The belt is buckled in the wrong
place.
Q: What’s wrong with this?
A: The shoulder belt is worn under the
arm, It should be
worn over the
shoulder at
all times.
Q: What’s wrong with this?
A: The belt is twisted across the body.
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Seats & Restraint Systems
t
Lap-Shoulder Belt (CONT.)
To unlatch the belt, just push the button
on the buckle. The belt should go back
out of the way.
Before you close the door, be sure the belt
is out of
the way. If you slam the door on
it,
you can damage both the belt and your
vehicle.
Supplemental
Inflatable Restraint
System (Air Bags)
This section explains the Supplemental
Inflatable Restraint (SIR), or “air bag,”
system. Your
Pontiac has an
air bag for both the
driver and the right-front passenger.
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Here are the most important things to
know:
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Seats & Restraint Systems
INFLATABLE
RESTRAINT
9ir Bag Readiness Light
’here is an air bag readiness light on the
xtrument panel, which shows
INFLATABLE RESTRAINT”. The
ystem checks for electrical malfunctions,
nd the light tells you
if there is a problem.
’ou will see this light flash for a few
xonds when
you turn your ignition to,
Run” or “Start”. Then the light should gc
ut, which means the system is ready.
.emember, if the air bag readiness light
oesn’t come on when you start your
ehicle, or stays on, or comes
on when
ou are driving, your air bag system may
ot work properly. Have your vehicle xviced right away.
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HOW The Air Bag System When is an air bag expected to inflate?
moderate to severe frontal or near-frontal
Works The air bag is designed to inflate in
Where is the air bag? crashes. The air bag will only inflate if the
The driver’s air bag is
in the middle of the
steering wheel. The right-front
passenger’s air bag is located
in the
instrument panel
on the passenger’s side. velocity
of the impact is above the
designed threshold level. When impacting straight into a wall that does not move or
deform, the threshold level for most GM
vehicles is between 9 and 15 mph
(14 and 23 km/h). However, this velocity
threshold depends on the vehicle design
and may be several miles-per-hour faster or slower. In addition, this threshold
velocity will be considerably higher
if the
vehicle strikes an object such as a parked
car which will move and deform on impact. The air bag is also not designed to
inflate
in rollovers, side impacts, or rear
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impacts where the inflation would provide
no occupant protection benefit.
It is possible that
in a crash, only one of
the two air bags in your Bonneville will
deploy. This is rare, but can happen
in a
crash just severe enough to make an air
bag inflate.
In any particular crash, the determination
of whether the air bag should have
inflated cannot be based solely on the
level
of damage on the vehicle(s).
Inflation is determined by the angle of the
impact and the vehicle’s deceleration, of
which vehicle damage is only one
indication. Repair cost is not a good
indicator of whether an air bag should
have deployed.
What makes an air bag inflate?
In a frontal or near-frontal impact of
sufficient severity, the air bag sensing
system detects that the vehicle
is suddenly
stopping as a result of a crash. The
sensing system triggers a chemical
reaction of the sodium azide sealed in the
inflator. The reaction produces nitrogen
gas, which inflates a cloth bag. The
inflator, cloth bag, and related hardware
are all part of the air bag inflator modules packed
inside the steering wheel and
in
the instrument panel in front of the
passenger.
How does an air bag restrain?
In moderate to severe frontal or
near-frontal collisions, even belted
occupants can contact the steering wheel or the instrument panel. The air bag
supplements the protection provided by
safety belts. Air bags distribute the force
of the impact more evenly over the
occupant’s upper body, stopping the
occupant more gradually. But air bags
would not provide protection in many
types of collisions, including rollovers
and rear and side impacts, primarily
because an occupant’s motion is not
toward the air bag. Air bags should never
be regarded as anything more than a
supplement to safety belt protection
in
moderate to severe frontal and
near-frontal collisions.
What will you see after an air bag
inflation?
After the air bag has inflated, it will then
quickly deflate. This occurs
so quickly
that some people may not even realize
that the air bag inflated. Some components of the
air bag module in the
steering wheel hub for the driver’s air bag
or the instrument panel for the
passenger’s bag may be hot for a short
time, but the portion of the bag that comes
into contact with you will not be hot to
the touch. There will be small amounts of
smoke and dust coming from vents in the
deflated air bags. The air bag will
not
impede the driver’s vision or ability to
steer the vehicle, nor will it hinder the
occupants from exiting the vehicle.
In many crashes severe enough to inflate
an air bag, windshields are broken by
vehicle deformation. Additional
windshield breakage may occur in
vehicles with passenger air bags because
the windshield acts as a reac’lion surface
for the inflating air bag.
The air bags are designed to inflate
only once. After they inflate, you’ll
need some new parts for your air bag
system. If you don’t get them, the air
bag system won’t be there to help
protect you in anpther crash.
A new
system will include air bag modules
and possibly other parts. The service
manual has information about the
need to replace other parts.
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