Seats & Restraint Systems
Larger Children (CONT.)
Wherever the child sits, the lap portion of
the belt should be worn low and snug on
the hips, just touching the child’s thighs.
This applies belt force to the child’s
pelvic bones
in a crash.
Safety Belt Extender
If the vehicle’s safety belt will fasten
around you, you should use
it. The
automatic lap-shoulder belt has plenty of
extra length built in,
so it will fasten
around almost all people.
But if a safetybelt isn’t long enough to
fasten, your dealer will order you an
extender. It’s free. When you go
in to
order
it, take the heaviest coat’you will
wear, so the extender will be long enough
for you. The extender
will be just for you,
and just for the seat
in your vehicle that
you choos’e. Don’t let someone else use it,
and use
it only for the .seat it is made to
fit. To wear it, just attach it to the regular
safety belt.
Checking Your
Restraint Systems
Now and then, make sure all your belts,
buckles, latch plates, retractors,
anchorages and reminder systems are
working properly. Look for any loose
parts or damage.
If you see anything that
might keep a restraint system from doing
its job, have
it repaired.
Replacing Safety Belts
After
a .. Crash
[f you’ve had a crash, do you need new
belts?
After a very minor collision, nothing may
be necessary.
But if the belts were
stretched, as they would be
if worn during
a more severe crash, then you need new
belts
.
For passenger sedans, if you ever see a
label on a right front safety belt that says
to replace the belt, be sure
to do so. Then
the new belt
will be there to help protect
you in an accident. You would see this
label on the belt near the’latch plate.
If belts are cut or damaged, replace them.
Collision damage also may mean you
will
need to have safety belt or seat parts
repaired or replaced. New parts and
repairs may be necessary even
if the belt
wasn’t being used at the time of the
collision.
If your seat adjuster won’t work after a
crash, the special part of the safety belt
that goes through the seat’to the adjuster
may need to be- replaced.
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ProCarManuals.com
Your Driving and the Road
Defensive Driving
The best advice anyone can give about
driving is: Drive defensively.
Please start with a very important safety
device
in your Pontiac: Buckle up. (See
“Safety Belts”
in the Index.)
Defensive driving really means “be ready
for anything.” On city streets, rural roads,
or freeways,
it means “always expect the
unexpected.”
Assume that pedestrians or other drivers
are going to be careless and make
mistakes. Anticipate what they might do.
Be ready for their mistakes.
Rear-end collisions are about the most
preventable of accidents. Yet they are
common. Allow enough following
distance. It’s the best defensive driving
maneuver,
in both city and rural driving.
You never know when the vehicle in front
of you is going to brake or
turn suddenly.
Drunken Driving
Death and injury associated with drinking
and driving is a national tragedy. It’s the
number one contributor to the highway
death toll, claiming thousands of victims
every year. Alcohol takes away three
things that anyone needs to drive a
vehicle:
Judgment
0 Muscular Coordination
0 Vision
Police records show that almost half of all
motor vehicle-related deaths involve
alcohol
- a driver, a passenger or
someone else, such as a pedestrian, had
been drinking. In’most cases, these deaths
are the result
of someone who was
drinking and driving. About
20,000 motor
vehicle-related deaths occur each year
because of alcohol, and thousands of
people are injured.
Just how much alcohol is too much if a
person plans to drive? Ideally, no one
should drink alcohol and then drive. But
if one does, then what’s “too much”? It
;an be a lot less than many
might think.
Although it depends on each person and
situation, here is some general
information on the problem.
The Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of
someone who is drinking depends upon
four things:
0 How much alcohol is in the drink.
0 The drinker’s body weight.
The amount of food that is consumed
before and during drinking.
The length of time it has taken the
drinker to consume the alcohol.
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