1996 BUICK PARK AVENUE Owners Manual

Adjust the height so that the shoulder portion of the belt is
centered on your shoulder. The belt should be away from
your face and neck, but not falling off your shoulder.
@’ What’s wrong with this?
A: The shoulder belt is too loose. It won’t give nearly
as much protection
this way.
I
You can be seriously hurt if your shoulder belt is
too.loose.
In a crash, you would move forward
too much, which could increase injury. The
shoulder belt should fit against your body.
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Q: What’s wrong with this?
You can be seriously injured if your belt is
buckled in the wrong place like this. In a crash,
the belt would go up over your abdomen. The belt
forces would be there, not at the pelvic bones. This
could cause serious internal injuries. Always
buckle your belt into the buckle nearest you.
A: The belt is buckled in the wrong place.
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@ What’s wrong with this?
You can be seriously injured if you wear the
shoulder belt under your arm. In a crash, your
body would move
too far forward, which would
increase the chance
of head and neck injury.
Also, the belt would apply too much force to the
ribs, which aren’t as strong
as shoulder bones.
You could also severely injure internal organs
like your liver or spleen.
A: The shoulder belt is worn under the arm. It should
be worn over the shoulder at all times.
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&.’ What’s wrong with this?
L
You can be seriously injured by a twisted belt. In
a crash, you wouldn’t have the full width of the
belt to spread impact forces.
If a belt is twisted,
make it straight
so it can work properly, or ask
your dealer to
fix it.
A: The belt is twisted across the body.
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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 Restraint System (SRS)
This part explains the Supplemental Restraint System
(SRS)
or air bag system. Your
Buick has two air bags
-- one air bag for the driver
and another air bag for the right front passenger.
Here are the most important things to know about the air
bag system:
You can be severely injured or killed in a crash if
you aren’t wearing your safety belt
-- even if you
have an air bag. Wearing your safety belt during
a
crash helps reduce your chance of hitting things
inside the vehicle
or being ejected from it. The air
bag is only
a “supplemental restraint.” That is, it
works with safety belts but doesn’t replace them.
Air bags are designed to work only in moderate to
severe crashes where the front of your vehicle hits
something. They aren’t designed
to inflate at all in
rollover, rear, side or low-speed frontal crashes.
Everyone in your vehicle, including the driver,
should wear
a safety belt properly -- whether or
not there’s an
air bag for that person.
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‘! CAUTION:
‘Air bags inflate with great force, faster than the
blink of an eye.
If you’re too close to an inflating
air bag, it could seriously. injure you. Safety belts
help keep you in position for an air bag inflation
in
a crash. Always wear your safety belt, even -
with an air bag. The driver should sit as far back
as possible while still maintaining control of
the vehicle.
An inflating air bag can seriously injure small
children. Always secure children properly in your
vehicle.
To read how, see, the part of this manual
called “Children” and the caution label on the
right front passenger’s safety belt.
/I LAUTION: ‘I
AIR BAG
AIR
BAG
There is an air bag readiness light on the instrument
panel, which shows
AIR BAG.
The system checks the air bag’s electrical system for
malfunctions. The light tells you if there is an electrical
problem. See
“Air Bag Readiness Light” in the Index
for more information.
-
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How the __ Bag System Works
Where is the air bag?
The driver's air bag is in the middle of the steering wheel. The
right front passenger's air bag
is in the instrument
panel on the passenger's side.
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Don’t put anything on, or attach anything to, the
steering wheel or instrument panel. Also, don’t put anything (such
as pets or objects) between
any occupant and the steering wheel or
instrument panel. If something is between an
occupant and an air bag,
it could affect the
performance
of the air bag -- or worse, it could
cause injury.
When should an
air bag inflate?
The air bag is designed to inflate in moderate to severe
frontal or near-frontal crashes. The air bag will inflate
only if the impact speed
is above the system’s designed
“threshold level.” If your vehicle goes straight into a
wall that doesn’t move or deform, the threshold level is
about
9 to 15 mph (14 to 24 km/h). The threshold level
can vary, however, with specific vehicle design,
so that
it can be somewhat above or below this range. If your vehicle strikes something that will move
or deform, such
as a parked car, the threshold level will be higher. The
air bag is not designed to inflate
in rollovers, side
impacts or rear impacts, because inflation would not
help the occupant.
In any particular crash, no one can say whether an air
bag should have inflated simply because
of the damage
to a vehicle or because of what the repair costs were.
Inflation is determined
by the angle of the impact and
the vehicle’s deceleration. Vehicle damage is only one
indication of this.
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 the air bag, The inflator, air bag
and
related hardware are all part of the air bag modules
packed inside the steering wheel and in the instrument
panel
in front of the right front passenger.
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