1996 CADILLAC DEVILLE belt

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine c Here are the most important things to know about the air
bag system:
A CAUTION:
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. Air bags
inflate with great force, faster than the
blink of an eye.
If you’re too close to an inflating
air bag, it couid 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.
I A CAUTION:
~~ ~
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.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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.
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 help you in many types of collisions,
including rollovers, rear impacts 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 belts, and then only
in
moderate to severe frontal or near-frontal collisions.
-.
--
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What will you see after an air bag inflates?
After the air bag inflates, it quickly deflates. This occurs
so quickly that some people may not even realize 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 right front passenger’s bag, will
be hot for a short time. The part
of the bag that comes
into contact with you may be warm, but it
will never be
too hot to touch. There will be some smoke and dust
coming from vents in the deflated air bags. Air bag
inflation will not prevent the driver from seeing or from
being able to steer the vehicle, nor will it stop people
from leaving the vehicle.
A CAUTION: I
When an air bag inflates, there is dust in the air.
This dust could cause breathing problems for
people with a history of asthma or other
breathing trouble.
To avoid this, everyone in the
vehicle should get out as soon as it
is safe to do so.
If you have breathing problems but can’t get out
of the vehicle after an air bag inflates, then get
fresh air by opening a window or door.
Your vehicle has a feature that will automatically unlock
the doors and
tum the interior lamps on when the air bag
inflates
(if battery power is available). But if you want to,
you can lock the doors again and
turn the interior lamps
off by using the door lock and interior lamp controls.
m many crashes severe enough to inflate
an air bag,
windshields are broken by vehicle defomation.
Additional windshield breakage may
also occur from the
right front passenger air bag.
0 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 another crash.
A new system will include air bag modules and
possibly other parts. The service manual for your
vehicle covers the need to replace other
parts.
0 Your vehicle is equipped with a crash sensing and
diagnostic module, which records information about the
air bag system. The module records information
about the readiness
of the system, when the sensors are
activated and driver’s safety belt usage at deployment.
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Safety Belt Use During Pregnancy
Safety belts work for everyone, including pregnant
women.
Like all occupants, they are more likely to be
seriously injured if they don’t wear safety belts.
A pregnant woman should wear a lap-shoulder belt, and
the lap portion should be worn as low as possible, below
the rounding, throughout the pregnancy.
The best way to protect the fetus is to protect the
mother. When a safety belt is
worn properly, it’s more
likely that the fetus won’t be hurt
in a crash. For
pregnant women, as for anyone, the key to making
safety belts effective
is wearing them properly.
Right Front Passenger Position
The right front passenger’s safety belt works the same
way as the driver’s safety belt. See “Driver Position,”
earlier in this section.
When the lap portion of the belt is pulled out all
the
way, it will lock. If it does, let it go back all the way and
start again.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Center Passenger Position
U
Lap Belt
If your vehicle has a front split seat and a rear bench
seat, someone can sit in
the center positions.
When
you sit in a center seating positisn, you have a lap
safety belt, which has no retractor. To make the belt
longer,
tilt the latch plate and pull it along the belt.
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To make the belt shorter, pull its free end as shown until
the belt is snug.
Buckle, position and release it the
same way as the lap
part
of a lap-shoulder belt. 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.
Rear Seat Passengers
It’s very important for rear seat passengers to buckle up!
Accident statistics show that unbelted people in the rear
seat are hurt more often in crashes than those who are
wearing safety belts.
Rear passengers who aren’t safety belted can be thrown out of the vehicle in a crash. And they
can strike others
in the vehicle who are wearing safety belts.
Rear Seat Outside Passenger
Lap-Shoulder Belt
Positions
The positions next to the windows have lap-shoulder belts. Here’s how to wear one properly.
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1. Pick up the latch plate and pull the belt across you.
Don't let it get twisted.
The shoulder belt may lock
if you pull the belt across
you very quickly. If this happens, let the belt go back
slightly to unlock it. Then pull the belt across
you
more slowly.
2. Push the latch plate into the buckle until it clicks. If
the belt stops before
it reaches the buckle, tilt the
latch plate and keep pulling until you
can buckle it.
F'ull up on the latch plate to make sure it is secure.
If the belt
is not 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.
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3. To make the lap part tight, pull down on the buckle
end
of the belt as you pull up on the shoulder part. 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.
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