1997 OLDSMOBILE CUTLASS Owners Manual

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Q: What’s wrong with this?
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 retailer to fix it.
A: The belt is twisted across the body.
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Safety Belt Use During Pregnancy
Safety belts work for everyone, inclwling pregnant
women.
w 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, ad
the lap portion should be worn as low as possible, below
the rounding, throughout the pregnancy.
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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.
Supplemental Restraint System (SRS)
This part explains the Supplemental Restraint System
(SRS) or
air bag system.
Your Oldsmobile 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:
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CAmONi
You can be severely injured or killed in a crash if‘
you aren’t wearing your safety belt -- even if you
have air bags. Wearing your safety belt during
a
crash helps reduce your chance of hitting things
inside the vehicle or being ejected from
it. Air
bags are “supplemental restraints” to the safety
belts. All air bags
are designed to work with
safety belts, but don’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 should wear
a
safety belt properly -- whether or not there’s an
air bag for that person.
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There.is ;an air bag readiness
light
011 the instrument
panel,
which shows the air
bag symbol.
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How the Air Bag System Works
Where are the air bags?
The driver’s air bag is in the middle of the
steering wheel.
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A
If something is between an occupant and an air
bag, the bag might not inflate properly or it
might force the object into that person. The path
of an inflating air bag must be kept clear. Don’t
put anything between an occupant and an air
bag, and don’t attach or put anything on the
steering wheel hub or on or near any other
air
bag covering. When should
an
air bag inflate?
An air bag is designed to inflate in a moderate to severe
frontal or near-frontal crash. 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 16 mph (14 to 26 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
how quickly the vehicle slows down in frontal or
near-frontal impacts.
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What makes an air bag inflate?
In an impact of sufficient severity, the air bag sensing
system detects that the vehicle is in a crash. The sensing
system triggers a release of gas from the inflator, which
inflates the air bag. The inflator,
air bag and related
hardware are all part of the air bag modules 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.
Air bags supplement 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
those air bags.
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.
What will you see after an air bag inflates?
After an air bag inflates, it quickly deflates, so quickly
that some people may not even realize the air bag
inflated. Some components of the air bag module
-- 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 parts of the bag that
come into contact with you may be warm, but not too
hot to touch. There will be some smoke and dust coming
from vents in the deflated air bags. Air bag inflation
doesn’t prevent the driver from seeing or from being
able to steer the vehicle, nor does it stop people from
leaving the vehicle.
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.
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