1997 PONTIAC FIREBIRD Owners Manual

@ What’s wrong with this?
A: The shoulder belt is worn under the arm. It should
be worn over the shoulder at all times.
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.
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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 dealer to
fix it.
A: The belt is twisted across the body.
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I
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.
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.
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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 Pontiac 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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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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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 before and during a
crash. Always wear your safety belt,
even with air
bags. 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.
L
AIR
BAG
J
There is an air bag readiness
light
on the instrument
panel, which shows
AIR BAG.
The system checks the air bag 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 Air Bag System Works
Where are the air bags?
The driver's air bag is in the middle of the steering wheel.
I"
The right front passenger's air bag is in the instrument
panel on the passenger's
side.
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Don’t attach anything to, or put anything
between, an occupant and an air bag.
If
something is between an occupant and an air bag,
the
bag might not inflate properly or it might
force the object into
you and cause injury. The
path
of an inflating air bag must be kept clear, so
don’t attach or put anything on the steering
wheel hub or on or near any 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 15 mph (14 to 24 krn/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.
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.
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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 anythmg 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 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 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 sa
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.
In many crashes severe enough to inflate an air bag,
windshields are broken by vehicle deformation.
Additional windshield breakage may
also occur from the
right front passenger air bag.
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.
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