1997 PONTIAC FIREBIRD child restraint

v Section 1 Seats and Restraint Systems
Here you’ll find information about the seats in your Pontiac and how to use your safety belts properly. You can also
learn about some things you should not do with air bags and safety belts.
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Seats and Seat Controls
Safety Belts: They’re for Everyone
Here Are Questions Many People
Ask
About Safety Belts -- and the Answers
How to Wear Safety Belts Properly
Driver Position
Safety Belt Use During Pregnancy
Right Front Passenger Position
Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) 1-27 Rear Seat Passengers
1-30 Children
1-32 Child Restraints 1-38 Larger Children
1-41 Safety Belt Extender
1-41 Checking Your Restraint Systems
1-41 Replacing Restraint System Parts After a
Crash

How to Wear Safety Belts Properly
Adults
This part is only for people of adult size.
Be aware that there are special things to know about safety
belts and children. And there are different rules for smaller
children and babies.
If a child will be riding in your
Pontiac, see
the part of this manual called “Children.”
Follow
those rules for everyone’s protection.
First, you’ll want to know which restraint systems your
vehicle has.
We’ll start with the driver position.
Driver Position
This part describes the driver’s restraint system.
Lap-Shoulder Belt
The driver has a lap-shoulder belt. Here’s how to wear
it properly.
1. Close and lock the door.
2. Adjust the seat (to see how, see “Seats” in the Index)
so you can sit up straight.
3.
4.
Pick up the latch plate and pull the belt across you.
Don’t let it get twisted.
On convertible models, 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.
Push
the latch plate into the buckle until it clicks.
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Children
To unlatch the belt, just push the button on the buckle.
Everyone in a vehicle needs protection! That includes
infants and all children smaller than adult size. In fact,
the law in every state in the United States and in every
Canadian province says children up
to some age must be
restrained while in a vehicle.
Smaller Children and Babies
Smaller children and babies should always be
restrained in a child or infant restraint. The
instructions for the restraint will say whether
it is the right type and size for your child. A
very young child’s hip bones are so small that a
regular belt might not stay low on the hips, as it
should. Instead, the belt will likely be
over the
child’s abdomen. In
a crash, the belt would apply
force right
on the child’s abdomen, which could
cause serious or fatal injuries.
So, be sure that
any child small enough
€or one is always properly
restrained in a child
or infant restraint.
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Child Restraints
Be sure the child restraint is designed to be used in a
vehicle. If it is, it will have a label saying that it meets
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
Then follow the instructions for the restraint.
You may
find these instructions
on the restraint itself or in a
booklet, or both. These restraints use
the belt system in
your vehicle, but the child also has
to be secured within
the restraint to kelp reduce the chancle
of personal injury.
The instructions that come with the infant or child
restraint will show
you how to do that.
Where to Put the Restraint
Accident statistics show that children are safer if they
are restrained
in the rear rather than the front seat, We at
General Motors therefore recommend that you put your
child restraint
in the rear seat. Never put a rear-facing
child restraint in the front passenger seat. Here’s why:
A child in a rear-facing child restraint can be
seriously injured if the right front passenger’s
air bag inflates. This
is because the back of a
rearfacing child restraint would be very close to
the inflating air bag. Always secure a rear-facing
child restraint in the rear seat.
You may, however, secure a forward-facing child
restraint in the right front seat. Before you secure
a forward-facing child restraint, always move the
front passenger seat as far back
as it will go, Or,
secure the child restraint in the rear seat.
Wherever you install it, be sure to secure the child
restraint properly.
Keep
in mind that an unsecured child restraint can move
around in a collision or sudden stop and injure
people
in the vehicl’e. Be sure to properly secure any child
restraint in your vehicle
-- even when no child is in it.
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Top Strap
If your child restraint has a top strap, it should be
anchored. If you need
to have an anchor installed, you
can ask your Pontiac dealer to put it in for you.
If you
want to install an anchor yourself, your dealer can tell
you how to do it.
If you have a convertible, don’t use a restraint that has a
top strap
in your vehicle because the top strap anchor
cannot be installed properly.
--
The place where the anchor has to go is quite
close to your fuel tank.
If the anchor isn’t
installed correctly, it can make a hole in the
fuel tank
-- either then, or in a later collision.
Gasoline could leak
out and be ignited, and
people in the vehicle
or outside it could be badly
burned. Don’t install the anchor yourself unless
you know you can do it correctly.
Far cars first sold in Canada, child restraints with a top
strap must be anchored according to Canadian law.
Your dealer can obtain the hardware kit and install it for
you, or you may install it yourself using the instructions
provided in the kit.
Use the tether hardware kit available from the dealer.
The hardware and installation instructions were
specifically designed for this vehicle.
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Securing a Child Restraint in a
Rear Seat Position
You’ll be using the lap-shoulder belt. See the earlier part
about the top strap if the child restraint has one.
1. Put the restraint on the seat. Follow the instructions
for the child restraint.
2. Secure the child in the child restraint as the
instructions say.
3. Pick up the latch plate, and run the lap and shoulder
portions
of the vehicle’s safety belt through or
around
the restraint. The child restraint instructions
will show
you how.
4. Tilt the latch plate to adjust the belt if needed.
If the shoulder belt goes in front of the child’s face or
neck, put it behind the child restraint.
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5. Buckle the belt. Make sure the release button is
positioned
so you would be able to unbuckle the
safety belt quickly if you ever had to.
6. To tighten the belt, pull up on the shoulder belt while
7. Push and pull the child restraint in different
you
push down on the child restraint.
directions
to be sure it is secure.
To remove the child restraint, just unbuckle the vehicle's
safety belt and let it
go back all the way. The safety belt
will move freely again and
be ready to work for an adult
or larger child passenger.
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Securing a Child Restraint in the Right
Front Seat Position , .
U
Your vehicle has a right front passenger air bag. Never
put a rear-facing child restraint in this seat. Here’s why:
A child in a rearfacing child restraint can be
seriously injured if the right front pass’enger’s
air bag inflates. This is because the back of a
rearfacing child restraint would be very close to
the inflating #air bag. Always secure a rear-facing
child restraint in the rear seat.
You’ll be using the lap-shoulder belt. See the earlier part
about the top strap if the child restraint has one.
1. Because your vehicle has a right front passenger air
bag, always
move the seat as far back as it will go
before securing a forward-facing child restraint.
(See “Se,ats”
in the Index.)
2. Put the restraint on the seat, Follow the instructions
for the child restraint.
3. Secure the child in the child restraint as the
instructions
say.
4. Pick up the latch plate, and run the lap and shoulder
portions of the vehicle’s safety belt through or
around
the restraint. The child restraint instructions
will show you how.
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