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Q: If I’m a good driver, and I never drive far from
home, why should
I wear safety belts?
A: You may be an excellent driver, but if you’re in an
accident
-- even one that isn’t your fault -- you and
your passengers can be hurt. Being a good driver
doesn’t protect you from things beyond your
control, such as bad drivers.
Most accidents occur within
25 miles (40 km) of
home. And the greatest number
of serious injuries
and deaths occur at speeds
of less than 40 mph
(65 km/h).
Safety belts are for everyone.
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 chddren. And there are different rules for smaller
children and babies.
If a child will be riding in your
vehicle, 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.
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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
To learn how to wear the right front passenger’s safety
belt properly, see “Driver Position” earlier in this section.
The right front passenger’s safety belt works the same
way as the driver’s safety belt
-- except for one thing.
If you ever pull the shoulder portion
of the belt out all
the way, you will engage the child restraint locking
feature. If this happens, just let the belt
go back all the
way and start again.
Air Bag System
This part explains the air bag system.
Your vehicle has “Next Generation” reduced-force
frontal air bags
-- one air bag for the driver and another
air bag for the right front passenger.
Reduced-force frontal air bags are designed to help
reduce the risk of injury from the force of an inflating
air bag. But even these air bags must inflate very
quickly
if they are to do their job and comply with
federal regulations. Here
are the most important things to
know about the air
bag system:
I
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
-- even reduced-force 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. And, for
unrestrained occupants, reduced-force air bags
may provide less protection in frontal crashes
than more forceful air bags have provided in the
past. 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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4. Select only one side of the harness. Pull the lap part
of the harness out, and place the harness over the
child’s shoulder.
If both sides of the harness are pulled out, the lap
parts will lock.
If the lap parts lock, let both sides of
the harness go back all the way so each side will
move freely again. Then repeat this step, pulling
only one side of the harness out.
5. Push the latch plate (F) into the buckle until it clicks.
Be sure the buckle is free of any foreign objects that
may prevent you from securing the latch plates.
If
you can’t secure a latch plate, see your dealer for
service before using the child restraint.
6. In a single motion, pull the other side of the harness
all the way out. Keeping the harness pulled all the
way out, place it over the child’s shoulder.
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If the harness still doesn’t lock, don’t use the child
restraint. See your dealer to have the built-in child
restraint serviced.
9. On both sides of the harness, pull up on the lap part a
little to be sure it’s locked.
If the harness isn’t locked, or if it becomes too tight,
unfasten the harness clip.
Then unlatch the harness
by pushing the button on
the buckle, and let both
sides of the harness go all the way back
so they will
move freely again. Then, repeat Steps
4 through 8.
10. Adjust the position of the harness on the child’s
shoulders by moving the clip
up or down along the
harness. On each side
of the harness, the shoulder
part should be centered on the child’s shoulder. The
harness
should be away from the child’s face and
neck, but not falling off the child’s shoulders.
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2. 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.
If the shoulder belt goes in front of the child’s face or
neck, put it behind the child restraint.
4. Pull the rest of the shoulder belt all the way out of
the retractor to set the lock.
3. 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.
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D
5. Pull the rest of the shoulder belt all the way out of
the retractor to set the lock. 6. To tighten the belt, feed the shoulder belt back into the
retractor while you push down on the child restraint.
You may fmd it helpful to use your knee to push down
on the child restraint as you tighten the belt.
7. Push and pull the child restraint in different
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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Door Locks
Unlocked doors can be dangerous.
Passengers
-- especially children -- can easily
open the doors and fall out. When
a door is
locked, the inside handle won’t open it.
Outsiders can easily enter through an unlocked
door when you slow down
or stop your vehicle.
This may not be
so obvious: You increase the
chance of being thrown out of the vehicle in a
crash if the doors aren’t locked. Wear safety belts
properly, lock your doors, and you will be
far
better off whenever you drive your vehicle.
There are several ways to lock and
unlock your vehicle.
From the outside,
use your door key or remote keyless
entry transmitter. From
the inside,
to lock or unlock the door manually,
push the lever forward
to lock the door. To unlock, push
the lever rearward.
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Rear-Door Child Security Locks Your vehicle is equipped with rear-door child security
locks that help prevent passengers from opening the rear
doors of your vehicle from the inside.
To use one of
these locks:
1. Open one of the rear doors.
2. On the inside of the rear door will be a lock. Insert
your key into this lock and rotate it upward. This will
engage the safety lock.
To disengage the feature,
rotate the lock downward.
3. Close the door.
4. Do the same thing to the other rear door lock.
The rear doors of your vehicle cannot be opened from
the inside when this feature is in
use. If you want to
open the rear door when the security lock is on, unlock
the door from the inside and then open the door from
the outside.
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