1998 BUICK REGAL child restraint

@ Section 1 Seats and Restraint Systems
Here you’ll find information about the seats in your Buick 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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1-26 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 Air Bag System
Rear Seat Passengers 1-29
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1-66 Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides
for Children
and Small Adults
Center Passenger Position
Children
Built-in Child Restraint (Option)
Child Restraints
Larger Children
Safety Belt Extender
Checking Your Restraint Systems
Replacing Restraint System Parts After a Crash
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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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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. This is true
even with reduced-force frontal air bags. Safety
belts help keep you in position before and during
a crash.
Always wear your safety belt, even with
reduced-force air bags. The driver should sit as
far back as possible while still maintaining
control
of the vehicle, Children who
are up against, or very close to, an
air bag when it inflates can be seriously injured
or killed. This is true even though your vehicle
has reduced-force frontal air bags. Air bags plus
lap-shoulder belts offer the best protection for
adults, but not
for young children and infants,
Neither the vehicle’s safety belt system nor its
air bag system is designed for them. Young
children and infants need the protection that a
child restraint system can provide. Always secure
children properly in your vehicle.
To read how,
see the part of this manual called “Children” and
see the caution labels on the sunvisors and the
right front passenger’s safety belt.
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Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for
Children and Small Adults
Rear shoulder belt comfort guides will provide added
safety belt comfort for children who have outgrown
child restraints and for small adults. When installed
on a
shoulder belt, the comfort guide pulls the belt away
from the neck and head.
There is one guide for each outside passenger position in
the rear seat.
To provide added safety belt comfort for
children who have outgrown child restraints and for
smaller adults, the comfort guides may be installed on
the shoulder belts. Here’s how to install a comfort guide
and
use the safety belt:
1. Pull the elastic cord out from between the edge of
the seatback and the interior body to remove the
guide from its storage clip.
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Children
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.
Everyone in a vehicle needs protection! That includes
infants and all children smaller than adult size. Neither
the distance traveled nor the age and size
of the traveler
changes the need, for everyone, to use safety restraints.
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
Children who are up against, or very close to, any
air bag when it inflates can be seriously injured
or killed. This is true even though your vehicle
has reduced-force frontal air bags. Air bags plus
lap-shoulder belts offer the best protection for
adults, but not for young children and infants.
Neither the vehicle’s safety belt system nor its air
bag system is designed for them. Young children
and infants need the protection that
a child
restraint system can provide. Always secure
children properly in your vehicle.
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... ‘4 ,
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 for one is always properly
restrained in
a child or infant restraint.
Infants need complete support, including support for the
head and neck. This
is necessary because an infant’s
neck
is weak and its head weighs so much compared
with the rest of its body.
In a crash, an infant in a
rear-facing restraint settles into the restraint,
so the crash
forces can be distributed across the strongest part
of the
infant’s body, the back and shoulders. A baby should be
secured
in an appropriate infant restraint. This is so
important that many hospitals today won’t release a
newborn infant to
its parents unless there is an
infant restraint available for the baby’s
first trip in a
motor vehicle.
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Built-in Child Restraint (Option)
r
If your vehicle has this option, there’s a built-in child
restraint in the center rear seat position. This child
restraint system conforms to all applicable Federal
Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
This child restraint is designed for use only by children
who weigh between
22 and 60 pounds (10 and 27 kg)
and whose height is between
33.5 and 51 inches
(850 and 1 295 mm) and who are capable of sitting
upright alone.
The child should also be at least one year old. It is
important to
use a rear-facing infant restraint until the
child is about a year old.
A rear-facing restraint gives
the infant’s head, neck and body the support they would
need in a crash. See “Child Restraints” later in this
section for more information.
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