1998 CHEVROLET CAVALIER Owners Manual

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine If the belt stops before it reaches the buckle, tilt the
latch plate and keep pulling until you can buckle it.
Pull up on the latch plate to make sure it is secure.
If the belt is not 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.
3. To make the lap part tight, pull down on the buckle
end
of the belt as you pull up on the shoulder part.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine likely to slide under the lap belt. If you slid under it,
the belt would apply force at your abdomen. This could
cause
serious or even fatal injuries. The shoulder belt
should
go over the shoulder and across the chest.
These
parts of the body are best able to take belt
restraining forces.
The safety belt locks
if there’s a sudden stop or a crash,
or
if you pull the belt very quickly out of the retractor.
’ A CAUTIO7
The lap part of the belt should be worn low and snug on
the hips,
just touching the thighs. In a crash, this applies
force to the strong pelvic bones. And you’d be less
You can be seriously hurt if your shoulder belt is
too loose. In a crash, you would move forward
too much, which could increase injury. The
shoulder belt should
fit against your body.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine To unlatch the belt, just push the button on the buckle.
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:
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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.
2. Slide the guide under and past the belt. The elastic
cord must be under the belt. Then, place the guide
over the belt, and insert the two edges
of the belt into
the slots
of the guide.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 3. Be sure that the belt is not twisted and it lies flat.
The elastic cord must be under the belt and the guide
on top. 4. Buckle, position and release the safety belt as described in “Rear Seat Outside Passenger Positions”
earlier in this section. Make sure that the shoulder
belt crosses the shoulder.
To remove and store the comfort guides, squeeze the belt
edges together so that you can take them out from the
guides.
Pull the guide upward to expose its storage clip,
and then slide the guide onto the clip. Rotate the guide and \
clip inward and
in between the seatback and the interior
body, leaving only the loop
of elastic cord exposed.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Center Passenger Position
-
Lap Belt
When YOU sit in the center seating position, you have a
lap safety belt, which has no retractor.
To make the belt
longer, tilt the latch plate and pull it along the belt.
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- -_

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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, an
air bag when it inflates can be seriously injured or
killed. This is true even if your vehicle has
reduced-force frontal air bags. Air bags plus
lap-shoulder belts offer the best protection for
adults and older children, 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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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Smaller child1 --A 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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