1998 CHEVROLET MALIBU belt

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine To unlatch the belt, just push the button on the buckle.
The belt should go back out
of the way.
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.
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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.
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.

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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
1 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 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:
You can be severely injured
or killed in a crash I
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.
CAUTION: (Continued)
1-20

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine ontinue
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.
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.
A CAUTI-”:
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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 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. 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.
1-21

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine When should an air bag inflate?
An air bag is designed to inflate in a moderate to severe
frontal or newfrontal 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 14 mph (14 to 23 km/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.
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
anything more than a supplement to safety belts,
and then only in moderate to severe frontal or
near-frontal collisions.

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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 -- 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.
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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
so.
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.
Your vehicle is equipped with a crash sensing
and diagnostic module, which records information
about the air bag system. The module records
information about the readiness
of the system, when
the sensors are activated and driver’s safety belt
usage at deployment.
Let only qualified technicians work on your air bag
system. Improper service can mean that your air
bag system won’t work properly. See your dealer
for service.

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Rear Seat Passengers
It’s very important for rear seat passengers to buckle up!
Accident statistics show that unbelted people in the rear
seat
are hurt more often in crashes than those who are
wearing safety belts.
Rear passengers who aren’t safety belted can be thrown
out
of the vehicle in a crash. And they can strike others
in the vehicle who are wearing safety belts.
Rear Seat Outside Passenger Positions
U 3
Lap-Shoulder Belt
The positions next to the windows have lap-shoulder
belts. Here’s how to wear one properly.
1. Pick up the latch plate and pull the belt across you.
Don’t let it get twisted.
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.
2. Push the latch plate into the buckle until it clicks.

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.
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b
3. To make the lap part tight, pull down on the buckle
end of the belt as you pull up on the shoulder part.

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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 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.
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.