1998 GMC ENVOY Owners Manual

Center Rear Passenger Position Lap Belt
When you sit in the center rear seating position, you
have a lap safety belt which has
a retractor.
1. Pick up the latch plate and pull the belt across you.
Don't let
it get twisted.
2. Push the latch plate into the buckle until it clicks.
Pull
up on the latch plate to make sure it is secure.
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3. Feed the lap belt into the retractor to tighten it
4. 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.
Children
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.
Sm,- 'ler Childre ~ - -d Ba '-
A CAUTION:
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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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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r
Never hold a baby in your arms while riding in a
vehicle. A baby doesn’t weigh much -- until a
crash. During a crash a baby will become
so
heavy you can’t hold it. For example, in a crash
CAUTION: (Continued) at
only 25 mph
(40 km/h), a 12-lb. (5.5 kg) baby
will suddenly become a 240-lb. (110
kg) force on
your arms. The baby would be almost impossible
to hold.
Secure the baby
in an infant restraint.
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Child Restraints
Every time infants and young children ride in vehicles,
they should have protection provided by
appropriate restraints.
@ What are the different types of add-on
A: Add-on child restraints are available in four basic
types. When selecting
a child restraint, take into
consideration not only the child’s weight and size,
but
also whether or not the restraint will be
compatible with the motor vehicle
in which it
will be used.
child restraints?
An infant car bed (A) is a special bed made for use
in a motor vehicle. It’s an infant restraint system
designed to restrain or position a child on a
continuous flat surface. With an infant car bed,
make sure that the infant’s head rests toward
the
center of the vehicle.
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A rear-facing infant restraint (B) positions an infant
to face the rear of the vehicle. Rear-facing infant
restraints are designed for infants
of up to about
20 lbs. (9 kg) and about one year of age. This type
of restraint faces the rear
so that the infant’s head,
neck and body can have the support
they need in a
crash. Some infant seats come
in two parts -- the
base stays secured in the vehicle and the seat part
is removable.
.. -7 .. ,. ..I
: .. ., . 8.
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A forward-facing child restraint (C-E) positions a
child upright to face forward in the vehicle. These
forward-facing restraints are designed to help
protect children
who are from 20 to 40 lbs. (9 to
18 kg) and about 26 to 40 inches (66 to 102 cm) in
height, or up to around four years of age. One type,
a convertible restraint, is designed to be used either
as a rear-facing infant seat or a forward-facing
child seat.
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A booster seat (F, G) is designed for children who
are about
40 to 60 lbs. (1 8 to 27 kg) and about four
to eight years of age. It’s designed to improve the
fit of the vehicle’s safety belt system. Booster seats
with shields use lap-only belts; however, booster
seats without shields use lap-shoulder belts.
Booster seats can also help a child to see out the window.
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