1998 HONDA CIVIC COUPE Owners Manual

Protecting Children

General Guidelines for Using
Child Seats
The following pages give general guidelines for selecting and installing
child seats for infants and small
children.
Selecting a Child Seat
To provide proper protection, a child seat should meet three

requirements:

1. The child seat should meet safety
standards. The child seat should

meet Federal Motor Vehicle
Safety Standard 213 (FMVSS 213)
or Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety
Standards. Look for the
manufacturer's statement of
compliance on the box and seat.

2. The child seat should be of the
proper type and size to fit the child.
Infants: Children up to about one
year old should be restrained in a rear-facing, reclining child seat. Only
rear-facing seats provide the support
an infant needs to protect their head,
neck, and back. See page 27 for
additional information on protecting
infants. Small Children: A child who is too
large for a rear-facing child seat, and
who can sit up without support, should be restrained in a forward-
facing child seat. See page 31 for additional information on protectingsmall children.

CONTINUED

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Protecting Children

3. The child seat should fit the vehicle seating position (or
positions) where it will be used.
Due to variations in the design of child seats, vehicle seats, and seat
belts, all child seats will not fit all

vehicle seating positions.

However, Honda is confident that
one or more child seat models can fit
and be properly installed in all
recommended seating positions in

your vehicle.
Whenever possible, we recommend
that parents test a child seat in the specific vehicle seating position (or
positions) where they intend to use
the seat before making a purchase. If a previously purchased child seat
does not fit, you may need to buy a
different one that will fit.
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Protecting Children

Placing a Child Seat

This page briefly summarizes Honda's recommendations on where
to place rear-facing and forward-
facing child seats in your vehicle.
Front Passenger's Seat

Infants: Never in the front seat, due to the passenger airbag hazard.

Small children: Not recommended,
due to the passenger's airbag
hazard. If a small child must ride in front, move the vehicle seat to
the rear-most position and securea front-facing child seat with the
seat belt, (see page 32).

Back Seats
Infants: Recommended positions.
Secure a rear-facing child seat
with the seat belt, (see page 28).

Small children: Recommended
positions. Secure a front-facing
child seat with the seat belt, (see
page 32). CONTINUED

Driver and Passenger Safety

Airbags Pose Serious
Risks to Children
The passenger's airbag inflates with enough force to kill or seriously injure an infant in a
rear-facing child seat.
A small child in a forward-facing child seat is also at risk. If the
vehicle seat is too far forward, or the child's head is thrown
forward during a collision, an
inflating airbag can kill or seriously injure the child.
If a small child must ride in the
front, follow the instructions
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Protecting Children

Installing a Child Seat

After selecting a proper child seat, and a good place to install the seat,
there are three main steps in
installing the seat:

1. Secure the child seat to the car
with a seat belt. All child seats

must be secured to the car with
the lap belt or the lap part of a lap/ shoulder belt. A child whose seat
is not properly secured to the car
can be endangered in a crash. See
pages 28 and 32 for instructions on
how to secure child seats in this
vehicle.

2. Make sure the child seat is firmly
secured. After installing a child
seat, push and pull the seat
forward and from side to side to
verify that it is secure. To provide security during normal
driving maneuvers, as well as during
a collision, we recommend that
parents secure a child seat as firmly
as possible.
However, a child seat does not need
to be "rock solid." In some vehicles or seating positions, it may be
difficult to install a child seat so that
it does not move at all. Some side-to- side or forward-and-backward
movement can be expected and
should not reduce the child seat's
effectiveness.
If the child seat is not secure, try installing it in a different seating
position, or use a different style of
child seat that can be firmly secured
in the desired seating position.
3. Secure the child in the child seat.

Make sure the child is properlystrapped in the child seat
according to the child seat maker's
instructions. A child who is not
properly secured in a child seat
can be thrown out of the seat and
be seriously injured in a crash.

Storing a Child Seat

When you are not using a child seat, either remove it and store it in a safe
place, or make sure it is properlysecured. An unsecured child seat can
be thrown around the vehicle during a crash or sudden stop and injure

someone.

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Protecting Children
Protecting Infants
Child Seat Type
To provide proper support for a baby's head, neck and back, infants
up to about one year of age must be
restrained in a rear-facing child seat.
Two types of seats may be used: a seat designed exclusively for infants,
or a convertible seat used in the rear-
facing, reclining mode. We recommend that an infant stay in
a rear-facing child seat as long as
possible, until they reach the seat maker's weight or height limit and
are able to sit up without support.
Infant Seat Placement

In this vehicle, a rear-facing child seat can be placed in any seating
position in the back seat, but not in
the front seat.

Never put a rear-facing child seat in
the front seat. If the passenger's
airbag inflates, it can hit the back of
the child seat with enough force to
kill or seriously injure an infant. If an infant must be closely watched, we
recommend that another adult sit in
the back seat with the baby.

Do not put a rear-facing child seat in
a forward-facing position. If an

infant faces forward, they could be
very seriously injured during a
frontal collision.

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Driver and Passenger Safety

Placing a rear-facing child seat
in the front seat can result in
serious injury or death if the
airbags inflate.
Always place a rear-facing child seat in the back seat, not the

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Protecting Children

Installing an Infant Seat With a Lap/
Shoulder Belt

The lap/shoulder belts in the outer back seats have a locking
mechanism that must be activated tosecure a child seat.
The following pages provide instructions on how to secure a rear-
facing child seat with this type of seat belt. See page 30 for how to secure a rear-
facing child seat in the center back
seat with the lap belt. See page 30 for
tips on installing an infant seat with either type of seat belt.
1. With the child seat in the desiredback seating position, route the
belt through the child seataccording to the seat maker's
instructions, then insert the latch
plate into the buckle.

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Protecting Children

2. To activate the lockable retractor, slowly pull the shoulder part of the
belt all the way out until it stops,
then let the belt feed back into the
retractor (you might hear a clicking noise as the belt retracts).
3. After the belt has retracted, tug on it. If the belt is locked, you will not
be able to pull it out. If you can pull
the belt out, it is not locked and
you will need to repeat these steps. 4. After confirming that the belt is
locked, grab the shoulder part of
the belt near the buckle and pull
up to remove any slack from the
lap part of the belt. Remember, if the lap part of the belt is not tight,
the child seat will not be secure.
To remove slack, it may help to put weight on the child seat, or
push on the back of the seat while
pulling up on the belt. 5. Push and pull the child seat
forward and from side to side to
verify that it is secure enough to stay upright during normal driving
maneuvers. If the child seat is notsecure, unlatch the belt, allow it to
retract fully, then repeat these
steps.

To deactivate the locking mechanism in order to remove a
child seat, unlatch the buckle,
unroute the seat belt, and let the belt
fully retract. CONTINUED
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Protecting Children

Installing an Infant Seat With the
Lap Belt

To install a rear-facing child seat in the center back seat with the lap belt,
follow instruction number 1 on page 28 for routing and latching the seat
belt. Then pull hard on the loose end of the belt to remove any slack (it
may help to put weight on the child
seat while pulling on the belt).
Finally, follow instruction number 5
of page 29 to verify that the child
seat is secure.
Infant Seat Installation Tips

For proper protection, an infant must
ride in a reclined, or semi-reclined
position. To determine the proper
reclining angle, check with the baby's doctor or follow the seat maker's
recommendations.
To achieve the desired reclining angle, it may help to put a rolled up
towel under the toe of the child seat, as shown above. When properly installed a rear-facing
child seat may prevent the driver or
a front-seat passenger from moving
their seat as far back as recommended (see page 10). Or itmay prevent the seat-back fromlocking in the desired upright
position (see page 11).
In either case, we recommend that
you place the child seat directly behind the front passenger seat,
move the front seat as far forward as
needed, and leave it unoccupied. You
may also wish to get a smaller childseat that allows you to safely carry a
front passenger.

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