1998 HONDA PRELUDE lock

Driver and Passenger Safety
This section gives you important information about how to protect
yourself and your passengers. It shows you how to use seat belts
properly. It explains your Supple- mental Restraint System. And it tells
you how to properly restrain infants and children in your vehicle.
Important Safety Precautions .......... 4
Your Vehicle's Safety Features........ 5 Seat Belts........................................ 6
Airbags............................................ 7

Seats & Seat-Backs........................ 8

Head Restraints............................. 8

Door Locks..................................... 9

Pre-Drive Safety Checklist........... 9

Protecting Adults............................. 10
1. Close and Lock the Doors...... 10
2. Adjust the Front Seats............ 11 3. Adjust the Seat-Backs............. 12
4. Adjust the Head Restraints.... 13 5. Fasten and Position the Seat
Belts...................................... 14

6. Adjust the Steering Wheel..... 15
7. Maintain a Proper Sitting
Position................................. 16

Advice for Pregnant Women...... 17 Additional Safety Precautions.... 17

Protecting Children.........................
19

All Children
Must Be

Restrained................................ 19

Children Should Sit in the Back
Seat............................................20

The Passenger's Airbag Poses
Serious Risks to Children....... 20
If You Must Drive with Several

Children.................................... 21
If a Child Requires Close

Attention................................... 22

Additional Safety Precaution...... 22 General Guidelines for Using
Child Seats................................ 23

Protecting Infants........................ 27

Protecting Small Children .......... 31
Protecting Larger Children........ 35
Using Child Seats with
Tethers......................................38

Additional Information About Your
Seat Belts.................................. 40

Seat Belt System Components... 40
Lap/Shoulder Belt....................... 40 Seat Belt Maintenance................ 42
Additional Information About Your
SRS............................................

43

SRS Components........................ .
43

How Your Airbags Work............ 43

How Your SRS Indicator Light
Works........................................45

SRS Service................................... 45
Additional Safety Precautions.... 46
Carbon Monoxide Hazard.............. 47
Safety Labels.................................... 48

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Your Vehicle's Safety Features

Your vehicle is equipped with manyfeatures that work together to
protect you and your passengersduring a crash.
Some safety features do not require
any action on your part. These
include a strong steel framework
that forms a safety cage around the passenger compartment; front and
rear crush zones that are designed tocrumple and absorb energy during a
crash; and a collapsible steering

column.

These safety features are designed to reduce the severity of injuries in acrash. However, you and yourpassengers can't take full advantageof these safety features unless you
remain sitting in a proper position

and always wear your seat belts

properly. In fact, some safety
features can contribute to injuries if they are not used properly.
Driver and Passenger Safety
(1) Safety Cage
(2) Crush Zones
(3) Seats & Seat-Backs
(4) Head Restraints
(5) Collapsible Steering Column
(6) Seat Belts

(7) Airbags

(8) Door LocksProCarManuals.comMain Menu Table of Contents s t

Your Vehicle's Safety Features
Door Locks
Keeping your doors locked reduces
the chance of being thrown out of
the vehicle during a crash. It also
helps prevent occupants from accidentally opening a door and
falling out, and outsiders from unexpectedly opening your doors. Pre-Drive Safety Checklist
To make sure you and your passengers get the maximum
protection from your vehicle's safety
features, check the following each
time before you drive away:
All adults, and children who haveoutgrown child safety seats, are
wearing their seat belts and
wearing them properly (see page
14).

Any infant or small child is properly restrained in a child seat

in the back seat (see page 19). Front seat occupants are sitting as
far back as possible from the steering wheel and dashboard (see page 11).
Seat-backs are upright (see page
12).
Head restraints are properly
adjusted (see page 13). Both doors are closed and locked
(see page 10). All cargo is properly stored or
secured (see page 128).
The rest of this section gives more detailed information about how you
can maximize your safety.
Remember, however, that no safetysystem can prevent all injuries or
deaths that can occur in severe
crashes, even when seat belts are
properly worn and the airbags deploy.

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Protecting Adults

Introduction
The following pages provide instructions on how to properly
protect the driver and other adult
occupants.

These instructions also apply to children who have outgrown child
seats and are large enough to wear
lap/shoulder belts. (See page 35 for
important additional guidelines on
how to properly protect larger children.) 1. Close and Lock the Doors
After everyone has entered the vehicle, be sure the doors are closed
and locked.

Your vehicle has a doormonitor light on the
instrument panel to indicate when a specific door is not tightly closed. For safety, locking the doors reduces
the chance of a passenger, especially
a child, opening a door while the
vehicle is moving and accidentally falling out. It also reduces the
chance of someone being thrown outof the vehicle during a crash.
For security, locked doors can
prevent an outsider from
unexpectedly opening a door when
you come to a stop.
See page 72 for how to lock the

doors.

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Protecting Adults

2. Adjust the Front Seats
Any driver who sits too close to the steering wheel is at risk of being
seriously injured or killed by striking
the steering wheel or being struck
by an inflating airbag during a crash. To reduce the chance of injury, wear
your seat belt properly, sit upright
with your back against the seat, andmove the seat as far back as possible
from the steering wheel while stillmaintaining full control of the car.
Also make sure your front seat passenger moves their seat as far to
the rear as possible.
Most shorter drivers can get far
enough away from the steering
wheel and still reach the pedals. However, if you are concerned aboutsitting too close, we recommend that
you investigate whether some type of adaptive equipment may help.
Once your seat is adjusted correctly,
rock it forward and back to make sure the seat is locked in position.
See page 75 for how to adjust the
front seats.

Driver and Passenger Safety

Sitting too close to an airbag
can result in serious injury or
death if the airbags inflate.
Always sit as far back from the airbags as possible.ProCarManuals.comMain Menu Table of Contents s t

Protecting Children

Infant Seat Installation

The lap/shoulder belts in the back seats have a locking mechanism that
must be activated to secure a child
seat.

The following pages provide instructions and tips on how to
secure a rear-facing child seat with
this type of seat belt.
1. With the child seat in the desiredback seating position, route the
belt through the child seat according to the seat maker's
instructions, then insert the latch
plate into the buckle. 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.

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Protecting Children

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 not
secure, unlatch the belt, allow it to
retract fully, then repeat these
steps.
To deactivate the locking
mechanism in order to remove achild seat, unlatch the buckle,
unroute the seat belt, and let the belt
fully retract.

CONTINUED

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Protecting Children

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 11). Or it
may prevent the seat-back from
locking in the desired position (see
page 12).
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 child
seat that allows you to safely carry a
front passenger.
Additional Precautions for Infants
Never hold a baby on your lap. If

you are not wearing a seat belt in a crash, you could be thrown
forward into the dashboard and crush the child.
If you are wearing a seat belt, the
baby can be torn from your arms. For example, if the vehicle crashes
into a parked vehicle at 30 mph (48 km/h), a 20 Ibs (9 kg) baby
will become a 600 Ibs (275 kg)
force, and you will not be able to hold it. Never put a seat belt over yourself
and a baby. During a crash, the
belt could press deep into the child and cause very serious injuries.

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