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Section 1 Seats and Restraint Systems
Here you’ll find information about the seats in your vehicle\
and how to use your safety belts properly. You can also
learn about some things you should
not do with air bags and safety belts.
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Seats and Seat Controls
Safety Belts: They’re for Everyone
Here Are Questions Many People Ask
About Safety Belts
-- and the Answers
How to Wear Safety Belts Properly
Driver Position
Safety Belt Use During Pregnancy
Right Front Passenger Position
Supplemental Inflatable
Restraint (SIR) System Rear Seat Passengers
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,
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Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides
for Children and Small Adults
Center Rear Passenger Position
Children
Child Restraints
Larger Children Safety Belt Extender
Checking Your Restraint Systems
Replacing Restraint System Parts
After a Crash
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How to Wear Safety Belts Properly
Adults
This part is only for people of adult size.
Be aware that there are special things to know about safety
belts and children, And there are different rules for smaller
children and babies.
If a child will be riding in your
vehicle, see
the part of this manual called “Children.”
Follow those rules for everyone’s protection.
First, you’ll want to know which restraint systems your
vehicle has.
We’ll start with the driver position.
Driver Position
This part describes the driver’s restraint system.
Lap-Shoulder Belt
The driver has a lap-shoulder belt. Here’s how to wear
it properly.
1. Close and lock the door.
2. Adjust the seat (to see how, see “Seats” in the Index)
so you can sit up straight.
3. 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.
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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:
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.
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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 Ibs. (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 rea-facing
infant seat or a forward-facing child seat.
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A booster seat (F, Gj is designed for children who
are about 40 to 60 lbs. ( 18 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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When choosing a child restraint, be sure the child
restraint is designed to be used in a vehicle. If
it is, it
will have a label saying that it meets Federal Motor
Vehicle Safety Standards.
Then follow the instructions for the restraint.
You may
find these instructions on the restraint itself or in a
booklet, or both. These restraints use the belt system in
your vehicle, but the child also has to be secured within
the restraint to help reduce the chance of personal injury.
The instructions that come with the infant or child
restraint will show you how to do that. Both the owner’s
manual and the child restraint instructions are important,
so if either one of these is not available, obtain a
replacement copy from the manufacturer.
Where to Put the Restraint
Accident statistics show that children are safer if they
are restrained in the rear rather than the front
seat. We at
General Motors therefore recommend that you put your
child restraint in a rear seat outside position.
Never put a
rear-facing child restraint in the front passenger seat.
Here’s why:
A child in a rear-facing child restraint can be
seriously injured
if the right front passenger’s air
bag inflates. This is because the back
of a
rear-facing child restraint would be very close to
the inflating air bag. Always secure a rear-facing
child restraint in a rear seat outside position.
You may, however, secure
a forward-facing
child restraint in the right front seat. Before you
secure a forward-facing child restraint, always
move the front passenger seat as far back as it
will
go. Or, secure the child restraint in a rear
seat outside position.
Wherever you install it, be sure to secure the child
restraint properly.
Keep in mind that an unsecured child restraint can move
around in a collision or sudden stop and injure people in
the vehicle. Be sure
to properly secure any child
restraint in your vehicle
-- even when no child is in it.
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Top Strap
If your child restraint has a top strap, it should be
anchored. Anchor brackets for the rear outside seat
positions are located on the floor
in the cargo area. Don’t use the front set
of tie-down brackets. Anchor the
top strap to the rearmost bracket on the same side of the
vehicle as the child restraint.
Once you have the top strap anchored, you’ll be ready to
secure the child restraint itself.
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Securing a Child Restraint in a Rear
Outside Seat Position
You’ll be using the lap-shoulder belt. See the earlier part
about the top strap if the child restraint has one. Be sure
to follow
the instructions that came with the child
restraint. Secure the child in the child restraint when and
3. Buckle the belt. Make Sure the release button is
as the instructions say. positioned
so you would be able to unbuckle the
1. Put the restraint on the seat. safety belt quickly
if you ever had to.
2. Pick up the latch plate, and run the lap and shoulder
portions
of the vehicle’s safety belt through or
around the restraint. The child restraint instructions
will show
you how.
If the shoulder belt goes in front of the child’s face or
neck, put
it behind the child restraint.
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