1998 PONTIAC GRAND PRIX child restraint

v Section 1 Seats and Restraint Systems
Here you’ll find information about the seats in your Pontiac 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.
1-2
1-8
1-12
1-13
1-14
1-21
1-22
1-22
1-30
Seats and 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 Restraint System (SRS)
Rear Seat Passengers
1-35
1-38
1-52
1-65
1-67
1-68
1-68
1-33 Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for
Children and Small Adults
Children
Built-in Child Restraint (Option)
Child Restraints
Larger Children Safety Belt Extender
Checking Your
Restraint Systems
Replacing Restraint System
Parts
After a Crash

&: If I’m a good driver, and I never drive far from
A: You may be an excellent driver, but if you’re in an
home, why should I wear safety belts?
accident -- even one that isn’t your fault -- you and
your passengers can be hurt. Being a good driver
doesn’t protect you from things beyond your
control, such
as bad drivers.
Most accidents occur within
25 miles (40 km) of
home. And the greatest number of serious injuries
and deaths occur at speeds
of less than 40 mph
(65 kmlh).
Safety belts are for everyone.
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.
1-13

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
safety belts effective
is wearing them properly.
Right Front Passenger Position
To learn how to wear the right fiont passenger’s safety belt
properly,
see “Driver Position” earlier in this section.
The right front passenger’s safety belt works the same way
as
the driver’s safety belt -- except for one thing. If you ever pull
the shoulder portion of the belt out all the way, you will
engage the child restraint locking feature. If this happens, just
let the belt go back
all the way and start again.
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
fiontal 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:
’
A CAUTION: I
You can be severely injured or killed in a crash 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 %pplemental 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.
And, for unrestrained occupants,
reduced-force
air bags may provide less protection
in frontal crashes than more forcefid 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.

A CAUTION:
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.
/I CAUTION:
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, but not for young children and infants.
CAUTION: (Continued)
CAUTION: (Continued)
Neither the vehicle’s safety belt system nor its
airbag 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.
There is an air bag readiness
light on the instrument
panel, which shows
SRS
SRS AIR BAG AIRBAG.
The system checks the air bag electrical system for
malfunctions. The light tells you
if there is an electrical
problem. See “Air
Bag Readiness Light” in the Index
for more information.
1-23

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.

4. Buckle, position and release the safety belt as
described in “Rear Seat Outside Passenger Positions”
earlier
in this section. Make sure that the shoulder
belt crosses
the shoulder.
To remove and store the comfort guides, squeeze the belt
edges together
so that you can take them out from the
@des. Pull the guide upward to expose its storage clip,
and then slide the guide onto the clip. Rotate the guide and \
clip inward and in between the seatback and the interior
body, leaving only the
loop of elastic cord exposed.
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.
Smaller Children and Babies
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.
1-35

,& CAUTION:
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.
1-36

Built-in Child Restraint (Option)
If your vehicle has this option, there’s a built-in child
restraint
in the center rear seat position. This child
restraint system conforms to
all applicable Federal
Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
This child restraint is designed for use only by children
who weigh between
22 and 60 pounds (10 and 27 kg)
and whose height is between 33.5 and 51 inches
(850 and 1 295 mm) and who are capable of sitting
upright alone.
The child should
also be at least one year old. It is
important to use a rear-facing infant restraint until the
child is about a year old.
A rear-facing restraint gives
the infant’s head, neck and body the support they would
need
in a crash. See “Child Restraints” later in this
section for more information.
1-38