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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.
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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
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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
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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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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.
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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.
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With this built-in child restraint, you can adjust the
height
of the harness. Depending on the seated height
of the child, you can route it through the upper pair of
slots (A), the middle pair of slots (B) or the lower pair
of slots (C).
@ Which slots should I use for my child?
A: With the child seated on the child restraint cushion,
use the pair
of slots that is at or just above the top
of the child’s shoulders.
I
For the child shown here, the harness should go through
the middle pair of slots (B).
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@ What if the top of my child’s shoulders is above
A: A child whose shoulders are above the highest slots
the highest pair of slots?
shouldn’t use this child restraint. Instead, the child
should sit on the vehicle’s seat cushion and use the
vehicle’s safety belts.
A CAUTION:
MAKE SURE THE TOP OF THE CHILD’S
SHOULDERS Is BELOW THE SLOTS THAT
THE HARNESS GOES THROUGH. A CHILD
WHOSE
SHOULDERS ARE ABOVE THOSE
SLOTS COULD BE INJURED DURING A
SUDDEN STOP OR CRASH. IF’ THE TOP OF
THE CHILD’S SHOULDERS IS ABOVE THE
SLOTS, DON’T USE THIS CHILD
RESTRAINT. INSTEAD, THE CHILD SHOULD
SIT ON THE VEHICLE’S REGULAR SEAT
AND USE THE REGULAR SAFETY BELTS.
Adjusting the Harness Height
1. Lower the child restraint cushion.
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9. Twist the harness slightly to route it through the
correct slot.
10. Pull on the harness. Make sure it is properly routed
and isn’t twisted
or flipped over.
11. Repeat Steps 5 through 10 for the other side o€ the
harness. Be sure both sides are adjusted to the
same height.
12. Move the pad back against the child restraint
seatback. Make sure the harness goes through the
slots in the pad that match the height adjustment
slots being
used.
13 Press the upper edge of the pad against the
fastener strip.
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Securing a Child in the Built-in
Child Restraint
Now that the harness is adjusted to the correct height
for your child, you’re ready to use the child restraint’s
harness (E) to secure your child.
Don’t use the vehicle’s safety belts.
Using the vehicle’s regular safety belts on a child
seated on the child restraint cushion can
cause
serious injury to the child in a sudden stop or
crash.
If a child is the proper size for the built-in
child restraint, secure the child using the child
restraint’s harness. But children who are too
large for the built-in child restraint should sit on
the vehicle’s regular seat and use the regular
safety belts.
WARNING! FAILURE TO FOLLOW THE
MANUFACTURER’S INSTRUCTIONS
ON THE
USE OF THIS CHILD RESTRAINT SYSTEM
CAN
RESULT IN YOUR CHILD STRIKING THE
VEHICLE’S INTERIOR DURING
A SUDDEN
STOP OR CRASH.
SNUGLY ADJUST THE BELTS PROVIDED WITH
THIS CHILD RESTRAINT AROUND YOUR CHILD.
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