1999 HONDA CIVIC COUPE Owners Manual

Your Car's Safety Features

Seat Belts
For your safety, and the safety of
your passengers, your car is equipped with seat belts in all seating
positions.
Your seat belt system alsoincludes a light on the
instrument panel to remind you and
your passengers to fasten your seat belts.

Why Wear Seat Belts

Seat belts are the single most
effective safety device for adults and
larger children. (Infants and smaller children must be properly restrained
in child seats.)
Not wearing a seat belt properly
increases the chance of serious
injury or death in a crash, even
though your car has airbags. In addition, most states and all
Canadian provinces require you to
wear seat belts.
When properly worn, seat belts:
Keep you connected to the vehicleso you can take advantage of the
car's built-in safety features. Help protect you in almost every
type of crash, including side and
rear impacts and rollovers. (Your
airbag can only be helpful in a
moderate to severe frontal
collision.)

Help keep you from being thrown
against the inside of the vehicle
and against other occupants.
Keep you from being thrown out
of the vehicle. Help keep you in a good position
should the airbags ever deploy. A
good position reduces the risk of injury from an inflating airbag, and
allows you to get the best
advantage from the airbag.
Of course, seat belts cannot
completely protect you in every
crash. But in most cases, seat belts can reduce your risk of serious
injury.

What you should do: Always wear
your sea t
belt, and make sure you
wear it properly.
Driver and Passenger Safety
Not wearing a seat belt properly

increases the chance of serious

injury or death in a crash, even

if you have airbags.

Be sure you and your

passengers always wear seat

belts and wear them properly.Main Menu Table of Contents s t

Your Car's Safety Features

Airbags

Yqur car has a SupplementalRestraint System (SRS) with frontal
airbags to help protect the driver and
a front seat passenger.
This system also includesan indicator light on the
instrument panel to alert you to a
possible problem with the system. The most important things you need
to know about your airbags are:
Airbags do not replace seat belts.

The seat belts are the occupants' primary protection in all types ofcollisions. The airbags supplement
the seat belts by providing extra
protection for the head and chestof each front seat occupant in a
moderate to severe frontal

collision.
Airbags offer no protection in side

impacts, rear impacts, rollovers,
or minor collisions. Airbags are

designed to deploy only during a
moderate to severe frontal

collision.
Airbags can pose serious hazards.

To do their job, airbags must inflate with tremendous force and
speed. So while airbags save lives,
they can cause serious injuries to adults and larger children who are not wearing seat belts, are not
wearing them properly, are sitting too close to the airbag, or are notsitting in a proper position. Infants
and small children are at an even
greater risk of injury or death.

What you should do: Always wear

your seat belt properly, and sit upright and as far back as possible
from the steering wheel or
dashboard.

Driver and Passenger Safety

SRSMain Menu Table of Contents s t

Your Car's Safety Features

Seats & Seat-Backs
Your car's seats are designed to keep
you in a comfortable, upright position so you can take full
advantage of the protection offered
by seat belts and the energy absorbing materials in the seats.
How you adjust your seats and seat-
backs can also affect your safety. For example, sitting too close to thesteering wheel or dashboard
increases the risk of you or your
passenger being injured by striking
the inside of the car, or by an
inflating airbag.
Reclining a seat-back too far reduces
the seat belt's effectiveness and increases the chance that the seat's
occupant will slide under the seat
belt in a crash and be seriously
injured.
What you should do: Move the front

seats as far back as possible, and
keep adjustable seat-backs in an
upright position whenever the car is

moving.

Head Restraints
Head restraints can help protect you
from whiplash and other injuries. For maximum protection, the back of
your head should rest against the center of the head restraint.
Driver and Passenger SafetyMain Menu Table of Contents s t

Your Car's Safety Features
Door Locks
Keeping your doors locked reduces
the chance of being thrown out of
the car 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 car's safety
features, check the following each time before you drive away: All adults, and children who have
outgrown child safety seats, are
wearing their seat belts and wearing them properly (see page 15).
Any infant or small child is
properly restrained in a child seat

in the back seat (see page 21). Front seat occupants are sitting
upright and as far back as possible
from the steering wheel and dashboard (see page 12). Seat-backs are upright (see page
13). Head restraints are properly
adjusted (see page 14). Both doors are closed and locked
(see page 12). All cargo is properly stored or
secured (see page 132).
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.

Driver and Passenger SafetyMain Menu Table of Contents s t

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 37 for important additional guidelines on
how to properly protect largerchildren.)
1.Close and Lock the Doors
After everyone has entered the car, be sure the doors are closed and
locked.

Your car has a door monitor light on the instrument panel to indicate
when a specific door is not tightly
closed.

For safety, locking the doors reduces
the chance that a passenger, especially a child, will open a door
while the car is moving and accidentally fall out. It also reduces
the chance of someone being thrown out of the car during a crash.
For security, locked doors can
prevent an outsider fromunexpectedly opening a door when
you come to a stop. See page 70 for how to lock the

doors.

2.Adjust the Front Seats Any driver who sits too close to the
steering wheel is at risk of beingseriously injured or killed by striking
the steering wheel, or from 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, and move the seat as far back as possible
from the steering wheel while still maintaining full control of the car.
Also make sure your front seat passenger moves the seat as far to
the rear as possible.

Driver and Passenger SafetyMain Menu Table of Contents s t

Protecting Adults

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 back and forth to make sure
the seat is locked in position.
See page 76 for how to adjust the
front seats. 3.Adjust the Seat-Backs
Adjust the driver's seat-back to a comfortable, upright position,
leaving ample space between yourchest and the airbag cover in thecenter of the steering wheel. If you
sit too close to the steering wheel,
you could be injured if the airbag inflates.
A front passenger should also adjust the seat-back to an upright position,
but as far from the dashboard as possible. A passenger who sits too
close to the dashboard could be
injured if the airbag inflates.
Reclining a seat-back so that theshoulder part of the belt no longer
rests against the occupant's chest
reduces the protective capability of
the belt. It also increases the chance of sliding under the belt in a crash
and being seriously injured. The
farther a seat-back is reclined, the greater the risk of injury.
See page 77 for how to adjust seat-

backs.
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.
Reclining the seat-back too far
can result in serious injury or
death in a crash.
Adjust the seat-back to an
upright position and sit well

back in the seat.Main Menu Table of Contents s t

Protecting Adults

4.Adjust the Head Restraints
Before driving, make sure everyone
with an adjustable head restraint has
properly positioned the head restraint. The restraint should bepositioned so the back of theoccupant's head rests against the
center of the restraint. A taller
person should adjust the restraint as
high as possible. Properly adjusted head restraints
will help protect occupants from
whiplash and other crash injuries.
See page 77 for how to adjust the
head restraints.

Driver and Passenger Safety
Improperly positioning head
restraints reduces their
effectiveness and you can be
seriously injured in a crash.
Make sure head restraints are
in place and positioned properly
before driving.Main Menu Table of Contents s t

Protecting Adults

5.Fasten and Position the Seat Belts

Using a Lap/Shoulder Belt

Insert the latch plate into the buckle,
then tug on the belt to make sure the
belt is securely latched. Also check
that the belt is not twisted, because a
twisted belt can cause serious
injuries in a crash.
Position the lap part of the belt as
low as possible across your hips,
then pull up on the shoulder part of
the belt so the lap part fits snugly.
This lets your strong pelvic bones take the force of a crash and reduces
the chance of internal injuries. If necessary, pull up on the belt again
to remove any slack from the
shoulder part, then check that the
belt rests across the center of your chest and over your shoulder. Thisspreads the forces of a crash over
the strongest bones in your upper
body.

CONTINUED

Driver and Passenger Safety

Improperly positioning the seat
belts can cause serious injury
or death in a crash.

Make sure all seat belts are

properly positioned before
driving.Main Menu Table of Contents s t