2000 HONDA PASSPORT Owners Manual

some safety features can
contribute to injuries if they are
not used properly.
Sea t Belt s
For your safety, and the safety of
your passengers, your vehicle is equipped with seat belts in allseating positions.
Your seat belt systemalso includes 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
restrained in child seats.) Not wearing a seat belt properly
increases the chance of serious
injury or death in a crash, even
though your vehicle has airbags.
In addition, most states and Canadian provinces require you to
wear seat belts.
When properly worn, seat belts:
Keep you connected to the
vehicle so you can take
advantage of the vehicle's
built-in safety features.
Help protect you in almost
every type of crash, includingside and rear impacts and
rollovers. In a rollover crash, an unbelted person is more
likely to die than a person wearing a seat belt. 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.

Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y 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.

Help keep you in a good
position should the airbags ever
deploy. A good position
reduces the risk of injury froman 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 seriousinjury.

What you should do: Always
wear your seat belt, and make
sure you wear it properly. Airbag
s
Your vehicle has a Supplemental
Restraint System (SRS) with
frontal airbags to help protect the driver and a front seat passenger. This system also
includes an 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 protectionin all types of collisions. The
airbags supplement the seat
belts by providing extra
protection for the head and
chest of 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
Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y

AI
R

BA G

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 not sitting 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.
Seat
s an d Seat-Back s

Your vehicle'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 the steering wheel or
dashboard increases the risk of
you or your passenger being injured by striking the inside of
the vehicle, 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
vehicle is moving.

Hea d Restraint s

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.
Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y

Doo
r Lock s
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-Driv e Safet y Checklis t
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
have outgrown child safety seats, are wearing their seat
belts and wearing them
properly (see page 13). Any infant or small child is
properly restrained in a child seat in the back seat (see page
18).

Front seat occupants are sitting
upright and as far back as
possible from the steering wheel and dashboard (see page
10).

Seat-backs are upright (see
page 11).
Head restraints are properly
adjusted (see page 12).
All doors and the tailgate are closed and locked (see page
10).

All cargo is properly stored or secured (see page 171). The rest of this section gives more
detailed information about how
you can maximize your safety.
Remember, however, that no
safety system can prevent all
injuries or deaths that can occur in severe crashes, even when seat
belts are properly worn and the
airbags deploy.
Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y

Protectin
g Adult s
Introductio n

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 33
for important additional
guidelines on how to properly
protect larger children.)
1 . Clos e an d Loc k th e Door s
After everyone has entered the
vehicle, be sure the doors and tailgate are closed and locked.
For safety, locking the doors
reduces the chance that a
passenger, especially a child, will open a door while the vehicle is
moving and accidentally fall out. It also reduces the chance of
someone being thrown out of 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 100 for how to lock the

doors.
2
. Adjus t th e Fron t Seat s
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
from being struck by the inflatingairbag during a crash.
Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y

To reduce the chance of injury,
wear your seat belt properly, sit
upright with your back against theseat, and move the seat as far back
as possible from the steering
wheel while still maintaining full
control of the vehicle. Also make sure your front seat passenger
moves the 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 concernedabout sitting 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 89 for how to adjust the
front seats.
3
. Adjus t th e Seat-Back s

Adjust the driver's seat-back to a comfortable, upright position,
leaving ample space between your
chest and the airbag cover in the
center 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
Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y

Sitting too close to the airbag
can result in serious injury or
death if the airbags inflate.
Always sit as far back from the
airbags as possible.

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 the shoulder 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 seriouslyinjured. The farther a seat-back is
reclined, the greater the risk of injury.
See page 89 for how to adjust

seat-backs.
4
. Adjus t th e Hea d Restraint s

Before driving, make sure
everyone with an adjustable head
restraint has properly positioned the head restraint. The restraint
should be positioned so the back
of the occupant's head rests
against the center of the restraint.
A taller person should adjust the
restraint as high as possible.
Drive r an d Passenge r Safet yReclining 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.

Properly adjusted head restraints
will help protect occupants from
whiplash and other crash injuries.
See page 90 for how to adjust the
head restraints.
5
. Faste n an d Positio n th e

Sea t Belt s
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.
This spreads the forces of a crash over the strongest bones in your
upper body.
Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y
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.
Improperly positioning the seat
belts can cause serious injury
or death in a crash.
Make sure all seat belts are
properly positioned before you
drive.