2000 HONDA PASSPORT Owners Manual

Infants: Children up to about one
yea
r old should be restrained in a
rear-facing
, reclining child seat.
Only a rear-facing seat provides
the proper support to protect an
infant's head, neck, and back. See
page

25 for additional information
on protecting infants. Small Children: A child who is
too

large for a rear-facing child
seat,

and who can sit up without
support, should be restrained in a
forward-facing child seat. See
page 29 for additional information on protecting small children.

3.

The child seat should fit the
vehicle seating position (or
positions) where it will be

used.
Due to variations in the design of
child
seats, vehicle seats, and seat
belts

, all child seats will not fit all
vehicl

e seating positions.
However,
Honda is confident that
one

or more child seat models can
fit and be properly installed in all
recommended
seating positions in
your vehicle.
Before purchasing a child seat, we
recommend
that parents test the
child seat in the specific vehicle seating

position (or positions)
where they intend to use the seat.
If a previously purchased child seat
does not fit, you may need to
buy

a different one that will fit.
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Placing a Child Seat

This page briefly summarizes
Honda's recommendations on where to place rear-facing and forward-
facing child seats in your vehicle.
Front Passenger's Seal

Infants: Never in the front seat,
due to the passenger's airbag
hazard.

Small children: Not

recommended, due to the
passenger's airbag hazard. If a small child must ride in front,
move the vehicle seat to the
rear-most position and secure a front-facing child seat with theseat belt (see page 30).

Back Seats

Infants: Recommended positions. Secure a rear-facing child seat
with the seat belt (see page 25).
Small children: Recommended positions. Secure a front-facing
child seat with the seat belt (see
page 30).Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y
Airbag s Pos e
Seriou
s
Risk s t o Childre n
The passenger's airbag inflates
with enough force to kill or seriously injure an infant in a
rear-facing child seat.
A small child in a forward-
facing child seat is also at risk.
If the vehicle seat is too farforward, or the child's head is
thrown forward during a
collision, an inflating airbag can
kill or seriously injure the child.
If a small child must ride in the
front, follow the instructions
provided in this section.

Installing a Child Seat

After selecting a proper child seat,
and a good position to install theseat, there are three main steps to
installing the seat:
1. Secure the child seat to the vehicle with a seat belt. All
child seats must be secured to the vehicle with the lap belt or
the lap part of a lap/shoulder
belt. A child whose seat is not
properly secured to the vehicle can be endangered in a crash.See pages 25 and 30 for
instructions on how to secure
child seats in this vehicle.

2. Make sure the child seat is
firmly secured. After
installing a child seat, push
and pull the seat forward and
from side to side to verify that it is secure.
To provide security during normal

driving maneuvers, as well as
during a collision, we recommend

that parents secure a child seat as

firmly as possible.

However, a child seat does not

need to be "rock solid." In some
vehicles or seating positions, it

may be difficult to install a child seat so that it does not move at all.

Some side-to-side or back-and-

forth movement can be expected
and should not reduce the child

seat's effectiveness.
If the child seat is not secure, try
installing it in a different seating

position, or use a different style of
child seat that can be firmly
secured in the desired seating

position. 3. Secure the child in the child
seat. Make sure the child is
properly strapped in the child seat according to the child seat
maker's instructions. A child
who is not properly secured in
a child seat can be thrown out
of the seat in a crash and
seriously injured.

Storing a Child Seat
When you are not using a childseat, either remove it and store it
in a safe place, or make sure it is
properly secured. An unsecured
child seat can be thrown around
the vehicle during a crash or sudden stop and injure someone.
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Protectin
g Infant s

Child Seat Type
Only a rear-facing child seat
provides proper support for a
baby's head, neck, and back. Infants up to about one year of
age must be restrained in a
rear-facing child seat.
Two types of seats may be used: a seat designed exclusively for infants, or a convertible seat used
in the rear-facing reclining mode.
We recommend that an infant be
restrained in a rear-facing child seat until the infant reaches theseat maker's weight or height
limit and is able to sit up without support. Rear-Facing Child Seat

Placement

In this vehicle, a rear-facing childseat can be placed in any seating
position in the back seat, but not in the front seat.
Never put a rear-facing child seat in the front seat. If the
passenger's airbag inflates, it can
hit the back of the child seat with
enough force to kill or seriouslyinjure an infant. If an infant must
be closely watched, we
recommend that another adult sit in the back seat with the baby.
Do not put a rear-facing child seat in a forward-facing position.

If placed facing forward, an infant

could be very seriously injured

during a frontal collision.

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Placing a rear-facing child seat
in the front seat can result in
serious injury or death if the
airbags inflate.
Always place a rear-facing child
seat in the back seat, not the

front.

Installing a Rear-Facing Child
Seat With a Lap/Shoulder Belt
The lap/shoulder belts in the outer
back seats have a locking mechanism that must be activated
to secure a child seat.
The following pages provide instructions on how to secure a
rear-facing child seat with this type of seat belt.
See page 28 for how to secure a
rear-facing child seat in the center
back seat with the lap belt. For
tips on installing an infant seat
with either type of seat belt, see
page 28.
1. With the child seat in the
desired back seating position,
route the belt through the child seat according to the seat
maker's instructions, then
insert the latch plate into the
buckle. 2. To activate the lockable
retractor, slowly pull the
shoulder part of the belt all theway out until it stops, then let
the belt feed back into the
retractor (you might hear a clicking noise as the belt

retracts).

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3. After the belt has retracted,
tug on it. If the belt is locked,
you will not be able to pull it
out. If you can pull the belt
out, it is not locked and you
will need to repeat these steps. 4. After confirming that the belt
is locked, grab the shoulder
part of the belt near the buckle and pull up to remove anyslack from the lap part of the
belt.
Remember, if the lap part of the belt is not tight, the childseat will not be secure. To
remove slack, it may help to put weight on the child seat, or
push on the back of the seat,while pulling up on the belt. 5. Push and pull the child seat
forward and from side to side
to verify that it is secure
enough to stay upright during
normal driving maneuvers. If the child seat is not secure,
unlatch the belt, allow it to
retract fully, then repeat these
steps.

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To deactivate the locking
mechanism and remove a childseat, unlatch the buckle, unroute
the seat belt, and let the belt fully

retract.
Installing a Rear-Facing Child
Seat With the Lap Belt
To install a rear-facing child seat in the center back seat with the
lap belt, follow instruction
number 1 on page 26 for routing
and latching the seat belt. Then
pull hard on the loose end of the belt to remove any slack (it may
help to put weight on the child
seat while pulling on the belt).
Finally, follow instruction number 5 on page 27 to verify that the
child seat is secure.
Infant Seat Installation Tips
For proper protection, an infant must ride in a reclined, orsemi-reclined position. To
determine the proper reclining angle, check with the baby's
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doctor, or follow the seat maker's
recommendations.
To achieve the desired reclining
angle, it may help to put a rolled-
up towel under the toe of the child seat, as shown.
When properly installed, a rear- facing child seat may prevent a
driver or a front seat passenger
from moving the seat as far back as recommended (see page 10).
Or it may prevent them from
locking the seat-back in the
desired upright position (see page
11).

In either case, we recommend that
you place the child seat directly
behind the front passenger seat,
move the front seat as far forward as needed, and leave it
unoccupied. You may also wish to
get a smaller child seat that allows
you to safely carry a front

passenger.
Additional Precautions for
Infants Never hold an infant on your

lap. If you are not wearing a
seat belt in a crash, you could

be thrown forward into the
dashboard and crush the infant.

If you are wearing a seat belt,

the infant can be torn from

your arms. For example, if

your vehicle crashes into a
parked vehicle at 30 mph (48

km/h), a 20 Ib (9 kg) infant will
become a 600 Ib (275 kg)

force, and you will not be able

to hold on.
Never put a seat belt over
yourself and an infant. During a crash, the belt could press
deep into the infant and cause
very serious injuries. Protectin
g Smal l Childre n

Child Seat Type

A child who can sit up without
support, and who fits within the

child seat maker's weight and

height limits, should be restrained in a forward-facing, upright child
seat.

Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y