2001 HONDA ACCORD SEDAN belt

2001 Accord Sedan Online Reference Owner's Manual
Use these links (and links throughout this manual) to navigate through this reference.
For a printed owner's manual, click on authorized manuals or go to www.helminc.com. Contents
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... i
A Few Words About Safety.................................................................................................................ii
Your Vehicle at a Glance.....................................................................................................................2
Driver and Passenger Safety ..............................................................................................................5
Proper use and care of your vehicle's seat belts, and Supplemental Restraint System.
Instruments and Controls.................................................................................................................51
Instrument panel indicator and gauge, and how to use dashboard and steering column controls.
Comfort and Convenience Features ..............................................................................................109
How to operate the climate control system, the audio system, and other convenience features.
Before Driving..................................................................................................................................177
What gasoline to use, how to break-in your new vehicle, and how to load luggage and other cargo.
Driving ..............................................................................................................................................191
The proper way to start the engine, shift the transmission, and park, plus towing a trailer.
Maintenance.....................................................................................................................................219
The Maintenance Schedule shows you when you need to take your vehicle to the dealer.
Appearance Care..............................................................................................................................287
Tips on cleaning and protecting your vehicle. Things to look for if your vehicle ever needs body repairs.
Taking Care of the Unexpected......................................................................................................295
This section covers several problems motorists sometimes experience, and how to handle them.
Technical Information.....................................................................................................................323
ID numbers, dimensions, capacities, and technical information.
Warranty and Customer Relations (U.S. and Canada)................................................................339
A summary of the warranties covering your new Acura, and how to contact us.
Authorized Manuals (U.S. only)......................................................................................................345
How to order manuals and other technical literature.
Index...................................................................................................................................................... I
Service Information Summary
A summary of information you need when you pull up to the fuel pump.
Accord Value Package Audio System
Owner's Identification Form

Driver and Passenger Safety

This section gives you important
information about how to protect

yourself and your passengers. It
shows you how to use seat belts

properly. It explains your Supple-

mental Restraint System. And it tells

you how to properly restrain infants
and children in your car.
Important Safety Precautions.......... 6
Your Car's Safety Features.............. 7

Seat Belts........................................ 8

Airbags............................................ 9
Seats & Seat-Backs...................... 10
Head Restraints........................... 10
Door Locks................................... 10
Pre-Drive Safety Checklist......... 11

Protecting Adults............................. 12
1. Close and Lock the Doors...... 12
2. Adjust the Front Seats............ 12

3. Adjust the Seat-Backs............. 13

4. Adjust the Head Restraints.... 14

5. Fasten and Position the Seat
Belts...................................... 14

6. Adjust the Steering Wheel..... 16 7. Maintain a Proper Sitting
Position................................. 16
Advice for Pregnant Women...... 17 Additional Safety Precautions.... 18
Protecting Children......................... 19 All Children Must Be Restrained................................ 19
Children Should Sit in the Back
Seat............................................ 20

The Passenger's Front Airbag Poses Serious Risks toChildren................................ 20
If You Must Drive with Several Children.................................... 22
If a Child Requires Close
Attention................................... 23

Additional Safety Precautions.... 23 General Guidelines for Using Child Seats................................ 24
Protecting Infants........................ 28 Protecting Small Children.......... 31
Protecting Larger Children........ 34
Using Child Seats with
Tethers...................................... 37

Using the Lower Anchorages.... 38
Additional Information About Your
Seat Belts.................................. 40

Seat Belt System Components... 40
Lap/Shoulder Belt....................... 40
Automatic Seat Belt
Tensioners................................ 41

Seat Belt Maintenance................ 42
Additional Information About
Your Airbags............................ 43

SRS Components......................... 43

How Your Front Airbags
Work.......................................... 43

How Your Side Airbags Work.... 45

How the SRS Indicator Light
Works........................................ 45

How The Side Airbag Indicator
Light Works............................. 46

Airbag Service.............................. 48

Additional Safety Precautions.... 48

Carbon Monoxide Hazard.............. 49

Safety Labels.................................... 50

Driver and Passenger Safety

Important Safety Precautions
You'll find many safety recommendations throughout this
section, and throughout this manual.
The recommendations on this page are the ones we consider to be the
most important.
Always Wear Your Seat Belt A seat belt is your best protection in
all types of collisions. Airbags

supplement seat belts, but airbags

are designed to inflate only in a

moderate to severe frontal collision.

So even though your car is equipped
with airbags, make sure you and

your passengers always wear your
seat belts, and wear them properly.
(See page 14.)
Restrain All Children Children are safest when they are
properly restrained in the back seat,
not the front seat. A child who is too small for a seat belt must be properly
restrained in a child safety seat. (See
page 19.) Be Aware of Airbag Hazards
While airbags can save lives, they can cause serious or fatal injuries tooccupants who sit too close to them,
or are not properly restrained.
Infants, young children, and short adults are at the greatest risk. Be
sure to follow all instructions and
warnings in this manual. (See page 7.)

Don't Drink and Drive

Alcohol and driving don't mix. Even one drink can reduce your ability to
respond to changing conditions, and
your reaction time gets worse with every additional drink. So don't drink
and drive, and don't let your friendsdrink and drive, either. Control Your Speed
Excessive speed is a major factor in
crash injuries and deaths. Generally,
the higher the speed the greater the risk, but serious accidents can also
occur at lower speeds. Never drive
faster than is safe for current conditions, regardless of the
maximum speed posted.
Keep Your Car in Safe Condition
Having a tire blowout or a
mechanical failure can be extremely
hazardous. To reduce the possibility of such problems, check your tire
pressures and condition frequently, and perform all regularly scheduled
maintenance. (See page 224.)
Driver and Passenger Safety

Your Car's Safety Features
(1) Safety Cage (2) Crush Zones
(3) Seats & Seat-Backs
(4) Head Restraints
(5) Collapsible Steering Column
(6) Seat Belts
(7) Front Airbags
(8) Side Airbags*
(9) Door Locks
* : If equipped Your car is equipped with many
features that work together toprotect you and your passengersduring a crash.
Some safety features do not require any action on your part. These
include a strong steel framework
that forms a safety cage around the passenger compartment; front and
rear crush zones that are designed to
crumple and absorb energy during a
crash; and a collapsible steering

column.

These safety features are designed to reduce the severity of injuries in acrash. However, you and your
passengers can't take full advantage of these safety features unless you
remain sitting in a proper position

and always wear your seat belts

properly. In fact, some safety
features can contribute to injuries if they are not used properly.
Driver and Passenger Safety

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 vehicle
so you can take advantage of the
car's built-in safety features.
Help protect you in almost every
type of crash, including frontal, side, and rear impacts and
rollovers.
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 seat 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.

Your Car's Safety Features
Airbags
Your car has a Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) with front
airbags to help protect the heads and
chests of the driver and a front seat
passenger during a moderate tosevere frontal collision. All V6 models and 4-cylinder EX model
are standard and DX, LX models areoptional
Your car also has side airbags to help protect the upper torso of the driveror a front seat passenger during a
moderate to severe side impact.
The most important things you need to know about your airbags are: Airbags do not replace seat belts.
They are designed to supplement the seat belts.

Airbags offer no protection in rear
impacts, rollovers, or minor

frontal or side collisions.

Airbags can pose serious hazards.

To do their job, airbags must inflate with tremendous force andspeed. So while airbags help save
lives, they can cause minor injuries, or more serious or even fatal
injuries if occupants are not
properly restrained or sitting properly.

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

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 fulladvantage 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 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. 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.
Driver and Passenger Safety

Your Car's Safety Features

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 haveoutgrown child safety seats, are
wearing their seat belts and
wearing them properly (see page 14).

Any infant or small child is properly restrained in a child seat
in the back seat (see page 19). 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).
All doors are closed and locked (see page 12).
All cargo is properly stored or secured (see page 188). 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.

Driver and Passenger Safety