2001 HONDA ACCORD SEDAN steering

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

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
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

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 childseats and are large enough to wear
lap/shoulder belts. (See page 34 for
important additional guidelines on
how to properly protect larger children.)
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 from
unexpectedly opening a door when
you come to a stop.
See page 74 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 being
seriously injured or killed by striking
the steering wheel or from being struck by an inflating front airbag
during a crash.
Driver and Passenger Safety

Protecting Adults
To reduce the chance of injury, wear your seat belt properly, sit upright
with your back against the seat, andmove the seat as far back as possible
from the steering wheel while stillmaintaining full control of the car.
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 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 88 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 the
center of the steering wheel. If you sit too close to the steering wheel,
you could be injured if the front airbag inflates. A front passenger should also adjust
the seat-back to an upright position,
but as far from the dashboard aspossible. A passenger who sits tooclose to the dashboard could be
injured if the front airbag inflates.

CONTINUED

Driver and Passenger Safety

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