2002 HONDA PASSPORT belt

17Driver and Passenger Safety
always wear a seat belt whenever
she drives or rides in a vehicle.
We recommend that a pregnant
woman use a lap/shoulder belt
whenever possible. Remember to
keep the lap portion of the belt as
low as possible across your hips.
Pregnant women should also sit as
far back as possible from the
steering wheel or dashboard. This
will reduce the risk of injuries to
both the mother and her unborn
child that can be caused by a
crash or an inflating airbag.
Each time you have a checkup,
ask your doctor if it’
s okay for
you to drive.
Additional Safety
Precautions
•Two people should never use
the same seat belt. If they do, they could be very seriously
injured in a crash.
•Do not put any accessories on
seat belts. Devices intended to
improve occupant comfort, or
reposition the shoulder part of a
seat belt, can severely
compromise the protective
capability of the seat belt and
increase the chance of serious
injury in a crash.
•Do not place hard or sharp
objects between yourself and
an airbag. Carrying hard or
sharp objects on your lap, or
driving with a pipe or other
sharp object in your mouth, can
result in injuries if your airbags
inflate.
•Keep your hands and arms
away from the airbag covers.
If your hands or arms are close
to the SRS covers in the center
of the steering wheel or on top
of the dashboard, they could be
injured if the airbags inflate.
•Never let passengers ride in
the cargo area or on top of a
folded-down back seat.
All
passengers must sit in locked,
upright seats and be properly
restrained by seat belts.
•Do not attach or place objects
on the airbag covers. Any
object attached to or placed on
the covers marked “SRS
AIRBAG” in the center of the
steering wheel and on top of
the dashboard could interfere
with the proper operation of the
airbags. Or, if the airbags
inflate, the objects could be
propelled inside the car and
hurt someone.

Driver and Passenger Safety18
Children depend on adults to
protect them. However, despite
their best intentions, many parents
and other adults may not know
how to properly protect young
passengers.
So if you have children, or if you
ever need to drive with a
grandchild or other children in
your vehicle, be sure to read this
section.
Children who are unrestrained
or improperly restrained can be
seriously injured or killed in a
crash.
Any child too small for a seat
belt should be properly
restrained in a child seat. A
larger child should be properly
restrained with a seat belt.
All Children Must Be
Restrained
Each year, many children are
injured or killed in vehicle crashes
because they are either
unrestrained or not properly
restrained. In fact, vehicle
accidents are the number one
cause of death of children ages 12
and under. To reduce the number of child
deaths and injuries, every state
requires that infants and children
be restrained whenever they ride
in a vehicle.
Any child who is too small to
wear a seat belt should be
properly restrained in a child
seat.
(See page 22.)
A larger child should always be
restrained with a seat belt. (See
page 34.)
Additional Precautions to
Parents•Never hold an infant or child
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 child.
Protecting Children

Driver and Passenger Safety19
If you are wearing a seat belt,
the child can be torn from your
arms. For example, if your
vehicle crashes into a parked
vehicle at 30 mph (48 km/h), a
20 lb (9 kg) infant will become
a 600 lb (275 kg) force, and
you will not be able to hold on.
•Never put a seat belt over
yourself and an infant or
child. During a crash, the belt
could press deep into the child
and cause very serious injuries.
Children Should Sit in the
Back Seat
According to accident statistics,
children of all ages and sizes are
safer when they are restrained in
the back seat, not the front seat.
The National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration
recommends that all children ages
12 and under be properly
restrained in the back seat.
In the back seat, children are less
likely to be injured by striking
hard interior parts during a
collision or hard braking. Also,
children cannot be injured by an
inflating airbag when they ride in
the back.
The Passenger ’s Airbag
Poses Serious Risks to
Children
Airbags have been designed to
help protect adults in a moderate
to severe frontal collision. To do
this, the passenger ’s airbag is
quite large, and it inflates with
tremendous speed.
Infants
Never put a rear-facing child
seat in the front seat of a vehicle
equipped with a passenger ’s
airbag. If the airbag inflates, it
can hit the back of the child seat
with enough force to kill or very
seriously injure an infant.

Driver and Passenger Safety20
Small Children
Placing a forward-facing child
seat in the front seat of a vehicle
equipped with a passenger’s
airbag can be hazardous. If the
vehicle seat is too far forward, or
the child’ s head is thrown forward
during a collision, an inflating
airbag can strike the child with
enough force to kill or very
seriously injure a small child.
Larger Children
Children who have outgrown
child seats are also at risk of
being injured or killed by an
inflating passenger ’s airbag.
Whenever possible, larger
children should sit in the back
seat, properly restrained with a
seat belt. (See page 34 for
important information about
protecting larger children.) To remind you of the passenger
’s
airbag hazards, and that children
must be properly restrained in the
back seat, your vehicle has
warning labels on the dashboard,
and on the driver ’s and front
passenger ’ s visors. Please read
and follow the instructions on
these labels.If You Must Drive With
Several Children
Your vehicle has three seating
positions in the back seat where
children can be properly
restrained.
If you ever have to carry more
than three children in your
vehicle:
•Place the largest child in the
front seat, provided the child is
large enough to wear a seat belt
properly (see page 34).
•Move the vehicle seat as far to
the rear as possible (see page
10).
•Have the child sit upright and
well back in the seat (see page
16).
•Make sure the seat belt is
properly positioned and
secured (see page 13).

Driver and Passenger Safety23
Due to variations in the design of
child seats, vehicle seats, and seat
belts, all child seats will not fit all
vehicle 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.

Driver and Passenger Safety24
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.
Airbags Pose Serious
Risks to Children
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 far
forward, 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. Front Passenger’s Seat
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 the
seat belt (see page 31).
Back Seats
Infants: Recommended positions.
Properly secure a rear-facing child
seat (see page 27).
Small children: Recommended
positions. Properly secure a
front-facing child seat (see page
31).

Driver and Passenger Safety 25
Installing a Child Seat
After selecting a proper child seat,
and a good position to install the
seat, there are three main steps to
installing the seat:
1. Properly secure the child seat
to the vehicle. All child seats
are designed to be secured to
the vehicle with the lap part of
a lap/shoulder belt. Some
child seats can be secured to
the vehicle’s LATCH
anchorage system instead. A
child whose seat is not
properly secured to the vehicle
can be endangered in a crash.
See pages 34, 38, and 39 for
instructions on how to
properly 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.

Driver and Passenger Safety 27
Rear-Facing Child Seat
Placement
In this vehicle, a rear-facing child
seat 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 seriously
injure 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. 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.
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 30 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 31.