2003 GMC SIERRA DENALI Owners Manual

5. To tighten the belt, pull its free end while you push
down on the child restraint as you tighten the belt.
directions to be sure it is secure.
6. Push and pull the child restraint in different
To remove the child restraint, just unbuckle the vehicle’s
safety belt. It will be ready to work for an adult or
larger child passenger. Your
vehicle has a right front passenger air bag.
There’s a switch on the instrument panel that you can
use to turn
off the right front passenger’s air bag
when you need to secure a rear-facing child restraint at
the right front passenger’s position. See the following
illustration. Your switch may vary slightly. See
Air
Bag
Off Switch on page 1-64 for more on this, including
important safety information.
Securing a Child Restraint in the
Right Front Seat Position
If your child restraint is equipped with the LATCH
system, see Lower Anchorages and Top Tethers for
Children (LATCH System) on page
1-43.
1-50

Never put a rear facing child restraint in the right front
passenger seat unless the air bag is
off. Here’s why:
A child in a rear-facing child restraint ca
seriously injured or killed if the right front passenger’s air bag inflates. This is because
the back of the rear-facing child restraint
would be very close to the inflating air bag. Be
sure to turn
off the air bag before using a
rear-facing child restraint
in the right front seat
position. If a forward-facing child restraint
is
suitable for your child, always move the passenger seat as far back as
it will go.
A rear seat is a safer place to secure a forward-facing
child restraint. If you need to secure a forward-facing
child restraint in the right front seat position, see
Where
to Put the Restraint
on page 1-38
If the air bag readiness light in the instrument
panel cluster ever comes on when you have
turned
off the air bag, it means that something
may be wrong with the air bag system. The
right front passenger’s air bag could inflate
even though the switch
is off. If this ever
happens, have the vehicle serviced promptly.
Until you have the vehicle serviced, don’t let
anyone whom the national government has identified as a member of a passenger air bag
risk group
sit in the right front passenger’s
position (for example, don’t secure a
rear-facing child restraint
in your vehicle). See
”Air Bag Off Switch’’
in the Index.
In addition to the
AIR BAG OFF switch, your vehicle
may have the passenger sensing system. See
Passenger Sensing System on page 1-68 and
Passenger Air Bag Status Indicator on page 3-30 for
more on this, including important safety information.
1-51

The passenger sensing system is designed to turn off
the right front passenger’s frontal air bag when a
rear facing child restraint is in the right front seat. In
addition to the passenger sensing system, you may use
the AIR BAG
OFF switch located on the instrument
panel to turn the air bag
off. Never put a rear facing child
restraint in the right front passenger seat unless the
air bag is
off. Here’s why:
A child in a rear-facing child restraint can be
seriously injured or killed if the right front
passenger’s air bag inflates. This is because
the back of the rear facing child restraint
would be very close to the inflating air bag. Be
sure the air bag
is off before using a
rear-facing child restraint
in the right front seat
position.
CAUTION: (Continued)
’ Even though the passenger sensing system is
~ designed to turn off the passenger’s frontal air
~ bag if the system detects a rear-facing child
restraint, no system is fail-safe, and no one
can guarantee that an air bag
will not deploy
under some unusual circumstance, even
though
it is turned off. General Motors
therefore recommends that rear-facing child restraints be secured in the rear seat whenever
possible, even if the air bag is
off.
You’ll be using the lap-shoulder belt. See Top Strap on
page
1-40 if the child restraint has one. Be sure to
follow the instructions that came with the child restraint.
Secure the child in the child restraint when and as
the instructions say.
1. Your vehicle has a right front passenger’s air bag. If
you are using a rear-facing child restraint in this seat,
make sure the air bag is turned
off. See Air Bag Off
Switch on page 1-64 and Passenger Sensing
System
on page 1-68. Always move the seat as far
back as it will
go before securing the child restraint in
this seat. See ‘Seats” in the Index.
1-52

When either the passenger sensing system and/or
the AIR BAG
OFF switch has turned off the
right front passenger’s frontal air bag, the
off
indicator in the passenger air bag status indicator
on the rearview mirror will light and stay lit
when
y-” turn the ignition to RUN or START.
2. Put the restraint on the seat.
3. Pick up the latch plate, and run the lap and shoulder
portions
of the vehicle’s safety belt through or
around the restraint. The child restraint instructions
will show you how.
If the air bag readiness light
in the instrument
panel cluster ever comes
on when you have
turned
off the air bag, it means that something
may be wrong with the air bag system. The
right front passenger’s air bag could inflate
even though the switch
is off. If this ever
happens, have the vehicle serviced promptly.
Until
you have the vehicle serviced, don’t let
anyone whom the national government has identified as a member of a passenger air bag
risk group sit in the right front passenger’s
position (for example, don’t secure a
rear-facing child restraint
in your vehicle). See
”Air Bag
Off Switch” in the Index. 4. Buckle the belt. Make sure the release button is
positioned
so you would be able to unbuckle the
safety belt quickly
if you ever had to.
1-53

5. Pull the rest of the shoulder belt all the way out of
the retractor to set the lock. 6.
7.
To tighten the
belt, feed the shoulder belt back into
the retractor while you push down on the child
restraint.
If you’re using a forward-facing child
restraint, you may find it helpful to use your knee to
push down on the child restraint as you tighten the
belt. You should not be able to pull more of the belt
out of the retractor once the lock has been set.
Push and pull the child restraint in different
directions to be sure it is secure.
1-54

if your vehicle has the passenger sensing system and
you’re using a rear-facing child restraint in this seat,
check to be sure the right front passenger’s frontal air
bag is
off before you begin to drive. If the air bag
has been turned
off, the off indicator wiii iight and stay
lit in the rearview mirror.
If the on indicator is lit, the passenger’s frontal air bag
has not been turned
off by the passenger sensing
system. If this ever happens, turn the vehicle
off,
unbuckle the safety belt and perform the steps to install
the rear-facing restraint again. After restarting the
vehicle,
if the air bag still doesn’t turn off, install the
infant restraint in a rear seat position of the vehicle or
check to make sure the AIR
BAG OFF switch has been
turned to
off. See Air Bag Off Switch on page 1-64
and Passenger Sensing System on page 1-68.
If the air bag ON indicator comes on when you
have a rear-facing child restraint installed in
the right front passenger’s seat, it means that
the passenger sensing system has not turned
off the passenger’s frontal air bag. A child in a
rear-facing child restraint can be seriously
injured or killed if the right front passenger’s
air bag inflates. This
is because the back of
the rear-facing child restraint would be very close to the inflating air bag. Don’t use a
rear-facing child restraint
in the right front
passenger’s seat unless the air bag
is off.
To remove the child restraint, just unbuckle the vehicle’s
safety belt and let it go back all the way. The safety
belt will remove freely again and be ready to work for an
adult or larger child passenger.
1-55

If you were using a rear-facing child restraint and had
turned the air bag
off with the switch, remember to turn
on the right front passenger’s air bag when
you
remove the rear-facing child restraint from the vehicle
unless the person who will be sitting there is
a member
of
a passenger air bag risk group. See Air Bag Off
Switch on page 1-64.
If the r - ror ,)asse _er’s a lag is turned
off for a person who isn’t in a risk group
identified by the national government, that
person won’t have the extra protection
of an
air bag. In a crash, the air bag wouldn’t be able
to inflate and help protect the person sitting
there. Don’t turn
off the passenger’s air bag
unless the person sitting there is in a risk
group. See “Air Bag
Off Switch” in the Index.
1-56

Air Bag Systems
This part explains the air bag system.
Your vehicle has air bags
- one air bag for the driver
and another air bag for the right front passenger.
Frontal air bags are designed
to help reduce the risk of
injury from the force of an inflating frontal air bag.
But these air bags must inflate very quickly to do their
job and comply with federal regulations.
Here are the most important things to know about the
air bag systems:
You can be severely injured or killed in a crash
if you aren’t wearing your safety belt
- even if
you have air bags. Wearing your safety belt
during a crash helps reduce your chance of hitting things inside the vehicle or being
ejected from
it. Air bags are designed to work
with safety belts, but don’t replace them. Air
bags are designed to deploy only in moderate
CAUTION: (Continued) to
sei ‘e frontal and near frontal crashes.
They aren’t designed to inflate at all
in rollover,
rear or low-speed frontal crashes, or
in many
side crashes. And, for some unrestrained
occupants, air bags may provide less protection
in frontal crashes than more
forceful air bags have provided in the past.
Everyone
in your vehicle should wear a safety
belt properly
- whether or not there’s an air
bag for that person.
1-57