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Lap-Shoulder Belt
Here’s how to wear a lap-shoulder belt properly.
1. Pick up the latch plate and pull the belt across you.
Don’t let it get twisted.
2. Push the latch plate into the buckle until it clicks.
Pull up on the latch plate
to make sure it is secure. When
the shoulder belt is pulled out all the way,
it will lock. If it does, let it go back all the way and
start again.
If the belt is not long enough, see Safety Belt
Extender on page
1-47.
Make sure the release button on the buckle is
positioned
so you would be able to unbuckle the
safety belt quickly
if you ever had to.
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3. To make the lap part tight, pull down on the buckle
end of the belt as you pull up on the shoulder part. The lap part
of the belt should be worn low and snug on
the hips, just touching the thighs. In a crash, this
applies force to the strong pelvic bones. And you'd be
less likely
to slide under the lap belt. If you slid under it,
the belt would apply force at your abdomen. This
could cause serious or even fatal injuries. The shoulder
belt should
go over the shoulder and across the
chest. These parts of the body are best able
to take belt
restraining forces.
The safety belt locks
if there's a s -'den stop or a crash.
You can be seriously hurt if your shoulder belt
is too loose. In a crash, you would move
forward too much, which could increase injury.
The shoulder belt should fit against your body.
I I
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Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for
Children and Small Adults
Your vehicle may have this feature already. If it doesn’t
you can get it from any
GM dealer.
Rear shoulder belt comfort guides will provide added
safety belt comfort for older children who have outgrown
booster seats and for small adults. When installed on
a shoulder belt, the comfort guide better positions
the belt away from the neck and head.
There
is one guide available for each outside passeger
position in the rear seats. Here’s how
to install a
comfort guide and use the safety belt:
To unlatch the belt, just push the button on the buckle.
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Second Row Seat
1. For the second row, remove the guide from its
storage clip on the trim panel near the side of
the seatback.
Third Row Seat
For the third row, remove the guide from its storage
clip on the side of the seatback.
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3. Be sure that the belt is not twisted and it lies flat.
The guide must be on top
of the belt.
2. Place the guide over the belt and insert the two
edges
of the belt into the slots of the guide.
Second Row Seat
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Safety Belt Extender
If the vehicle’s safety belt will fasten around you, you
should use it.
But if a safety belt isn’t long enough to fasten, your
dealer will order you an extender.
It’s free. When you go
in to order it, take the heaviest coat you will wear,
so
the extender will be long enough for you. The extender
will be just for you, and
just for the seat in your
vehicle that you choose. Don’t let someone else use
it,
and use it only for the seat it is made to fit. To wear
it, just attach it
to the regular safety belt.
Third
Row Seat
4. Buckle, position and release the safety belt as
described in Rear Seat Passengers
on page 1-41.
Make sure that the shoulder belt crosses the
shoulder.
To remove and store the comfort guides, squeeze the
belt edges together
so that you can take them out of the
guides.
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Child Restraints
Older Children
Older children who have outgrown booster seats should
wear the vehicle’s safety belts.
Q: What is the proper way to wear safety belts?
A: If possible, an older child should wear a
lap-shoulder belt and get the additional restraint a
shoulder belt can provide. The shoulder belt
should not cross the face or neck. The lap belt
should fit snugly below the hips, just touching the
top
of the thighs. It should never be worn over
the abdomen, which could cause severe or even
fatal internal injuries in a crash.
Accident statistics show that children are safer
if they
are restrained in the rear seat.
In a crash, children who are not buckled up can strike
other people who are buckled up, or can be thrown
out of the vehicle. Older children need to use safety
belts properly.
If you have the choice, a child should sit in a seat that
has
a lap-shoulder belt to get the additional restraint
a shoulder belt can provide.
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Never do this.
Here two children are wearing the same belt.
The belt can’t properly spread the impact forces.
In a crash, the two children can be
crushed together and seriously injured.
A belt
must be used by only one person at a time.
Q: What if a child is wearing a lap-shoulder belt,
but the child
is so small that the shoulder belt
is very close to the child’s face or neck?
A: If the child is sitting in a rear seat outside position,
move the child toward the center
of the vehicle.
See Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for Children
and Small Adults
on page 1-44. If the child is
sitting in the center position, move the child toward
the safety belt buckle. In either case, be sure
that the shoulder belt still
is on the child’s shoulder,
so that in a crash the child’s upper body would
have the restraint that belts provide.
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