2003 OLDSMOBILE SILHOUETTE Owners Manual

Securing a Child Restraint in the
Right Front Seat Position
n
Your vehicle has a front passenger air bag. Never put a
rear facing child restraint in this seat. Here’s why:
A cl ...- .. t a rear-facing child restraint can
be seriously injured or killed if the 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.
Always secure a rear-facing child restraint in
a rear seat.
Although a rear seat is a safer place, you can secure a
forward-facing child restraint in the right front seat.
You’ll be using the lap-shoulder belt. See the earlier part
about the
top strap 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. Because your vehicle has a right front passenger’s
air bag, always move the seat as far back as it will
go before securing a forward-facing child restraint.
See
Manual Seats on page 1-2.
2. Put the restraint on the seat.
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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.
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.
5. Pull the rest of the lap belt all the way out of the
retractor to set the lock.
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6. To tighten the belt, feed the shoulder belt back into
the retractor while you push down on the child
restraint. You
may find it helpful to use your knee
to push down on the child restraint as you
tighten the belt.
7. Push and pull the child restraint in different
directions to be sure it is secure.
To remove the child restraint, just unbuckle the vehicle’s
safety belt
and let it go back all the way. The safety
belt will move freely again and be ready to work for an
adult or larger child passenger.
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Air Bag Systems
This part explains the frontal and side impact air bag
systems.
Your vehicle has four air bags
- a frontal air bag for
the driver, another frontal air bag for the right front
passenger, a side impact air bag for the driver, and
another side impact 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
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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.
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Frontal air L-JS for the driver an-. :ight front
passenger are designed to deploy only in
moderate to severe 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, frontal air bags may
provide less protection in frontal crashes
than more forceful air bags have provided
in the past.
The side impact air bags for the driver and right front passenger are designed to inflate
only in moderate to severe crashes where
something hits the side of your vehicle.
They aren’t designed to inflate in frontal, in rollover or
in rear crashes.
Everyone in your vehicle should wear a safety
belt properly
- whether or not there’s an
air bag for that person.
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A CAUTION:
~~
Both frontal and side impact air bags inflate
with great force, faster than the blink of an eye.
If you’re too close to an inflating air bag, as you
would be
if you were leaning forward, it could
seriously injure you. Safety belts help keep you
in position for air bag inflation before and
during a crash. Always wear your safety belt,
even with frontal air bags. The driver
should sit
as far back as possible while still maintaining
control of the vehicle. Front occupants should
not lean on or sleep against the door.
nm.yone who
is up against, or very close to,
any air bag when
it inflates can be seriously
injured or killed. Air bags
plus lap-shoulder
belts offer the best protection for adults,
but
CAUTION: (Continued) not for young
-..ildl-.J and infants. ..,ither
thevehicle’s safety belt system nor its air bag
system
is designed for them. Young children
and infants need the protection that a child
restraint system can provide. Always secure
children properly
in your vehicle. To read how,
see the part of this manual called “Older
Children” or “Infants and Young Children”.
There is a air bag
readiness light on the
instrument panel cluster,
which shows the air
bag symbol.
- ~~
The system checks the air bag electrical system for
malfunctions. The light tells you
if there is an electrical
problem. See
Air Bag Readiness Light on page 3-43
for more information.
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Where Are the Air Bags?
The driver's frontal air bag is in the middle of the e*--":.-- ..*L--l 3lCCl II IY VVI IGGI.
The right front passenger's frontal air bag is in the
instrument panel on the passenger's side.
The driver's side impact air bag is
in the side of the
driver's seatback closest
to the door.
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If something is between an occupant and an
air bag, the bag might not inflate properly or
it
might force the object into that person causing
severe injury or even death. The path of an
inflating air bag must be kept clear. Don’t put
anything between an occupant and an air bag,
and don’t attach or put anything on the
steering wheel hub or on or near any other air
bag covering. Don’t let seat covers block the
inflation path
of a side impact air bag.
The right front passenger’s side impact air bag is in the
side
of the passenger’s seatback closest to the door.
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When Should an Air Bag Inflate?
The driver’s and right front passenger’s frontal air bags
are designed to inflate
in moderate to severe frontal
or near-frontal crashes. But they are designed to inflate
only
if the impact speed is above the system’s
designed “threshold level.”
In addition, your vehicle has “dual stage” frontal air
bags, which adjust the amount
of restraint according
to crash severity. For moderate frontal impacts, these
air bags inflate at a level less than full deployment.
For more severe frontal impacts, full deployment occurs.
If the front of your vehicle goes straight into a wall
that doesn’t move or deform, the threshold level
for the reduced deployment is about 12 to 18 mph
(19 to 29 km/h), and the threshold level for a full
deployment is about 18 to
24 mph (29 to 38.5 km/h).
The threshold level can vary, however, with specific
vehicle design,
so that it can be somewhat above
or below this range.
If your vehicle strikes something that will move or
deform, such as a parked car, the threshold level will be
higher. The driver’s and right front passenger’s frontal
air bags are not designed to inflate in rollovers, rear impacts, or in many side impacts because inflation
would not help the occupant.
The side impact air bags are designed to inflate in
moderate to severe side crashes.
A side impact air bag
will inflate
if the crash severity is above the system’s
designed “threshold level.” The threshold level can vary
with specific vehicle design. Side impact air bags are
not designed to inflate in frontal or near-frontal impacts,
rollovers or rear impacts, because inflation would not
help the occupant.
A side impact air bag will only deploy
on the side
of the vehicle that is struck.
In any particular crash, no one can say whether an air
bag should have inflated simply because of the damage
to a vehicle or because of what the repair costs were.
For frontal air bags, inflation is determined by the angle
of the impact and how quickly the vehicle slows down
in frontal and near-frontal impacts. For side impact
and severity of the impact.
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