2003 PONTIAC GRAND AM Owners Manual

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 sudden stop or a crash,
or if you pull the belt very quickly out of the retractor.
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.
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Center Rear Passenger Position
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To unlatch the belt, just push the button on the buckle.
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Lap Belt
When you sit in the center seating position, you have a
lap safety belt, which has no retractor.
To make the
belt longer, tilt the latch plate and pull it along the belt.
To make the belt shorter, pull its free end as shown
until the belt is snug.
Buckle, position and release it the same way as the lap
part of a lap-shoulder belt.
If the belt isn’t long
enough, see
Safety Belt Extender on page 1-31.
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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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 passenger
position in the rear seat. To provide added safety belt
comfort for children who have outgrown child restraints
and booster seats and for smaller adults, the comfort
guides may be installed on the shoulder belts. Here’s
how to install a comfort guide and use the safety belt:
1. Pull the elastic cord out from between the edge of
the seatback and the interior body to remove the
guide from its storage clip.
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2. Slide the guide under and past the belt. The elastic
cord must be under the belt. Then, place the guide
over the belt, and insert the
two edges of the
belt into the
slots of the guide.
3. Be sure that the belt is not twisted and it lies flat.
The elastic cord must be under the belt and the
guide
on top.
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4. Buckle, position and release the safety belt as
described in
Rear Seat Passengers on page 1-23.
Make sure that the shoulder belt crosses the
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To remove and store the comfort guides, squeeze the
belt edges together
so that you can take them out of the
guides. Pull the guide upward to expose its storage
clip, and then slide the guide onto the clip. Turn
the guide and clip inward and in between the seatback
and the interior body, leaving only the loop of the
elastic cord exposed.
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.
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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 next to a
window
so the child can wear a lap-shoulder belt and
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: Move the child toward the center of the vehicle, but
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.
If the child is sitting in a rear seat outside position,
see “Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides” in
the Index.
If the child is
so small that the shoulder belt is still
very close to the child’s face or neck, you might
want to place the child in the center seat position,
the one that has only a lap belt.
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