2003 SUBARU FORESTER child restraint

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come hot in a vehicle that has been closed up
in sunny weather; they could burn a small child.
Check the child restraint system before you
place a child in it. Do not leave an unsecured child restraint
system in your vehicle. Unsecured child re-
straint systems can be thrown around inside of
the vehicle in a sudden stop, turn or accident; it
can strike and injure vehicle occupants as well
as result in serious injuries or death to the
child.
Installing child restraint systems with
seatbelt
1. Set the child restraint system in the seating posi-
tion.
2. Run the lap and shoulder belt through or around
the child restraint system following the instructions
provided by its manufacturer. If the shoulder belt goes
in front of the child’s face or neck, put it behind the
child restraint system.
3. Insert the tongue plate into the buckle.
4. Take up the slack in the lap belt.
5. Pull out the seatbelt fully from the retractor to
change the retractor over from the Emergency Lock-
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Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags
ing Retractor (ELR) to the Automatic Locking Retrac-
tor (ALR) function. Then, allow the belt to rewind into
the retractor. As the belt is rewinding, clicks will be
heard which indicate the retractor functions as ALR.
6. Before having a child sit in the child restraint sys-
tem, move it back and forth to check if it is firmly se-
cured. Sometimes a child restraint can be more firmly
secured by pushing it down into the seat cushion and
then tightening the seatbelt.
7. Pull at the shoulder portion of the belt to confirm
that it cannot be pulled out (ALR properly functioning).
If the child restraint system requires a top tether, latch
the hook onto the top tether anchor and tighten the top
tether. See the “Top tether anchorages” for additional
instructions.
8. To remove the child restraint system, press the re-
lease button on the seatbelt buckle and allow the belt
to retract completely. The belt will return to the ELR mode.
If you have any question concerning this type of child
restraint system, ask your SUBARU dealer.
NOTE
When the child restraint system is no longer in
use, remove it and restore the ELR function of the
retractor. That function is restored by allowing the
seatbelt to retract fully.
When you install a child restraint system, fol-
low the manufacturer

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Installation of child restraint systems
by use of lower and tether anchorages
Some types of child restraint systems can be installed
on the rear seat of your vehicle without use of the seat-
belts. Such child restraint systems are secured to the
designated anchorages provided on the vehicle body.
Your vehicle is equipped with four lower anchorages
(bars) and three upper anchorages (tether anchorag-
es) for accommodating such child restraint systems. The lower anchorages (bars) are used for installing a
child restraint system only on the rear seat window-
side seating positions. For each window-side seating
position, two lower anchorages are provided.
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Each lower anchorage is located where the seat cush-
ion meets the seatback.
1. Use the “ ” marks to locate the two lower an-
chorages (bars) for the position where you want to in-
stall the child restraint system.
2. While following the instructions supplied by the
child restraint system manufacturer, connect the con-
nectors of the child restraint system to the lower an-
chorages.
When the connectors are fastened, make sure that the
adjacent seatbelts are not caught.
If your child restraint system is of a flexible attachment
type (which uses tether straps to connect the child re- straint system proper to the lower anchorages), firmly
tighten the straps after connecting the connectors.
3. Connect the top tether hook to the tether anchor-
age and firmly tighten the tether.
For information on how to set the top tether, read the
following “Top tether anchorages”.
4. Before seating a child in the child restraint system,
try to move seat back and forth to verify that it is held
securely in position.
If you have any question concerning this type of child
restraint system, ask your SUBARU dealer.
When you install a child restraint system, fol-
low the manufacturer

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Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags

Top tether anchorages
Anchorage location
1) For left seat
2) For center seat 3) For right seat
Three anchorages, i.e., ones for the right, center and
left positions, are already installed on the rear edge of
the roof. Open the cover flaps to use the anchorages. To hook the top tether
1. Remove the rear seat headrest at the seating posi-
tion where the child restraint system has been in-
stalled with the seatbelt or lower anchorages; lift up
the headrest while pressing the release button. Store
the headrest in the cargo area. Avoid placing the
headrest in the passenger compartment to prevent it
from being thrown around in the passenger compart-
ment in a sudden stop or a sharp turn.
3
2
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F: Front of vehicle
1) Top tether hook
2) Upper anchorage
2. Fasten the top tether hook of the child restraint sys-
tem to the appropriate upper anchorage.
3. Tighten the top tether securely.
Always remove the headrest when mounting a
child restraint system with a top tether. Other-
wise, it may not be possible to fasten the top
tether tightly. *SRS airbag (Supplemental Restraint
System airbag)
*SRS: This stands for supplemental restraint system.
This name is used because the airbag system supple-
ments the vehicle’s seatbelts.
Vehicle with driver

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Put children aged 12 and under in the rear
seat properly restrained at all times. The SRS
airbag deploys with considerable speed and
force and can injure or even kill children, espe-
cially if they are 12 years of age and under and
are not restrained or improperly restrained. Be-
cause children are lighter and weaker than
adults, their risk of being injured from deploy-
ment is greater.
For that reason, we strongly recommend that
ALL children (including those in child seats and
those that have outgrown child restraint devic- es) sit in the REAR seat properly restrained at
all times in a child restraint device or in a seat-
belt, whichever is appropriate for the child

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Keys and doors
NOTE
Make sure that you do not leave the key inside the
vehicle when locking th
e doors from the outside
without the key. Locking and unlocking from the inside
1) Lock
2) Unlock
To lock the door from the inside, rotate the lock lever
rearward. To unlock the door from the inside, rotate
the lock lever forward.
The red mark on the lock lever appears when the door is unlocked.
Pull the inside door handle to open an unlocked door.
Always make sure that all doors and the rear gate are
closed before starting to drive.
Keep all doors locked when you drive, especial-
ly when small children are in your vehicle.
Along with the proper use of seat belts and
child restraints, locking the doors reduces the
chance of being thrown out of the vehicle in an
accident.
It also helps prevent passengers from falling
out if a door is accidentally opened, and intrud-
ers from unexpectedly opening doors and en-
tering your vehicle.
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