2003 SUBARU IMPREZA Owners Manual

Seat, seatbelt and SRS airbags
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WARNING
Children should be properly restrained at all times. Never allow a child to stand up, or tokneel on any seat. Unrestrained children willbe thrown forward during sudden stop or in
an accident and can be injured seriously.
Additionally, children standing up or kneeling on or in front of the front seat are exposed
another serious danger. Since the SRS airbag
deploys with considerable speed and force,the child could be injured or even killed.
WARNING
Put children aged 12 and under in the rear seat properly restrained at all times. The SRSairbag deploys with considerable speed andforce and can injure or even kill children, es-
pecially if they are 12 years of age and under and are not restrained or improperly re-strained. Because children are lighter and
weaker than adults, their risk of being injured
from deployment is greater.
For that reason, be sure to secure ALL types of child restraint devices (including forward
facing child seats) in the REAR seats at all
times. You should choose a restraint devicewhich is appropriate for the child’s age, height
and weight. According to accident statistics,children are safer when properly restrained in the rear seating positions than in the front seating positions.

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WARNING
SINCE YOUR VEHICLE IS EQUIPPED WITH A
PASSENGER’ S SRS AIRBAG, NEVER
INSTALL A REARWARD FACING CHILD SAFE-
TY SEAT IN THE FRONT PASSENGER ’S SEAT.
DOING SO RISKS SERIOUS INJURY OR
DEATH TO THE CHILD BY PLACING THE
CHILD’ S HEAD TOO CLOSE TO THE SRS AIR-
BAG.
WARNING
Child restraint systems and seatbelts can
become hot in a vehicle that has been closed up in sunny weather; they could burn a smallchild. 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 insideof the vehicle in a sudden stop, turn or acci-
dent; it can strike and injure vehicle occu- pants as well as result in serious injuries or death to the child.

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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- ing Retractor (ELR) to the Automatic Locking Re-
tractor (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 asALR.
6. Before having a child sit in the child restraint sys-
tem, move it back and forth to check if it is firmly
secured. 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 function- ing).

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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
release button on the seatbelt buckle and allow the
belt to retract completely. The belt will return to theELR 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 allow-
ing the seatbelt to retract fully.
WARNING
When you install a child restraint system, fol- low the manufacturer
’s instructions supplied
with it. After installing the child restraint sys-tem, check to ensure that it is held securely in
position. If it is not held tight and secure, the
danger of your child suffering personal injury in the event of an accident may be increased.

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Installation of child restraint systems by use of lower and tether anchor-ages
Some types of child restraint systems can be
installed on the rear seat of your vehicle without use
of the seatbelts. Such child restraint systems are se-
cured to the designated anchorages provided on
the vehicle body. Your vehicle is equipped with four lower anchorages
(bars) and three upper anchorages (tether anchor-
ages) for accommodating such child restraint sys-tems.The lower anchorages (bars) are used for installing
a child restraint system only on the rear seat win- dow-side seating positions. For each window-side
seating position, two lower anchorages are pro-vided.

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The tether anchorages (upper anchorages) are pro- vided for all the seating positions (middle and both
window-side ones) of the rear seat.You will find marks “” at the bottom of the rear
seat seatbacks. These marks indicate the positions of the lower anchorages (bars).

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Each lower anchorage is located where the seat
cushion meets the seatback.
1. Use the “
” marks to locate the two lower an-
chorages (bars) for the position where you want to
install the child restraint system.
2. While following the instructions supplied by the
child restraint system manufacturer, connect the
connectors of the child restraint system to the lower anchorages.
When the connectors are fastened, make sure that
the adjacent seatbelts are not caught.
If your child restraint system is of a flexible attach-
ment type (which uses tether straps to connect the
child restraint system proper to the lower anchor- ages), firmly tighten the straps after connecting theconnectors.
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 sys-
tem, 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.
WARNING
When you install a child restraint system, fol- low the manufacturer ’s instructions supplied
with it. After installing the child restraint sys-tem, check to ensure that it is held securely in
position. If it is not held tight and secure, the
danger of your child suffering personal injuryin the event of an accident may be increased.

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Top tether anchorages
Anchorage location
1) For left seat
2) For center seat
3) For right seat
Sedan : Three anchorages are installed on the rear
shelf.
1) For left seat
2) For center seat
3) For right seat
Wagon: There is an anchorage for the center seat-
ing position at the rear end of the ceiling, and