2004 CHEVROLET ASTRO CARGO VAN Owners Manual

{CAUTION:
A child in a rear-facing child restraint can
be seriously injured or killed if the front
passenger’s air bag inates. This is because
the back of the rear-facing child restraint
would be very close to the inating air bag.
If your vehicle is a passenger van, always
secure a rear-facing child restraint in a rear
seat. If your vehicle is a cargo van, do not
use a rear-facing child restraint in this vehicle.
If you secure a forward-facing child restraint
in the right front seat, always move the
passenger seat as far back as it will go.
A rear seat is a safer place to secure a forward-facing
child restraint.If you need to secure a forward-facing child restraint in
the right front seat, you will be using the lap-shoulder
belt to secure the child restraint in this position. 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
air bag, always move the seat as far back as it will
go before securing a forward-facing child restraint.
SeeManual Seats on page 1-3.
2. Put the child restraint on the seat.
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.
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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 belt all the way out of the
retractor to set the lock.
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6. To tighten the belt, push down on the child restraint,
pull the shoulder portion of the belt to tighten the
lap portion of the belt and feed the shoulder
belt back into the retractor. You may nd 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 System
This part explains the air bag system.
Your vehicle has air bags – one air bag for the driver
and another air bag for the right front passenger.
Frontal air bags are designed to help reduce the risk of
injury from the force of an inating air bag. But these
air bags must inate very quickly to do their job
and comply with federal regulations.
Here are the most important things to know about the
air bag system:
{CAUTION:
You can be severely injured or killed in a crash
if you are not wearing your safety belt — even
if you have air bags. Wearing your safety
belt 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 do not replace them.
Air bags are designed to deploy only in
moderate to severe frontal and near frontal
CAUTION: (Continued)
CAUTION: (Continued)
crashes. They are not designed to inate in
rollover, rear or low-speed frontal crashes,
or in many side crashes. And, for some
unrestrained occupants, air bags may provide
less protection in frontal crashes than more
forceful air bags have provided in the past.
Everyone in your vehicle should wear a safety
belt properly — whether or not there is an
air bag for that person.
{CAUTION:
Air bags inate with great force, faster than
the blink of an eye. If you’re too close to an
inating air bag, as you would be if you were
leaning forward, it could seriously injure you.
Safety belts help keep you in position before
and during a crash. Always wear your safety
belt, even with air bags. The driver should sit
as far back as possible while still maintaining
control of the vehicle.
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{CAUTION:
Anyone who is up against, or very close to,
any air bag when it inates can be seriously
injured or killed. Air bags plus lap-shoulder
belts offer the best protection for adults, but
not for young children and infants. Neither the
vehicle’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,
seeOlder Children on page 1-35andInfants
and Young Children on page 1-38.There is an air bag readiness light on the instrument
panel, which shows AIR BAG or the air bag symbol.
The system checks the air bag electrical system
for malfunctions. The light tells you if there is an
electrical problem. SeeAir Bag Readiness Light on
page 3-25for more information. United States
Canada
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Where Are the Air Bags?
The driver’s air bag is in the middle of the
steering wheel.The right front passenger’s air bag is in the instrument
panel on the passenger’s side.
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{CAUTION:
If something is between an occupant and an
air bag, the bag might not inate properly or
it might force the object into that person
causing severe injury or even death. The path
of an inating 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.
When Should an Air Bag Inate?
An air bag is designed to inate in a moderate to severe
frontal, or near-frontal crash. The air bag will inate
only if the impact speed is above the system’s designed
“threshold level”. If your vehicle goes straight into a
wall that doesn’t move or deform, the threshold level is
about 9 to 16 mph (14 to 26 mph/h). The threshold
level can vary, however, with specic 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 air bag is not designed to inate in
rollovers, rear impacts, or in many side impacts because
ination would not help the occupant.
In any particular crash, no one can say whether an air
bag should have inated simply because of the damage
to a vehicle or because of what the repair costs were.
Ination is determined by the angle of the impact
and how quickly the vehicle slows down in frontal or
near-frontal impacts.
What Makes an Air Bag Inate?
In an impact of sufficient severity, the air bag sensing
system detects that the vehicle is in a crash. The
sensing system triggers a release of gas from the
inator, which inates the air bag. The inator, air bag,
and related hardware are all part of the air bag
modules inside the steering wheel and in the instrument
panel in front of the right front passenger.
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How Does an Air Bag Restrain?
In moderate to severe frontal or near-frontal collisions,
even belted occupants can contact the steering wheel
or the instrument panel. Air bags supplement the
protection provided by safety belts. Air bags distribute
the force of the impact more evenly over the occupant’s
upper body, stopping the occupant more gradually.
But air bags would not help you in many types of
collisions, including rollovers, rear impacts and many
side impacts, primarily because an occupant’s motion is
not toward those air bags. Air bags should never be
regarded as anything more than a supplement to safety
belts, and then only in moderate to severe frontal or
near-frontal collisions.
What Will You See After an Air Bag
Inates?
After an air bag inates, it quickly deates, so quickly that
some people may not even realize the air bag inated.
Some components of the air bag module — the steering
wheel hub for the driver’s air bag, or the instrument
panel for the right front passenger’s bag — will be hot
for a short time. The parts of the bag that come into
contact with you may be warm, but not too hot to touch.There will be some smoke and dust coming from the
vents in the deated air bags. Air bag ination doesn’t
prevent the driver from seeing or being able to steer the
vehicle, nor does it stop people from leaving the vehicle.
{CAUTION:
When an air bag inates, there is dust in the
air. This dust could cause breathing problems
for people with a history of asthma or other
breathing trouble. To avoid this, everyone in
the vehicle should get out as soon as it is safe
to do so. If you have breathing problems but
can not get out of the vehicle after an air bag
inates, then get fresh air by opening a
window or a door. If you experience breathing
problems following an air bag deployment,
you should seek medical attention.
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