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Lower Anchorages and Top Tethers
for Children (LATCH System)
Your vehicle is equipped with the LATCH system.
It is located in the passenger seat.
This system, designed to make installation of child
restraints easier, does not use the vehicle’s safety belts.
Instead, it uses vehicle anchors and child restraint
attachments to secure the restraints. Some restraints
also use another vehicle anchor to secure a top
tether strap.
A. Lower Anchorage
B. Lower Anchorage
C. Top Tether
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A. Lower Anchorage
B. Lower Anchorage
In order to use the LATCH system in your vehicle, you
need a child restraint designed for that system.
To assist you in locating the anchors for this child
restraint system, the passenger seat has visible metal
anchorage points in the seat, where the seatback
meets the seat cushion.
{CAUTION:
If a LATCH-type child restraint is not attached
to its anchorage points, the restraint will not
be able to protect the child correctly. In a
crash, the child could be seriously injured or
killed. Make sure that a LATCH-type child
restraint is properly installed using the
anchorage points, or use the vehicle’s safety
belts to secure the restraint, following the
instructions that came with that restraint, and
also the instructions in this manual.
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If your child restraint does not have the LATCH system,
you will be using the lap-shoulder belt. 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. Your vehicle has a passenger’s airbag. If you are
using a rear-facing child restraint in this seat, make
sure the airbag is turned off. SeeAirbag Off
Switch on page 1-47. If your child restraint is
forward-facing, always move the seat as far back
as it will go before securing it in this seat. See
Power Seats on page 1-2.
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.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.
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5. Pull the rest of the shoulder belt all the way out of
the retractor to set the lock.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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If you were using a rear-facing child restraint, turn on
the passenger’s airbag when you remove the rear-facing
child restraint from the vehicle unless the person who
will be sitting there is a member of a passenger
airbag risk group. SeeAirbag Off Switch on page 1-47.
{CAUTION:
If the passenger’s frontal airbag is turned
off for a person who is not in a risk group
identi ed by the national government, that
person will not have the extra protection of a
frontal airbag. In a crash, the airbag would not
be able to in ate and help protect the person
sitting there. Do not turn off the passenger’s
frontal airbag unless the person sitting there
is in a risk group. SeeAirbag Off Switch on
page 1-47for more on this, including important
safety information.
Airbag System
Your vehicle has four airbags — a frontal airbag for
the driver, another frontal airbag for the passenger,
a side impact airbag for the driver, and another
side impact airbag for the passenger.
Frontal airbags are designed to help reduce the risk
of injury from the force of an in ating frontal airbag.
But these airbags must in ate very quickly to do their
job and comply with federal regulations.
Here are the most important things to know about the
airbag system:
{CAUTION:
You can be severely injured or killed in a crash
if you are not wearing your safety belt — even
if you have airbags. Wearing your safety belt
during a crash helps reduce your chance of
hitting things inside the vehicle or being ejected
from it. Airbags are designed to work with
safety belts but do not replace them.
CAUTION: (Continued)
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CAUTION: (Continued)
Frontal airbags for the driver and passenger are
designed to deploy only in moderate to severe
frontal and near frontal crashes. They are not
designed to in ate in rollover, rear or low-speed
frontal crashes, or in many side crashes. And,
for some unrestrained occupants, frontal
airbags may provide less protection in frontal
crashes than more forceful airbags have
provided in the past.
The side impact airbags for the driver and
passenger are designed to in ate only in
moderate to severe crashes where something
hits the side of your vehicle. They are not
designed to in ate in frontal, in rollover or in
rear crashes.
Everyone in your vehicle should wear a safety
belt properly — whether or not there is an
airbag for that person.
{CAUTION:
Both frontal and side impact airbags in ate
with great force, faster than the blink of an
eye. If you are too close to an in ating airbag,
as you would be if you were leaning forward,
it could seriously injure you. Safety belts help
keep you in position for airbag in ation before
and during a crash. Always wear your safety
belt, even with frontal airbags. 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.
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{CAUTION:
Anyone who is up against, or very close to,
any airbag when it in ates can be seriously
injured or killed. Airbags 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 airbag
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 1-19orInfants and
Young Children on page 1-22.There is an airbag
readiness light on the
instrument panel, which
shows the airbag symbol.
The system checks the airbag electrical system for
malfunctions. The light tells you if there is an electrical
problem. SeeAirbag Readiness Light on page 3-27
for more information.
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What Makes an Airbag In ate?
In an impact of sufficient severity, the airbag sensing
system detects that the vehicle is in a crash. For
both frontal and side impact airbags, the sensing
system triggers a release of gas from the in ator, which
in ates the airbag. The in ator, the airbag and related
hardware are all part of the airbag modules inside
the steering wheel, the instrument panel, and the side
of the front seatbacks closest to the door.
How Does an Airbag Restrain?
In moderate to severe frontal or near frontal collisions,
even belted occupants can contact the steering wheel
or the instrument panel. In moderate to severe side
collisions, even belted occupants can contact the inside
of the vehicle. The airbag supplements the protection
provided by safety belts. Airbags distribute the force
of the impact more evenly over the occupant’s
upper body, stopping the occupant more gradually.But the frontal airbags 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 the airbag. Side impact airbags
would not help you in many types of collisions, including
frontal or near frontal collisions, rollovers, and rear
impacts, primarily because an occupant’s motion is
not toward those airbags. Airbags 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 for the driver’s and passenger’s
frontal airbags, and only in moderate to severe side
collisions for vehicles with a driver’s and passenger’s
side impact airbag.
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