2006 CHEVROLET MALIBU Owners Manual

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. If you are using a
forward-facing child restraint, you may nd it
helpful to use your knee to push down on the
child restraint as you tighten the belt. You should
not be able to pull more of the belt from the
retractor once the lock has been set.
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.
Airbag System
Your vehicle has a frontal airbag for the driver and
another frontal airbag for the right front passenger.
Your vehicle may also have a seat-mounted side impact
airbag for the driver and for the right front passenger.
Your vehicle may also have roof-mounted side impact
airbags. Roof-mounted side impact airbags are available
for the driver and the passenger seated directly behind
the driver and for the right front passenger and the
passenger seated directly behind that passenger.
If your vehicle has seat-mounted side impact airbags,
the word AIRBAG will appear on the airbag covering
on the side of the front seatback closest to the door.
If your vehicle has roof-mounted side impact airbags,
the word AIRBAG will appear on the airbag covering
on the ceiling near the side windows.
Frontal airbags are designed to help reduce the risk
of injury from the force of an inating frontal airbag. But
these airbags must inate very quickly to do their job
and comply with federal regulations.
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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 “supplemental
restraints” to the safety belts. Airbags are
designed to work with safety belts but do not
replace them.
Frontal airbags for the driver and right front
passenger are designed to deploy in moderate
to severe frontal and near frontal crashes.
They are not designed to inate in rollover,
rear crashes, or in many side crashes.
CAUTION: (Continued)
CAUTION: (Continued)
And, for some unrestrained occupants, frontal
airbags may provide less protection in frontal
crashes than more forceful airbags have
provided in the past.
Side impact airbags are designed to inate in
moderate to severe crashes where something
hits the side of your vehicle. They are not
designed to inate 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.
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{CAUTION:
Both frontal and side impact airbags inate
with great force, faster than the blink of an
eye. If you are too close to an inating airbag,
as you would be if you were leaning forward,
it could seriously injure you. Safety belts help
keep you in position for airbag ination 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. Occupants
should not lean on or sleep against the door.
{CAUTION:
Anyone who is up against, or very close to,
any airbag when it inates 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 1-34orInfants and
Young Children on page 1-36.
There is an airbag
readiness light on
the instrument panel
cluster, 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 3-35
for more information.
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Where Are the Airbags?
The driver’s frontal airbag is in the middle of the
steering wheel.The right front passenger’s frontal airbag is in the
instrument panel on the passenger’s side.
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If your vehicle has a seat-mounted side impact airbag
for the driver, it is in the side of the driver’s seatback
closest to the door.If your vehicle has a seat-mounted side impact airbag
for the right front passenger, it is in the side of the
passenger’s seatback closest to the door.
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If your vehicle has a roof-mounted side impact airbag
for the driver and the person seated directly behind the
driver, it is in the ceiling above the side windows.If your vehicle has a roof-mounted side impact airbag
for the right front passenger and the person seated
directly behind that passenger, it is in the ceiling above
the side windows.
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{CAUTION:
If something is between an occupant and an
airbag, the airbag might not inate properly or
it might force the object into that person
causing severe injury or even death. The path
of an inating airbag must be kept clear. Do
not put anything between an occupant and an
airbag, and do not attach or put anything on
the steering wheel hub or on or near any
other airbag covering. If your vehicle has
roof-mounted side impact airbags, never
secure anything to the roof of your vehicle by
routing the rope or tie-down through any door
or window opening. If you do, the path of an
inating airbag will be blocked. Do not let seat
covers block the ination path of a side impact
airbag. The path of an inating airbag must be
kept clear.
When Should an Airbag Inate?
The driver’s and right front passenger’s frontal airbags
are designed to inate in moderate to severe frontal
or near-frontal crashes. But they are designed to inate
only if the impact exceeds a predetermined deployment
threshold. Deployment thresholds take into account
a variety of desired deployment and non-deployment
events and are used to predict how severe a crash
is likely to be in time for the airbags to inate and help
restrain the occupants. Whether your frontal airbags
will or should deploy is not based on how fast your
vehicle is traveling. It depends largely on what you
hit, the direction of the impact and how quickly your
vehicle slows down.
In addition, your vehicle has “dual-stage” frontal airbags,
which adjust the restraint according to crash severity.
Your vehicle has electronic frontal sensors which
help the sensing system distinguish between a moderate
frontal impact and a more severe frontal impact. For
moderate frontal impacts, these airbags inate at a level
less than full deployment. For more severe frontal
impacts, full deployment occurs.
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If the front of your vehicle goes straight into a wall
that does not move or deform, the threshold level for
the reduced deployment is about 12 to 16 mph
(19 to 26 km/h), and the threshold level for a full
deployment is about 18 to 24 mph (29 to 38.5 km/h).
The threshold level can vary, however, with specic
vehicle design, so that it can be somewhat above
or below this range.
Frontal airbags may inate at different crash speeds.
For example:
If the vehicle hits a stationary object, the airbags
could inate at a different crash speed than if the
vehicle hits a moving object.
If the vehicle hits an object that deforms, the
airbags could inate at a different crash speed than
if the vehicle hits an object that does not deform.
If the vehicle hits a narrow object (like a pole) the
airbags could inate at a different crash speed
than if the vehicle hits a wide object (like a wall).
If the vehicle goes into an object at an angle the
airbags could inate at a different crash speed
than if the vehicle goes straight into the object.Frontal airbags (driver and right front passenger)
are not intended to inate during vehicle rollovers,
rear impacts, or in many side impacts.
Your vehicle may or may not have roof-mounted side
impact airbags. SeeAirbag System on page 1-59.
Roof-mounted side impact airbags are intended to inate
in moderate to severe side crashes. A roof-mounted side
impact airbag will inate if the crash severity is above the
system’s designed threshold level. The threshold level
can vary with specic vehicle design. Roof-mounted side
impact airbags are not intended to inate in frontal or
near-frontal impacts, rollovers or rear impacts. A
roof-mounted side impact airbag is intended to deploy
on the side of the vehicle that is struck.
In any particular crash, no one can say whether an
airbag should have inated simply because of the
damage to a vehicle or because of what the repair costs
were. For frontal airbags, ination is determined by
what the vehicle hits, the angle of the impact, and how
quickly the vehicle slows down. For roof-mounted
side impact airbags, ination is determined by the
location and severity of the impact.
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