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Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides
Rear safety belt comfort guides may provide added
safety belt comfort for older children who have outgrown
booster seats and for some adults. When installed on
a shoulder belt, the comfort guide positions the belt
away from the neck and head.
There is one guide for each second row position. If your
vehicle has a third row, there is one guide for each
outboard position. Here is how to install a comfort guide
and use the safety belt:
1. Remove the guide from its storage pocket on the
side of the seatback.2. Place the guide over the belt and insert the
two edges of the belt into the slots of the guide.
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4. Buckle, position and release the safety belt as
described inRear Seat Passengers on page 1-34.
Make sure that the shoulder belt crosses the
shoulder.
To remove and store the comfort guides, squeeze the
belt edges together so that you can take them out of the
guides. Slide the guide into the storage pocket.
Safety Belt Pretensioners
Your vehicle has safety belt pretensioners for the driver
and right front passenger. Although you cannot see
them, they are located on the retractor part of the safety
belts. They help the safety belts reduce a person’s
forward movement in a moderate to severe frontal or
near frontal crash.
Pretensioners work only once. If they activate in a
crash, you will need to get new ones, and probably other
new parts for your safety belt system. SeeReplacing
Restraint System Parts After a Crash on page 1-90.
Safety Belt Extender
If the vehicle’s safety belt will fasten around you, you
should use it.
But if a safety belt is not long enough, your dealer will
order you an extender. It is free. When you go in to
order it, take the heaviest coat you will wear, so
the extender will be long enough for you. To help avoid
personal injury, do not let someone else use it, and
use it only for the seat it is made to t. The extender has
been designed for adults. Never use it for securing
child seats. To wear it, just attach it to the regular safety
belt. For more information, see the instruction sheet
that comes with the extender.
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Child Restraints
Older Children
Older children who have outgrown booster seats should
wear the vehicle’s safety belts.
Q:What is the proper way to wear safety belts?
A:If possible, an older child should wear a
lap-shoulder belt and get the additional restraint a
shoulder belt can provide. The shoulder belt
should not cross the face or neck. The lap belt
should t snugly below the hips, just touching the
top of the thighs. It should never be worn over
the abdomen, which could cause severe or even
fatal internal injuries in a crash.
Accident statistics show that children are safer if they
are restrained in the rear seat.
In a crash, children who are not buckled up can strike
other people who are buckled up, or can be thrown
out of the vehicle. Older children need to use safety
belts properly.
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A forward-facing child seat (C-E) provides restraint for
the child’s body with the harness and also sometimes
with surfaces such as T-shaped or shelf-like shields.A booster seat (F-G) is a child restraint designed to
improve the t of the vehicle’s safety belt system. Some
booster seats have a shoulder belt positioner, and
some high-back booster seats have a ve-point harness.
A booster seat can also help a child to see out the
window.
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Q:How Should I Use a Child Restraint?
A:A child restraint system is any device designed for
use in a motor vehicle to restrain, seat, or position
children. A built-in child restraint system is a
permanent part of the motor vehicle. An add-on
child restraint system is a portable one, which
is purchased by the vehicle’s owner. To help reduce
injuries, an add-on child restraint must be secured
in the vehicle. With built-in or add-on child
restraints, the child has to be secured within the
child restraint.
When choosing an add-on child restraint, be sure
the child restraint is designed to be used in a
vehicle. If it is, it will have a label saying that it
meets federal motor vehicle safety standards. Then
follow the instructions for the restraint. You may
nd these instructions on the restraint itself or in a
booklet, or both.
Securing an Add-on Child Restraint in
the Vehicle
{CAUTION:
A child can be seriously injured or killed in a
crash if the child restraint is not properly
secured in the vehicle. Make sure the child
restraint is properly installed in the vehicle
using the vehicle’s safety belt or LATCH
system, following the instructions that came
with that restraint, and also the instructions in
this manual.
To help reduce the chance of injury, the child restraint
must be secured in the vehicle. Child restraint systems
must be secured in vehicle seats by lap belts or the
lap belt portion of a lap-shoulder belt, or by the LATCH
system. SeeLower Anchors and Tethers for Children
(LATCH) on page 1-52for more information. A child can
be endangered in a crash if the child restraint is not
properly secured in the vehicle.
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passenger seat the unless passenger airbag status
indicator shows off. Never put a rear facing child
restraint in the right front passenger seat unless the
airbag is off. Here is why:
{CAUTION:
A child in a rear-facing child restraint can be
seriously injured or killed if the right front
passenger’s airbag in ates. This is because
the back of the rear facing child restraint
would be very close to the in ating airbag. Be
sure the airbag is off before using a rear-facing
child restraint in the right front seat position.
Even though the passenger sensing system is
designed to turn off the passenger’s frontal
airbag and side impact airbag (if equipped) if
the system detects a rear-facing child restraint,
no system is fail-safe, and no one can
guarantee that an airbag will not deploy under
some unusual circumstance, even though it is
turned off. We recommend that rear-facing
child restraints be transported in vehicles with
a rear seat that will accommodate a rear-facing
child restraint, whenever possible.If you need to secure a forward-facing child restraint in
the right front seat position, move the seat as far
back as it will go before securing the forward-facing
child restraint. SeeManual Seats on page 1-2or
Six-Way Power Seats on page 1-3.
If your child restraint is equipped with the LATCH
system, seeLower Anchors and Tethers for Children
(LATCH) on page 1-52.
There is no top tether anchor at the right front seating
position. Do not secure a child seat in this position
if a national or local law requires that the top tether be
anchored or if the instructions that come with the
child restraint say that the top tether must be anchored.
SeeLower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH)
on page 1-52if your child restraint has a top tether.
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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. Your vehicle has a right front passenger’s airbags.
SeePassenger Sensing System on page 1-82.
General Motors recommends that rear-facing child
restraints be secured in a rear seat, even if the airbag
or airbags are off. If your child restraint is
forward-facing, move the seat as far back as it will go
before securing the child restraint in this seat. See
Manual Seats on page 1-2orSix-Way Power Seats
on page 1-3.
When the passenger sensing system has turned off
the right front passenger’s airbag or airbags, the
off indicator in the passenger airbag status indicator
should light and stay lit when you turn the ignition
to RUN or START. SeePassenger Airbag
Status Indicator on page 3-35.
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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13. Adjust the position of the harness on the child’s
shoulder by moving the clip along the harness
until it is level with the child’s armpits. On each side
of the harness, the shoulder part should be
centered on the child’s shoulder. The harness
should be away from the child’s face and neck, but
not falling from the child’s shoulders.
If you expect that the child will sleep while riding,
you can recline the seatback. SeeBucket Seats on
page 1-7.
Removing the Child from the Built-In
Child Restraint
1. Unfasten the shoulder harness clip.
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