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Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides
Rear shoulder 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 available for each outside passenger
position in the rear seat. Here is how to install a
comfort guide and use the safety belt:
1. Fold down the rear seatback of the desired seating
position. SeeSplit Folding Rear Seat on page 1-9
for instructions about how to fold the rear seatback.
2. Remove the guide located on the trim behind the
seatback from its storage clip. Pull the guide
around the rear seatback.
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6. Buckle, position, and release the safety belt as
described inRear Seat Passengers on page 1-24.
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. Fold down the rear seatbacks. Store the
guides on their storage clips. Lift the rear seatbacks to
their original seating positions.
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 1-69.
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 retailer
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: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 1-43for 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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To remove the child restraint, if the top tether is attached
to the top tether anchor, disconnect it. 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.
Securing a Child Restraint in the
Right Front Seat Position
Your vehicle has a right front passenger’s airbag. A rear
seat is a safer place to secure a forward-facing child
restraint. SeeWhere to Put the Restraint on page 1-42.
In addition, your vehicle may have the passenger
sensing system. The passenger sensing system is
designed to turn off the right front passenger’s frontal
airbag when an infant in a rear-facing infant seat
or a small child in a forward-facing child restraint or
booster seat is detected. SeePassenger Sensing
System on page 1-62andPassenger Airbag Status
Indicator on page 3-31for more information on
this including important safety information.
A label on your sun visor says, “Never put a rear-facing
child seat in the front.” This is because the risk to the
rear-facing child is so great, if the airbag deploys.
{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.
Even though the passenger sensing system is
designed to turn off the passenger’s frontal
airbag 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 secured in the
rear seat, even if the airbag is off.
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 1-2.
If your child restraint is equipped with the LATCH
system, seeLower Anchors and Tethers for Children
(LATCH) on page 1-43.
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There is no top tether anchor at the right front seating
position. Do not secure a child restraint 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 1-43if your child restraint has a top tether.
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 frontal
airbag. SeePassenger Sensing System on
page 1-62. General Motors recommends that
rear-facing child restraints be secured in a rear
seat, even if the airbag is 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. SeeManual Seats on page 1-2.
When the passenger sensing system has turned off
the right front passenger’s frontal airbag, 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 3-31.2. 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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Adding Equipment to Your
Airbag-Equipped Vehicle
Q:Is there anything I might add to the front or
sides of the vehicle that could keep the
airbags from working properly?
A:Yes. If you add things that change your vehicle’s
frame, bumper system, height, front end or side
sheet metal, they may keep the airbag system from
working properly. Also, the airbag system may
not work properly if you relocate any of the airbag
sensors. If you have any questions about this,
you should contact Customer Assistance before
you modify your vehicle. The phone numbers
and addresses for Customer Assistance are in
Step Two of the Customer Satisfaction Procedure
in this manual. SeeCustomer Satisfaction
Procedure on page 7-2.
Q:Because I have a disability, I have to get my
vehicle modi ed. How can I nd out whether
this will affect my airbag system?
A:Changing or moving any parts of the front seats,
safety belts, the airbag sensing and diagnostic
module, steering wheel, instrument panel,
ceiling headliner, ceiling and pillar garnish trim,
roof-mounted airbag modules, or airbag wiring
can affect the operation of the airbag system.
If you have questions, call Customer Assistance.
The phone numbers and addresses for Customer
Assistance are in Step Two of the Customer
Satisfaction Procedure in this manual. See
Customer Satisfaction Procedure on page 7-2.
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