2007 HONDA CIVIC HYBRID Owners Manual

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You’ll
find many safety
recommendations throughout this
section, and throughout this manual.
Therecommendationsonthispage
are the ones we consider to be the
most important.
A seat belt is your best protection in
all typ es of collisions. Airbags are
designed to supplement seat belts,
not replace them. So even though
your vehicle is equipped with airbags,
make sure you and your passengers
always wear your seat belts, and
wear them properly (see page ).
Alcohol and driving don’t mix. Even
one drink can reduce your ability to
respond to changing conditions, and
your reaction time gets worse with every
additional drink. So don’t drink
and drive, and don’t let your friends
drink and drive, either.
Excessive speed is a maj or factor in
crash injuries and deaths. Generally,
the higher the speed, the greater the
risk, but serious injuries can also
occur at lower speeds. Never drive
faster than is safe for current
conditions, regardless of the
maximum speed posted.
While airbags can save lives, they
can cause serious or fatal injuries to
occupants who sit too close to them,
or are not properly restrained.
Infants, young children, and short
adults are at the greatest risk. Be
su re to follow all instru ctions and
warnings in this manual.
Children
age 12 and under should
ride properly restrained in a back
seat, not the front seat. Infants and
smallchildrenshouldberestrained
in a child seat. Larger children
should use a booster seat and a lap/
shoulder belt until they can use the
belt properly without a booster seat
(see pages ).
Having a tire blowout or a
mechanical failure can be extremely
hazardous. To reduce the possibility
of such problems, check your tire
pressures and condition frequently,
and perform all regularly scheduled
maintenance (see page ).
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179
Important Saf ety Precautions
Always Wear Your Seat Belt Control Your Speed
K eep Your Vehicle in Saf e
Condition
Don’t Drink and Drive Be Aware of Airbag Hazards Restrain All Children
6

Your vehicle is equipped with many
features that work together to
protect you and your passengers
during a crash.
However, you and your passengers
can’t take full advantage of these
f eatures unless you remain sitting in
a proper position and. In fact, some safety
f eatures can contribute to injuries if
they are not used properly.
The f ollowing pages explain how you
cantakeanactiveroleinprotecting
yourself and your passengers. Some f eatures do not require any
action on your part. These include a
strong steel f ramework that f orms a
saf ety cage around the passenger
compartment, front and rear crush
zones, a collapsible steering column,
and tensioners that tighten the f ront
seat belts in a crash.
Your Vehicle’s Saf ety Features
always wear
your seat belts
Driver and Passenger Saf ety
7
(9)
(2)
(6) (4)
(3)
(1)
(8)
(7)
(5)
(2)
(11) (9)
(10) (8)
(8) Side Airbags
(9) Side Curtain Airbags
(10) Front Seat Belt Tensioners
(11) Door Locks (1) Safety Cage
(2) Crush Zone
(3) Seats and Seat-Backs
(4) Head Restraints
(5) Collapsible Steering Column
(6) Seat Belts
(7) Front Airbags

Your vehicle is equipped with seat
belts in all seating positions.
Seat belts are the single most
effectivesafetydeviceforadultsand
larger children. (Inf ants and smaller
children must be properly restrained
in child seats.)
Not wearing a seat belt properly
increases the chance of serious
injury or death in a crash, even
though your vehicle has airbags.
In addition, most states and all
Canadian provinces require you to
wear seat belts.When properly worn, seat belts:
Keep you connected to the vehicle
so you can take advantage of the
vehicle’s built-in saf ety f eatures. Help keep you f rom being thrown
against the inside of the vehicle
and against other occupants.
Keep you f rom being thrown out
of the vehicle.
Help keep you in a good position
should the airbags ever deploy. A
good position reduces the risk of
injury f rom an inf lating airbag and
allows you to get the best
advantage f rom the airbag.
Of course, seat belts cannot
completely protect you in every
crash.Butinmostcases,seatbelts
can reduce your risk of serious
injury.
Always wear your seat belt, and
make sure you wear it properly.
Your seat belt system also includes
an indicator on the instrument panel
and a beeper to remind you and your
passengers to f asten your seat belts.
Help protect you in almost every
type of crash, including f rontal,
side and rear impacts, and
rollovers.
Your Vehicle’s Saf ety Features
Seat Belts
Why Wear Seat Belt s
What You Should Do:
8
Not wearing a seat belt properly
increases the chance of serious
injury or death in a crash, even
though your vehicle has airbags.
Be sure you and your
passengers always wear seat
belts and wear them properly.

CONTINUED
Your vehicle has a supplemental
restraint system (SRS) with front
airbags to help protect the heads and
chests of the driver and a front seat
passenger during a moderate to
severe frontal collision (see page
for more information on how
your front airbags work). Your
vehicle also has side airbags to
help protect the upper torso of the
driver or a front seat passenger
during a moderate to severe side
impact (see page for more
information on how your side airbags
work). In
addition, your vehicle has side
curtain airbags to help protect the
heads of the driver, front passenger,
and passengers in the outer rear
seating positions during a moderate
to severe side impact (see page f or more inf ormation on how
your side curtain airbags work).
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29
Your Vehicle’s Saf ety Features
Airbags
Driver and Passenger Saf ety
9

The most important things you need
to know about your airbags are:They are designed to supplement
the seat belts.
To do
their job, airbags must inf late with
tremendous f orce. So while
airbags help save lives, they can
cause minor injuries or more
serious or even fatal injuries if
occupants are not properly
restrained or sitting properly. Always wear
your seat belt properly, and sit
upright and as f ar back f rom the
steering wheel as possible while
allowing f ull control of the vehicle. A
f ront passenger should move their
seat as far back from the dashboard
as possible. The rest of this section gives more
detailed inf ormation about how you
can maximize your saf ety.
Remember however, that no saf ety
system can prevent all injures or
deaths that can occur in a severe
crash, even when seat belts are
properly worn and the airbags deploy.
Your Vehicle’s Saf ety Features
Airbags do not replace seat belts.
A irbags of f er no prot ect ion in rearimpact s, or minor f ront al or sidecollisions.
A irbags can pose hazards. What you should do:
10

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See pages for important
guidelines on how to properly
protect infants, small children, and
larger children who ride in your
vehicle.
After everyone has entered the
vehicle, be sure the doors are closed
and locked. Your
vehicle has a door-open
indicator on the instrument panel to
indicate when any door is not tightly
closed.
The
following pages pro vide
instru ctions on how to properly
protect the driver, adult passengers
and teenage children who are large
enough and mature enough to drive
or ride in the front seat.
Locking the doors reduces the
chance of someone being thrown out
of the vehicle during a crash, and it
helps prevent passengers from
accidentally opening a door and
falling out.
Lo cking the doors also helps prevent
an outsider from unexp ectedly
opening a door when you come to a
stop.
See page for how to lock the
doors, page for how the door-open
indicator works, and page for how
the automatic door locking and
unlocking f eature works. Adjust the driver’s seat as far to the
rear as possible while allowing you to
maintain f ull control of the vehicle.
Have a f ront passenger adjust their
seat as far to the rear as possible.
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CONT INUED
Adjust the Front Seats
Introduction
Close and L ock the Doors
1. 2.
Protecting A dults and Teens
Driver and Passenger Saf ety
11

Adjust the driver’s seat-back to a
comfortable, upright position,
leaving ample space between your
chest and the airbag cover in the
center of the steering wheel.
Passengers with adjustable seat-
backs should also adjust their seat-
back to a comfo rtable, upright
position.
If
you sit too close to the steering
wh eel or dashboard, you can be
seriously injured by an inflating front
airbag, or by striking the steering
wh eel or dashboard.
The National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration and Transport
Canada recommend that drivers
allow at least 10 inches (25 cm)
between the center of the steering
wheel and the chest. In addition to
adjusting the seat, you can adjust the
steering wheel up and down, and in
and out (see page ).
If you cannot get far enough away
from the steering wheel and still
reach the controls, we recommend
that you investigate whether some
type of adaptive equipment may help. See page f or how to adjust the
f ront seats. Once a seat is adjusted correctly,
rock it back and f orth to make sure it
is locked in position.
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Protecting A dults and Teens
Adjust the Seat-Backs
3.
12
Sitting too close to a front
airbag can result in serious
injury or death if the front
airbags inflate.
Always sit as far back from the
front airbags as possible.

Adjust the driver’s head restraint so
the back of your head rests against
the center of the restraint.
Reclining
a seat-back so that the
shoulder part of the belt no longer
rests against the occupant’s chest
reduces the pro tective capability of
the belt. It also increases the chance
of sliding under the belt in a crash
and being seriously injured. The
farther a seat-back is reclined, the
greater the risk of injury. Have
passengers adjust their head
restraints properly as well. Taller
persons should adjust their restraint
as high as possible. When
a passenger is seated in the
rear center seating position, make
sure the center head restraint is
ad justed to its highest position.
Properly adjusted head restraints
will help protect occupants from
whiplash and other crash injuries.
See page for how to adjust the
head restraints.
See page f or how to adjust the
seat-backs. 91
90 A djust the Head Restraints
4.
Protecting A dults and Teens
Driver and Passenger Saf ety
13
Reclining the seat-back too far
can result in serious injury or
death in a crash.
Adjust the seat-back to an
upright position, and sit well
back in the seat. Improperly positioning head
restraints reduces their
effectiveness, and you can be
seriously injured in a crash.
Make sure head restraints are
in place and positioned properly
before driving.