This section gives you important
information about how to protect
yourself and your passengers. It
shows you how to use seat belts. It
explains how your airbags work. And
it tells you how to properly restrain
infants and children in your vehicle.
Important Safety Precautions
...........
6
Your Vehicle's Safety Features
.........
7
Seat Belts
....................................
8
Airbags
........................................
9
Protecting Adults and Teens
..........
11
1. Close and Lock the Doors
......
11
2. Adjust the Front Seats
............
11
3. Adjust the Seat-Backs
.............
12
4. Adjust the Head Restraints
.....
13
5. Fasten and Position the Seat
Belts
..................................
14
6. Maintain a Proper Sitting
Position
.............................
15
Advice for Pregnant Women
......
16
Additional Safety Precautions
.....
17
Additional Information About Your Seat Belts
...............................
18
Seat Belt System Components
....
18 Lap/Shoulder Belt
.....................
19
Automatic Seat Belt
Tensioners
............................
20
Seat Belt Maintenance
...............
20
Additional Information About Your Airbags
..................................
22
Airbag System Components
.......
22
How Your Front Airbags Work
...
25
How Your Side Airbags Work
....
28
How Your Side Curtain Airbags Work
.....................................
30
How the SRS Indicator Works
....
30
How the Side Airbag Off
Indicator Works
.....................
31
How the Passenger Airbag Off Indicator Works
.....................
31
Airbag Service
...........................
32
Additional Safety Precautions
.....
33
Protecting Children -General
Guidelines
.............................
34
All Children Must Be Restrained
.............................
34
All Children Should Sit in a Back Seat
.......................................
35
The Passenger's Front Airbag
Can Pose Serious Risks
..........
35 If You Must Drive with Several
Children
................................
37
If a Child Requires Close Attention
...............................
37
Additional Safety Precautions
.....
38
Protecting Infants and Small Children
................................
39
Protecting Infants
......................
39
Protecting Small Children
..........
40
Selecting a Child Seat
....................
41
Installing a Child Seat
....................
42
Installing a Child Seat with LATCH
..................................
43
Installing a Child Seat with a Lap/Shoulder Belt
.................
45
Installing a Child Seat with a Tether
...................................
47
Protecting Larger Children
............
49
Checking Seat Belt Fit
...............
49
Using a Booster Seat
..................
50
When Can a Larger Child Sit in Front
.....................................
51
Additional Safety Precautions
.....
52
Carbon Monoxide Hazard
..............
53
Safety Labels
.................................
54
Driver and Passenger Safety
5
Driver and Passenger Safety
2009 Fit
Introduction
The following pages provide
instructions 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.
See pages34-38for important
guidelines on how to properly protect
infants, small children, and larger
children who ride in your vehicle.
1. Close and Lock the Doors
After everyone has entered the
vehicle, be sure the doors and the
tailgate are closed and locked.
Your vehicle has a door and
tailgate open indicator on
the instrument panel to indicate
when any door or the tailgate is not
tightly closed.
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.
Locking the doors and the tailgate
also helps prevent an outsider from
unexpectedly opening a door or the
tailgate when you come to a stop.
See page81for how to lock the
doors, and page62for how the door
and tailgate open indicator works.
Some models have the auto door
locking/unlocking feature. For more
information, see page83. 2. Adjust the Front Seats
Adjust the driver's seat as far to the
rear as possible while allowing you to
maintain full control of the vehicle.
Have a front passenger adjust their
seat as far to the rear as possible.
CONTINUED
Protecting Adults and Teens
11
Driver and Passenger Safety
2009 Fit
Lap/Shoulder Belt
The lap/shoulder belt goes over your
shoulder, across your chest, and
across your hips.
To fasten the belt, insert the latch
plate into the buckle, then tug on the
belt to make sure the buckle is
latched (see page14for how to
properly position the belt).
To unlock the belt, press the red
PRESS button on the buckle. Guide
the belt across your body so that it
retracts completely. After exiting the
vehicle, be sure the belt is out of the
way and will not get closed in the
door.All seat belts have an emergency
locking retractor. In normal driving,
the retractor lets you move freely in
your seat while it keeps some tension
on the belt. During a collision or
sudden stop, the retractor
automatically locks the belt to help
restrain your body.
The seat belts in all positions except
the driver's have a lockable retractor
that must be activated to secure a
child seat (see page45).
If the shoulder part of the belt is
pulled all the way out, the lockable
retractor will activate. The belt will
retract, but it will not allow the
passenger to move freely.
To deactivate the lockable retractor,
unlatch the buckle and let the seat
belt fully retract. To refasten the seat
belt, pull it out only as far as needed.
The lap/shoulder belt in the center
seating position on the rear seat is
equipped with a detachable seat belt
that has two parts: a small latch plate
and an anchor buckle.
The detachable seat belt should
normally be latched whenever the
seat-backs are in an upright position.
For more information about the
detachable seat belt, see page99.
DETACHABLE
ANCHOR
Additional Information About Your Seat Belts
19
Driver and Passenger Safety
2009 Fit
Additional Safety Precautions●Never hold an infant or child onyour lap.
If you are not wearing a
seat belt in a crash, you could be
thrown forward and crush the
child against the dashboard or a
seat-back. If you are wearing a seat
belt, the child can be torn from
your arms and be seriously hurt or
killed.
●Never put a seat belt over yourself
and a child.
During a crash, the
belt could press deep into the child
and cause serious or fatal injuries.
●Never let two children use the
same seat belt.
If they do, they
could be very seriously injured in a
crash.
●Make sure any unused seat belt that a child can reach is buckled,
the lockable retractor is activated,and the belt is fully retracted and
locked.
If a child wraps a loose
seat belt around their neck, they
can be seriously or fatally injured.
(See pages 45and 46for how to
activate and deactivate the
lockable retractor.)
●Use the childproof door locks to prevent children from opening the
rear doors.
This can prevent
children from accidentally falling
out (see page82).
●Do not leave children alone in a
vehicle.
Leaving children without
adult supervision is illegal in most
states and Canadian provinces, and
can be very hazardous. For example, infants and small
children left in a vehicle on a hot
day can die from heatstroke. A
child left alone with the key in the
ignition switch can accidentally set
the vehicle in motion, possibly
injuring themselves or others.
●Lock all doors and the tailgate
when your vehicle is not in use.Children who play in vehicles can
accidentally get trapped inside.
Teach your children not to play in
or around vehicles.●Keep vehicle keys/remotetransmitters out of the reach of
children.
Even very young
children learn how to unlock
vehicle doors, turn on the ignition
switch, and open the tailgate,
which can lead to accidental injury
or death.
Protecting Children -General Guidelines38
2009 Fit
Protecting InfantsChild Seat TypeAn infant must be properly restrained
in a rear-facing, reclining child seat
until the child reaches the seat
maker's weight or height limit for the
seat, and the child is at least one year
old.
Only a rear-facing child seat provides
proper support for a baby's head,
neck, and back.Two types of seats may be used: a
seat designed exclusively for infants,
or a convertible seat used in the rear-
facing, reclining mode.
Do not put a rear-facing child seat in
a forward-facing position.
If placed
facing forward, an infant could be
very seriously injured during a
frontal collision.
Rear-facing Child Seat PlacementA rear-facing child seat can be placed
in any seating position in the back
seat, but not in the front.
Never put a
rear-facing child seat in the front seat.
If the passenger's front airbag
inflates, it can hit the back of the
child seat with enough force to kill or
seriously injure an infant.
When properly installed, a rear-
facing child seat may prevent the
driver or a front passenger from
moving their seat as far back as
recommended, or from locking their
seat-back in the desired position.
It could also interfere with proper
operation of the passenger's
advanced front airbag system.
CONTINUED
Protecting Infants and Small Children
39
Driver and Passenger Safety
2009 Fit
Installing a Child Seat with a Lap/
Shoulder Belt
When not using the LATCH system,
all child seats must be secured to the
vehicle with the lap part of a lap/
shoulder belt.
In addition, the lap/shoulder belts in
all seating positions except the
driver's have a lockable retractor that
must be activated to secure a child
seat.
If you intend to install a child seat in
the center seating position of the rear
seat, make sure to push down the
head restraint to the lowest position,
and make sure the detachable seat
belt is securely latched (see page
99).
1. With the child seat in the desiredseating position, route the belt
through the child seat according to
the seat maker's instructions, then
insert the latch plate into the
buckle.
2. To activate the lockable retractor,slowly pull the shoulder part of the
belt all the way out until it stops,
then let the belt feed back into the
retractor.
3. After the belt has retracted, tug on it. If the belt is locked, you will not
be able to pull it out. If you can pull
the belt out, it is not locked, and
you will need to repeat these steps.
CONTINUED
Installing a Child Seat
45
Driver and Passenger Safety
2009 Fit
4. After confirming that the belt islocked, grab the shoulder part of
the belt near the buckle, and pull
up to remove any slack from the
lap part of the belt. Remember, if
the lap part of the belt is not tight,
the child seat will not be secure.
To remove slack, it may help to put
weight on the child seat, or push
on the back of the seat while
pulling up on the belt.
5. Push and pull the child seatforward and from side-to-side to
verify that it is secure enough to
stay upright during normal driving
maneuvers. If the child seat is not
secure, unlatch the belt, allow it to
retract fully, then repeat these
steps. To deactivate the lockable retractor
and remove a child seat, unlatch the
buckle, unroute the seat belt, and let
the belt fully retract.
Installing a Child Seat46
2009 Fit
This section gives information about
the controls and displays that
contribute to the daily operation of
your vehicle. All the essential
controls are within easy reach.Control Locations
..........................
58
Instrument Panel
..........................
59
Instrument Panel Indicators
..........
60
Gauges
..........................................
68
Trip Meter
................................
69
Current Fuel Mileage
................
70
Average Fuel Mileage
...............
70
Odometer
..................................
70
Fuel Gauge
...............................
70
Check Fuel Cap Indicator
.........
70
Maintenance Minder
................
71
Controls Near the Steering
Wheel
.......................................
72
Windshield Wipers and Washers
................................
73
Windshield Wipers
...................
73
Rear Window Wiper and
Washer
.................................
73
Turn Signal and Headlights
..........
74
Headlights
....................................
75
Instrument Panel Brightness
........
76
Hazard Warning Button
................
76
Rear Window Defogger
.................
76
Steering Wheel Adjustment
..........
77
Keys and Locks
.............................
78 Immobilizer System
......................
79
Ignition Switch
..............................
80
Door Locks
...................................
81
Power Door Locks
....................
81
Childproof Door Locks
..............
82
Auto Door Locking/
Unlocking
.............................
83
Auto Door Locking
...................
83
Auto Door Unlocking
................
85
Tailgate
.........................................
88
Remote Transmitter
......................
90
Seats
.............................................
93
Power Windows
..........................
100
Mirrors
.......................................
101
Parking Brake
.............................
102
Interior Convenience Items
.........
104
Lower Glove Box
....................
105
Upper Glove Box
.....................
105
Beverage Holders
...................
106
Seat Under Box
.......................
106
Accessory Power Socket
.........
106
Sun Visor
................................
106
Interior Lights
.............................
107
Instruments and Controls
57
Instruments and Controls
2009 Fit