2011 KIA Forte Owner's Manual

313
Safety features of your vehicle
C010303APB
Headrest (if equipped)
■4 door, 2 door vehicle
The rear seat(s) is equipped with head-
rests in the outboard seating positions for
the occupant's safety and comfort.
■ 5 door vehicle
The rear seat is equipped with headrests
in all the seating positions for the occu-
pant's safety and comfort.
The headrest not only provides comfort
for passengers, but also helps protect the
head and neck in the event of a collision.
WARNING
For maximum effectiveness in case of an accident, the headrest
should be adjusted so the middle
of the headrest is at the same
height of the center of gravity of
an occupant's head. Generally,
the center of gravity of most peo-
ple's head is similar with the
height of the top of their eyes.
Also adjust the headrest as close
to your head as possible. For this
reason, the use of a cushion that
holds the body away from the
seatback is not recommended.
Do not operate the vehicle with the headrests removed as severe
injury to an occupant may occur
in the event of an accident.
Headrests may provide protec-
tion against severe neck injuries
when properly adjusted.
WARNING- Cargo
Cargo should always be secured to
prevent it from being thrown about
the vehicle in a collision and caus-
ing injury to the vehicle occupants.
Do not place objects in the rear
seats, since they cannot be proper-
ly secured and may hit the front
seat occupants in a frontal colli-
sion.
WARNING - Cargo loading
Make sure the engine is off, the
automatic transaxle is in P (Park)
or the manual transaxle is in
Reverse or 1st, and the parking
brake is securely applied whenever
loading or unloading cargo. Failure
to take these steps may allow the
vehicle to move if the shift lever is
inadvertently moved to another
position.

Safety features of your vehicle
14
3
Adjusting the height up and down
(if equipped)
To raise the headrest, pull it up to the
desired position (1). To lower the head-
rest, push and hold the release button (2)
on the headrest support and lower the
headrest to the desired position (3). Removal
To remove the headrest, raise it as far as
it can go then press the release button
(1) while pulling the headrest upward (2).
To reinstall the headrest, put the head-
rest poles (3) into the holes while press-
ing the release button (1). Then adjust it
to the appropriate height.C010304ATD
Armrest (if equipped)
To use the armrest, pull it forward from
the seatback.
OTD039010OMG039037
WARNING
Make sure the headrest locks in
position after adjusting it to proper-
ly protect the occupants.
OMG035036

315
Safety features of your vehicle
C020100AHM
Seat belt restraint system
SEAT BELTS
WARNING
For maximum restraint systemprotection, the seat belts must
always be used whenever the
vehicle is moving.
Seat belts are most effective when seatbacks are in the
upright position.
Children age 12 and under must always be properly restrained in
the rear seat. Never allow chil-
dren to ride in the front passen-
ger seat. If a child over 12 must
be seated in the front seat, he/she
must be properly belted and the
seat should be moved as far back
as possible.
Never wear the shoulder belt under your arm or behind your
back. An improperly positioned
shoulder belt can cause serious
injuries in a crash. The shoulder
belt should be positioned midway
over your shoulder across your
collarbone.
(Continued)
(Continued)
Avoid wearing twisted seat belts.A twisted belt can't do its job as
well. In a collision, it could even
cut into you. Be sure the belt
webbing is straight and not twist-
ed.
Be careful not to damage the belt webbing or hardware. If the belt
webbing or hardware is dam-
aged, replace it.WARNING
Seat belts are designed to bear
upon the bony structure of the
body, and should be worn low
across the front of the pelvis or the
pelvis, chest and shoulders, as
applicable; wearing the lap section
of the belt across the abdominal
area must be avoided.
Seat belts should be adjusted as
firmly as possible, consistent with
comfort, to provide the protection
for which they have been designed.
A slack belt will greatly reduce the
protection afforded to the wearer.
Care should be taken to avoid con-
tamination of the webbing with pol-
ishes, oils and chemicals, and par-
ticularly battery acid. Cleaning may
safely be carried out using mild
soap and water. The belt should be
replaced if webbing becomes
frayed, contaminated or damaged.
(Continued)

Safety features of your vehicle
16
3
C020101ATD-EU
Seat belt warning
As a reminder to the driver, the seat belt
warning light will blink for approximately
6 seconds each time you turn the ignition
switch ON regardless of belt fastening. If the driver's seat belt is not fastened
when the ignition switch is turned on, the
seat belt warning light and the seat belt
warning chime will operate for approxi-
mately 6 seconds. But if it is refastened
within the 6 seconds, the warning light
will blink till the 6 seconds and the warn-
ing chime will turn off immediately.
If the driver's seat belt is disconnected
after the ignition switch is turned to the
ON position, the seat belt warning light
will operate for approximately 6 seconds.
But if it is fastened within the 6 seconds,
the warning light will turn off immediately.
If the driver's seat belt is not fastened
when the vehicle speed exceeds 10 km/h
(6 mph), the seat belt warning light and
chime will operate for approximately 11
times with a pattern of 6 seconds on and
24 seconds off until the belt is fastened
or the vehicle speed decreases below 5
km/h (3 mph).
1GQA2083
(Continued)
It is essential to replace the entire
assembly after it has been worn in
a severe impact even if damage to
the assembly is not obvious. Belts
should not be worn with straps
twisted. Each belt assembly must
only be used by one occupant; it is
dangerous to put a belt around a
child being carried on the occu-
pant's lap.
WARNING
No modifications or additions
should be made by the user which
will either prevent the seat belt
adjusting devices from operating to
remove slack, or prevent the seat
belt assembly from being adjusted
to remove slack.

317
Safety features of your vehicle
C020102ATD-EU
Seat belt - Driver's 3-point systemwith emergency locking retractor
To fasten your seat belt:
To fasten your seat belt, pull it out of the
retractor and insert the metal tab (1) into
the buckle (2). There will be an audible
"click" when the tab locks into the buckle.
The seat belt automatically adjusts to the
proper length only after the lap belt por-
tion is adjusted manually so that it fits
snugly around your hips. If you lean for-
ward in a slow, easy motion, the belt will
extend and let you move around. If there
is a sudden stop or impact, however, the
belt will lock into position. It will also lock
if you try to lean forward too quickly.
✽ ✽ NOTICE
If you are not able to pull out the seat
belt from the retractor, firmly pull the
belt out and release it. Then you will be
able to pull the belt out smoothly.
Height adjustment (if equipped)
You can adjust the height of the shoulder
belt anchor to one of the 4 positions for
maximum comfort and safety.
The height of the adjusting seat belt
should not be too close to your neck. The
shoulder portion should be adjusted so
that it lies across your chest and midway
over your shoulder near the door and not
your neck.
To adjust the height of the seat belt
anchor, lower or raise the height adjuster
into an appropriate position.
B180A01NF
1
2
OMG035038

Safety features of your vehicle
18
3
To raise the height adjuster, pull it up (1).
To lower it, push it down (3) while press-
ing the height adjuster button (2).
Release the button to lock the anchor
into position. Try sliding the height
adjuster to make sure that it has locked
into position.C020106AUN
Seat belts - Front passenger and rear
seat 3-point system with combination locking retractor
To fasten your seat belt:
Combination retractor type seat belts are
installed in the rear seat positions to help
accommodate the installation of child
restraint systems. Although a combina-
tion retractor is also installed in the front
passenger seat position, it is strongly
recommended that children always be
seated in the rear seat. NEVER place
any infant restraint system in the front
seat of the vehicle.
This type of seat belt combines the fea-
tures of both an emergency locking
retractor seat belt and an automatic lock-
ing retractor seat belt. To fasten your seat
belt, pull it out of the retractor and insert
the metal tab into the buckle. There will
be an audible "click" when the tab locks
into the buckle. When not securing a
child restraint, the seat belt operates in
the same way as the driver's seat belt
(Emergency Locking Retractor Type). It
automatically adjusts to the proper length
only after the lap belt portion of the seat
belt is adjusted manually so that it fits
snugly around your hips.
WARNING
Verify the shoulder belt anchor is locked into position at the appro-
priate height. Never position the
shoulder belt across your neck or
face. Improperly positioned seat
belts can cause serious injuries
in an accident.
Failure to replace seat belts after an accident could leave you with
damaged seat belts that will not
provide protection in the event of
another collision leading to per-
sonal injury or death. Replace
your seat belts after being in an
accident as soon as possible.
B200A01NF
WARNING
You should place the lap belt por-
tion as low as possible and snugly
across your hips, not on your waist.
If the lap belt is located too high on
your waist, it may increase the
chance of injury in the event of a
collision. Both arms should not be
under or over the belt. Rather, one
should be over and the other under,
as shown in the illustration.
Never wear the seat belt under the
arm that is near the door.

319
Safety features of your vehicle
When the seat belt is fully extended from
the retractor to allow the installation of a
child restraint system, the seat belt oper-
ation changes to allow the belt to retract,
but not to extend (Automatic Locking
Retractor Type). Refer to “Using a child
restraint system” in this section.
✽ ✽NOTICE
Although the combination retractor
provides the same level of protection for
seated passengers in either emergency
or automatic locking modes, it is recom-
mended that seated passengers use the
emergency locking feature for improved
convenience. The automatic locking
function is intended to facilitate child
restraint installation. To convert from
the automatic locking feature to the
emergency locking operation mode,
allow the unbuckled seat belt to fully
retract.
When using the rear center seat belt, the
buckle with the “CENTER” mark must be
used. (if equipped)
OBH038023N
CAUTION
Do NOT fold down the left portion of
the rear seat back when the rearcenter seat belt is buckled. ALWAYSUNBUCKLE the rear center seatbelt before folding down the left portion of the rear seat back. If therear center seat belt is buckledwhen the left portion of the rearseat back is folded down, distortionand damage to the top portion ofthe seat back and seat belt garnishmay result, causing the seat back tolock into the folded down position.

Safety features of your vehicle
20
3
To release the seat belt:
The seat belt is released by pressing the
release button (1) of the locking buckle.
When it is released, the belt should auto-
matically draw back into the retractor.
If this does not happen, check the belt to
be sure it is not twisted, then try again.C020200ATD-EC
Pre-tensioner seat belt
(if equipped)
Your vehicle is equipped with driver's and
front passenger's pre-tensioner seat
belts. The purpose of the pre-tensioner is
to make sure that the seat belts fit tightly
against the occupant's body in certain
frontal collisions. The pre-tensioner seat
belts may be activated in crashes, where
the frontal collision is severe enough. When the vehicle stops suddenly, or if
the occupant tries to lean forward too
quickly, the seat belt retractor will lock
into position. In certain frontal collisions,
the pre-tensioner will activate and pull
the seat belt into tighter contact against
the occupant's body.
If the system senses excessive seat belt
tension on the driver or passenger's seat
belt when the pre-tensioner activates, the
load limiter inside the pre-tensioner will
release some of the pressure on the
affected seat belt. (if equipped)
OED030300B210A01NF-1
WARNING
Do not put anything near the
buckle. Placing objects near the
buckle can adversely affect the
buckle pre-tensioner and may
increase the risk of personal
injury in the event of a collision.
For your safety, be sure that the belt webbing is not loose or twist-
ed and always sit properly on
your seat.