2011 KIA Soul Owner's Manual

Safety features of your vehicle
12
3
SEAT BELTS
Adjusting the height up and down
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 and installation
To remove the headrest, raise it as far as
it can go then press the release button
(1) while pulling the headrest up (2).
To reinstall the headrest, put the head-
rest poles (3) into the holes while pessing
the release button (1). Then adjust it to
the appropriate height.
C020100AHM
Seat belt restraint system
OUN026043OUN028044
WARNING
Make sure the headrest locks in
position after adjusting it to proper-
ly protect the occupants.
WARNING
For maximum restraint system
protection, 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)

313
Safety features of your vehicle
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.(Continued)
(Continued)
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.
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.(Continued)
Avoid wearing twisted seat belts.A twisted belt can't do its job
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
No modifications or additionsshould be made by the user
which will either prevent the seat
belt adjusting devices from oper-
ating to remove slack, or prevent
the seat belt assembly from being
adjusted to remove slack.
When you fasten the seat belt, be careful not to latch the seat belt in
buckles of other seat. It's very dan-
gerous and you may not be pro-
tected by the seat belt properly.
Do not unfasten the seat belt and do not fasten and unfasten the
seat belt repeatedly while driving.
This could result in loss of con-
trol, and an accident causing
death, serious injury, or property
damage.
When fastening the seat belt, make sure that the seat belt does
not pass over objects that are
hard or can break easily.
Make sure there is nothing in the buckle. The seat belt may not be
fastened securely.

Safety features of your vehicle
14
3
C020101AAM-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 fastened
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
and chime will operate for approximately
6 seconds. But if it is fastened within the
6 seconds, the warning light and chime
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).
C020102AAM-EU
Seat belt - Driver's 3-point system
with 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.
1GQA2083B180A01NF-1

315
Safety features of your vehicle
✽
✽NOTICE
If you are not able to smoothly pull
enough of the seat belt from the retrac-
tor, firmly pull the belt out and release
it. Then you will be able to pull the belt
out smoothly.
Height adjustment
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 seat belt should not be
too close to your neck. The shoulder por-
tion 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.
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.
WARNING
Verify that the shoulder belt
anchor is locked into position at
the appropriate 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.OUN026100
Front seat

Safety features of your vehicle
16
3
C020106AUN
Seat belts - Front passenger and rear
seat 3-point system with combinationlocking 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. 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.
B200A02NF
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.

317
Safety features of your vehicle
When using the rear center seat belt, the
buckle with the “CENTER” mark must be
used.To release the seat belt:
The seat belt is released by pressing the
release button (1) in 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.
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.
OAM039046B210A01NF-1

Safety features of your vehicle
18
3
C020105AAM
Stowing the rear seat belt
The rear seat belt buckles can be stowed
in the pocket between the rear seatback
and cushion when not in use. Routing the seat belt webbing through
the rear seat belt guides will help keep
the belts from being trapped behind or
under the seats when they are folded
down.
After inserting the seat belt, tighten the
belt webbing by pulling it up.
C020200BHM-EU
Pre-tensioner seat belt
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.
OED030300OAM039047OAM039025
CAUTION
When using the seat belt, use it
after taking it out of the guides. Ifyou pull the seat belt when it isstored in the guides, it may damagethe guides and/or belt webbing.

319
Safety features of your vehicle
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).The seat belt pre-tensioner system con-
sists mainly of the following components.
Their locations are shown in the illustra-
tion:
1. SRS air bag warning light
2. Retractor pre-tensioner assembly
3. SRS control module
WARNING
To obtain maximum benefit from a
pre-tensioner seat belt:
1. The seat belt must be worn cor-rectly and adjusted to the proper
position. Please read and follow
all of the important information
and precautions about your vehi-
cle’s occupant safety features –
including seat belts and air bags
– that are provided in this manu-
al.
2. Be sure you and your passen- gers always wear seat belts prop-
erly.
8KMB3311
WARNING
For your safety, be sure that the
belt webbing is not loose or twisted
and always sit properly on your
seat.