2013 VOLKSWAGEN JETTA Owners Manual

Safety belts

WARNING
Not wearing a safety belt or wearing an improperly positioned safety belt increases the risk
of severe personal injury or death. Safety belts offer optimum protection only when they are
used properly.
x Properly worn safety belts are the single most effective means of reducing the risk of
serious injury and death in a collision or other accident. For this reason, always wear your
safety belt properly and make sure all passengers wear their safety belts properly as well
whenever the vehicle is moving.
x The driver must always make sure that every person in the vehicle is properly seated on a
seat of his or her own, properly fastens the safety belts belonging to that seat before the
vehicle starts to move, and keeps the belts properly fastened while riding in the vehicle. This
applies even when just driving around town. Therefore, always wear your safety belts and
make sure that everybody in your vehicle is properly restrained.
x Always secure children in the vehicle with a restraint system appropriate for their age,
weight and height .
x Always fasten safety belts correctly before driving off and make sure that all passengers
are properly restrained.
x Never attach the safety belt to the buckle of another seat. Attaching the safety belt to the
wrong buckle will reduce safety belt effectiveness and can cause serious personal injury.
x Never let any objects or liquids get into the safety belt latch and prevent it from working
properly.
x Never remove a safety belt while the vehicle is moving. Doing so will increase your risk of
being injured or killed.
x Never strap more than one person, including small children, into any single safety belt.
x Never let children or babies ride sitting on your lap, and never place a safety belt over a
child sitting on your lap.
x Never wear belts over rigid or breakable objects in or on your clothing, such as
eyeglasses, pens, keys, etc., as these may cause injury.
x Several layers of heavy clothing (such as a coat worn over top of a sports jacket) may
interfere with proper positioning of the safety belt and reduce the overall effectiveness of the
system.
x Never use comfort clips or devices that create slack in the shoulder belt. However, special
clips may be required for the correct use of some child restraint systems.
x Safety belts offer optimum protection only when the seat backrest is upright and belts are
correctly positioned on the body.

WARNING
Damage to safety belts reduces their overall effectiveness and increases the risk of serious
personal injury and death whenever the vehicle is being used.
x Never let safety belts become damaged by being caught in the door or seat hardware.
x Torn or frayed safety belts can tear, and damaged safety belt hardware can break in an
accident.
x Inspect belts regularly for damage. If webbing, bindings, buckles, or retractors are
damaged, have the belts replaced immediately with the correct replacement belts approved
by Volkswagen for your vehicle, model, and model year.
x Safety belts that were subject to stress in an accident and stretched must be replaced
with a correct, new safety belt, preferably by an authorized Volkswagen dealer or authorized
Volkswagen Service Facility.
x Replacement after a crash may be necessary even if a safety belt shows no visible
damage. Anchorages that have been loaded must also be inspected.
x Damaged safety belts must be replaced; they cannot be repaired.
x Never try to repair a damaged safety belt yourself. Never remove or modify the safety
belts in any way.
x Have safety belts, bindings, retractors and buckles replaced by an authorized Volkswagen
dealer or authorized Volkswagen Service Facility.
x Always keep the belts clean. Dirty belts may not work correctly and can impair the
function of the inertia reel.
Warning light

Fig. 44 Warning light in the instrument cluster.

Lights
up or
flashes
Possible cause Proper response
iª
Driver and front passenger have not
fastened their safety belts, if front
passenger seat is occupied.
Fasten safety belts.

When the ignition is switched on, several warning and indicator lights come on briefly for a function
check. They go out after a few seconds.
A warning chime also sounds.
The safety belt warning light i comes on for 6 seconds when the ignition is switched on. A warning
chime also sounds for up to 6 seconds if the driver's safety belt is not buckled. The chime stops
sooner if the driver buckles his or her safety belt. The warning light and the chime go out when both
driver and front passenger have bucked their safety belts.
If the driver and front seat passenger do not both fasten their safety belts within about 24 seconds
after the chime stops and the vehicle is moving at a speed of more than about 15 mph (25 km/h), the
chime will again sound for about 6 seconds, then go off for about 24 seconds, then sound again for
about another 6 seconds. The same thing happens if one of the safety belts is fastened and then
unfastened while the vehicle is moving. The safety belt warning light i also flashes. The warning
chime continues to sound at 24 second intervals for up to 2 minutes. No chime sounds at speeds of
less than about 5 mph (8 km/h).
If the ignition is switched on, the safety belt warning light i stays on until the driver and front
passenger have both buckled their safety belts.
WARNING
Not wearing a safety belt or wearing an improperly positioned safety belt increases the risk
of severe personal injury or death. Safety belts offer optimum protection only when used
correctly.
Frontal collisions and laws of physics

Fig. 45 A vehicle with passengers not wearing safety belts approaches a wall.

Fig. 46 A vehicle with passengers not wearing safety belts hits a wall.

Fig. 48 Unbelted passengers in the rear seats are thrown forward on top of the belted driver.

Safety belts protect

Fig. 49 Belted driver secured by the correctly worn safety belt in the event of a sudden braking maneuver.

Checklist
Using safety belts ⇒
d D a m a g e t o s a f e t y b e l t s r e d u c e s t h e i r o v e r a l l e f f e c t i v e n e s s a n d i n c r e a s e s t h e r i s k o f s erious
personal injury and death whenever the vehicle is being used.
d C h e c k t h e c o n d i t i o n o f a l l s a f e t y b e l t s r e g u l a r l y .
d K e e p s a f e t y b e l t s c l e a n .
d K e e p o b j e c t s a n d l i q u i d s a w a y f r o m s a f e t y b e l t w e b b i n g , t h e s a f e t y b e l t b u c k l e t o n g u e , a n d t he
safety belt buckle latch and opening.
d D o n o t p i n c h o r d a m a g e t h e s a f e t y b e l t o r b u c k l e t o n g u e ( f o r i n s t a n c e , w h e n c l o s i n g a d o o r ) .
d N e v e r m o d i f y , d i s a s s e m b l e o r t r y t o r e p a i r s a f e t y b e l t s a n d s a f e t y b e l t a n c h o r a g e s .
d A l w a y s f a s t e n y o u r s a f e t y b e l t p r o p e r l y b e f o r e d r i v i n g a n d k e e p i t f a s t e n e d w h e n e v e r t h e v e h i c l e is
moving.

Twisted safety belt
If it is difficult to pull the safety belt out of the belt guide, the belt may be twisted inside the side trim
because the belt retracted too quickly when it was taken off.
x Hold the safety belt tongue, slowly and carefully pull safety belt all the way out.
x Untwist the safety belt and slowly return the belt by hand.
If you cannot untwist the safety belt, wear it anyway. Make sure that the safety belt is twisted in a spot
where it does not come in direct contact with your body. Have the safety belt untwisted immediately by
an authorized Volkswagen dealer or authorized Volkswagen Service Facility.
Lockable safety belt
The retractors for the rear seat safety belts and the front passenger safety belt have a switchable
locking feature for child restraints in addition to the emergency locking feature. Whenever a child
restraint is installed with a safety belt, the safety belt must be locked so that the safety belt webbing
cannot unreel. The switchable locking feature lets you lock the belt so that a child restraint can be
properly installed and, for example, so that it can't tip to the side when the vehicle goes around a
corner .
To see whether a safety belt is lockable, pull the safety belt all the way out of the safety belt retractor.
You should then hear a “clicking” sound as the belt winds back into the retractor reel. Test the
switchable locking feature by pulling on the belt. When the switchable locking feature is active, you
should no longer be able to pull the belt out of the retractor.
The locking feature must be deactivated when a vehicle occupant uses the safety belt.