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Infants And Child Restraints
Safety experts recommend that children ride rearward-
facing in the vehicle until they are two years old or until
they reach either the height or weight limit of their rear
facing child safety seat. Two types of child restraints can
be used rearward-facing: infant carriers and convertible
child seats.
The infant carrier is only used rearward-facing in the
vehicle. It is recommended for children from birth until
they reach the weight or height limit of the infant carrier.
Convertible child seats can be used either rearward-
facing or forward-facing in the vehicle. Convertible child
seats often have a higher weight limit in the rearward-
facing direction than infant carriers do, so they can be
used rearward-facing by children who have outgrown
their infant carrier but are still less than at least two years
old. Children should remain rearward-facing until theyreach the highest weight or height allowed by their
convertible child seat.
WARNING!
•
Never place a rear facing infant seat in front of an
air bag. A deploying Passenger Advanced Front Air
Bag can cause death or serious injury to a child 12
years or younger, including a child in a rearward
facing infant seat.
• Only use a rearward-facing child restraint in a
vehicle with a rear seat.
Older Children And Child Restraints
Children who are two years old or who have outgrown
their rear-facing convertible child seat can ride forward-
facing in the vehicle. Forward-facing child seats and
convertible child seats used in the forward-facing direc-
tion are for children who are over two years old or who
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WARNING!(Continued)
•When your child restraint is not in use, secure it in
the vehicle with the seat belt or LATCH anchor-
ages, or remove it from the vehicle. Do not leave it
loose in the vehicle. In a sudden stop or accident, it
could strike the occupants or seatbacks and cause
serious personal injury.
Children Too Large For Booster Seats
Children who are large enough to wear the shoulder belt
comfortably, and whose legs are long enough to bend
over the front of the seat when their back is against the
seatback, should use the seat belt in a rear seat. Use this
simple 5-step test to decide whether the child can use the
vehicle’s seat belt alone: 1. Can the child sit all the way back against the back of
the vehicle seat?
2. Do the child’s knees bend comfortably over the front of the vehicle seat – while they are still sitting all the
way back?
3. Does the shoulder belt cross the child’s shoulder between their neck and arm?
4. Is the lap part of the belt as low as possible, touching the child’s thighs and not their stomach?
5. Can the child stay seated like this for the whole trip?
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Lower Anchors And Tethers For Children (LATCH)
Restraint SystemYour vehicle is equipped with the child restraint anchor-
age system called LATCH, which stands for Lower
Anchors and Tethers for CHildren. The LATCH system
has three vehicle anchor points for installing LATCH-
equipped child seats. There are two lower anchorages
located at the back of the seat cushion where it meets the
seatback and one top tether anchorage located behind the
seating position. These anchorages are used to install
LATCH-equipped child seats without using the vehicle’s
seat belts. Some seating positions may have a top tether
anchorage but no lower anchorages. In these seating
positions, the seat belt must be used with the top tether
anchorage to install the child restraint. Please see the
following table for more information.
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Vehicles With A Center Arm Rest Tether
For rearward facing infant seats secured in the center seat
position with the vehicle seat belts, the rear center seat
position has an armrest tether that secures the arm rest in
the upward position.
1. To access the center seat arm rest tether, first lower thearm rest. The tether is located behind the armrest and
hooked onto the plastic seat backing.
2. Pull down on the tether to unhook it from the plasticseat backing.
3. Raise the armrest and attach the tether hook to the strap located on the front of the arm rest.
Center Seat Position Arm Rest Tether
2
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Always follow the directions of the child restraint
manufacturer when installing your child restraint. Not
all child restraint systems will be installed as described
here.
To Install A LATCH-Compatible Child Restraint
1. If the selected seating position has a Switchable Auto-matic Locking Retractor (ALR) seat belt, stow the seat
belt following the instructions below. See the section
“Installing Child Restraints Using the Vehicle Seat
Belt” to check what type of seat belt each seating
position has.
2. Loosen the adjusters on the lower straps and on the tether strap of the child seat so that you can more
easily attach the hooks or connectors to the vehicle
anchorages.
3. Place the child seat between the lower anchorages for that seating position. For some second row seats, you
may need to recline the seat and/or raise the head
restraint to get a better fit. If the rear seat can be moved
forward and rearward in the vehicle, you may wish to
Center Seat Position Arm Rest Tether Attached
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Installing A Child Restraint With A Switchable
Automatic Locking Retractor (ALR)
1. Place the child seat in the center of the seatingposition. For some second row seats, you may need to
recline the seat and/or raise the head restraint to get a
better fit. If the rear seat can be moved forward and
rearward in the vehicle, you may wish to move it to its
rear-most position to make room for the child seat.
You may also move the front seat forward to allow
more room for the child seat.
2. Pull enough of the seat belt webbing from the retractor to pass it through the seat belt path of the child
restraint. Do not twist the belt webbing in the seat belt
path.
3. Slide the latch plate into the buckle until you hear a “click”. 4. Pull on the webbing to make the lap portion tight
against the child seat.
5. To lock the seat belt, pull down on the shoulder part of the seat belt until you have pulled all the seat belt
webbing out of the retractor. Then, allow the webbing
to retract back into the retractor. As the webbing
retracts, you will hear a clicking sound. This means the
seat belt is now in the Automatic Locking mode.
6. Try to pull the webbing out of the retractor. If it is locked, you should not be able to pull out any web-
bing. If the retractor is not locked, repeat step 5.
7. Finally, pull up on any excess webbing to tighten the lap portion around the child restraint while you push
the child restraint rearward and downward into the
vehicle seat.
8. If the child restraint has a top tether strap and the seating position has a top tether anchorage, connect
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the tether strap to the anchorage and tighten the tether
strap. See the section “Installing Child Restraints
Using the Top Tether Anchorage” for directions to
attach a tether anchor.
9. Test that the child restraint is installed tightly by pulling back and forth on the child seat at the seat belt
path. It should not move more than 1 inch (25.4 mm)
in any direction.
Any seat belt system will loosen with time, so check the
seat belt occasionally, and pull it tight if necessary.
Installing A Child Restraint With A Cinching
Latch Plate (CINCH) — If Equipped
1. Place the child seat in the center of the seating position. For some second row seats, you may need to
recline the seat and/or raise the head restraint to get a
better fit. If the rear seat can be moved forward and
rearward in the vehicle, you may wish to move it to its rear-most position to make room for the child seat.
You may also move the front seat forward to allow
more room for the car seat.
2. Next, pull enough of the seat belt webbing from the retractor to pass it through the belt path of the child
restraint. Do not twist the belt webbing in the belt
path.
3. Slide the latch plate into the buckle until you hear a “click”.
4. Finally, pull up on any excess webbing to tighten the lap portion around the child restraint while you push
the child restraint rearward and downward into the
vehicle seat.
5. If the child restraint has a top tether strap and the seating position has a top tether anchorage, connect
the tether strap to the anchorage and tighten the tether
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6. Remove slack in the tether strap according to the childrestraint manufacturer ’s instructions.
WARNING!
•The top tether anchorages are not visible until the
gap panel is folded down. Do not use the visible
cargo tie down hooks, located on the floor behind
the seats, to attach a child restraint tether anchor.
• An incorrectly anchored tether strap could lead to
increased head motion and possible injury to the
child. Use only the anchorage position directly
behind the child seat to secure a child restraint top
tether strap.
• If your vehicle is equipped with a split rear seat,
make sure the tether strap does not slip into the
opening between the seatbacks as you remove
slack in the strap.
Top Tether Strap Mounting (Captain’s Chair)
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