Child safet y
In order for the airbag to offer protection, it is
important that all vehicle occupants, especially
any children, who must be in the front seat be
cause of except ional circumstances, be proper ly
restrained and as far away from the airbag as
possible . By keeping room between the child's
body and the front of the passenger compart
ment, the airbag can inflate comp letely and pro
vide supp lemental protection in ce rtain frontal
coll is ions .
A WARNING
Not using a booster seat, using the booster
seat improperly, incorrect ly installing a boos
ter seat or using the vehicle safety belt im
properly increases the risk of serious personal
injury and death in a collision or other emer
gency situat ion. To help reduce the risk of se
r ious personal injury and/or death:
- The shoulder belt must lie as close to the
center of the child's collar bone as possible
and must lie flat and snug on the upper
body .
It must never lie across the throat or
neck. The lap belt must lie across the pelv is
and never across the stomach or abdomen.
Make sure that the be lt lies flat and snug.
Pull on the belt to tighten i f necessa ry .
- Failure to properly route safety be lts over a
child 's body will cause severe injuries in an
accident or other emergency sit uation
¢ page 140.
- The rear side of the child safety seat shou ld
be positioned as close as possible to the
backrest on the vehicle seat.
- For adjustable head restraints: adjust or re
move the rear seat head restraint if it is dif
ficult to install the child seat with the head
restraint in place¢
page 56. Install the
head restraint again immediately once the
child seat is removed . Driv ing without head
restraints or with head restraints that are
not properly adjusted increases the r isk of
serious o r fatal neck injury dramatically .
- Children on the front seat of any car, even
with Advanced Airbags, can be ser iously in
jured or even killed when an airbag inflates.
- Never let a child stand or knee l on any seat,
for example the front seat.
182
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- Never let a child ride in the cargo area of
your veh icle.
- Always remember that a child leaning for
ward, sitting sideways or out of position in any way during an acc ident can be struck by
a deploying airbag. This will resu lt in serious
personal injury or death.
- If you must install a booster seat on the
front passenger seat because of exceptional
circumstances the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
li ght must come on and stay on, when
eve r the ign it ion is switched on.
- If the
PASSENGER AIR B AG OF F light does
not come on and stay on, perform the
checks described ¢
page 160, Monitoring
the Advanced Airbag System.
- Ta ke the child restraint off the front passen
ge r seat and install it properly at one of the
rear seat positions if the
PA SSENGER AIR
BAG OFF
light does not stay on whenever
the ignition is switched on .
- Always read and heed a ll WARNINGS when
ever using a child restrained in a vehicle is
being used¢
page 140, Safety belts,
¢page 148, Airbag system
and
¢ page 172, Important information.
Securing child seats
Securing a child safety seat using a safety
belt
Safety belts for the rear seats and the front pas
senger can be locked with the convertible lo cking
retractor to properly secure child safety seats .
The safety belts emergency locking retracto rs fo r
the rear seats safety belts and for the front pas
senger's seat safety be lt have a convert ible lock
ing retractor for chi ld restraints. The safety belt
must be locked so that belt webbing cannot un
reel. The retractor can be activated to lock the
safety belt and prevent the safety be lt webbing
from loosening up during normal driving. A child
safety seat can on ly be properly installed when
the safety belt is locked so that the child and
c hi ld safety seat will stay in p lace .
Always remember: Even though your vehicle is
equipped with an Advanced Airbag system, all
