Child safety
restraint in place 9 page 64. Install the
head restraint again immediately once the
child seat is removed. Driving without head
restraints or with head restraints that are
not properly adjusted increases the risk of
serious or fatal neck injury dramatically .
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS when
ever using a child restrained in a vehicle is
being used
9 page 140, Safety belts,
9 page 148, Airbag system and
9 page 168, Important information.
_& WARNING
If exceptional circumstances require the use
of a forward-facing child restraint on the
front passenger's seat, the child's safety and
well-being require that the following special precautions be taken:
- Make sure the forward-facing seat has been
designed and certified by its manufacturer
for use on a front seat with a passenger
front and side airbag.
- Always follow the manufacturer's instruc
tions provided with the child safety seat or
infant carrier.
- Always move the front passenger seat to
the highest position in the up and down ad
justment range and move it back to the
rearmost position in the seat's fore and aft
adjustment range, as far away from the air
bag as possible, before installing the for
ward-facing child restraint.
- Always make sure that the safety belt upper
anchorage is behind the child restraint and
not next to or in front of the child restraint
so that the safety belt will be properly posi
tioned.
- Always make sure that nothing prevents the
front passenger's seat from being moved to
the rearmost position in its fore and aft ad
justment range.
- Always make sure the backrest is in an up
right position.
- Make sure that the
PASSENGER AIR BAG
OFF
light comes on and stays on all the time
whenever the ignition is switched on.
176
- If the light does not stay on, perform the
checks
¢ page 158, Monitoring the Ad
vanced Airbag System.
-T ake the child restraint off the front passen
ger seat and install it properly at one of the
rear seat positions if the
PASSENGER AIR
BAG OFF
light does not stay on whenever
the ignition is switched on.
Booster seats and safety belts
Properly used booster seats can help protect
children weighing between about 40 lbs . and 80
lbs. (18 kg and 36 kg) who are less than 4 ft.
9
in . (57 inches/1.45 meters) tall.
Fig. 176 Rear seat: child proper ly restrained in a booster
seat
The vehicle's safety belts alone will not fit most
children until they are at least 4 ft. 9 in. (57 in
ches/1.45 meters) tall and weigh about 80 lbs.
(36 kg). Booster seats raise these children up so
that the safety belt will pass properly over the
stronger parts of their bodies and the safety belt
can help protect them in a crash.
.,. Do not use the convertible locking retractor
when using the vehicle's safety belt to restrain
a child on a booster seat.
.,. The shoulder belt must lie as close to the cen
ter 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 pelvis and never
across the stomach or abdomen . Make sure the
belt lies flat and snug . Pull on the belt to tight
en if necessary.
.,. If you must transport an older child in a boos-
ter seat on the front passenger seat, you can
Ill>-
use the safety belt height adjustment to help
adjust the shoulder portion properly.
~ Secure unused safety belts on the rear seat
¢ page 173.
Children up to at least 8 years old (over 40 lbs. or
18 kg) are best protect ed in child safety s eats de
signed for their age and weight. Experts say that
the skeletal structure, particularly the pelvis, of
these children is not fully developed, and they
must not use the vehicle safety belts without a
suitable child restra int .
It is usually best to put these children in appro priate booster seats . Be sure the booster seat
meets all applicable safety standards .
Booster seats raise the seating position of the
child and reposition both the lap and shoulder
parts of the safety belt so that they pass across
the child's body in the right places. The rout ing of
the belt over the child's body is very important
for the child's protection, whether or not a boos
ter seat is used. Chi ld ren age 12 and unde r must
a lways ride in the rear seat .
Ch ildren who are at least 4 ft . 9 in. (57 inches/
1.45 mete rs) tall ca n genera lly use the veh icle's
three po int lap and shoulder be lts. Neve r use the
l ap belt po rtion of the vehicle 's safety belt alone
to restrain any child, regardless of how big the
chi ld is. A lways remember that children do not
have the pronounced pelvic structure required for
the proper function of lap belt port ion of the ve
h icle 's three point lap and shoulder be lt s. The
chi ld 's safety absolutely requires that a lap belt
port ion of the safety belt be fastened snugly and
as low as possible around the pelvis . Never let
the lap belt portion of the safety belt pass over
the child's stomach or abdomen.
In a crash, a irbags must inflate within a blink of
an eye and wit h considerable force . In order to do
its job, the airbag needs room to inflate so that it
will be there to p rotect the occupant as the occu
pant moves forward into the a irbag.
A vehicle occupant who is out of position and too
~ close to the airbag gets in the way of an inflating ....
~ ai rbag. When an occ upant is too close, he o r she
N 8 will be struck v iolently and will receive ser ious or
~ possibly even fatal injury. 00
Ch ild safety
In order for the a irbag to offer protection, it is
important that a ll vehicle occupants, especially
any ch ildren, who m ust be in the front seat be
cause of exceptiona l circumstances, be properly
restra ined and as far away from the airbag as
poss ible. By keeping room between the child 's
body and the front of the passenger compart
ment, the a irbag can inflate completely and pro
vide s upplementa l protec tion in certain frontal
collisions.
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
i njury and death in a collision or other emer
gency situation. To help reduce the risk of se rious personal injury and/or death:
- The shou lder belt must lie as close to the
center of the ch ild'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 ac ross the pelvis
and never across the stomach o r abdomen.
Make sure the bel t lies flat and sn ug. Pu ll on
the belt to tighten if necessary.
- Fail ure to properly route safety bel ts over a
child's body w ill cause severe injuries in an
accident or other emergency situation
¢ page 140.
- The rear side of the chi ld safety seat should
be positioned as close as possible to the
backrest on the vehicle seat. Adjust or re
move the rear seat head restraint if it is dif
f icult to insta ll the ch ild seat with the head
restraint in place¢
page 64 . Install the
head restraint again immed iately once the
child seat is removed . Driving without head
rest raints or with head restra ints that a re
not properly adj usted increases the r is k of
serio us or fatal ne ck in jury dramatically .
- Never let a chi ld put the shoulder belt under
the arm or behind the ba ck, because i t could
cause severe inj uries in a crash .
- Ch ild ren on the fron t seat of any car, even
with Advanced Airbags, can be seriously in-
jured or even ki lled when an airbag inflates .
Ill>
177
Child safety
The illustration shows the seating locations in
your vehicle which are equipped with the lower
anchorages system.
Description
The lower anchorage positions ore marked for
quick locating.
F ig. 178 Lower anchorages, covers marked
Fig. 179 Rear seats: lower anchorage bracke t locations
Lower anchorages
The lower anchorage attachment points are lo
cated between the rear seatback and rear seat
cushion.
Remove the covers
Q fig. 178 to access the lower
anchorage attachment points.
The lower anchorage attachment points are visi
ble
~fig. 179.
Lower ancho rages secure the child restraint in
the seat without using the vehicle's safety belts.
Anchorages provide a secure and easy-to-use at
tachment and minim ize the possibility of improp
er child restraint installation.
All child restraints manufactured after Septem
ber 1, 2002, must have lower anchorage attach
ments for the
LATCH system.
182
Remember that the lower anchorage points are
on ly inten ded for insta llation and attachment of
ch ild restraints specifically certif ied for use with
LATCH lower anchorages. Child restra ints that
are not equipped with the lower anchorage at
tachments can still be installed in compliance
with the ch ild restraint manufacturer 's in struc
tions on using vehicle safety be lts .
.&_ WARNING
Im proper use of LATCH lower anchorages can
cause serious personal injury in an accident.
- Always carefully follow the child restraints
manufacturer's instructions for proper in
stallat ion of the chi ld restraint and proper
use of the lower anchorages or safety belts
in your vehicle.
- Never secure or attach any luggage or other
items to the
LATCH lower anchorages .
- Always read and heed the important infor
mation about child restraints in this chapter
and WARNINGS
Qpage 168, Child safety.
Installing a child restraint with LATCH
lower anchorages
When ever you install a child restraint always fol
low the child restraint manufacturer's instruc
tions.
Fig. 180 Lower anchorages: proper mount ing
Mounting
.,. Make sure the seatback of the rear seat bench
is in the upright position and securely latched
in place .
.,. Attach both hook-on connectors wit h the spring
catch release on the child safety seat onto the ..,.