Cadillac Escalade Owner Manual (GMNA-Localizing-MidEast-10293077) -
2017 - crc - 8/24/16
SEATS AND RESTRAINTS 71
Q: If my vehicle has airbags, whyshould I have to wear safety
belts?
A: Airbags are supplemental systems
only; so they work withsafety
belts —not instead of them.
Whether or not an airbag is
provided, all occupants still have
to buckle up to get the most
protection.
Also, in nearly all regions, the law
requires wearing safety belts.
How to Wear Safety Belts
Properly
This section is only for people of
adult size.
There are special things to know
about safety belts and children, and
there are different rules for smaller
children and infants. If a child will be
riding in the vehicle, see Older Children
0 89 orInfants and Young Children
0 91. Follow those rules for everyone's
protection. It is very important for all occupants
to buckle up. Statistics show that
unbelted people are hurt more often
in crashes than those who are wearing
safety belts.
There are important things to know
about wearing a safety belt properly.
.
Sit up straight and always keep
your feet on the floor in front
of you.
. Always use the correct buckle for
your seating position.
. Wear the lap part of the belt low
and snug on the hips, just
touching the thighs. In a crash,
this applies force to the strong pelvic bones and you would be
less likely to slide under the lap
belt. If you slid under it, the belt
would apply force on your
abdomen. This could cause serious
or even fatal injuries.
. Wear the shoulder belt over the
shoulder and across the chest.
These parts of the body are best
able to take belt restraining forces.
The shoulder belt locks if there is
a sudden stop or crash.
{Warning
You can be seriously injured,
or even killed, by not wearing your
safety belt properly.
. Never allow the lap or
shoulder belt to become loose
or twisted.
. Never wear the shoulder belt
under both arms or behind
your back.
. Never route the lap or
shoulder belt over an armrest.
Cadillac Escalade Owner Manual (GMNA-Localizing-MidEast-10293077) -
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72 SEATS AND RESTRAINTS
Lap-Shoulder Belt
All seating positions in the vehicle
have a lap-shoulder belt.
If you are using a rear seating position
with a detachable safety belt, and the
safety belt is not attached, seeThird
Row Seats 068 for instructions on
reconnecting the safety belt to the
mini-buckle.
The following instructions explain
how to wear a lap-shoulder belt
properly.
1. Adjust the seat, if the seat is adjustable, so you can sit up
straight. To see how, see “Seats”
in the Index.
2. Pick up the latch plate and pull the belt across you. Do not let it
get twisted.
The lap-shoulder belt may lock if
you pull the belt across you very
quickly. If this happens, let the
belt go back slightly to unlock it.
Then pull the belt across you
more slowly.
If the shoulder portion of the
front passenger belt is pulled out
all the way, the child restraint
locking feature may be engaged.
If this happens, let the belt go
back all the way and start again. Engaging the child restraint
locking feature in the front
outboard seating position may
affect the passenger sensing
system. See
Passenger Sensing
System 084.
For front seating positions, if the
webbing locks in the latch plate
before it reaches the buckle, tilt
the latch plate flat to unlock.
Cadillac Escalade Owner Manual (GMNA-Localizing-MidEast-10293077) -
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SEATS AND RESTRAINTS 73
3. Push the latch plate into thebuckle until it clicks. If the latch
plate will not go fully into the
buckle, check if the correct
buckle is being used.
Pull up on the latch plate to
make sure it is secure.
Position the release button on
the buckle so that the safety belt
could be quickly unbuckled if
necessary.
4. If equipped with a shoulder belt height adjuster, move it to the
height that is right for you. See
“Shoulder Belt Height Adjuster” in this section for instructions on
use and important safety
information.
5. To make the lap part tight, pull
up on the shoulder belt.
For third row seats, it may be
necessary to pull stitching on the
safety belt through the latch
plate to fully tighten the lap belt
on smaller occupants.
To unlatch the belt, push the button
on the buckle. The belt should return
to its stowed position.
For third row seats, slide the latch
plate up the safety webbing when the
safety belt is not in use. The latch
plate should rest on the stitching on
the safety belt.
Always stow the safety belt slowly.
If the safety belt webbing returns
quickly to the stowed position, the
retractor may lock and cannot be
pulled out. If this happens, pull the
safety belt straight out firmly to
unlock the webbing, and then release
it. If the webbing is still locked in the
retractor, see your dealer.
Cadillac Escalade Owner Manual (GMNA-Localizing-MidEast-10293077) -
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74 SEATS AND RESTRAINTS
Before a door is closed, be sure the
safety belt is out of the way. If a door
is slammed against a safety belt,
damage can occur to both the belt
and the vehicle.
Shoulder Belt Height Adjuster
The vehicle has a shoulder belt height
adjuster for the driver and front
outboard passenger positions.
Adjust the height so the shoulder
portion of the belt is on the shoulder
and not falling off of it. The belt
should be close to, but not contacting,
the neck. Improper shoulder belt
height adjustment could reduce the
effectiveness of the safety belt in a
crash. SeeHow to Wear Safety Belts
Properly 071.
Push down on the release button to
move the height adjuster to the
desired position.
Move the adjuster up by pushing up
on the shoulder belt guide.
After the adjuster is set to the desired
position, try to move it down without
pushing the release button to make
sure it has locked into position.
Automatic Safety Belt
Tightening System
The vehicle may have the Automatic
Safety Belt Tightening System. The system activates during
emergency braking and/or sudden
driving maneuvers and releases when
driving conditions return to normal.
The system will not activate if the
Traction Control/Electronic Stability
Control system is not functioning
properly. See
Traction Control/
Electronic Stability Control 0216.
If there is a problem with the
Automatic Safety Belt Tightening
System, a message displays on the
Driver Information Center (DIC). See
Safety Belt Messages 0151. Other
safety belt functions are not affected
by the Automatic Safety Belt
Tightening System.
Safety Belt Pretensioners
This vehicle has safety belt
pretensioners for front outboard
occupants. Although the safety belt
pretensioners cannot be seen, they are
part of the safety belt assembly. They
can help tighten the safety belts
during the early stages of a moderate
to severe frontal, near frontal, or rear
crash if the threshold conditions for
pretensioner activation are met. Safety
Cadillac Escalade Owner Manual (GMNA-Localizing-MidEast-10293077) -
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SEATS AND RESTRAINTS 81
Driver Side Shown, Passenger SideSimilar
The roof-rail airbags for the driver,
front outboard passenger, and second
and third row outboard passengers are
in the ceiling above the side windows.
{Warning
If something is between an
occupant and an airbag, the airbag
might not inflate properly or it
might force the object into that
person causing severe injury or
even death. The path of an inflating
airbag must be kept clear. Do not (Continued)
Warning (Continued)
put anything between an occupant
and an airbag, and do not attach or
put anything on the steering wheel
hub or on or near any other airbag
covering.
Do not use seat or console
accessories that block the inflation
path of a seat-mounted side impact
airbag or the front center airbag.
Never secure anything to the roof of
a vehicle with roof-rail airbags by
routing a rope or tie-down through
any door or window opening. If you
do, the path of an inflating roof-rail
airbag will be blocked.
When Should an Airbag
Inflate?
This vehicle is equipped with airbags.
SeeAirbag System 078. Airbags are
designed to inflate if the impact
exceeds the specific airbag system's
deployment threshold. Deployment
thresholds are used to predict how
severe a crash is likely to be in time for the airbags to inflate and help
restrain the occupants. The vehicle
has electronic sensors that help the
airbag system determine the severity
of the impact. Deployment thresholds
can vary with specific vehicle design.
Frontal airbags are designed to inflate
in moderate to severe frontal or near
frontal crashes to help reduce the
potential for severe injuries, mainly to
the driver's or front outboard
passenger's head and chest.
Whether the frontal airbags will or
should inflate is not based primarily
on how fast the vehicle is traveling.
It depends on what is hit, the
direction of the impact, and how
quickly the vehicle slows down.
Frontal airbags may inflate at
different crash speeds depending on
whether the vehicle hits an object
straight on or at an angle, and
whether the object is fixed or moving,
rigid or deformable, narrow or wide.
Frontal airbags are not intended to
inflate during vehicle rollovers, rear
impacts, or many side impacts.
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ejection in rollover events, although
no system can prevent all such
ejections.
But airbags would not help in many
types of collisions, primarily because
the occupant's motion is not toward
those airbags. SeeWhen Should an
Airbag Inflate? 081.
Airbags should never be regarded as
anything more than a supplement to
safety belts.
What Will You See after an
Airbag Inflates?
After frontal airbags and
seat-mounted side impact airbags
inflate, they quickly deflate, so quickly
that some people may not even realize
an airbag inflated. The front center
airbag and roof-rail airbags may still
be at least partially inflated for some
time after they inflate. Some
components of the airbag module may
be hot for several minutes. For
location of the airbags, see Where Are
the Airbags? 080. The parts of the airbag that come into
contact with you may be warm, but
not too hot to touch. There may be
some smoke and dust coming from
the vents in the deflated airbags.
Airbag inflation does not prevent the
driver from seeing out of the
windshield or being able to steer the
vehicle, nor does it prevent people
from leaving the vehicle.
{Warning
When an airbag inflates, there may
be dust in the air. This dust could
cause breathing problems for
people with a history of asthma or
other breathing trouble. To avoid
this, everyone in the vehicle should
get out as soon as it is safe to do
so. If you have breathing problems
but cannot get out of the vehicle
after an airbag inflates, then get
fresh air by opening a window or a
door. If you experience breathing
problems following an airbag
deployment, you should seek
medical attention. The vehicle has a feature that may
automatically unlock the doors, turn
on the interior lamps and hazard
warning flashers, and shut off the fuel
system after the airbags inflate. The
feature may also activate, without
airbag inflation, after an event that
exceeds a predetermined threshold.
You can lock the doors, turn off the
interior lamps, and turn off the hazard
warning flashers by using the controls
for those features.{Warning
A crash severe enough to inflate the
airbags may have also damaged
important functions in the vehicle,
such as the fuel system, brake and
steering systems, etc. Even if the
vehicle appears to be drivable after
a moderate crash, there may be
concealed damage that could make
it difficult to safely operate the
vehicle.
Use caution if you should attempt
to restart the engine after a crash
has occurred.
Cadillac Escalade Owner Manual (GMNA-Localizing-MidEast-10293077) -
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86 SEATS AND RESTRAINTS
If the On Indicator is Lit for a
Child Restraint
The passenger sensing system is
designed to turn off the front
outboard passenger frontal airbag if
the system determines that an infant
is present in a child restraint. If a
child restraint has been installed and
the on indicator is lit:1. Turn the vehicle off.
2. Remove the child restraint from the vehicle.
3. Remove any additional items from the seat such as blankets,
cushions, seat covers, seat
heaters, or seat massagers.
4. Reinstall the child restraint following the directions provided
by the child restraint
manufacturer and refer to
Securing Child Restraints (With the
Safety Belt in the Rear Seat) 0104
or Securing Child Restraints (With
the Safety Belt in the Front
Seat) 0106.
Make sure the safety belt
retractor is locked by pulling the
shoulder belt all the way out of the retractor when installing the
child restraint, even if the child
restraint is equipped with a
safety belt lock-off. When the
retractor lock is set, the belt can
be tightened but not pulled out
of the retractor.
5. If, after reinstalling the child restraint and restarting the
vehicle, the on indicator is still
lit, turn the vehicle off. Then
slightly recline the vehicle
seatback and adjust the seat
cushion, if adjustable, to make
sure that the vehicle seatback is
not pushing the child restraint
into the seat cushion.
Also make sure the child
restraint is not trapped under the
vehicle head restraint. If this
happens, adjust the head
restraint. See Head
Restraints 055.
6. Restart the vehicle.
The passenger sensing system may or
may not turn off the airbag for a child
in a child restraint depending upon
the child’s size. It is better to secure
the child restraint in a rear seat. Never put a rear-facing child restraint in the
front seat, even if the on indicator is
not lit.
If the Off Indicator Is Lit for an
Adult-Sized Occupant
If a person of adult size is sitting in
the front outboard passenger seat, but
the off indicator is lit, it could be
because that person is not sitting
properly in the seat or that the child
restraint locking feature is engaged.
If this happens, use the following
steps to allow the system to detect
that person and enable the front
outboard passenger frontal airbag:
1. Turn the vehicle off.
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SEATS AND RESTRAINTS 87
2. Remove any additional materialfrom the seat, such as blankets,
cushions, seat covers, seat
heaters, or seat massagers.
3. Place the seatback in the fully upright position.
4. Have the person sit upright in the seat, centered on the seat
cushion, with legs comfortably
extended.
5. If the shoulder portion of the belt is pulled out all the way, the
child restraint locking feature
will be engaged. This may
unintentionally cause the
passenger sensing system to turn
the airbag off for some
adult-sized occupants. If this
happens, unbuckle the belt, let
the belt go back all the way, and
then buckle the belt again
without pulling the belt out all
the way.
6. Restart the vehicle and have the person remain in this position
for two to three minutes after the
on indicator is lit.{Warning
If the front outboard passenger
airbag is turned off for an
adult-sized occupant, the airbag will
not be able to inflate and help
protect that person in a crash,
resulting in an increased risk of
serious injury or even death. An
adult-sized occupant should not
ride in the front outboard passenger
seat, if the passenger airbag off
indicator is lit.
Additional Factors Affecting
System Operation
Safety belts help keep the passenger
in position on the seat during vehicle
maneuvers and braking, which helps
the passenger sensing system
maintain the passenger airbag status.
See “Safety Belts” and“Child
Restraints ”in the Index for additional
information about the importance of
proper restraint use.
A thick layer of additional material,
such as a blanket or cushion,
or aftermarket equipment such as seat covers, seat heaters, and seat
massagers can affect how well the
passenger sensing system operates.
We recommend that you not use seat
covers or other aftermarket equipment
except when approved by GM for your
specific vehicle. See
Adding Equipment
to the Airbag-Equipped Vehicle 088 for
more information about modifications
that can affect how the system
operates.
The on indicator may be lit if an
object, such as a briefcase, handbag,
grocery bag, laptop, or other electronic
device, is put on an unoccupied seat.
If this is not desired, remove the
object from the seat.{Warning
Stowing of articles under the
passenger seat or between the
passenger seat cushion and
seatback may interfere with the
proper operation of the passenger
sensing system.