Child sa fety
- Always make sure the seat backrest to which
t h e chi ld restraint is installed is in an up
rig ht p osition and s ecurely latched into
plac e and can not f old forward. O therwise,
t he se atback with t he ch ild safe ty seat at
tached to it could fly forward in the event of
an accident or other emergency situation.
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS when
ever using a child restrained in a veh icle is
being used
¢ page 170. Specia l preca utions
apply when installing a child safety seat on
the front passenger
seat¢ page 147, Child
restraints on the front seat -some impor
tant things to know.
Deactivating the convertible locking
retractor
The convertible locking retractor for child re
straints will be deactivated automatically when
the belt is wound all the way back into the re
tractor .
~ Press the red button on the safety belt b uckle.
Th@ belt tongue w ill pop out of the buckle.
~ Gu ide the safety belt a ll the way back into its
stowed position .
Always let the safety belt retract complete ly into
its stowed position . The safety belt can now be
used as an ordinary safety belt without the con
vert ible lock ing retractor for child restra ints .
If the convert ible lock ing retractor should be ac
tivated inadve rtently, the safety belt must be un
fastened and gu ided completely back into its
stowed position to deact ivate this feature.
If the
convertib le lock ing retractor is not deact ivated,
the safety belt w ill gradually become tighte r and
uncomfo rtable to wea r.
A WARNING
-
Improperly installe d child safety seats in
crease the risk of serio us pe rsonal injury and
death in a collision .
- Never unfasten the safe ty belt to deactiva te
the convert ible locking retractor for child re
straints while the vehicle is moving . You
184 wou
ld not be rest rained and could be seri
ously in jured in an acc ident.
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS when
ever us ing a child restrained in a vehicle is
be ing
used¢ page 170. Special p recautions
apply when installing a child safety seat on
the front passenge r
seat¢ page 147, Child
restraints on the front seat -some impor
tant things to know.
LATCH system (lower
anchorages and tethers
for children)
Child Restraint System anchors and how
are they related to child safety
To p rovide a simp ler and mo re practicab le way to
attach the ch ild restraint on the vehicle seat,
Federal regulations require spec ia l lower ancho
rages in vehicles and devices on new ch ild re
straints to attach to the vehicle anchorages .
In the United States, the combination of the
tethe r ancho rages and the lower anchorages is
now generally called t he LATCH system for
" Lower Anchorages and Tethers for Children" . In
Canada, the terms
" top tet her" wi th "lower u ni
versa l anchorages" (o r "lowe r universa l anchor
age bars") a re used to des cribe the system .
In other co untries the term
"ISOFIX" is used to
desc ribe the lower anchorages .
Fo rward-facing chi ld restraints manufactured af
ter September
1, 1999, are required by U.S . fed
era l regulations to comply with new child head
movement performance req uir ements . These
new performance requ irements make a tether
necessary on most new ch ild sea ts.
Installing a ch ild restraint that requires a top
tether wi thout one can se riously impair the per
fo rmance of the c hild rest raint and its ab ility to
pro tect the ch ild in a co ll ision. I nstalling a ch ild
r es trai nt th at r equi res a top te ther wi tho ut the
top tether may be a vio lation o f st ate law.
Child restra int manufactu rers offe r LATCH lowe r
ancho rages on t heir child seats w ith hook-on or
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