lock Acura Integra 2001 Owner's Manual

Drive
r an d Passenge r Safet y
This section gives you important information about how to protect
yourself and your passengers. It shows you how to use seat belts
properly. It explains your Supple-
mental Restraint System. And it tells
you how to properly restrain infants and children in your car.
Important Safety Precautions.......... 6
Your Car's Safety Features.............. 7
Seat Belts........................................ 8
Airbags............................................ 9

Seats & Seat-Backs...................... 10
Head Restraints........................... 10
Door Locks................................... 10Pre-Drive Safety Checklist......... 11

Protecting Adults.............................
12
1. Clos
e and Lock the Doors...... 12
2. Adjust the Front Seats............ 13
3. Adjust the Seat-Backs............. 14
4. Adjust the Head Restraints.... 15 5. Fasten and Position the Seat
Belts...................................... 16

6. Adjust the Steering Wheel..... 17

7. Maintain a Proper Sitting
Position................................. 18

Advice for Pregnant Women...... 19

Additional Safety Precautions.... 19

Protecting Children......................... 21
All Children Must Be

Restrained................................ 21

Children Should Sit in the Back
Seat............................................ 22

The Passenger's Airbag Poses Serious Risks to Children....... 22
If You Must Drive with Several
Children.................................... 25
If a Child Requires Close
Attention................................... 25
Additional Safety Precautions.... 25 General Guidelines for Using

Child Seats................................ 26

Protecting Infants........................ 30

Protecting Small Children.......... 34
Protecting Larger Children........ 38
Using Child Seats with Tethers...................................... 41
Additional Information About Your

Seat Belts.................................. 42

Seat Belt System Components... 42
Lap/Shoulder Belt....................... 42
Seat Belt Maintenance................ 43
Additional Information About Your

SRS............................................ 45

SRS Components......................... 45

How Your Airbags Work............ 45

How the SRS Indicator Light

Works........................................ 47

SRS Service................................... 47

Additional Safety Precautions.... 48

Carbon Monoxide Hazard.............. 49

Safety Labels.................................... 50

Driver an d Passenge r Safet y

You
r Car' s Safet y Feature s
(1 ) Safet y Cag e
(2 ) Crus h Zone s
(3 ) Seat s & Seat-Back s
(4 ) Hea d Restraint s
(5 ) Collapsibl e Steerin g Colum n
(6 ) Sea t Belt s
(7 ) Airbag s
(8 ) Doo r Lock s Your car is equipped with many
features that work together to
protect you and your passengersduring a crash.
Some safety features do not require
any action on your part. These
include a strong steel framework
that forms a safety cage around the passenger compartment; front and
rear crush zones that are designed to
crumple and absorb energy during a
crash; and a collapsible steering

column.

These safety features are designed to reduce the severity of injuries in acrash. However, you and your
passengers can't take full advantage of these safety features unless you
remain sitting in a proper position
and always wear your seat belts
properly. In fact, some safety
features can contribute to injuries if
they are not used properly.
Driver an d Passenge r Safet y

You
r Car' s Safet y Feature s
Seat s & Seat-Back s
Your car's seats are designed to keep you in a comfortable, uprightposition so you can take fulladvantage of the protection offered
by seat belts and the energy absorbing materials in the seats.
How you adjust your seats and seat-
backs can also affect your safety. For example, sitting too close to thesteering wheel or dashboard
increases the risk of you or your
passenger being injured by striking
the inside of the car, or by an inflating airbag.
Reclining a seat-back too far reduces
the seat belt's effectiveness and
increases the chance that the seat'soccupant will slide under the seat
belt in a crash and be seriously
injured.
What you should do: Move the front

seats as far back as possible, and
keep adjustable seat-backs in an
upright position whenever the car is

moving.

Hea d Restraint s
Head restraints can help protect you
from whiplash and other injuries. For maximum protection, the back of
your head should rest against the center of the head restraint. Doo
r Lock s
Keeping your doors locked reduces
the chance of being thrown out of
the car during a crash. It also helps
prevent occupants from accidentally opening a door and falling out, and
outsiders from unexpectedly opening
your doors.
Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y

You
r Car' s Safet y Feature s
Pre-Driv e Safet y Checklis t
To make sure you and your passengers get the maximum
protection from your car's safety
features, check the following each
time before you drive away: All adults, and children who have
outgrown child safety seats, are
wearing their seat belts and
wearing them properly (see page 16).
Any infant or small child is
properly restrained in a child seat

in the back seat (see page 21). Front seat occupants are sitting
upright and as far back as possible
from the steering wheel and dashboard (see page 13). Seat-backs are upright (see page
14). Head restraints are properly
adjusted (see page 15). Both doors and the hatch are
closed and locked (see page 12).
All cargo is properly stored or
secured (see page 132).
The rest of this section gives more detailed information about how you
can maximize your safety.
Remember, however, that no safety system can prevent all injuries or
deaths that can occur in severe
crashes, even when seat belts are
properly worn and the airbags deploy.
Driver an d Passenge r Safet y

Protectin
g Adult s
Introductio n
The following pages provide instructions on how to properly
protect the driver and other adult
occupants.

These instructions also apply to children who have outgrown childseats and are large enough to wear
lap/shoulder belts. (See page 38 for important additional guidelines on
how to properly protect larger children.) 1
. Clos e an d Loc k th e Door s
After everyone has entered the car, be sure the doors and the hatch areclosed and locked.
Your car has a doormonitor light on the
instrument panel to indicate when
either door is not tightly closed. For safety, locking the doors reduces
the chance that a passenger, especially a child, will open a door
while the car is moving and accidentally fall out. It also reduces
the chance of someone being thrown out of the car during a crash.
For security, locked doors can
prevent an outsider from
unexpectedly opening a door when
you come to a stop.
See page 75 for how to lock the
doors.

Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y

Protectin
g Adult s

2.Adjus t th e Fron t Seat s
Any driver who sits too close to the steering wheel is at risk of beingseriously injured or killed by striking
the steering wheel, or from being struck by an inflating airbag during a

crash.
To reduce the chance of injury, wear
your seat belt properly, sit upright
with your back against the seat, andmove the seat as far back as possible
from the steering wheel while still maintaining full control of the car.
Also make sure your front seat passenger moves the seat as far to
the rear as possible.
Most shorter drivers can get far
enough away from the steering
wheel and still reach the pedals. However, if you are concerned about
sitting too close, we recommend that
you investigate whether some type of adaptive equipment may help.
Once your seat is adjusted correctly,
rock it back and forth to make sure
the seat is locked in position.
See page 79 for how to adjust the
front seats.

Driver an d Passenge r Safet y

Sitting too close to an airbag
can result in serious injury or

death if the airbags inflate.

Always sit as far back from the airbags as possible.

Protectin
g Childre n
I f Yo u Mus t Driv e wit h Severa l
Childre n
Your car has two seating positions in the back seat where children can be
properly restrained.
If you ever have to carry more than
two children in your car: Place the largest child in the front
seat, provided the child is large
enough to wear a seat belt
properly (see page 38). Move the vehicle seat as far to the
rear as possible (see page 13).
Have the child sit upright and well
back in the seat (see page 18).
Make sure the seat belt is properly
positioned and secured (see page 16). I
f a Chil d Require s Clos e
Attentio n
Many parents say they prefer to put
an infant or small child in the front
passenger seat so they can watch the child, or because the child requires
attention.
Placing a child in the front seatexposes the child to hazards from
the airbag, and paying close attention to a child distracts the
driver from the important task of
driving, placing both of you at risk.
If a child requires physical attention or frequent visual contact, we
strongly recommend that another
adult ride with the child in the back
seat. The back seat is far safer for a
child than the front. Additiona
l Safet y Precaution s Do not leave children alone in your
vehicle. Leaving children without
adult supervision is illegal in most
states and Canadian provinces,
and can be very hazardous. For
example, infants and small
children left in a vehicle on a hot
day can die from heatstroke. And
children left alone with the key in
the ignition can accidentally set
the vehicle in motion, possibly injuring themselves or others. Lock both doors and the hatch
when your vehicle is not in use.
Children who play in cars can
accidentally get trapped inside the
car. Teach your children not to
play in or around cars.
Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y

Protectin
g Childre n

Rear-Facing Child Seat Installation
The lap/shoulder belts in the back seats have a locking mechanism that
must be activated to secure a child
seat.

The following pages provide instructions and tips on how tosecure a rear-facing child seat with
this type of seat belt.
1. With the child seat in the desiredback seating position, route the
belt through the child seataccording to the seat maker's
instructions, then insert the latch
plate into the buckle. 2. To activate the lockable retractor,
slowly pull the shoulder part of the
belt all the way out until it stops,
then let the belt feed back into the
retractor (you might hear a
clicking noise as the belt retracts).
3. After the belt has retracted, tug on it. If the belt is locked, you will not
be able to pull it out. If you can pull the belt out, it is not locked and
you will need to repeat these steps.

Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y
CONTINUED

Protectin
g Childre n
4. After confirming that the belt is locked, grab the shoulder part of
the belt near the buckle and pull
up to remove any slack from the
lap part of the belt. Remember, if
the lap part of the belt is not tight,
the child seat will not be secure.
To remove slack, it may help to put weight on the child seat, or
push on the back of the seat, while
pulling up on the belt. 5. Push and pull the child seat
forward and from side to side to
verify that it is secure enough to stay upright during normal driving
maneuvers. If the child seat is not secure, unlatch the belt, allow it to
retract fully, then repeat these
steps.
To deactivate the locking
mechanism and remove a childseat, unlatch the buckle, unroute
the seat belt, and let the belt fully
retract.
Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y

Protectin
g Childre n

Rear-Facing Child Seat Installation Tips
For proper protection, an infant must
ride in a reclined, or semi-reclined
position. To determine the proper
reclining angle, check with the baby's doctor or follow the seat maker's

recommendations.

To achieve the desired reclining angle, it may help to put a rolled up
towel under the toe of the child seat,
as shown.
When properly installed, a rear-
facing child seat may prevent the driver or a front-seat passenger from
moving the seat as far back as
recommended (see page 13). Or it
may prevent them from locking theseat-back in the desired upright
position (see page 14).
In either case, we recommend that
you place the child seat directly
behind the front passenger seat, move the front seat as far forward as
needed, and leave it unoccupied. Or
you may wish to get a smaller child seat that allows you to safely carry a
front passenger.
Additional Precautions for Infants
Never hold an infant on your lap.

If you are not wearing a seat belt
in a crash, you could be thrown
forward into the dashboard and crush the infant.
If you are wearing a seat belt, the
infant can be torn from your arms during a crash. For example, if
your car crashes into a parked
vehicle at 30 mph (48 km/h), a 20-lb (9 kg) infant will become a600-lb (275 kg) force, and you will
not be able to hold on.
Never put a seat belt over yourself

and an infant. During a crash, the

belt could press deep into the infant and cause very serious
injuries.

Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y