OLDSMOBILE INTRIGUE 1998 Owner's Manual

Shoulder Belt Height Adjuster
Before you begin to drive, move the shoulder belt
adjuster to the height that is right for you.
To move it down, squeeze the release lever and move
the height adjuster to the desired position. You can move
the adjuster up just by pushing up on the shoulder belt
guide. After you move the adjuster to where you want it,
try to move it down without squeezing the release lever
to make sure it has locked into position.
Adjust the height
so that the shoulder portion of the
belt
is centered on your shoulder. The belt should be
away from your face and neck, but not falling
off
your shoulder.
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@ What's wrong with this?
I
You can be seriously hurt if your shoulder belt is
too loose. In
a crash, you would move forward
too much, which could increase injury. The
shoulder belt should fit against your body.
A: The shoulder belt is too loose. It won't give nearly
as much protection this way.
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Q: What’s wrong with this?
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A: The belt is buckled in the wrong place. You
can be seriously injured if your belt is
buckled in the wrong place like this. In
a crash,
the belt would
go up over your abdomen.
The belt forces would be there, not
at the
pelvic bones. This could cause serious internal
injuries. Always buckle your belt into the
buckle nearest you.
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@ What's wrong with this?
CAUTION:
You can be seriously injured if you wear the
shoulder belt under your arm. In
a crash, your
body would move too
far forward, which would
increase the chance of head and neck injury.
Also, the belt would apply too much force to the
ribs, which aren't as strong as shoulder bones.
You could also severely injure internal organs
like your liver or spleen.
A: The shoulder belt is worn under the arm. It should
be worn over the shoulder at all times.
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What's wrong with this? You can be seriously injured by a twisted belt. In
a crash, you wouldn't have the full width of the
belt to spread impact forces. If a belt is twisted,
make it straight
so it can work properly, or ask
your retailer to
fix it.
A: The belt is twisted across the body.
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Safety belts work for everyone, including pregnant
women. Like all occupants, they are more likely to be
seriously injured if they don’t wear safety belts.
Safety Belt Use During Pregnancy
To unlatch the belt, just push the button on the buckle.
The belt should go back out of the way.
Before you close the door, be sure the belt is out of the
way.
If you slam the door on it, you can damage both
the belt and your vehicle.
A pregnant woman should wear a lap-shoulder belt, and
the lap portion should be worn as low as possible, below
the rounding, throughout the pregnancy.
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The best way to protect the fetus is to protect the
mother. When a safety belt is worn properly, it’s more
likely that the fetus won’t be hurt in
a crash. For
pregnant women, as for anyone, the key to making
safety belts effective is wearing them properly.
Right Front Passenger Position
To learn how to wear the right front passenger’s safety
belt properly, see “Driver Position’’ earlier in this section.
The right front passenger’s safety belt works the same
way as the driver’s safety belt
-- except for one thing. If
you ever pull the shoulder portion of the belt out all the
way, you will engage the child restraint locking feature.
If this happens, just let the belt go back all the way and
start again.
Supplemental Restraint System (SRS)
This part explains the Supplemental Restraint System
(SRS) or air bag system.
Your vehicle has two air bags
-- one air bag for the
driver
and another air bag for the right front passenger.
The air bags in your vehicle may be “Next Generation”
reduced-force frontal air bags.
If your vehicle has a label on the driver’s side door
window, then your vehicle has reduced-force frontal air
bags.
If your vehicle doesn’t have a label, then the air
bags
in your vehicle aren’t reduced-force.
Reduced-force frontal air bags are designed to help
reduce the risk of injury from the force
of an inflating
air bag. But even these air bags must inflate very
quickly if they are to
do their job and comply with
federal regulations.
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~‘=’c~ ~ ~ . _c. - . .., . .- .~ .- . -. -~
4
Here are the most important things to know about the
air bag system:
You can be severely injured or killed in a crash
if you aren’t wearing your safety belt -- even
if you have
air bags. Wearing your safety belt
during a crash helps reduce your chance of
hitting things inside the vehicle or being ejected
from it. Air bags are “supplemental restraints”
to the safety belts. All air bags
-- even
reduced-force
air bags -- are designed to
work with safety belts, but don’t replace them.
Air bags are designed to work only in moderate to
severe crashes where the front of your vehicle hits
something. They aren’t designed to inflate at
all in
rollover, rear, side or low-speed frontal crashes.
And, for unrestrained occupants, reduced-force
air bags may provide less protection in frontal
crashes than more forceful air bags have provided
in the past. Everyone in your vehicle should wear
a safety belt properly -- whether or not there’s an
air bag for that person.
A CAUTION:
Air bags inflate with great force, faster than the
blink
of an eye. If you’re too close to an inflating
air bag, it could seriously injure you. This
is true
even with reduced-force frontal
air bags. Safety
belts help keep you in position before and during
a crash. Always wear your safety belt, even with
reduced-force air bags. The driver should sit as
far back
as possible while still maintaining
control
of the vehicle.
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/I CAU’JON:
Children who are up against, or very close to, an
air bag when it inflates can be seriously injured
or killed. This is true even
if your vehicle has
reduced-force frontal air bags. Air bags plus
lap-shoulder belts offer the best protection for
adults, but not for young children and infants.
Neither the vehicle’s safety belt system nor its air
bag system
is designed for them. Young children
and infants need the protection that a child
restraint system can provide. Always secure
children properly in your vehicle. To read how,
see the part
of this manual called “Children” and
see the caution labels on the sunvisors and the
right front passenger’s safety belt.
There is an air bag
readiness light on the
instrument panel, which
shows an
air bag symbol.
I I
The system checks the air bag electrical system
for malfunctions. The light tells you if there is an
electrical problem. See
“Air Bag Readiness Light”
in the Index for more information.
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How the Air Bag System Works
1
Where are the air bags?
The driver’s air bag is in the middle of the
steering wheel. The right front passenger’s air
bag is in the instrument
panel
on the passenger’s side.
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