child restraint OLDSMOBILE INTRIGUE 1998 Owners Manual

Section 1 Seats and Restraint Systems
Here you’ll find information about the seats in your Oldsmobile and how to use your safety belts properly. You can
also learn about some things
you should nut do with air bags and safety belts.
1-2 1-5
1-10
1-11
1-11
1-18 1-19
1-19 Seats
and Seat Controls
Safety Belts: They’re for Everyone
Here Are Questions Many People Ask About
Safety Belts-- and the Answers
How to Wear Safety Belts Properly
Driver Position Safety Belt Use During Pregnancy
Right Front Passenger Position
Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) 1-27
1-30
1-34
1-37
1-48
1-5
1
1-5 1
1-5 1 Rear
Seat Passengers
Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for Children
and Small Adults
Children
Child Restraints
Larger Children
Safety Belt Extender
Checking Your Restraint Systems
Replacing Restraint System Parts After
a Crash
1-1
ProCarManuals.com

How to Wear Safety Belts Properly
Adults
This part is only for people of adult size.
Be aware that there
are special things to know about
safety belts and children. And there are different
rules for smaller children and babies.
If a child will
be riding in your vehicle, see the part of this
manual called “Children.” Follow those rules for
everyone’s protection.
First, you’ll want to know which restraint systems
your vehicle has.
We’ll start with the driver position.
Driver Position
This part describes the driver’s restraint system.
Lap-Shoulder Belt
The driver has a lap-shoulder belt. Here’s how to
wear it properly.
1. Close and lock the door.
2. Adjust the seat (to see how, see “Seats” in the Index)
so you can sit up straight.
3.
4.
Pick up the latch plate and pull the belt across you.
Don’t let it get twisted.
The 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.
Push the latch plate into the buckle until it clicks.
Pull up on the latch plate to make sure it is secure.
If the belt isn’t long enough, see “Safety Belt
Extender” at the end
of this section.
1-11
ProCarManuals.com

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.
1-19
-
ProCarManuals.com

/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.
1-21
ProCarManuals.com

To unlatch the belt, just push the button on the buckle.
Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for
Children and Small Adults
Rear shoulder belt comfort guides will provide added
safety belt comfort for children who have outgrown
child restraints and for small adults. When installed on a
shoulder belt, the comfort guide pulls the belt away
from the neck and head. There
is one guide for each outside passenger position
in the rear seat.
To provide added safety belt comfort
for children who have outgrown child restraints and
for
smaller adults, the comfort guides may be installed on
the shoulder belts. Here’s how to install a comfort guide
and use the safety belt:
1. Pull the elastic cord out from between the edge of
the seatback and the interior body to remove the
guide from its storage clip.
1-30
ProCarManuals.com

~ Children Smaller
Children and Babies
Everyone in a vehicle needs protection! That includes
infants and all children smaller than adult size. Neither
the distance traveled nor the age and size of the traveler
changes the need, for everyone, to use safety restraints.
In fact, the law in every state in the United States and
in
every Canadian province says children up to some age
must be restrained while in a vehicle.
Children who are up against, or very close to, any
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.
ProCarManuals.com

Smaller children and babies should always be
restrained in a child
or infant restraint. The
instructions for the restraint will say whether
it is the right type and size for your child.
A
very young child’s hip bones are so small that a
regular belt might not stay low on the hips,
as it
should. Instead, the belt will likely be over the
child’s abdomen. In a crash, the belt would apply
force right
on the child’s abdomen, which could
cause serious or fatal injuries.
So, be sure that
any child small enough
for one is always properly
restrained in a child or infant restraint.
Infants need complete support, including support for
the head and neck. This is necessary because an infant’s
neck is weak and its head weighs so much compared with the rest
of its body. In a crash, an infant in a
rear-facing restraint settles into the restraint,
so the
crash forces can be distributed across the strongest part
of the infant’s body, the back and shoulders.
A baby
should be secured in an appropriate infant restraint.
This is
so important that many hospitals today won’t
release a newborn infant to its parents unless there is
an infant restraint available for the baby’s first trip in
a motor vehicle.
1-35
ProCarManuals.com

Child Restraints
Every time infants and young children ride in
vehicles, they should have protection provided by
appropriate restraints.
@ What are the different types of add-on
At Add-on child restraints are available in four basic
types. When selecting a child restraint, take into
consideration not only the child’s weight and
size, but also whether or not the restraint will be
compatible with the motor vehicle in which it
will be used.
child restraints?
An infant car bed (A) is a special bed made for
use
in a motor vehicle. It’s an infant restraint
system designed to restrain or position a child
on
a continuous flat surface. With an infant car bed,
make sure that the infant’s head rests toward the
center of the vehicle.
1-37
ProCarManuals.com

A forward-facing child restraint (C-E) positions a
child upright to face forward in the vehicle. These
forward-facing restraints are designed to help protect
children who are
from 20 to 40 lbs. (9 to 18 kg) and
about 26
to 40 inches (66 to 102 cm) in height, or up
to around four years
of age. One type, a convertible
restraint, is designed to be used either as a rear-facing
infant seat or a forward-facing child seat.
1-39
ProCarManuals.com

When choosing a child restraint, be sure the child
restraint is designed to be used in a vehicle. If
it is, it
will have a label saying that it meets Federal Motor
Vehicle Safety Standards.
Then follow the instructions for the restraint.
You may
find these instructions on the restraint itself or in a
booklet, or both. These restraints use the belt system
in your vehicle, but the child also has to be secured
within the restraint to help reduce the chance of
personal injury. The instructions that come with the
infant or child restraint will show you how
to do
that. Both the owner’s manual and the child restraint
instructions are important,
so if either one of these
is not available, obtain a replacement copy from
the manufacturer.
Where to Put the Restraint
Accident statistics show that children are safer if they
are restrained in the rear rather than
the front seat. We at
General Motors therefore recommend that you put your
child restraint in the rear seat.
Never put a rear-facing
child restraint in the front passenger seat. Here’s why:
A child in a rear-facing child restraint can be
seriously injured if the right front passenger’s air
bag inflates, even if your vehicle has
reduced-force frontal
air bags. This is because
the back of the rear-facing child restraint would
be very close to the inflating air bag.
Always
secure a rear-facing child restraint in a rear seat.
You may secure a forward-facing child restraint
in the right front seat, but before you do, always
move the front passenger seat as far back as it
will go. It’s better to secure the child restraint in
a rear seat.
Wherever you install
it, be sure to secure the child
restraint properly.
Keep in mind that an unsecured child restraint can move
around in a collision or sudden stop and injure people in
the vehicle. Be sure
to properly secure any child
restraint
in your vehicle -- even when no child is in it.
1-41
ProCarManuals.com