OLDSMOBILE SILHOUETTE 1994 Owner's Guide

the steering wheel hub may be hot for a
short time, but the portion of the bag
that comes into contact with you will
not be hot to the touch. There will be
small amounts of smoke and dust
coming from vents in the deflated air
bag. The air bag will
not impede the
driver’s vision or ability to steer the
vehicle, nor will it hinder the occupants
from exiting the vehicle.
The air bag is designed to inflate only
once. After
it inflates, you’ll need
some new parts for your air bag
system. If you don‘t get them, the air
bag system won’t be there to help
protect you in another crash. A new
system will include the air bag module
and possibly other parts. The service
manual has information about the
i need to replace other parts.
Your vehicle is equipped with a
diagnostic module, which records information about the air bag system
if the air bag deploys during a crash.
The module records information
about the readiness of the system,
which sensors activated the
deployment, and whether the driver’s
safety belt was in use.
Let only qualified technicians work on
your air bag system. Improper service
can mean that your air bag system
won’t work properly. See your dealer
for service.
NOTICE:
If you damage the cover for the
driver’s air bag, it may not work
properly. You may have to replace
the air bag on the steering wheel.
Do not open or break the air bag
cover.
Is the smoke from an air bag inflation
harmful?
The particles emitted during air bag
inflation are not harmful to most people.
Some people with respiratory ailments
may experience difficulty breathing
if
they stay in the vehicle with the
windows closed after air bag inflation.
So, if your air bag inflates, you and any
passengers should exit the vehicle if and
when it is safe to do
so. If you or your
passengers can’t get out of the vehicle,
try to get fresh air by opening a window,
turning on the fan, or opening a door.
Servicing Your Oldsmobile with
the Air Bag System
The air bag affects how your Oldsmobile
should be serviced. There are parts of
the air bag system in several places
around your vehicle.
You don’t want the
system to inflate while someone is working
on your vehicle. Your Oldsmobile
dealer and the
1994 Silhouette Service
Manual have information about
servicing your vehicle and the air bag
system. The air bag system does not
need regular maintenance.
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Seats & Restraint Systems
30
Safety Belt Use During
Pregnancy
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.
A pregnant woman should wear a lap-
shoulder belt, and the lap portion
should be worn as low as possible
throughout the pregnancy.
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 malting safety belts effective is
wearing them properly.
I Right Front Passenger
Position
The right front passenger’s safety belt
works the same way as the driver‘s
safety belt. See
Driver Position, earlier
in this part.
I Rear Seat Passengers
It‘s very important for rear seat
passengers to buckle up! Accident
statistics show that unbelted people
in
the rear seat are hurt more often in
crashes than those who are wearing
safety belts.
Rear passengers who aren’t safety
belted can be thrown out of the vehicle
in a crash. And they can strike others in
the vehicle who are wearing safety belts.
LJ
Center Passenger Position
Lap Belt
Someone can sit in the center position
mket seat.
When
you sit in the center position
mcltet seat‘ you have a lap safety belt
which has a retractor.
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1. Pick up the latch plate and, in a
single motion, pull the belt across
you. Don’t let it get twisted.
2. Push the latch plate into the buckle
until it clicks.
If the belt stops before
it reaches the buckle,
let it go back all
the way and start again. Pull up on
the latch plate to make sure it is
secure.
tighten it.
3. Feed the lap belt into the retractor to
4. Position and release it the same way
as the lap part of a lap-shoulder belt.
If the belt isn’t long enough, see
Safety BeZt Extender at the end of
this section. Make sure the release
button on the buckle is positioned
so
you would be able to unbuckle the
safety belt quicltly if you ever had to. ’he
center position bucket seat is
a
:ENTER OR LEFT type seat. Because
t is the only bucket seat with a lap belt,
Lnd has a buckle on only one side, there
re certain places a
CENTER OR LEFT
ipe bucket seat should, and should not,
e used. See
Seats in the Index. If the
:ENTER OR LEFT bucket seat is used
n the left side
of the vehicle, the person
itting there should use the lap-shoulder
elt. It works the same way as the
river’s safety belt. See
Driver Position
I the Index.
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Seats & Restraint Systems
32
Sear Seat Outside Passenger
Dositions
Lap-Shoulder Belt
The positions next to the windows have
ap-shoulder belts. Here’s how
to wear
me properly.
1. Pick up the latch plate and pull the
belt across you. Don’t let it get
twisted.
until
it clicks.
2. Push the latch plate into the buckle If
the belt stops before it reaches the
buckle, tilt the latch plate and keep
pulling until you can buclde it.
Pull up on the latch plate to make sure
it is secure.
If the belt
is not long enough, see Safety
Belt Extender at the end of this section.
Make sure the release button on the
buckle
is positioned so you would be
able to unbuckle the safety belt quickly
if you ever had to.
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3. To make the lap part tight, pull down
on the buckle end of the belt as you
pull up on the shoulder part. The lap part of the
belt should be worn
low and snug on the hips, just touching
the thighs. In a crash, this applies force
to the strong pelvic bones. And you’d bc
less likely to slide under the lap belt. If
you slid under it, the belt would apply
force at your abdomen. This could
cause serious or even fatal injuries. The
shoulder belt should go over the
shoulder and across the chest. These
parts of the body are best able to tale
belt restraining forces.
The safety belt locks
if there’s a sudden
stop or a crash.
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A
I Built-In Child Restraint
(OPT/ON)
If you have a rear bucket seat with the
optional built-in child restraint, see the
Owner’s Manual Supplement that came
with your vehicle for information on use
and appearance care. To find out where
a seat that has the built-in child
restraint must be located in your
vehicle? see
Removable Rear Bucket
Seats
in the Index.
I Child Restraints
Be sure to follow the instructions for the
restraint.
You may find these
instructions on the restraint itself or in a
booltlet, 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.
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Seats & Restraint Systems
36
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 unless the child
is an infant
and you’re the only adult in the vehicle.
In that case, you might want to secure
the restraint in the front seat where you
can keep an eye on the baby.
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.
Top Strap
If your child restraint has a top strap, it
should be anchored. Anchor
brackets for the second row
outside positions are located just above
the place where the third row lap-
shoulder belts meet the floor. There’s a
vinyl sleeve there; to get to the bracket,
push this vinyl sleeve aside slightly.
Anchor the top strap to the bracket.
If you need to have an anchor bracket
installed for any additional passenger seat position, you can ask your
Oldsmobile dealer to put it in for you. If
you want to install an anchor bracket
yourself, your dealer can tell you
how to
do it.
Once you have the top strap anchored,
you’ll be ready to secure the child
restraint itself.
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Securing a Child Restraint in an
Outside Position
You’ll be using the lap-shoulder belt.
See the earlier section about the top
strap
if the child restraint has one.
1. Put the restraint on the seat. Follow
the instructions for the child
restraint.
2. Secure the child in the child restraint
as the instructions say.
3. Pick up the latch plate, and run the
lap and shoulder portions of the
vehicle’s safety belt through or
around the restraint. The child
restraint instructions will show you
how. Tilt the latch plate to adjust the
belt
if needed. If the shoulder belt
goes in front of the child’s face or
neck, put it behind the child restraint
4. Buckle the belt. Make sure the
release button is positioned
so you
would be able to unbuckle the safety
belt quickly
if you ever had to.
5. To tighten the belt, pull up on the
shoulder belt while you push down
on the child restraint.
6. Push and pull the child restraint in
different directions to be sure it is
secure.
To remove the child restraint: just
unbuckle the vehicle’s safety belt and
let it go back all the way. The safety belt
will move freely again and be ready to
work for an adult or larger child
passenger.
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Seats di Restraint Systems
38
Securing a Child Restraint in the
Center Seat Position
You’ll be using the lap belt. See the
:arlier section about the top strap
if the
:hild restraint has one.
I. Put the restraint on the seat. Follow
the instructions for the child
restraint.
as the instructions say.
2. Secure the child in the child restraint
3. Pull the lap belt all the way out
4. While holding it out, run the belt
without
stopping.
through or around the child restraint.
The child restraint instructions will
show you how.
5. Buckle the belt. Make sure the
release button is positioned
so you
would be able to unbuckle the safety
belt quickly
if you ever had to.
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