airbag off PONTIAC G5 2007 Owners Manual

Questions and Answers About
Safety Belts
Q:Will I be trapped in the vehicle after an
accident if I am wearing a safety belt?
A:Youcouldbe — whether you are wearing a
safety belt or not. But you can unbuckle a
safety belt, even if you are upside down. And
your chance of being conscious during and
after an accident, so youcanunbuckle and get
out, ismuchgreater if you are belted.
Q:If my vehicle has airbags, why should I
have to wear safety belts?
A:Airbags are supplemental systems only; so
they workwithsafety belts — not instead of
them. Every airbag system ever offered
for sale has required the use of safety belts.
Even if you are in a vehicle that has airbags,
you still have to buckle up to get the most
protection. That is true not only in frontal
collisions, but especially in side and other
collisions.
Q:If I am a good driver, and I never drive far
from home, why should I wear safety belts?
A:You may be an excellent driver, but if you are
in an accident — even one that is not your
fault — you and your passengers can be hurt.
Being a good driver does not protect you
from things beyond your control, such as
bad drivers.
Most accidents occur within 25 miles (40 km)
of home. And the greatest number of
serious injuries and deaths occur at speeds
of less than 40 mph (65 km/h).
Safety belts are for everyone.
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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 do not wear
safety belts.
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.The best way to protect the fetus is to protect the
mother. When a safety belt is worn properly, it
is more likely that the fetus will not 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, seeDriver Position on page 22.
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 which may turn off
the passenger’s frontal airbag. If this happens, just
let the belt go back all the way and start again.
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{CAUTION:
Children who are up against, or very
close to, any airbag when it inates can
be seriously injured or killed. Airbags
plus lap-shoulder belts offer protection
for adults and older children, but not
for young children and infants.
CAUTION: (Continued)
CAUTION: (Continued)
Neither the vehicle’s safety belt system
nor its airbag system is designed for
them. Young children and infants need
the protection that a child restraint
system can provide.
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Your vehicle has a rear seat that will accommodate
a rear-facing child restraint. A label on your sun
visor says, “Never put a rear-facing child seat
in the front.” This is because the risk to the
rear-facing child is so great, if the airbag deploys.
{CAUTION:
A child in a rear-facing child restraint can
be seriously injured or killed if the right
front passenger’s airbag inates. This is
because the back of the rear-facing child
restraint would be very close to the
inating airbag.
Even though the passenger sensing
system is designed to turn off the
passenger’s frontal airbag if the system
detects a rear-facing child restraint,
no system is fail-safe, and no one can
CAUTION: (Continued)
CAUTION: (Continued)
guarantee that an airbag will not deploy
under some unusual circumstance, even
though it is turned off. We recommend
that rear-facing child restraints be secured
in the rear seat, even if the airbag is off.
If you need to secure a forward-facing
child restraint in the right front seat,
always move the front passenger seat as
far back as it will go. It is better to secure
the child restraint in a rear seat.
Wherever you install a child restraint, 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.
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Securing a Child Restraint in the
Right Front Seat Position
Your vehicle has a right front passenger’s airbag.
A rear seat is a safer place to secure a
forward-facing child restraint. SeeWhere to
Put the Restraint on page 49.
In addition, your vehicle may have the passenger
sensing system. The passenger sensing system
is designed to turn off the right front passenger’s
frontal airbag when an infant in a rear-facing
infant seat or a small child in a forward-facing
child restraint or booster seat is detected.
SeePassenger Sensing System on page 73and
Passenger Airbag Status Indicator on page 162
for more information on this including important
safety information.
A label on your sun visor says, “Never put a
rear-facing child seat in the front.” This is because
the risk to the rear-facing child is so great, if the
airbag deploys.
{CAUTION:
A child in a rear-facing child restraint can
be seriously injured or killed if the right
front passenger’s airbag inates. This is
because the back of the rear-facing child
restraint would be very close to the
inating airbag.
Even though the passenger sensing
system is designed to turn off the right
front passenger’s frontal airbag if the
system detects a rear-facing child
restraint, no system is fail-safe, and no
one can guarantee that an airbag will
not deploy under some unusual
circumstance, even though it is turned
off. We recommend that rear-facing child
restraints be secured in the rear seat,
even if the airbag is off.
CAUTION: (Continued)
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CAUTION: (Continued)
If you need to secure a forward-facing
child restraint in the right front seat,
always move the front passenger seat
as far back as it will go. It is better to
secure the child restraint in a rear seat.
If you need to secure a forward-facing child
restraint in the right front seat position, move the
seat as far back as it will go before securing the
forward-facing child restraint. SeeManual Seats
on page 8.
If your child restraint has the LATCH system, see
Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH)
on page 51.
There is no top tether anchor at the right front
seating position. Do not secure a child restraint in
this position if a national or local law requires that
the top tether be anchored or if the instructions that
come with the child restraint say that the top tether
must be anchored. SeeLower Anchors and Tethers
for Children (LATCH) on page 51if your child
restraint has a top tether.You will be using the lap-shoulder belt to secure
the child restraint in this position. Be sure to follow
the instructions that came with the child restraint.
Secure the child in the child restraint when and as
the instructions say.
1. Your vehicle has a right front passenger’s
frontal airbag. SeePassenger Sensing
System on page 73. We recommend that
rear-facing child restraints be secured in a rear
seat, even if the airbag is off. If your child
restraint is forward-facing, move the seat as
far back as it will go before securing the
child restraint in this seat. SeeManual Seats
on page 8.
When the passenger sensing system has
turned off the right front passenger’s frontal
airbag, the off indicator in the passenger airbag
status indicator should light and stay lit
when you turn the ignition to RUN or START.
SeePassenger Airbag Status Indicator
on page 162.
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6. To tighten the belt, push down on the child
restraint, pull the shoulder portion of the belt
to tighten the lap portion of the belt, and
feed the shoulder belt back into the retractor.
If you are using a forward-facing child
restraint, you may nd it helpful to use your
knee to push down on the child restraint
as you tighten the belt. You should not be able
to pull more of the belt from the retractor
once the lock has been set.
7. Push and pull the child restraint in different
directions to be sure it is secure.8. If your vehicle has a passenger sensing
system and the airbag is off, the off indicator
on the instrument panel will be lit and stay
lit when the key is turned to RUN or START.
If a child restraint has been installed and the on
indicator is lit, turn the vehicle off. Remove
the child restraint from the vehicle and reinstall
the child restraint.
If, after reinstalling the child restraint and restarting
the vehicle, the on indicator is still lit, check to
make sure that the vehicle’s seatback is not
pressing the child restraint into the seat cushion.
If this happens, slightly recline the vehicle’s
seatback and adjust the seat cushion if possible.
Also make sure the child restraint is not trapped
under the vehicle head restraint. If this happens,
adjust the head restraint.
If the on indicator is still lit, secure the child in
the child restraint in a rear seat position in
the vehicle and check with your dealer.
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.
63

{CAUTION:
Anyone who is up against, or very close
to, any airbag when it inates can be
seriously injured or killed. Airbags
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 airbag 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, seeOlder Children on
page 39orInfants and Young Children
on page 42.There is an airbag
readiness light on the
instrument panel cluster,
which shows the
airbag symbol.
The system checks the airbag electrical system
for malfunctions. The light tells you if there is
an electrical problem. SeeAirbag Readiness Light
on page 161for more information.
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What Will You See After an Airbag
Inates?
After a frontal airbag inates, it quickly deates,
so quickly that some people may not even realize
the airbag inated. Roof-mounted side impact
airbags may still be at least partially inated
minutes after the vehicle comes to rest. Some
components of the airbag module — the steering
wheel hub for the driver’s airbag, the instrument
panel for the right front passenger’s airbag, or the
garnish trim and ceiling of your vehicle near
the side windows for vehicles with roof–mounted
side impact airbags — may be hot for a short time.
The parts of the airbag that come into contact
with you may be warm, but not too hot to touch.
There may be some smoke and dust coming from
the vents in the deated airbags. Airbag ination
does not prevent the driver from seeing out of the
windshield or being able to steer the vehicle,
nor does it prevent people from leaving the vehicle.
{CAUTION:
When an airbag inates, there may be
dust in the air. This dust could cause
breathing problems for people with a
history of asthma or other breathing
trouble. To avoid this, everyone in the
vehicle should get out as soon as it is
safe to do so. If you have breathing
problems but cannot get out of the vehicle
after an airbag inates, then get fresh air
by opening a window or a door. If you
experience breathing problems following
an airbag deployment, you should seek
medical attention.
Your vehicle has a feature that may automatically
unlock the doors, turn the interior lamps on, and
turn the hazard warning ashers when the airbags
inate. You can lock the doors again, turn the
interior lamps off, and turn the hazard warning
ashers off by using the controls for those features.
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In many crashes severe enough to inate an airbag,
windshields are broken by vehicle deformation.
Additional windshield breakage may also occur
from the right front passenger airbag.
Airbags are designed to inate only once.
After an airbag inates, you will need some
new parts for the airbag system. If you do not
get them, the airbag system will not be there
to help protect you in another crash. A new
system will include airbag modules and
possibly other parts. The service manual
for your vehicle covers the need to replace
other parts.
Your vehicle has a crash sensing and
diagnostic module which records information
after a crash. SeeVehicle Data Collection
and Event Data Recorders on page 403.
Let only qualied technicians work on the
airbag system. Improper service can mean
that your airbag system will not work properly.
See your dealer for service.
Passenger Sensing System
If your vehicle has one of the indicators pictured in
the following illustrations, then your vehicle has
a passenger sensing system for the right front
passenger’s position. A passenger airbag status
indicator on the instrument panel will be visible
when you turn your ignition key to START or RUN.
The words ON and OFF, or the symbol for
ON and OFF, will be visible on the instrument
panel during the system check. When the system
check is complete, either the word ON or the
word OFF, or the symbol for ON or the symbol
for OFF will be visible. SeePassenger Airbag
Status Indicator on page 162.
United StatesCanada
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