child restraint CADILLAC ELDORADO 1998 10.G Owners Manual

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Section 1 Seats and Restraint Systems
Here you’ll find information about the seats in your Cadillac and how to use your safety belts properly. You can also
learn about some things you should
not do with air bags and safety belts.
1- 2
1- 6
1- 11
1- 12
1- 12
1-
19
1- 20
1- 20
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 Inflatable
Restraint
(SIR) System
1- 26
I- 29
I- 30
1- 33
1- 45
1- 48
1- 48
1- 48 Rear Seat
Passengers
Center Passenger Position
Children
Child Restraints
Larger Children
Safety Belt Extender
Checking Your Restraint Systems
Repiacing Restraint System Parts
After a Crash
1-1

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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. Pick up the latch plate and pull the belt across you.
Don’t let
it get twisted.
4. 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.
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.
1-12

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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 lap 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 Inflatable Restraint
(SIR) System
This part explains the Supplemental Inflatable Restraint
(SIR) system 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. Here
are the most important
things to know about the air
bag system:
A CAUTION:
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 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. Everyone in your vehicle should wear a
safety belt properly
-- whether or not there’s an
air bag for that person.
1-20

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine r
r !
r
r
r
r
f- t
i
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. Safety belts
help keep you in position before and during a
crash. Always wear your safety belt, even with
air
bags. The driver should sit as far back as possible
while
still maintaining control of the vehicle.
A CAUTION:
Children who are up against, or very close to, an
air bag when it inflates can be seriously injured
or killed. Air bags plus lap-shoulder belts offer
the best protection for adults and older children,
but not for young children and infants. Neither
CAUTION: (Continued) CAUTION: (Continued)
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 AlR BAG.
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

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Children
To make the belt shorter, pull its free end as shown until
the belt is snug.
Buckle, 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 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. 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.
Smaller Children and Babies
I A CAUTION:
Children who are up against, or very close to, an
air bag when
it inflates can be seriously injured
or killed. Air bags plus lap-shoulder belts offer
the best protection for adults and older children,
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.
1-30

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine I
f
r
s
r
r
I A CAUTION:
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.
1-31

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Child Restraints
Every time infants and young children ride in
vehicles, they should have protection provided by
appropriate restraints.
Q: What are the different types of add-on
child restraints?
A: 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.
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.
1-33

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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 Ibs. (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.
1-35

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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 CAUTION:
A child in a rear-facing child restraint can be
seriously injured if the right front passenger’s air
bag inflates. This
is because the back of a
rear-facing child restraint would be very close to
the inflating air bag. Always secure a rear-facing
child restraint in the rear seat.
You may, however, secure a forward-facing child
restraint in the right front seat. Before you secure
a forward-facing child restraint, always move the
front passenger seat
as far back as it will go. Or,
secure the child restraint in the 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.
1-37

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Top Strap If your child restraint has a top strap, it should be
anchored. If
you need to have an anchor installed, you
can ask your Cadillac dealer to put it in for you. If you
want to install an anchor yourself. your dealer can tell
you how to do it.
Canadian law requires that child restraints have a top
strap, and that the strap be anchored.
If your child restraint has a top strap,
your dealer can
obtain
a kit with anchor hardware and installation
instructions specifically designed for this vehicle. The
dealer can then install the anchor for you.
In Canada,
this work will be done for you free of charge. Or.
you
may install the anchor yourself using the instructions
provided
in the kit.
1-38