belt CHEVROLET ASTRO 2003 Owner's Manual

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.
Rear Seat Outside Passenger Positions Lap-Shoulder
Belt
These positions have lap-shoulder belts. Here’s how to
wear one properly.
1. Pick up the latch plate and pull the belt across you.
2. Push the latch plate into the buckle until it clicks.
Don’t let
it get twisted.
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If the belt stops before it reaches the buckle, tilt the
latch plate and keep pulling until you can buckle it.
Pull up on the latch plate to make sure
it is secure.
If the belt is not long enough, see
Safety Belt
Extender
on page 1-34.
Make sure the release button on the buckle is
positioned
so that you would be able to unbuckle
the safety belt quickly
if you ever had to.
3. To make the lap part tight, pull down on the buckle
end of the belt as you pull up on the shoulder part.
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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 pelvic bones. And you’d be less likely to slide
under the lap belt.
If you slid under it, the belt would apply
force at your abdomen. Phis 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 take belt restraining forces.
The safety belt locks
if there’s a sudden stop or a crash.
is too loose. In a crash, you would move
forward too much, which could increase injury.
The shoulder belt should fit against your body.
To unlatch the belt, just push the button on the buckle.
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Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for
Children and Small Adults
Your vehicle may have this feature already. If it doesn’t,
you can get it from any
GM dealer.
This feature will provide added safety belt comfort for
older children who have outgrown booster seats and for
small adults. When installed on a shoulder belt, the
comfort guide better positions the belt away from
the neck and head.
To provide added safety belt comfort for children who
have outgrown child restraints and booster seats 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. Remove the guide from its storage clip on the side
of the seatback.
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4. Buckle, position and release the safety belt as
described in
Rear Seat Passengers on page 1-29.
Make sure that the shoulder belt crosses the
shoulder.
Safety Belt Extender
If the vehicle’s safety belt will fasten around you,
you should use it.
But
if a safety belt isn’t long enough to fasten, your
dealer will order you an extender. It’s free. When you go
in to order it, take the heaviest coat you will wear,
so
the extender will be long enough for you. The extender
will be just for you, and just for the seat in your
vehicle that you choose. Don’t let someone else use it,
and use it only for the seat it is made to fit.
To wear
it, just attach it to the regular safety belt.
To remove and store the comfort guides, squeeze the
belt edges together
so that you can take them out of the
guides. Slide the guide onto the storage clip.
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Child Restraints
Older Children
Older children who have outgrown booster seats should
wear the vehicle’s safety belts.
Q: What is the proper way to wear safety belts?
A: If possible, an older child should wear a
lap-shoulder belt and get the additional restraint
a shouider beit can provide. The shouider belt
should not cross the face or neck. The lap
belt should fit snugly below the hips, just touching
the top of the thighs.
It should never be worn
over the abdomen, which could cause severe or
even fatal internal injuries in a crash.
Accident statistics show that children are safer
if they
are restrained in the rear seat.
In a crash, children who are not buckled up can strike
other people who are buckled up, or can be thrown
out of the vehicle. Older children need to use safety
belts properly.
If you have the choice, a child should sit next to a
window
so the child can wear a lap-shoulder belt and
get the additional restraint a shoulder belt can provide.
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Never do this. Here two children are wearing the same belt.
The belt can’t properly spread the impact
forces.
In a crash, the two children can be
crushed together and seriously injured.
A belt
must be used by only one person at a time.
Q: What if a child is wearing a lap-shoulder belt,
but the child
is so small that the shoulder belt
is very close to the child’s face or neck?
A: Move the child toward the center of the vehicle, but
be sure that the shoulder belt still
is on the child’s
shoulder,
so that in a crash the child’s upper
body would have the restraint that belts provides.
If the child is sitting in a rear seat outside position,
see
Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for Children
and Small Adults
on page 1-32.
If the child is so small that the shoulder belt is still
very close to the child’s face or neck, you might
want
to place the child in a seat that has a lap belt,
if your vehicle has one.
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I
I Never do this.
Here a child is sitting in a seat that has a
lap-shoulder belt, but the shoulder
part is
behind the child. If the child wears the belt in
this way, in a crash the child might slide under
the belt. The belt’s force would then be applied
right on the child’s abdomen. That could cause
serious or fatal injuries.
Wherever the child sits, the lap portion
of the belt
should be worn low and snug on the hips, just touching
the child’s thighs. This applies belt force to the child’s
pelvic bones in a crash.
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Infants and Young Children
Except Cargo Vans
Everyone in a vehicle needs protection! This includes
infants and all other children. 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.
Every time infants and young children ride in vehicles,
they should have the protection provided by appropriate
restraints. Young children should not use the vehicle's
adult safety belts alone, unless there
is no other choice.
Instead, they need to use a child restraint.
I
People should never hold a baby in their arms
while riding in a vehicle.
A baby doesn't weigh
much
- until a crash. During a crash a baby will
become
so heavy it is not possible to hold it.
CAUTION: (Continued)
I I I
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-
For example, in a crash at only 25 mph
(40 km/h),
a 12-lb. (5.5 kg) baby will suddenly
become a 240-lb. (110 kg) force on a person’s
arms.
A baby should be secured in an
appropriate restraint. Children who are
up against, or very close to,
any air bag when
it inflates can be seriously
injured or killed. Air bags plus lap-shoulder
belts offer outstanding 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.
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