belt CHEVROLET ASTRO 2003 Owners Manual

The 2003 Chevrolet Astro Owner Manual
Seats and Restraint Systems ........................... I-!
Front Seats ............................................... 1-2
Rear Seats
............................................... 1-7
Safety Belts
............................................. 1-13
Child Restraints
....................................... 1-35
Air Bag System
....................................... 1-62
Restraint System Check
............................ 1-71
Keys
........................................................ 2-2
Doors and Locks
....................................... 2-7
Windows
................................................. 2-1 6
Theft-Deterrent Systems
............................ 2-1 8
Mirrors
.................................................... 2-32
HomeLink@ Transmitter
............................. 2-34
Features and Controls ..................................... 2-1
Starting and Operating Your Vehicle
........... 2-19
Storage Areas
Instrument Panel .
Instrument Panel
Climate Controls
......................................... 2-38
........................................... 3-1
Overview .......................... 3-2
...................................... 3-18
Warning Lights. Gages and Indicators
......... 3-23
Audio System(s)
....................................... 3-38
Driving Your Vehicle ....................................... 4-1
Your Driving, the Road, and Your Vehicle
........ 4-2
Towing
................................................... 4-29
Service and Appearance Care .......................... 5-1
Service ..................................................... 5-3
Fuel
......................................................... 5-5
All-Wheel Drive
........................................ 5-52
Rear Axle ............................................... 5-53
Front Axle
............................................... 5-54
Bulb Replacement
.................................... 5-55
Windshield Wiper Blade Replacement ......... 5-62
Tires
...................................................... 5-63
Appearance Care
..................................... 5-83
Vehicle Identification
................................. 5-91
Electrical System
...................................... 5-92
Capacities and Specifications
..................... 5-99
Normal Maintenance Replacement Parts
...... 5-1 01
Maintenance Schedule ..................................... 6-1
Maintenance Schedule
................................ 6-2
Customer Assistance Information .................... 7-1
Customer Assistance Information
.................. 7-2
Reporting Safety Defects ........................... 7-10
Checking Things Under
the Hood
............... 5-11
Index ................................................................ 1

These are some examples of vehicle symbols you may find on your vehicle:
POSSIBLE A
CAUTION INJURY
PROTECT EYES BY
SHIELDING
CAUSTIC
BATTERY
KID COULD
CAUSE
BURNS
AVOID
SPARKS OR FLAMES
SPARK OR COULD
EXPLODE FLAME
\\I/'
BAlTERY I
LATCH BOTH LAP AND
SHOULDER BELTS TO
PROTECT OCCUPANT
*&: @
DO NOT TWIST SAFETY
BELT WHEN AlTACHING
FASTEN SEAT
BELTS
MOVE SEAT FULLY
\!$!
REARWARD /a
SECURE
CHILD
SEAT
PULL BELT
COMPLETELY
rHEN SECURE CHILD SEAT
POWER
WINDOW DO NOT INSTALL
A REAR-FACING
CHILD RESTRAINT IN THIS SEATING POSITION
DO NOT INSTALL A
'ORWARD-FACING CHILD RESTRAINT IN THIS SEATING POSITION
DOOR LOCK UNLOCK LIGHTING
- MASTER SWITCH u- 0 ,
SIGNALS
TURN
LAMPS
Pf
RUNNING ***o
DAYTIME 0.0
LAMPS ea.
LAMPS $0
ENGINE
COOLANT
cc
TEMP
CHARGING
I-1
BATTERY SYSTEM
BRAKE
(a)
ENGINE OIL PRESSURE
Wb
ANTI-LOCK (@)
BRAKES COOLANT
FAN
OWNERS MANUAL
SERVICE
MANUAL
V

Section 1 Seats and Restraint Systems
Front Seats ...................................................... 1-2
Manual Seats
................................................ 1-2
Power Seat
................................................... 1-3
Manual Lumbar
.............................................. 1-3
Reclining Seatbacks
........................................ 1.4
Head Restraints
............................................. 1.5
Seatback Latches
........................................... 1.6
Rear Seats ....................................................... 1-7
Rear Seat Operation
....................................... 1-7
Bench Seat
.................................................. 1-1 1
Bucket Seats ............................................... 1-1 2
Safety Belts ................................................... 1-1 3
Safety Belts: They Are for Everyone
................ 1-13
Questions and Answers About Safety Belts
...... 1-17
How to Wear Safety Belts Properly
................. 1-18
Driver Position
.............................................. 1.18
Safety Belt Use During Pregnancy
.................. 1-26
Right Front Passenger Position
....................... 1.27
Center Passenger Position
............................. 1.27
Rear Seat Passengers
................................. -1-29
Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for
Children and Small Adults
...................... 1.32
Safety Belt Extender
..................................... 1-34
Child Restraints ............................................. 1-35
Older Children
.............................................. 1-35
Child Restraint Systems
................................. 1.44
Infants and Young
Children
.......... ....... 1.38 Where
to Put the Restraint
............................. 1-47
Top Strap
.................................................... 1-48
Top Strap Anchor Location ............................. 1-50
Lower Anchorages and Top Tethers for
Children (LATCH System)
........................... 1-52
Securing a Child Restraint Designed for
the LATCH System
.................................... 1-54
Securing a Child Restraint in a Rear
Outside Seat Position
............................ 1-54
Securing a Child Restraint in a Center
Seat Position
............................................ 1-57
Securing a Child Restraint in the Right
Front Seat Position
................................... -1 -59
Air Bag System .............................................. 1-62
Where Are the Air Bags?
............... ..... 1-64
When Should an Air Bag Inflate?
.................... 1-66
What Makes an Air Bag Inflate?
..................... 1-67
How Does an Air Bag Restrain?
..................... 1-67
What Will You See After an
Air Bag Inflates?
....................................... 1.68
Servicing Your Air Bag-Equipped Vehicle
......... 1.69
Adding Equipment to Your
Air Bag-Equipped Vehicle
........................... 1.70
Restraint System Check ................................. -1-71
Checking Your Restraint Systems ... ..... 1-71
Replacing Restraint System Parts
After a Crash
............................................ 1-71
1-1

Head Restraints
Sitting in a reclined position when your vehicle
is in motion can be dangerous. Even if you
buckle up, your safety belts can't do their job
when you're reclined like
this.
The shoulder belt can't do its job because it
won't be against your body. Instead, it will be
in front of you.
In a crash you could go into it,
receiving neck or other injuries.
The lap belt can't
do its job either. In a crash
the belt could go up over your abdomen.
The belt forces would be there, not at your
pelvic bones. This could cause serious internal
injuries.
For proper protection when the vehicle
is in
motion, have the seatback upright. Then sit
well back in the seat and wear your safety
belt properly. Adjust
your head restraint
so that the top of the restraint
is closest to the top
of your head. This position
reduces the chance
of a neck injury in a crash.
1-5

Rear Seats
Rear Seat Operation
Removing the Rear Seats
To remove the rear seats, do the following:
1. If you are removing the
center seat, remove
the right lap-shoulder
belt.
To do this, press
the release hole of the
safety belt attachment
while pulling up on
SEAT REMOVAL the tip of a key into
I INSERT KEY the safety belt. 2.
If you have a safety
belt guide on your
seat, pull the safety
belt all the way
out through the guide.
3. To store the safety belt while the second row bench
seat is removed, pull the belt out and put both
buckles in the passenger’s side rear storage bin.
Route the belt out of the forward edge of the
storage bin. Close the cover to retain the belt.
4. Pull up on the seatback latch on the right rear of
the seat. Push the seatback down until it locks
into place.
1 -7

3. To raise the seatback, do the following:
3.1. Unlock the seatback latch by pulling up on
the latch release lever at the right rear
of the
seat, while pushing down on the upper
edge of the seatback.
3.2. Move the seatback into the upright position.
Make sure the seatback is locked when it is
back in the upright position.
If you are replacing the center seat, connect the right
lap-shoulder belt to the attachment on the seat cushion.
If you have a safety belt guide
on your seat, pull the
belt through the guide before reattaching the
lap-shoulder belt to the side
of the seat. The release
hole should be facing outward.
If you installed the safety belt with the release hole facing
inward (toward the seat), slide the plastic cover up
so you
can see the buckle. Disconnect the seat belt. Slide the
cover back down and reinstall the belt correctly.
A safety
--It that __ impropc routed, not
properly attached, or twisted won’t provide the
protection needed in a crash. The person
wearing the belt could be seriously injured. After raising the rear seatback, always check
to be sure that the safety belts are properly routed and attached, and are not twisted.
1-10

Safety Belts
Safety Belts: They Are for Everyone
This part of the manual tells you how to use safety
belts properly. It also tells you some things you should
r-+ do with safety belts.
Don’t let anyone ride where he or she can’t
wear a safety
belt properly. If you are in a
crash and you’re not wearing a safety belt,
your injuries can be much worse. You can
hit
things inside the vehicle or be ejected from it.
You can be seriously injured or killed. In the
same crash, you might not be, if you are
buckled up. Always fasten your safety belt,
and check that your passengers’ belts are
fastened properly too.
it is extremely dangerous to ride in a CN~G
area, inside or outside of a vehicle. In a
collision, people riding in these areas are more likely to be seriously injured or killed.
Do not
allow people to ride
in any area of your vehicle
that
is not equipped with seats and safety
belts. Be sure everyone
in your vehicle is in
a seat and using a safety belt properly.
Your vehicle has a light
that comes
on as a
reminder to buckle up.
See
Safety Belt Reminder
Light on page 3-26.
1-13

In most states and in all Canadian provinces, the law
says to wear safety belts. Here’s why:
They work.
You never know if you’ll be in a crash. If you do have
a crash, you don’t know
if it will be a bad one.
A few crashes are mild, and some crashes can be
so
serious that even buckled up, a person wouldn’t survive.
But most crashes are in between. In many of them,
people who buckle up can survive and sometimes
walk away. Without belts they could have been badly
hurt or killed.
After more than
30 years of safety belts in vehicles.
the facts are clear. In most crashes buckling up
does matter
... a lot!
Why Safety Belts Work
When you ride in or on anything, you go as fast as
it goes.
Take the simplest vehicle. Suppose it’s just a seat
on wheels.
1-14

Questions and Answers About
Safety Belts
Q: Won’t I be trapped in the vehicle after an
accident if
I’m wearing a safety belt?
A: You could be - whether you’re wearing a safety
belt or not. But you can unbuckle a safety belt,
even
if you’re upside down. And your chance
of being conscious during and after an accident,
so you can unbuckle and get out, is much greater
if you are belted.
Q: If my vehicle has air bags, why should I have to
wear safety belts?
or the safety belts!
With safety belts, you slow down as the vehicle does,
You get more time to stop. You stop over more distance,
and your strongest bones take the forces. That’s why
safety belts make such good sense. A: Air bags are in many vehicles today and will
be in most of them in the future. But they are
supplemental systems only;
so they work with
safety belts - not instead of them. Every air bag
system ever offered for sale has required the use
of
safety belts. Even if you’re in a vehicle that has
air bags, you still have to buckle up to get the most
protection. That’s true not only in frontal collisions,
but especially in side and other collisions.
1-17

Q: If I’m 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’re in an
accident
- even one that isn’t your fault - you and
your passengers can be hurt. Being a good
driver doesn’t 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.
How to Wear Safety Belts Properly
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
Older Children on page 1-35
or lnfants and Young Children on page 1-38. 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 so you can sit up straight.
To see how, see “Seats” in the Index.
1-18