belt CHEVROLET SUBURBAN 1997 Owner's Manual

What’s wrong with this?
I
A: The shoulder belt is worn under the arm. It should
be worn over the shoulder at all times.
You can be seriously injured if you wear the
shoulder belt under your arm. In a crash, your
body would move
too far forward, which would
increase the chance
of head and neck injury.
Also, the belt would apply too much force to the
ribs, which aren’t as strong as shoulder bones.
You could also severely injure internal organs
like your liver or spleen.
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Q: What’s wrong with this?
A: The belt is twisted across the body.
You can be seriously injured by a twisted belt. In
a crash, you wouldn’t have the full width
of the
belt to spread impact forces. If a belt
is twisted,
make it straight
so it can work properly, or ask
your dealer to
fix it.
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To unlatch the belt, just push the button on the buckle.
The
belt should go back out of the way.
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.
Before you close the door, be sure the belt is out of the
way.
If you slam the door on it, you can damage both the
belt and your vehicle.
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.
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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
The right front passenger’s safety belt works the same
way as the driver’s safety belt. See “Driver Position”
earlier in this section.
When the lap belt is pulled out all the way,
it will lock.
(This is the child restraint locking feature working
normally.) If the belt locks, let it
go back all the way
and start again.
Supplemental Inflatable
Restraint System
This part explains the Supplemental Inflatable Restraint
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:
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.
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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.
I A CAUTION:
An inflating air bag can seriously injure small
children. Always secure children properly in your
vehicle.
To read how, see the part of this manual
called “Children” and the caution label on the
right front passenger’s safety belt.
AIR
BAG
There is an air bag
readiness light on the
instrument panel, which
shows
AIR 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.
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If something is between an occupant and an air
bag, the bag might not inflate properly or it
might force the object into that person. The path
of an inflating air bag must be kept clear. Don’t
put anything between an occupant and an air
bag, and don’t attach or put anything on the
steering wheel hub or on or near any other air
bag covering.
When should an air bag inflate?
An air bag is designed to inflate in a moderate to severe
frontal or near-frontal crash. The air bag will inflate
only if the impact speed is above the system’s designed
“threshold level.”
If your vehicle goes straight into a
wall that doesn’t move or deform, the threshold level is
about
9 to 16 mph (14 to 26 km/h). The threshold level
can vary, however, with specific vehicle design,
so that
it can be somewhat above or below this range.
If your
vehicle strikes something that will move or deform, such as
a parked car, the threshold level will be higher. The
air bag is not designed to inflate in rollovers, side
impacts or rear impacts, because inflation would not
help the occupant.
In any particular crash, no one can say whether an air
bag should have inflated simply because of the damage
to a vehicle or because
of what the repair costs were.
Inflation is determined by the angle of the impact and
how quickly the vehicle slows down in frontal
or
near-frontal impacts.
The air bag system is designed to work properly under
a wide range
of conditions, including off-road usage.
Observe safe driving speeds, especially on rough
terrain.
As always, wear your safety belt. See “Off-Road
Driving” in the Index for more tips on off-road driving.
What makes an air bag inflate?
In an impact of sufficient severity, the air bag sensing
system detects that the vehicle is in a crash. The sensing
system triggers a release of gas from the inflator, which
inflates the air bag. The inflator, air bag and related
hardware are all part of the air bag modules inside the
steering wheel and in the instrument panel in front
of the
right front passenger.
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How does an air bag restrain?
In moderate to severe frontal or near-frontal collisions,
even belted occupants can contact the steering wheel or
the instrument panel.
Air bags supplement the protection
provided by safety belts.
Air bags distribute the force of
the impact more evenly over the occupant’s upper body,
stopping the occupant more gradually. But air bags would
not help you in many types
of collisions, including
rollovers, rear impacts and side impacts, primarily
because an occupant’s motion is not toward those air
bags. Air bags should never be regarded as anything
more than a supplement to safety belts, and then
only in
moderate to severe frontal or near-frontal collisions.
What will you see after an air bag inflates?
After an air bag inflates, it quickly deflates, so quickly
that some people may not even realize the air bag
inflated. Some components of the air bag module
-- the
steering wheel hub for the driver’s air bag, or the
instrument panel for the right front passenger’s
bag
-- will be hot for a short time. The parts of the bag
that come into contact with
you may be warm, but not
too hot to touch. There will be some smoke and dust
coming from vents in the deflated air bags. Air bag
inflation doesn’t prevent the driver from seeing or from
being able to steer the vehicle, nor does it stop people
from leaving the vehicle.
I
When an air bag inflates, there is 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 can’t get out
of the vehicle after an air bag inflates, then get
fresh air by opening a window or door.
In many crashes severe enough to inflate an air bag,
windshields are broken by vehicle deformation.
Additional windshield breakage may also occur from the
right front passenger air bag.
Air bags are designed to inflate only once. After they
inflate, 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 air bag modules and
possibly other parts. The service manual for your
vehicle covers the need to replace other parts.
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0
0 Your vehicle is equipped with a crash sensing and
diagnostic module, which records information about
the air bag system. The module records information
about the readiness
of the system, when the sensors
are activated and driver’s safety belt usage at
deployment.
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.
Servicing Your Air Bag-Equipped Vehicle
Air bags affect how your vehicle 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
GM dealer and the service manual have information
about servicing your vehicle and the air bag system. To
purchase a service manual, see “Service and Owner
Publications’’ in the Index.
NOTICE:
If you damage the covering for the driver’s or the
right front passenger’s
air bag, the bag may not
work properly. You may have to replace the air
bag module in the steering wheel or both the air
bag module and the instrument panel for the
passenger’s air bag.
Do not open or break the air
bag coverings.
I
For up to 10 minutes after the ignition key is
turned
off and the battery is disconnected, an air
bag can still inflate during improper service. You
can be injured if you are close to an air bag when
it inflates. Avoid wires wrapped with yellow tape
or yellow connectors. They are probably part of
the air bag system. Be sure to follow proper
service procedures, and make sure the person
performing work for you is qualified to
do so.
The air bag system does not need regular maintenance.
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Center Passenger Position Lap Belt
If your vehicle has front and rear bench seats, someone
can sit in the center positions.
When you sit in a center seating position, you have a lap
safety belt, which has no retractor.
To make the belt
longer, tilt the latch plate and pull it along the belt.
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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.
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.
To make the belt shorter, pull its free end as shown until
the belt
is snug.
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