CHEVROLET TRACKER 1993 Owner's Manual

I
This figure lights up when you turn the
key to
ON or START when your safety
belt isn’t buckled, and you’ll hear a
chime, too. It’s the reminder to buckle
UP-
In many states and 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 very mild. In them,
you won’t get hurt even if you’re not
buckled up. And some crashes can be
sa
serious, like being hit by a train, 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 be
badly hurt or killed.
After
25 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.
For example, if the bike is going
10 mph (16 km/h), so is the child.
U
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Seats & Safety Belts
When the bike hits the block, it stops.
But the child keeps going!
A
Take the simplest “car.” Suppose it’s
just a seat on wheels.
1
A
Put someone on it.
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Get it up to speed. Then stop the “car.”
The rider doesn’t stop.
L
The person keeps going until stopped by
something.
In a real vehicle,
it could be the
windshield
. . .
or the instrument panel . . .
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Seats & 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.
rn Here Are Questions
Many People
Ask about
Safety Belts - and the
Answers
Q:
A:
Won’t I be trapped in the vehicle
after an accident if
I’m wearing a
safety belt?
You could be - whether you’re
wearing a safety belt or not. But you
can easily 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: Why don’t they just put in air
bags
so people won’t have to wear
safety belts?
Inflatable Restraint systems, are in
some vehicles today and will be in
more 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.
A: “Air bags, ” or Supplemental
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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.
Safety Belt Reminder
Light
When the key is turned to ON or
START, a light will come on for about
eight seconds to remind people to fasten
their safety belts. Unless the driver’s
safety belt is buckled, a chime
will also
sound,
H How to Wear Safety
Belts Properly
Adults
This section is only for people of adult
size.
There are special things to
know about safety belts and
children. And there are different
rules €or babies and smaller
children. If a child will be riding
in your Geo, see the section after
this one, called “Children.”
Follow those rules for everyone’s
protection.
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Seats & Safety Belts
I
9.924
First, you’ll want to know which
restraint systems your vehicle has.
We’ll start
with the driver position.
Driver Position
This section describes the driver’s
restraint system.
1
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.
Y
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.
If
the belt isn’t long enough, see
“Safety Belt Extender” at the end
of
this part. Make sure the release
button on the buckle faces upward or
outward
so you would be able to
unbuckle
it quickly if you ever had
to.
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5. To make the lap part tight, pull down
on the buckle end of the belt as you
pull up
on the shoulder belt. 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 strong 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. This 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 crash or if you pull
the belt very
quickly out of
the retractor.
Q: What’s wrong with this?
A: The shoulder belt is too loose. It
won’t give nearly as much
protection this way.
GAU I IUN
lA
You can be seriously hurt if
your shoulder belt is too
loose. In a crash you would move
forward too much, which could
increase injury. The shoulder belt
I should fit against your body.
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Seats & Safety Belts
I 1
Q: What’s wrong with this?
A: The belt is buckled in the wrong
place.
I You can be seriously injured
if your belt is buckled in the
wrong place like this.
In a crash,
the belt would go up over your
abdomen. The belt forces would bc
there, not at the pelvic bones. This
could cause serious internal
injuries. Always buckle your belt
into the buckle nearest
you.
r
1
Q: What’s wrong with this?
A: The shoulder belt is worn under the
arm.
It should be worn over the
shoulder at all times. P
You can be seriously injured
b 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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2: What’s wrong with this?
\: The belt is twisted across the body.
A
You can be seriously injured
by a twisted belt. In a crash,
you wouldn’t have
the full width
of the belt to take impact forces. If
a belt is twisted, make
it straight
so it can work properly, or ask
your dealer
to fix it.
To unlatch the belt, just push the button
on the buckle. The belt should go back
out of the way.
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.
I
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.
A pregnant woman should
wear a lap-shoulder belt, and the lap
portion should be worn as
low as
possible throughout the pregnancy.
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.
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Seats & Safety Belts
Passenger Positions
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 part.
When the shoulder belt is pulled out all
the way, it will lock. If it does, let it go
back all the way and start again.
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.
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