child restraint GMC ENVOY 1998 Owners Manual

Section 1 Seats and Restraint Systems
Here you’ll find information about the seats in your vehicle and how to use your safety belts properly. You can also
learn about some things you should nut do with air bags and safety belts.
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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
Rear Seat Passengers 1-3
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Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for Children
and Small Adults
Center Rear Passenger Position
Children Child Restraints
Larger Children
Safety Belt Extender
Checking Your Restraint Systems
Replacing Restraint System Parts After
a Crash
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@ 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 Saf elts 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.
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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
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 shoulder 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 “Next Generation” reduced-force
frontal air bags
-- one air bag for the driver and another
air bag for the right front passenger.
Reduced-force frontal air bags are designed to help
reduce the risk
of injury from the force of an inflating
air bag. But even these air bags must inflate very
quickly if they are to do their
job and comply with
federal regulations.
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r-
Children who ar ~p against, or very close to, an
air bag when it inflates can be seriously injured
or killed. This is true even though your vehicle
has reduced-force frontal air bags.
Air bags plus
lap-shoulder belts offer the best protection for
adults, 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.
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 the air
bag symbol.
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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To unlatch the belt, just push the button on the buckle.
Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for
Children and Small Adults
Rear shoulder belt comfort guides will provide added
safety belt comfort for children who have outgrown
child restraints and for small adults. When installed on a
shoulder belt, the comfort guide pulls the belt away
from the neck and head. There is one guide for each outside passenger position in
the rear seat.
To provide added safety belt comfort for
children who have outgrown child restraints 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. Pull the elastic cord out from between the edge of
the seatback and the interior body to remove the
guide from its storage clip.
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3. Feed the lap belt into the retractor to tighten it
4. 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.
Children
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.
Sm,- 'ler Childre ~ - -d Ba '-
A CAUTION:
Children who are up against, or very close to, any
air bag when it inflates can be seriously injured
or killed. This is true even though your vehicle
has reduced-force frontal air bags. Air bags plus
lap-shoulder belts offer the best protection for
adults, 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.
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--
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.
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Child Restraints
Every time infants and young children ride in vehicles,
they should have protection provided by
appropriate restraints.
@ What are the different types of add-on
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.
child restraints?
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.
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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 lbs. (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.
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When choosing a child restraint, be sure the child
restraint
is desigmd 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 a rear seat outside position. N~wr put a
rear-facing child restraint in the front passenger seat.
Here’s
why:
A child in a rear-facing child restraint can be
seriously injured or killed if the right front
passenger’s air bag inflates, even though your
vehicle has reduced-force frontal air bags. This
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because the back of the rear-facing child
restraint would be very close to the inflating air
bag. Always secure a rear-facing child restraint
in a rear seat outside position.
You may secure a forward-facing child restraint
in the right front seat, but before you do, always
move the front passenger seat as far back as it
will go. It’s better to secure the child restraint in
a rear seat outside position.
Wherever you install it. be sure to secure the child
restraint properly.
Keep
in mind that a11 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.
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