air GMC SIERRA 1997 Owners Manual

GENERAL MOTORS, GM, the GM Emblem, GMC,
the GMC Emblem and the name
SIERRA are registered
trademarks of General Motors Corporation.
This manual includes the latest information at the time
it was printed. We reserve the right to make changes
in the product after that time without further notice.
For vehicles first sold in Canada, substitute the name
“General Motors
of Canada Limited” for GMC
whenever it appears in this manual.
Please keep this manual in your vehicle,
so it will be
there if
you ever need it when you’re on the road. If you
sell the vehicle, please leave this manual in it so the new
owner can use it.
Litho in U.S.A.
X9704 B First Edition
ii
p!l CERTIFIED
F We support voluntary
technician certification.
-
WE SUPPORT VOLUNTARY TECHNICIAN
CERTIFICATION THROUGH
National Institute for AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE EXCELLENCE
c
For Canadian Owners Who Prefer a
French Language Manual:
Aux propriktaires canadiens: Vous pouvez vous
procurer
un exemplaire de ce guide en frangais chez
votre concessionaire
ou au:
DGN Marketing Services Ltd.
1500 Bonhill Rd.
Mississauga, Ontario
L5T 1 C7
@Copyright General Motors Corporation
1996
All Rights Reserved
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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.
1-2
1-9
1-14
1-15
1-15
1-22
1-23
1-23
1-32 Seats
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 System
Center Passenger Position 1-34
1-40 Rear
Seat Passengers
Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for Children
and Smaller Adults
1-43 Children
1-45 Child Restraints
1-62 Larger Children
1-65 Safety Belt Extender 1-65 Checking Your Restraint Systems
1-65 Replacing Restraint System Parts After
a Crash
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The extended cab's rear seat can also be folded up to
provide more cargo space. To
fold the seat:
1. Pull forward on the RELEASE lever at the side of
the seat cushion, behind the passenger's side front
seat. Fold the seatback forward
until it latches with
the seat cushion.
2. Lift the entire seat and
push
it rearward into
place.
3. Make sure the seat is secure.
Rear Seat (Crew Cab)
You can adjust the seat by sliding the lever at the front
of the seat toward the seat support to unlock it. Then,
slide the seat to where you want
it. Release the lever and
try to move the seat with your body
in order to make
sure the seat
is locked into place.
Safety Belts: They're for Everyone
This part of the manual tells you how to use safety belts
properly. It also tells you some things you should not do
with safety belts.
And
it explains the Supplemental Inflatable Restraint
system, or air bag system.
A CAUTION:
- -
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.
1-9
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Here Are Questions Many People Ask
About Safety Belts -- and the Answers
@ 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.
If my vehicle has air bags, why should I have to
wear safety belts?
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.
@ If I’m a good driver, and I never drive far from
A: You may be an excellent driver, but if you’re in an
home, why should I wear safety belts?
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 kmh).
Safety belts are for everyone.
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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.
Wheri 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 may have an
air bag for the driver and
another air bag for the
right front passenger. If
it does, it will say
Supplemental Inflatable
Restraint
on the middle
part of the steering wheel.
1-23
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~ Here
are the most important things to know about the air
bag system:
A CAUTION:
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 donY 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.
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.
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.
I
1-24
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There is an air bag
readiness light on the
AIR
BAG
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.
How the Air Bag System Works
Where are the air bags?
The driver’s air bag is in the middle of the
steering wheel.
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The right front passenger’s air bag is in the instrument
panel on the passenger’s side.
A CAUTION:
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.
1-26
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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.
A CAUTION:
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.
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