Rear GMC SIERRA 2004 User Guide
[x] Cancel search | Manufacturer: GMC, Model Year: 2004, Model line: SIERRA, Model: GMC SIERRA 2004Pages: 588, PDF Size: 3.74 MB
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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 seat comfort guides provide added safety belt
comfort for older children who have outgrown booster
seats and for small adults. When installed on a shoulder
belt, the comfort guide better positions the belt away
from the neck and head.
There is one guide for each outside passenger in the
rear seat. Here's how to install a comfort guide and use
the safety belt:
1. Remove the guide from its storage clip on the
interior body.
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4. Buckle, position and release the safety belt as
described inRear Seat Passengers on page 1-27.
Make sure that the shoulder belt crosses the
shoulder.
To remove and store the comfort guides, squeeze the
belt edges together so that you can take them out of the
guides. Slide the guide onto the storage clip.
Safety Belt Extender
If the vehicle's safety belt will fasten around you, you
should use it.
But if a safety belt isn't long enough to fasten, your
dealer will order you an extender. It's free. When you go
in to order it, take the heaviest coat you will wear, so
the extender will be long enough for you. The extender
will be just for you, and just for the seat in your
vehicle that you choose. Don't let someone else use it,
and use it only for the seat it is made to ®t. To wear
it, just attach it to the regular safety belt.
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Page 39 of 588

Child Restraints
Older Children
Older children who have outgrown booster seats should
wear the vehicle's safety belts.
If you have the choice, a child should sit in a seat that
has a lap-shoulder belt to get the additional restraint
a shoulder belt can provide.
Q:What is the proper way to wear safety belts?
A:If possible, an older child should wear a
lap-shoulder belt and get the additional restraint a
shoulder belt can provide. The shoulder belt
should not cross the face or neck. The lap belt
should ®t snugly below the hips, just touching the
top of the thighs. It should never be worn over
the abdomen, which could cause severe or even
fatal internal injuries in a crash.
Accident statistics show that children are safer if they
are restrained in the rear seat.
In a crash, children who are not buckled up can strike
other people who are buckled up, or can be thrown
out of the vehicle. Older children need to use safety
belts properly.
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{CAUTION:
Never do this.
Here two children are wearing the same belt.
The belt can't properly spread the impact
forces. In a crash, the two children can be
crushed together and seriously injured. A belt
must be used by only one person at a time.
Q:What if a child is wearing a lap-shoulder belt,
but the child is so small that the shoulder belt
is very close to the child's face or neck?
A:If the child is sitting in a rear outside seat position,
move the child toward the center of the vehicle. See
Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for Children and
Small Adults on page 1-30
. If the child is sitting in
the center rear seat position of a crew cab, move
the child toward the safety belt buckle. In either
case be sure that the shoulder belt still is on the
child's shoulder, so that in a crash the child's upper
body would have the restraint that belts provide.
If the child is so small that the shoulder belt is still
very close to the child's face or neck, you might want
to place the child a seat that has a lap belt, if your
vehicle has one.
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For most basic types of child restraints, there are
many different models available. When purchasing a
child restraint, be sure it is designed to be used
in a motor vehicle. If it is, the restraint will have a
label saying that it meets federal motor vehicle
safety standards.
The restraint manufacturer's instructions that come
with the restraint state the weight and height
limitations for a particular child restraint. In addition,
there are many kinds of restraints available for
children with special needs.
{CAUTION:
Newborn infants need complete support,
including support for the head and neck. This
is necessary because a newborn 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 seat settles into the
restraint, so the crash forces can be
distributed across the strongest part of an
infant's body, the back and shoulders. Infants
always should be secured in appropriate infant
restraints.
{CAUTION:
The body structure of a young child is quite
unlike that of an adult or older child, for whom
the safety belts are designed. A young child's
hip bones are still so small that the vehicle's
regular safety belt may not remain low on the
hip bones, as it should. Instead, it may settle
up around the child's abdomen. In a crash, the
belt would apply force on a body area that's
unprotected by any bony structure. This alone
could cause serious or fatal injuries. Young
children always should be secured in
appropriate child restraints.
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Child Restraint Systems
An infant car bed (A), a special bed made for use in a
motor vehicle, is an infant restraint system designed
to restrain or position a child on a continuous ¯at
surface. Make sure that the infant's head rests toward
the center of the vehicle.A rear-facing infant seat (B) provides restraint with the
seating surface against the back of the infant. The
harness system holds the infant in place and, in a crash,
acts to keep the infant positioned in the restraint.
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Where to Put the Restraint
Accident statistics show that children are safer if they
are restrained in the rear rather than the front seat.
General Motors recommends that child restraints
be secured in a rear seat including an infant riding in a
rear-facing infant seat, a child riding in a forward-facing
child seat and an older child riding in a booster seat.
Never put a child in a rear-facing child restraint in
the right front passenger seat unless your vehicle has
the passenger sensing system and/or an air bag
off switch and the air bag status indicator shows off.
Never put a rear facing child restraint in the right front
passenger seat unless the air bag is off. Here is why:
{CAUTION:
A child in a rear-facing child restraint can be
seriously injured or killed if the right front
passenger's air bag in¯ates. This is because the
back of the rear-facing child restraint would be
very close to the in¯ating air bag. Be sure the air
bag is off before using a rear-facing child
restraint in the right front seat position.
CAUTION: (Continued)
CAUTION: (Continued)
Even though the passenger sensing system
and/or air bag off switch are designed to turn
off the passenger's frontal air bag under
certain conditions, no system is fail-safe, and
no one can guarantee that an air bag will not
deploy under some unusual circumstance,
even though it is turned off. General Motors
recommends that rear-facing child restraints
be transported in vehicles with a rear seat that
will accommodate a rear-facing child restraint,
whenever possible.
If you secure a forward-facing child restraint in
the right front seat, always move the front
passenger seat as far back as it will go. It is
better to secure the child restraint in a rear seat.
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Do not use child restraints in the center front seat
position. The restraints will not work properly.
There is limited space in the rear seating area of an
extended cab model. If you need to secure a child
restraint in a rear seating position of an extended cab
model, especially in the rear center position, be
sure to study the instructions that came with your child
restraint to see if there is enough room to secure
your seat properly.
If your vehicle has the passenger sensing system
and/or the air bag off switch and you need to secure a
rear-facing child restraint in the right front passenger's
seat, the passenger's frontal air bag must be off.
See
Passenger Sensing System on page 1-81,Securing
a Child Restraint in the Right Front Seat Position
(Regular and Extended Cab) on page 1-64
,Securing a
Child Restraint Designed for the LATCH System
(Rear) on page 1-50
orSecuring a Child Restraint
Designed for the LATCH System (Front) on page 1-51,
andAir Bag Off Switch on page 1-76for more on
this including important safety information.Wherever you install it, be sure to secure the child
restraint properly.
Keep in mind that an 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.
Top Strap
Some child restraints have a top strap or ©top tether©. It
can help restrain the child restraint during a collision.
For it to work, a top strap much be properly anchored to
the vehicle. Some top strap-equipped child restraints
are designed for use with or without the top strap being
anchored. Others require the top strap always to be
anchored. Be sure to read and follow the instructions for
your child restraint. If yours requires that the top strap
be anchored, don't use the restraint unless it is anchored
properly.
If the child restraint does not have a top strap, one can
be obtained, in kit form, for many child restraints.
Ask the child restraint manufacturer whether or not a kit
is available.
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Once you have the top strap anchored, you'll be ready to
secure the child restraint itself. Tighten the top strap
when and as the child restraint manufacturer's
instructions say.
Rear Seat Top Strap Anchors
(Extended Cab Models)
If your vehicle is an extended cab model, you'll ®nd the
top strap anchors for the rear seating positions near
the top of the seatback. In addition to the top strapanchors, each seating position has a fabric loop at the
top of the seatback that you'll use to route a top
strap through.
When using a child restraint with a top strap in either
rear outboard position, raise the head restraint and route
the top strap through the fabric loop on the seatback.
Then, attach the top strap to the anchor point at
the center rear seating position.
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When using a child restraint with a top strap in the
center rear position, route the top strap through
the fabric loop on the seatback. Then, raise the head
restraint and attach the top strap to the anchor
point located at the closest outboard position.
Once you have the top strap anchored, you'll be ready
to secure the child restrain itself. Tighten the top
strap when and as the child restraint manufacturer's
instructions say.
Rear Seat Top Strap Anchors
(Crew Cab Models)
If your vehicle is a Crew Cab model, you'll ®nd top strap
anchors for the rear seating positions located on the
back panel of your vehicle, behind the rear seat.
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