GMC SIERRA DENALI 2003 Owner's Guide

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.
Rear Seat Outside Passenger Positions
Lap-Shoulder Belt
The positions next to the windows have lap-shoulder
belts. Here’s how to wear one properly.
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1. Pick up the latch plate and pull the belt across you.
Don’t let it get twisted.
The shoulder belt may lock
if you pull the belt
across you very quickly. If this happens, let the belt
go back slightly to unlock it. Then pull the belt
across you more slowly.
2. Push the latch plate into the buckle until it clicks.
Pull up on the latch plate to make sure it is secure.
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.
If the belt is not long enough, see Safety Belt
Extender on page
1-29.
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.
3. To make the lap part tight, pull down on the buckle
end
of the belt as you pull up on the shoulder part.
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1
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 a crash.
The safety belt also locks if you pull the belt very
quickly out
of the retractor.
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 should fit against your body.
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Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for
Children and Small Adults
Your vehicle may have this feature already. If it doesn't,
you can get it from any
GM dealer.
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.
To unlatch the belt, just push the button on the buckle.
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There is one guide available for each outside passenger
in the rear seat. Here's how to install
a comfort guide
and use the safety belt:
interior body.
1. Remove the guide from its storage clip on the
2. Place the guide over the belt and insert the two
edges of the belt into the
slots of the guide.
3. Be sure that the belt is not twisted and it lies flat.
The guide must be on top of the belt.
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4. Buckle, position and release the safety belt as
described in
Rear Seat Passengers on page 1-24.
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 fit.
To wear
it, just attach it to the regular safety belt.
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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.
Child Restraints
Older Children
Q:
A:
Older children who have outgrown booster seats should
wear the vehicle’s safety belts. What
is the proper
way to wear safety belts?
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
fit 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.
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.
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-
!ver 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?
be sure that the shoulder belt stili is on the child’s
shoulder,
so that in a crash the child’s upper
body would have the restraint the belts provide.
If the child is sitting in a rear seat outside position,
see
Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for Children
and Small Adults
on page 1-27.
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 in a seat that has a lap belt,
if your vehicle has one.
A: Move the child toward the center of the vehicle, but
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1
Never do this.
Here a child is sitting in a seat that has a
lap-shoulder belt, but the shoulder part is
behind the child.
If the child wears the belt in
CAUTION: (Continued) way,
in a cra-..
2 c .... d mig--- slide under
the belt. The belt’s force would then be applied
right on the child’s abdomen. That could cause
serious
or fatal injuries.
Wherever the child sits, the lap portion
of the belt
should be worn low and snug on the hips, just touching
the child’s thighs. This applies belt force to the child’s
pelvic bones in a crash.
Infants and Young Children
Everyone in a vehicle needs protection! This includes
infants and all other children. 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.
Every time infants
and young children ride in vehicles,
theyshould have the protection provided by appropriate
restraints. Young children should not use the vehicle’s
adult safety belts alone, unless there is no other choice.
Instead, they need to use a child restraint.
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People should never hold a baby in their arms
while riding in a vehicle.
A baby doesn’t weigh
much
-- until a crash. During a crash a baby
will become
so heavy it is not possible to hold
CAUTION: (Continued)
it. For example, in a crash at only 25 mph
(40 kdh),
a 12-lb. (5.5 kg) baby will suddenly
become a 240-lb.
(1 10 kg) force on a person’s
arms.
A baby should be secured in an
appropriate restraint.
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