ECU HONDA CIVIC COUPE 1998 Owners Manual

Your Vehicle's Safety Features
Door Locks
Keeping your doors locked reduces
the chance of being thrown out of
the vehicle during a crash. It also
helps prevent occupants from accidentally opening a door and
falling out, and outsiders from
unexpectedly opening your doors. Pre-Drive Safety Checklist
To make sure you and your passengers get the maximum
protection from your vehicle's safety
features, check the following eachtime before you drive away:
All adults, and children who haveoutgrown child safety seats, are
wearing their seat belts and
wearing them properly (see page 13).

Any infant or small child is properly restrained in a child seat
in the back seat (see page 19).
Front seat occupants are sitting as
far back as possible from the steering wheel and dashboard (see page 10). Seat-backs are upright (see page
11). Head restraints are properly
adjusted (see page 12).
Both doors are closed and locked (see page 10). All cargo is properly stored or
secured (see page 116).
The rest of this section gives more detailed information about how you
can maximize your safety.
Remember, however, that no safetysystem can prevent all injuries or
deaths that can occur in severe
crashes, even when seat belts are
properly worn and the airbags deploy.

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Protecting Adults

Introduction
The following pages provide instructions on how to properly
protect the driver and other adult
occupants.

These instructions also apply to children who have outgrown childseats and are large enough to wear
lap/shoulder belts. (See page 35 for important additional guidelines on
how to properly protect larger
children.)
1 .Close and Lock the Doors
After everyone has entered the vehicle, be sure the doors are closed
and locked.

For safety, locking the doors reduces
the chance of a passenger, especially
a child, opening a door while the
vehicle is moving and accidentally falling out. It also reduces thechance of someone being thrown out
of the vehicle during a crash. For security, locked doors can
prevent an outsider from
unexpectedly opening a door when
you come to a stop.
See page 68 for how to lock the

doors.

2.Adjust the Front Seats Any driver who sits too close to the
steering wheel is at risk of being
seriously injured or killed by striking
the steering wheel or being struck
by an inflating airbag during a crash.
To reduce the chance of injury, wear your seat belt properly, sit upright
with your back against the seat, andmove the seat as far back as possible
from the steering wheel while stillmaintaining full control of the car.
Also make sure your front seat
passenger moves their seat as far to
the rear as possible.
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Protecting Adults
5.Fasten and Position the Seat
Belts

Using a Lap/Shoulder Belt

Insert the latch plate into the buckle,
then tug on the belt to make sure the
belt is securely latched. Also check that the belt is not twisted, because a
twisted belt can cause serious
injuries in a crash.
Position the lap part of the belt as
low as possible across your hips,
then pull up on the shoulder part of
the belt so the lap part fits snugly.
This lets your strong pelvic bones take the force of a crash and reduces
the chance of internal injuries. If necessary, pull up on the belt again
to remove any slack from the shoulder part, then check that the
belt rests across the center of your chest and over your shoulder. This
spreads the forces of a crash over
the strongest bones in your upper
body.

CONTINUED

Driver and Passenger Safety

Improperly positioning the seat
belts can cause serious injury
or death in a crash.
Make sure all seat belts are
properly positioned before
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Protecting Adults

If the seat belt touches or crosses
your neck, or if it crosses your arm instead of your shoulder, you need toadjust the seat belt anchor height.
An improperly positioned seat belt can cause severe neck injuries if the
belt is positioned too high, or serious chest or internal injuries if the belt is
positioned too low. To adjust the height of a front seat
belt anchor, squeeze the two release
buttons and slide the anchor up ordown as needed (it has four

positions).

Never place the shoulder portion of a
lap/shoulder belt under your arm or behind your back. This could cause
very serious injuries in a crash.
Using the Lap Belt

Insert the latch plate into the buckle
marked CENTER. If the belt is too short, hold the latch
plate at a right angle and pull on the
plate to extend the belt. Then insert
the latch plate into the buckle, and
tug on the belt to make sure the belt is securely latched.

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Protecting Children

U.S. Models
To remind you of the passenger airbag hazards, and that children
must be properly restrained in the
back seat, your vehicle has warning
labels on the dashboard and on thedriver's and front passenger's visors.Please read and follow the
instructions on these labels. If You Must Drive With Several
Children
Your vehicle has three seating positions in the back seat wherechildren can be properly restrained.
If you ever have to carry more than
three children in your vehicle:
Place the largest child in the frontseat, provided the child is large
enough to wear a seat belt
properly (see page 35).
Move the vehicle seat as far to the
rear as possible (see page 10).
Have the child sit upright and well
back in the seat (see page 16). Make sure the seat belt is properly
positioned and secured (see page 13).

Driver and Passenger Safety

Children Can Be KILLED or INJURED
by Passenger Airbag

The back seat is the safest place for children 12 and under. Make sure all children use seat belts or child seats.Main Menu Table of Contents s t

Protecting Children

Placing a Child Seat

This page briefly summarizes Honda's recommendations on where
to place rear-facing and forward-
facing child seats in your vehicle.
Front Passenger's Seat

Infants: Never in the front seat, due to the passenger airbag hazard.

Small children: Not recommended,
due to the passenger's airbag
hazard. If a small child must ride in front, move the vehicle seat to
the rear-most position and securea front-facing child seat with the
seat belt, (see page 32).

Back Seats
Infants: Recommended positions.
Secure a rear-facing child seat
with the seat belt, (see page 28).

Small children: Recommended
positions. Secure a front-facing
child seat with the seat belt, (see
page 32). CONTINUED

Driver and Passenger Safety

Airbags Pose Serious
Risks to Children
The passenger's airbag inflates with enough force to kill or seriously injure an infant in a
rear-facing child seat.
A small child in a forward-facing child seat is also at risk. If the
vehicle seat is too far forward, or the child's head is thrown
forward during a collision, an
inflating airbag can kill or seriously injure the child.
If a small child must ride in the
front, follow the instructions
provided.Main Menu Table of Contents s t

Protecting Children

Installing a Child Seat

After selecting a proper child seat, and a good place to install the seat,
there are three main steps in
installing the seat:

1. Secure the child seat to the car
with a seat belt. All child seats

must be secured to the car with
the lap belt or the lap part of a lap/ shoulder belt. A child whose seat
is not properly secured to the car
can be endangered in a crash. See
pages 28 and 32 for instructions on
how to secure child seats in this
vehicle.

2. Make sure the child seat is firmly
secured. After installing a child
seat, push and pull the seat
forward and from side to side to
verify that it is secure. To provide security during normal
driving maneuvers, as well as during
a collision, we recommend that
parents secure a child seat as firmly
as possible.
However, a child seat does not need
to be "rock solid." In some vehicles or seating positions, it may be
difficult to install a child seat so that
it does not move at all. Some side-to- side or forward-and-backward
movement can be expected and
should not reduce the child seat's
effectiveness.
If the child seat is not secure, try installing it in a different seating
position, or use a different style of
child seat that can be firmly secured
in the desired seating position.
3. Secure the child in the child seat.

Make sure the child is properlystrapped in the child seat
according to the child seat maker's
instructions. A child who is not
properly secured in a child seat
can be thrown out of the seat and
be seriously injured in a crash.

Storing a Child Seat

When you are not using a child seat, either remove it and store it in a safe
place, or make sure it is properlysecured. An unsecured child seat can
be thrown around the vehicle during a crash or sudden stop and injure

someone.

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Protecting Children

Installing an Infant Seat With a Lap/
Shoulder Belt

The lap/shoulder belts in the outer back seats have a locking
mechanism that must be activated tosecure a child seat.
The following pages provide instructions on how to secure a rear-
facing child seat with this type of seat belt. See page 30 for how to secure a rear-
facing child seat in the center back
seat with the lap belt. See page 30 for
tips on installing an infant seat with either type of seat belt.
1. With the child seat in the desiredback seating position, route the
belt through the child seataccording to the seat maker's
instructions, then insert the latch
plate into the buckle.

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Protecting Children

2. To activate the lockable retractor, slowly pull the shoulder part of the
belt all the way out until it stops,
then let the belt feed back into the
retractor (you might hear a clicking noise as the belt retracts).
3. After the belt has retracted, tug on it. If the belt is locked, you will not
be able to pull it out. If you can pull
the belt out, it is not locked and
you will need to repeat these steps. 4. After confirming that the belt is
locked, grab the shoulder part of
the belt near the buckle and pull
up to remove any slack from the
lap part of the belt. Remember, if the lap part of the belt is not tight,
the child seat will not be secure.
To remove slack, it may help to put weight on the child seat, or
push on the back of the seat while
pulling up on the belt. 5. Push and pull the child seat
forward and from side to side to
verify that it is secure enough to stay upright during normal driving
maneuvers. If the child seat is notsecure, unlatch the belt, allow it to
retract fully, then repeat these
steps.

To deactivate the locking mechanism in order to remove a
child seat, unlatch the buckle,
unroute the seat belt, and let the belt
fully retract. CONTINUED
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Protecting Children

Installing an Infant Seat With the
Lap Belt

To install a rear-facing child seat in the center back seat with the lap belt,
follow instruction number 1 on page 28 for routing and latching the seat
belt. Then pull hard on the loose end of the belt to remove any slack (it
may help to put weight on the child
seat while pulling on the belt).
Finally, follow instruction number 5
of page 29 to verify that the child
seat is secure.
Infant Seat Installation Tips

For proper protection, an infant must
ride in a reclined, or semi-reclined
position. To determine the proper
reclining angle, check with the baby's doctor or follow the seat maker's
recommendations.
To achieve the desired reclining angle, it may help to put a rolled up
towel under the toe of the child seat, as shown above. When properly installed a rear-facing
child seat may prevent the driver or
a front-seat passenger from moving
their seat as far back as recommended (see page 10). Or itmay prevent the seat-back fromlocking in the desired upright
position (see page 11).
In either case, we recommend that
you place the child seat directly behind the front passenger seat,
move the front seat as far forward as
needed, and leave it unoccupied. You
may also wish to get a smaller childseat that allows you to safely carry a
front passenger.

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