child seat HONDA ODYSSEY 1999 Owners Manual

Driver and Passenger Safety

This section gives you important
information about how to protect
yourself and your passengers. It shows you how to use seat belts
properly. It explains your Supple- mental Restraint System. And it tells
you how to properly restrain infants
and children in your vehicle.

Important Safety Precautions .......... 6
Your Vehicle's Safety Features........ 7
Seat Belts........................................ 8

Airbags............................................ 9
Seats & Seat-Backs...................... 10 Head Restraints........................... 10
Door Locks................................... 10
Pre-Drive Safety Checklist......... 11
Protecting Adults............................. 12 1. Close and Lock the Doors...... 12
2. Adjust the Front Seats............ 12
3. Adjust the Seat-Backs............. 13
4. Adjust the Head Restraints.... 14
5. Fasten and Position the Seat
Belts...................................... 15

6. Adjust the Steering Wheel..... 19
7. Maintain a Proper Sitting
Position................................. 19

Advice for Pregnant Women...... 20
Additional Safety Precautions.... 20

Protecting Children......................... 22
All Children Must Be
Restrained................................ 22

Children Should Sit in the Back Seat............................................23
The Passenger's Airbag Poses Serious Risks to Children....... 23
If You Must Drive with Several Children....................................25
If a Child Requires Close
Attention................................... 25
Additional Safety Precautions.... 25
General Guidelines for Using Child Seats................................ 26
Protecting Infants........................ 30
Protecting Small Children.......... 35
Protecting Larger Children........ 39
Using Child Seats with
Tethers......................................43

Additional Information About Your
Seat Belts.................................. 45

Seat Belt System Components... 45
Lap/Shoulder Belt....................... 45
Seat Belt Maintenance................ 47
Additional Information About Your
SRS............................................ 48

SRS Components......................... 48

How Your Airbags Work............ 48
How the Automatic Seat Belt
Tensioners Work..................... 50

How the SRS Indicator Light
Works........................................ 50

SRS Service................................... 51

Additional Safety Precautions.... 52

Carbon Monoxide Hazard.............. 53

Safety Labels.................................... 54

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Important Safety Precautions

You'll find many safety recommendations throughout thissection, and throughout this manual.
The recommendations on this page are the ones we consider to be the
most important.
Always Wear Your Seat Belt A seat belt is your best protection in all types of collisions. Airbagssupplement seat belts, but airbags
are designed to inflate only in a
moderate to severe frontal collision.
So even though your vehicle is equipped with airbags, make sure
you and your passengers always
wear your seat belts, and wear them properly. (See page 15 .)
Restrain All ChildrenChildren are safest when they are
properly restrained in a back seat, not the front seat. A child who is too
small for a seat belt must be properly
restrained in a child safety seat. (See
page 22.) Be Aware of Airbag Hazards
While airbags save lives, they can cause serious or fatal injuries to
occupants who sit too close to them,
or are not properly restrained.
Infants, young children, and short
adults are at the greatest risk. Be sure to follow all instructions and
warnings in this manual. (See page 9.)

Don't Drink and Drive

Alcohol and driving don't mix. Even one drink can reduce your ability to
respond to changing conditions, and
your reaction time gets worse with every additional drink. So don't drink
and drive, and don't let your friends
drink and drive, either. Control Your Speed
Excessive speed is a major factor in
crash injuries and deaths. Generally,
the higher the speed the greater the risk, but serious accidents can alsooccur at lower speeds. Never drive
faster than is safe for current conditions, regardless of the
maximum speed posted.
Keep Your Vehicle in SafeCondition
Having a tire blowout or a
mechanical failure can be extremely
hazardous. To reduce the possibility of such problems, check your tire
pressures and condition frequently,
and perform all regularly scheduled
maintenance. (See page 224.)

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Your Vehicle's Safety Features

Seat Belts
For your safety, and the safety of
your passengers, your vehicle is equipped with seat belts in all seating
positions.
Your seat belt system alsoincludes a light on the
instrument panel to remind you and
your passengers to fasten your seat belts.

Why Wear Seat Belts

Seat belts are the single most
effective safety device for adults and
larger children. (Infants and smaller
children must be properly restrained
in child seats.)
Not wearing a seat belt properly
increases the chance of serious
injury or death in a crash, even
though your vehicle has airbags. In addition, most states and all
Canadian provinces require you to
wear seat belts.
When properly worn, seat belts: Keep you connected to the vehicle
so you can take advantage of the
vehicle's built-in safety features. Help protect you in almost every
type of crash, including side and rear impacts and rollovers. (Your
airbag can only be helpful in a
moderate to severe frontal
collision.)
Help keep you from being thrown
against the inside of the vehicle
and against other occupants.
Keep you from being thrown out
of the vehicle.
Help keep you in a good position
should the airbags ever deploy. A
good position reduces the risk of
injury from an inflating airbag, and allows you to get the best
advantage from the airbag.
Of course, seat belts cannot
completely protect you in every
crash. But in most cases, seat belts
can reduce your risk of serious
injury.

What you should do: Always wear

your seat belt, and make sure you wear it properly.
Driver and Passenger Safety
Not wearing a seat belt properly
increases the chance of serious
injury or death in a crash, even
if you have airbags.
Be sure you and your
passengers always wear seat
belts and wear them properly.ProCarManuals.comMain Menu Table of Contents s t

Your Vehicle's Safety Features

Airbags
Your vehicle has a Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) with frontal
airbags to help protect the driver and
a front seat passenger.
This system also includes an indicator light on the instrument
panel to alert you to a possible
problem with the system. The most important things you need
to know about your airbags are:
Airbags do not replace seat belts.

The seat belts are the occupants' primary protection in all types ofcollisions. The airbags supplement
the seat belts by providing extra protection for the head and chest
of each front seat occupant in a
moderate to severe frontal

collision.
Airbags offer no protection in side

impacts, rear impacts, rollovers,
or minor collisions. Airbags are

designed to deploy only during a
moderate to severe frontal

collision.
Airbags can pose serious hazards.

To do their job, airbags must inflate with tremendous force and
speed. So while airbags save lives,
they can cause serious injuries to
adults and larger children who are not wearing seat belts, are not
wearing them properly, are sitting
too close to the airbag, or are not sitting in a proper position. Infants
and small children are at an even
greater risk of injury or death.

What you should do: Always wear

your seat belt properly, and sit upright and as far back as possible
from the steering wheel or

dashboard.

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Your Vehicle's Safety Features

Pre-Drive Safety Checklist

To make sure you and your passengers get the maximum
protection from your vehicle's safety
features, check the following each
time before you drive away: All adults, and children who have
outgrown child safety seats, are
wearing their seat belts and wearing them properly (see page 15).
Any infant or small child is
properly restrained in a child seat

in a back seat (see page 22). Front seat occupants are sitting
upright and as far back as possible
from the steering wheel and dashboard (see page 12 ). Seat-backs are upright (see page
13). Head restraints are properly
adjusted (see page 14).
All doors and the tailgate are
closed and locked (see page 12 ). All cargo is properly stored or
secured (see page 191).
The rest of this section gives more detailed information about how you
can maximize your safety.
Remember, however, that no safety
system 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 child
seats and are large enough to wear
lap/shoulder belts. (See page 39 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 andtailgate are closed and locked.
Your vehicle has a door and tailgate monitor light on the instrument
panel to indicate when a specificdoor or the tailgate is not tightly

closed.

For safety, locking the doors reduces
the chance that a passenger, especially a child, will open a door
while the vehicle is moving and accidentally fall out. It also reduces
the chance 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 79 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 from being struck by an inflating airbag during a

crash.

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Protecting Adults

Advice for Pregnant Women
Because protecting the mother is the
best way to protect her unborn child, a pregnant woman should always
wear a seat belt whenever she drives or rides in a vehicle.
Remember to keep the lap portion of
the belt as low as possible across
your hips. Pregnant women should also sit
upright arid as far back as possible from the steering wheel ordashboard. This will reduce the risk
of injuries to both the mother and
her unborn child that can be caused
by a crash or an inflating airbag.
Each time you have a check-up, ask
your doctor if it's okay for you to drive. Additional Safety Precautions Never let passengers ride in the

cargo area or on top of a folded-

down back seat. All passengers

must sit in locked, upright seats
and be properly restrained by seat

belts.
Passengers should not stand up or

change seats while the vehicle is

moving. A passenger who is not
wearing a seat belt during a crash or emergency stop can be thrown
against the inside of the vehicle,
against other occupants, or out of
the vehicle.
Two people should never use the

same seat belt. If they do, they
could be very seriously injured in a

crash.

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Protecting Children

Children depend on adults to protect
them. However, despite their best intentions, many parents and other
adults may not know how to properly
protect young passengers.
So if you have children, or if you ever
need to drive with a grandchild or other children in your vehicle, besure to read this section. All Children Must Be Restrained
Each year, many children are injured
or killed in vehicle crashes because
they are either unrestrained or not properly restrained. In fact, vehicleaccidents are the number one cause
of death of children ages 12 and
under.
To reduce the number of child deaths and injuries, every state and
Canadian province requires that
infants and children be restrained
whenever they ride in a vehicle.

Any child who is too small to wear a
seat belt should be properly

restrained in a child seat. (See page
26 .)

A larger child should always be
restrained with a seat belt. (See page
39 .)

Driver and Passenger Safety
Children who are unrestrained
or improperly restrained can be

seriously injured or killed in a

crash.

Any child too small for a seat

belt should be properlyrestrained in a child seat. A
larger child should be properly
restrained with a seat belt.ProCarManuals.comMain Menu Table of Contents s t

Protecting Children

Children Should Sit in the Back

Seat

According to accident statistics, children of all ages and sizes aresafer when they are restrained in the
back seat, not the front seat. The National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration and Transport Canada recommend that all children
ages 12 and under be properly
restrained in a back seat.
In a back seat, children are less
likely to be injured by striking hard interior parts during a collision or
hard braking. Also, children cannot be injured by an inflating airbag
when they ride in the back.
The Passenger's Airbag Poses

Serious Risks to Children
Airbags have been designed to help protect adults in a moderate to severe frontal collision. To do this,
the passenger's airbag is quite large, and it inflates with tremendous

speed.

Infants

Never put a rear-facing child seat in the front seat of a vehicle equipped

with a passenger's airbag. If the

airbag inflates, it can hit the back of
the child seat with enough force to
kill or very seriously injure an infant.
Small Children

Placing a forward-facing child seat in the front seat of a vehicle equipped
with a passenger's airbag can be

hazardous. If the vehicle seat is too
far forward, or the child's head is thrown forward during a collision, an
inflating airbag can strike the child
with enough force to kill or very seriously injure a small child.

Larger Children
Children who have outgrown child

seats are also at risk of being injured
or killed by an inflating passenger's

airbag. Whenever possible, larger

children should sit in a back seat,
properly restrained with a seat belt. (See page 39 for important
information about protecting larger
children.)

CONTINUED

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Protecting Children

U.S. Models

To remind you of the passenger's airbag hazards, and that children
must be properly restrained in a
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. Canadian Models
To remind you of the airbag hazards,
your vehicle has warning labels on the driver's and front passenger's
visors. Please read and follow theinstructions on these labels.

Driver and Passenger Safety
CAUTION

TO AVOID SERIOUS INJURY:

FOR MAXIMUM SAFETY PROTECTION IN
ALL TYPES OF CRASHES, YOU MUST
ALWAYS WEAR YOUR SAFETY BELT. DO NOT INSTALL REARWARD-FACING
CHILD SEATS IN ANY FRONT PASSENGER SEAT POSITION
DO NOT SIT OR LEAN UNNECESSARILY
CLOSE TO THE AIR BAG.
DO NOT PLACE ANY OBJECTS OVER THE
AIR BAG OR BETWEEN THE AIR BAG
AND YOURSELF.
SEE THE OWNER'S MANUAL FOR FURTHERINFORMATION AND EXPLANATIONS. PRECAUTION:

POUR EVITER DES BLESSURES GRAVES:

POUR PROFITER D'UNE PROTECTION
MAXIMALE LORS D'UNE COLLISION BOUCLEZ
TOUJOURS VOTRE CEINTURE DE SECURITE. N'lNSTALLEZ JAMAIS UN SIEGE POURENFANTS FAISANT FACE A L'ARPIERE SUR
LE SIEGE DU PASSAGER AVANT
NE VOUS APPUYEZ PAS ET NE VOUS ASSEYEZ PAS PRES DU COUSSIN GONFLABLE.
NE DEPOSEZ AUCUN OBJET SUR LE COUSSIN
GONFLABLE OU ENTRE LE COUSSIN
GONFLABLE ET VOUS. LISEZ LE GUIDE UTILISATEUR POUR DE
PULS AMPLES RENSEIGNEMENTS.ProCarManuals.comMain Menu Table of Contents s t