ECU HONDA PASSPORT 2000 2.G Owners Manual

Doo
r Lock s
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-Driv e Safet y Checklis t
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 13). Any infant or small child is
properly restrained in a child seat in the back seat (see page
18).

Front seat occupants are sitting
upright and 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).
All doors and the tailgate are closed and locked (see page
10).

All cargo is properly stored or secured (see page 171). 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.
Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y

Protectin
g Adult s
Introductio n

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 33
for important additional
guidelines on how to properly
protect larger children.)
1 . Clos e an d Loc k th e Door s
After everyone has entered the
vehicle, be sure the doors and tailgate are closed and locked.
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 100 for how to lock the

doors.
2
. Adjus t th e Fron t Seat s
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 the inflatingairbag during a crash.
Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y

Properly adjusted head restraints
will help protect occupants from
whiplash and other crash injuries.
See page 90 for how to adjust the
head restraints.
5
. Faste n an d Positio n th e

Sea t Belt s
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.
Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y
Improperly positioning head
restraints reduces their
effectiveness and you can be
seriously injured in a crash.
Make sure head restraints are
in place and positioned
properly before driving.
Improperly positioning the seat
belts can cause serious injury
or death in a crash.
Make sure all seat belts are
properly positioned before you
drive.

into the buckle, and tug on the
belt to make sure the belt is
securely latched.
Position

the belt as low as
possible across your hips. This lets your strong pelvic bones take
the force of a crash and reduces
the chance of internal injuries.
Pull
on the loose end of the belt
for a snug but comfortable fit.
If a Seat Belt Doesn't Work

Properly

If a seat belt does not seem to
work as it should, it may not protect
the occupant in a crash.
No one should sit in a seat with
an inoperative seat belt. Anyone

using
a seat belt that is not
working

properly can be seriously
injured or killed. Have your
Honda

dealer check the belt as
soon as possible.
See

page 38 for additional
information

about your seat belt
system and how to take care of
your

belts. 6. Adjust the Steering Wheel
Adjust

the steering wheel, if
needed, so that the wheel points
toward your chest, not toward your face.
Pointing the steering wheel
toward

your face provides optimal
protection from the airbag.
See page 111 for how to adjust the
steering

wheel.
Driver and Passenger Safety

To remind you of the passenger's
airbag hazards, and that children
must be properly restrained in the
back seat, your vehicle haswarning labels on the dashboard,
and on the driver's and front
passenger's visors. Please read and follow the instructions on

these labels.
I
f Yo u Mus t Driv e Wit h

Severa l Childre n

Your vehicle has three seating
positions in the back seat where
children can be properly

restrained.

If you ever have to carry morethan three children in your
vehicle: Place the largest child in the
front seat, provided the child is
large enough to wear a seat belt
properly (see page 33). Move the vehicle seat as far to
the rear as possible (see page

89).

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). I
f a Chil d Require s Clos e

Attentio n

Many parents say they prefer to
put an infant or small child in the front passenger seat so they canwatch the child, or because the
child requires attention.
Placing a child in the front seat
exposes the child to hazards from
the airbag, and paying close
attention to a child distracts the
driver from the important tasks of
driving, placing both of you at

risk.

If a child requires physical
attention or frequent visual
contact, we strongly recommend
that another adult ride with thechild in the back seat. The backseat is far safer for a child than the

front.

Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y

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 Seal

Infants: Never in the front seat,
due to the passenger's 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 secure a front-facing child seat with theseat belt (see page 30).

Back Seats

Infants: Recommended positions. Secure a rear-facing child seat
with the seat belt (see page 25).
Small children: Recommended positions. Secure a front-facing
child seat with the seat belt (see
page 30).Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y
Airbag s Pos e
Seriou
s
Risk s t o Childre n
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 farforward, 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 in this section.

Installing a Child Seat

After selecting a proper child seat,
and a good position to install theseat, there are three main steps to
installing the seat:
1. Secure the child seat to the vehicle with a seat belt. All
child seats must be secured to the vehicle with the lap belt or
the lap part of a lap/shoulder
belt. A child whose seat is not
properly secured to the vehicle can be endangered in a crash.See pages 25 and 30 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 back-and-

forth 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
properly strapped 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 in a crash and
seriously injured.

Storing a Child Seat
When you are not using a childseat, either remove it and store it
in a safe place, or make sure it is
properly secured. An unsecured
child seat can be thrown around
the vehicle during a crash or sudden stop and injure someone.
Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y

Installing a Rear-Facing Child
Seat With a Lap/Shoulder Belt
The lap/shoulder belts in the outer
back seats have a locking mechanism that must be activated
to secure 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 28 for how to secure a
rear-facing child seat in the center
back seat with the lap belt. For
tips on installing an infant seat
with either type of seat belt, see
page 28.
1. With the child seat in the
desired back seating position,
route the belt through the child seat according to the seat
maker's instructions, then
insert the latch plate into the
buckle. 2. To activate the lockable
retractor, slowly pull the
shoulder part of the belt all theway out until it stops, then let
the belt feed back into the
retractor (you might hear a clicking noise as the belt

retracts).

Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y

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 anyslack from the lap part of the
belt.
Remember, if the lap part of the belt is not tight, the childseat 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 not secure,
unlatch the belt, allow it to
retract fully, then repeat these
steps.

Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y

To deactivate the locking
mechanism and remove a childseat, unlatch the buckle, unroute
the seat belt, and let the belt fully

retract.
Installing a Rear-Facing Child
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 26 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 on page 27 to verify that the
child seat is secure.
Infant Seat Installation Tips
For proper protection, an infant must ride in a reclined, orsemi-reclined position. To
determine the proper reclining angle, check with the baby's
Drive r an d Passenge r Safet y