HONDA PRELUDE 1998 Owner's Manual

Protecting Children

Children Should Sit in the Back

Seat

According to accident statistics, children of all ages and sizes are
safer when they are restrained in the
back seat, not the front seat. The National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration recommends that all children ages 12 and under ride in
the back seat, properly restrained.
In the back seat, children are less
likely to be injured by striking hard interior vehicle 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 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

airbag. Whenever possible, larger

children should sit in the back seat,
properly restrained with a seat belt. (See page 35 for important
information about protecting larger
children.)
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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 the
back seat, your vehicle has warning
labels on the dashboard and on the driver'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 two seating positions in the back seat where
children can be properly restrained.
If you ever have to carry more than
two 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 35).
Move the vehicle seat as far to the
rear as possible (see page 11).
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
14).
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Protecting Children

If a Child Requires Close
Attention
Many parents say they prefer to put
an infant or small child in the front
passenger seat so they can watch the child, or because the child requires

attention.

Placing a child in the front seat
exposes them to hazards from the
airbag, and paying close attention to
a child distracts the driver from the
important tasks of driving, creating serious safety risks.
If a child requires physical attention
or frequent visual contact, we strongly recommend that another
adult ride with the child in the back seat. The back seat is far safer for a
child than the front. Additional Safety Precaution

Do not leave children alone in your

vehicle. Leaving children without

adult supervision is illegal in most
states and can be very hazardous.
For example, infants and small
children left in a vehicle on a hot day
can die from heatstroke. And
children left alone with the key in
the ignition can accidentally set the
vehicle in motion, possibly injuring themselves or others.
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Protecting Children

General Guidelines for Using
Child Seats
The following pages give general guidelines for selecting and installing
child seats for infants and small
children.
Selecting a Child Seat
To provide proper protection, a child seat should meet three
requirements:
1. The child seat should meet
safety standards. The child seat

should meet Federal Motor
Vehicle Safety Standard 213
(FMVSS 213) or Canadian
Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
Look for the manufacturer's
statement of compliance on the
box and
seat.
2. The child seat should be of the proper type and size to fit the

child.
Infants: Children up to about one
year old should be restrained in a rear-facing, reclining child seat. Only
rear-facing seats provide the support an infant needs to protect their head,
neck, and back. See page 27 for
additional information on protecting
infants. Small Children: A child who is too
large for a rear-facing child seat, and
who can sit up without support, should be restrained in a forward-
facing child seat. See page 31 for
additional information on protecting
small children.

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Protecting Children

3. The child seat should fit the vehicle seating position (or
positions) where it will be used.
Due to variations in the design of
child seats, vehicle seats, and seat
belts, all child seats will not fit all
vehicle seating positions.
However, Honda is confident that
one or more child seat models can fit
and be properly installed in all
recommended seating positions in
your vehicle. Whenever possible, we recommend
that parents test a child seat in the
specific vehicle seating position (or
positions) where they intend to use
the seat before making a purchase. If
a previously purchased child seat does not fit, you may need to buy a
different one that will fit.
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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, clue
to the passenger airbag hazard.
Small children: Not recommended, due to the passenger's airbaghazard. 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 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-facingchild seat with the seat belt (see
page 32).
Driver and Passenger Safety CONTINUED
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 orseriously injure the child.
If a small child must ride in the
front, follow the instructions
provided.
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Protecting Children

Installing a Child Seat

After selecting a proper child seat, and a good position 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 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 car.

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-back 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 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
Protecting Infants
Child Seat Type
To provide proper support for a baby's head, neck and back, infants
up to about one year of age must be
restrained in a rear-facing child seat.
Two types of seats may be used: a seat designed exclusively for infants,
or a convertible seat used in the rear-
facing, reclining mode. We recommend that an infant stay in
a rear-facing child seat as long as
possible, until they reach the seat maker's weight or height limit and
are able to sit up without support.
Infant Seat Placement

In this vehicle, a rear-facing child seat can be placed in any seating
position in the back seat, but not in
the front seat.

Never put a rear-facing child seat in

the front seat. If the passenger's
airbag inflates, it can hit the back of
the child seat with enough force to
kill or seriously injure an infant. If an infant must be closely watched, we
recommend that another adult sit in
the back seat with the baby.

Do not put a rear-facing child seat in

a forward-facing position. If an

infant faces forward, they could be
very seriously injured during a frontal collision.

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Driver and Passenger Safety

Placing a rear-facing child seat
in the front seat can result in
serious injury or death if the
airbags inflate.
Always place a rear-facing child
seat in the back seat, not the
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Protecting Children

Infant Seat Installation

The lap/shoulder belts in the back seats have a locking mechanism that
must be activated to secure a child
seat.

The following pages provide instructions and tips on how to
secure a rear-facing child seat with
this type of seat belt.
1. With the child seat in the desiredback 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 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.

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Protecting Children

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 not
secure, unlatch the belt, allow it to
retract fully, then repeat these
steps.
To deactivate the locking
mechanism in order to remove achild seat, unlatch the buckle,
unroute the seat belt, and let the belt
fully retract.

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