belt HONDA PRELUDE 1998 Owners Manual

1998 Prelude Online Reference Owner's Manual
Use these links (and links throughout this manual) to navigate through\
this reference.
For a printed owner's manual, click on authorized manuals or go to www.h\
elminc.com.

Contents
Introduction ........................................................................\
................................................................. i
A Few Words About Safet y........................................................................\
.........................................ii
Driver and Passenger Safety ........................................................................\
......................................3
Proper use and care of your vehicle's seat belts, and Supplemental Restr\
aint System.
Instruments and Control s........................................................................\
.........................................49
Instrument panel indicator and gauge, and how to use dashboard and steering colu\
mn controls.
Comfort and Convenience Features ........................................................................\
..................... 91
How to operate the climate control system, the audio system, and other c\
onvenience features.
Before Driving........................................................................\
..........................................................119
What gasoline to use, how to break-in your new vehicle, and how to load luggage and other cargo.
Driving ........................................................................\
......................................................................131
The proper way to start the engine, shift the transmission, and park, pl\
us towing a trailer.
Maintenance........................................................................\
.............................................................159
The Maintenance Schedule shows you when you need to take your vehicle to the dealer.
Appearance Car e........................................................................\
..................................................... .219
Tips on cleaning and protecting your vehicle. Things to look for if your\
vehicle ever needs body repairs.
Taking Care of the Unexpecte d........................................................................\
..............................227
This section covers several problems motorists sometimes experience, and how to handle them.
Technical Informatio n........................................................................\
.............................................251
ID numbers, dimensions, capacities, and technical information.
Warranty and Customer Relations (U.S. and Canada)................................................................265
A summary of the warranties covering your new Acura, and how to contact \
us.
Authorized Manu als (U.S. only)........................................................................\
..............................271
How to order manuals and other technical literature.
Index........................................................................\
.............................................................................. I
Service Information Summary
A summary of information you need when you pull up to the fuel pump.

Accord Value Package Audio System Owner's Identification Form

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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 .......... 4
Your Vehicle's Safety Features........ 5 Seat Belts........................................ 6
Airbags............................................ 7

Seats & Seat-Backs........................ 8

Head Restraints............................. 8

Door Locks..................................... 9

Pre-Drive Safety Checklist........... 9

Protecting Adults............................. 10
1. Close and Lock the Doors...... 10
2. Adjust the Front Seats............ 11 3. Adjust the Seat-Backs............. 12
4. Adjust the Head Restraints.... 13 5. Fasten and Position the Seat
Belts...................................... 14

6. Adjust the Steering Wheel..... 15
7. Maintain a Proper Sitting
Position................................. 16

Advice for Pregnant Women...... 17 Additional Safety Precautions.... 17

Protecting Children.........................
19

All Children
Must Be

Restrained................................ 19

Children Should Sit in the Back
Seat............................................20

The Passenger's Airbag Poses
Serious Risks to Children....... 20
If You Must Drive with Several

Children.................................... 21
If a Child Requires Close

Attention................................... 22

Additional Safety Precaution...... 22 General Guidelines for Using
Child Seats................................ 23

Protecting Infants........................ 27

Protecting Small Children .......... 31
Protecting Larger Children........ 35
Using Child Seats with
Tethers......................................38

Additional Information About Your
Seat Belts.................................. 40

Seat Belt System Components... 40
Lap/Shoulder Belt....................... 40 Seat Belt Maintenance................ 42
Additional Information About Your
SRS............................................

43

SRS Components........................ .
43

How Your Airbags Work............ 43

How Your SRS Indicator Light
Works........................................45

SRS Service................................... 45
Additional Safety Precautions.... 46
Carbon Monoxide Hazard.............. 47
Safety Labels.................................... 48

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Important Safety Precautions

You'll find many safety recommendations throughout thissection, and throughout this manual.
Following are a few
recommendations we consider 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
severe frontal collision. So even with
airbags, make sure you and your
passengers always wear your seat
belts, and wear them properly. (See
page 14.)
Restrain All Children Children are safest when they are
properly restrained in the 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 19.) 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 5.)

Don't Drink and Drive

Alcohol and driving don't mix. Even one drink can reduce your ability to
respond to changing conditions.
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 162.)
Driver and Passenger SafetyProCarManuals.comMain Menu Table of Contents s t

Your Vehicle's Safety Features

Your vehicle is equipped with manyfeatures that work together to
protect you and your passengersduring a crash.
Some safety features do not require
any action on your part. These
include a strong steel framework
that forms a safety cage around the passenger compartment; front and
rear crush zones that are designed tocrumple and absorb energy during a
crash; and a collapsible steering

column.

These safety features are designed to reduce the severity of injuries in acrash. However, you and yourpassengers can't take full advantageof these safety features unless you
remain sitting in a proper position

and always wear your seat belts

properly. In fact, some safety
features can contribute to injuries if they are not used properly.
Driver and Passenger Safety
(1) Safety Cage
(2) Crush Zones
(3) Seats & Seat-Backs
(4) Head Restraints
(5) Collapsible Steering Column
(6) Seat Belts

(7) Airbags

(8) Door LocksProCarManuals.comMain Menu Table of Contents s t

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
airbags can only be helpful in severe frontal collisions.)
Help keep you from being thrown

against the inside of the car and

against other occupants.

Keep you from being thrown
outside of the car.

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 airbags.

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.
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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 includesan indicator light on the
instrument panel to alert you to a
possible problem with the system. Following are the most important
things you need to know about your

airbags.

Airbags do not replace seat belts.
They supplement seat belts byproviding extra protection for the
heads and chests of front seat
occupants.
Airbags offer no protection in side
impacts, rear impacts, rollovers,
or minor or moderate collisions.
Airbags are designed to deploy
only during a severe frontal
collision (such as a 25 mph [40
km/h] crash into a parked car of similar size and weight). 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 notsitting 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.

Driver and Passenger Safety
SRS
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Your Vehicle's Safety Features

Seats & Seat-Backs
Your vehicle seats are designed to
keep you in a comfortable, upright
position so you can take full
advantage of the protection offered
by seat belts and the seats' energy absorbing materials.
How you adjust your seats and seat-
backs can also affect your safety. For
example, sitting too close to the
steering wheel or dashboard
increases your risk of being injured
by striking the inside of the vehicle or being injured by an inflating

airbag.

Reclining a seat-back too far makes
your seat belt less effective and
increases your chance of sliding
under the seat belt and being seriously injured in a crash.
What you should do: Move the front

seats as far back as possible, and
keep adjustable seat-backs in an upright position whenever the
vehicle is moving.
Head Restraints
Head restraints can help protect you
from whiplash and other injuries. For maximum protection, the back of
your head should rest against the center of the head restraint.

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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 each
time before you drive away:
All adults, and children who haveoutgrown child safety seats, are
wearing their seat belts and
wearing them properly (see page
14).

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 11).
Seat-backs are upright (see page
12).
Head restraints are properly
adjusted (see page 13). Both doors are closed and locked
(see page 10). All cargo is properly stored or
secured (see page 128).
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 child
seats 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.

Your vehicle has a doormonitor light on the
instrument panel to indicate when a specific door is not tightly closed. 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 the
chance of someone being thrown outof 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 72 for how to lock the

doors.

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Protecting Adults

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.
Most shorter drivers can get far
enough away from the steering
wheel and still reach the pedals. However, if you are concerned aboutsitting too close, we recommend that
you investigate whether some type of adaptive equipment may help.
Once your seat is adjusted correctly,
rock it forward and back to make sure the seat is locked in position.
See page 75 for how to adjust the
front seats.

Driver and Passenger Safety

Sitting too close to an airbag
can result in serious injury or
death if the airbags inflate.
Always sit as far back from the airbags as possible.ProCarManuals.comMain Menu Table of Contents s t