Oldsmobile Alero 2003 s Owner's Guide
Manufacturer: OLDSMOBILE, Model Year: 2003, Model line: Alero, Model: Oldsmobile Alero 2003Pages: 354, PDF Size: 16.74 MB
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Lap-Shoulder Belt
The positions next to the windows have lap-shoulder
belts. Here’s how to wear one properly.
2. Push the latch plate into the buckle until it clicks.
1. Pick up the latch plate and pull the belt across you.
Don’t let
it get twisted.
The shoulder belt may lock
if you pull the belt
across you very quickly.
If this happens, let the belt
go back slightly to unlock it. Then pull the belt
across you more slowly. If
the belt stops before
it reaches the buckle, tilt the
latch plate and keep pulling until you can buckle it.
Pull up on the latch plate to make sure it is secure.
If the belt is not long enough, see
Safety Belt
Extender on page
7-37. Make sure the release
button on the buckle is positioned
so you would be
able to unbuckle the safety belt quickly
if you
ever had to.
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3, To make the lap part tight, pull down on the buckle
end
of the belt as you pull up on the shoulder part. The lap part
of the belt should be worn low and snug on
the hips, just touching the thighs. In a crash, this
applies force to the strong pelvic bones. And you'd be
less Ilkely
to sllde under the iap Delt. it you siia under ir,
the belt would apply force at your abdomen. This
could cause serious or even fatal injuries. The shoulder
belt should go over the shoulder and across the
chest. These parts
of the body are best able to take belt
restraining forces.
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The safety belt locks if there’s a sudden stop or a crash,
or
if you pull the belt very quickly out of the retractor.
You can be seriously hurt
if your shoulder belt
is too loose. In a crash, you would move
forward too much, which could increase injury.
The shoulder belt should fit against your body.
To unlatch the belt, just push the button on the buckle.
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Center Rear Passenger Position
n
Lap Belt
When vou sit in the center seatinu position, you have a
lap safety belt, which has no retractor.
To make the
belt longer, tilt the latch plate and
pull it along the belt.
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To make the belt shorter, pull its free end as shown
until the belt is snug.
Buckle, position and release it the same way
as the lap
part of a lap-shoulder belt. If the belt isn’t long
enough, see
Safety Belt Extender on page 7-37.
Make sure the release button on the buckle is positioned
so you would be able to unbuckle the safety belt
quickly
if you ever had to.
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Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for
Children
and Small Adults
Your vehicle may have this feature already. If it doesn’t,
you can get it from any
GM dealer.
Rear shoulder belt comfort guides will provide added
safety belt comfort for older children who have outgrown
booster seats and for small adults. When installed on
a shoulder belt, the comfort guide better positions
the belt away from the neck and head.
There is one guide available for each outside passenger
position in the rear seat.
To provide added safety belt
comfort for children who have outgrown child restraints
and booster seats and for smaller adults, the comfort
guides may be installed on the shoulder belts. Here’s
how to install a comfort guide and use the safety belt:
1. Pull the elastic cord out from between the edge of
the seatback and the interior body to remove the
guide from its storage clip.
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2. Slide the guide under and past the belt. The elastic
cord must be under the belt. Then, place the guide
over the belt, and insert the two edges
of the
belt into the slots
of the guide.
3. Be sure that the belt is not twisted and it lies flat.
The elastic cord must be under the belt and the
guide on top.
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I
4. Buckle, position and release the safety belt as
described in
Rear Seat Passengers on page 7-23.
Make sure that the shoulder belt crosses the
31 luuluel. -L-..l-l-..
To remove and store the comfort guides, squeeze the
belt edges together
so that you can take them out of the
guides. Pull the guide upward to expose its storage
clip, and then slide the guide onto the clip. Turn
the guide and clip inward and in between the seatback
and the interior body, leaving only the loop of the
elastic cord exposed.
Safety Belt Extender
If the vehicle's safety belt will fasten around you, you
should use it.
But
if a safety belt isn't long enough to fasten, your
dealer will order you an extender.
It's free. When you go
in to order it, take the heaviest coat you will wear,
so
the extender will be long enough for you. The extender
will be just for you, and just for the seat
in your
vehicle that you choose. Don't let someone else use it,
and use it only for the seat it is made to fit. To wear
it, just attach it to the regular safety belt.
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Child Restraints
Older Children
Q: What is the proper way to wear safety belts?
A: If possible, an older child should wear a
lap-shoulder belt and get the additional restraint a
shoulder belt can provide. The shoulder belt
should not cross the face or neck. The lap belt
should
fit snugly below the hips, just touching the
top
of the thighs. It should never be worn over
the abdomen, which could cause severe or even
fatal internal injuries in a crash.
Accident statistics show that children are safer if they
are restrained in the rear seat.
In a crash, children who are not buckled up can strike
other people who are buckled up, or can be thrown
out of the vehicle. Older children need
to use safety
belts properly.
Older children who have outgrown booster seats should
wear the vehicle’s safety belts.
If you have the choice, a child should sit next to a
window
so the child can wear a lap-shoulder belt and
get the additional restraint a shoulder belt can provide.
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Never do this.
Here two children are wearing the same belt.
The belt can’t properly spread the impact
forces.
In a crash, the two children can be
crushed together and seriously injured.
A belt
must be used by only one person at
a time.
Q: What if a child is wearing a lap-shoulder belt,
but the child is so small that the shoulder belt
is very close to the child’s face or neck?
A: Move the child toward the center of the vehicle, but
be sure that the shoulder belt still
is on the child’s
shoulder,
so that in a crash the child’s upper
body would have the restraint that belts provide.
If the child is sitting in a rear seat outside position,
see “Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides” in the
Index.
If the child is so small that the shoulder belt is still
very close to the child’s face or neck, you might
want to place the child in the center seat position,
the one that has only a lap belt.
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