child restraint Oldsmobile Aurora 1998 Owner's Manuals

@ Section 1 Seats and Restraint Systems
Here you’ll find information about the seats in your Aurora and how to use your safety belts properly. You can also
learn about some things you should
not do with air bags and safety belts.
1-2 Seats and Seat Controls
1-30 Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for Children
1-7 Safety Belts: They’re for Everyone
and Small Adults
1
- 12 Here Are Questions Many People Ask About
1-37 Child Restraints
1
- 13 How to Wear Safety Belts Properly 1-32 Center Passenger Position
1-52
Replacing Restraint System Parts After
1-21 Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) 1-51 Safety Belt Extender
1-20 Safety Belt Use During Pregnancy
1-27 Rear Seat Passengers
a Crash
Safety Belts
-- and the Answers 1-34 Children
1-13 Driver Position 1-48 Larger Children
1-21 Right Front Passenger Position 1-5
1 Checking
Your Restraint Systems

How to Wear Safety Belts Properly
Adults
This part is only for people of adult size.
Be aware that there are special things to know about
safety belts and children. And there
are different rules
for smaller children and babies. If a child will be riding
in your vehicle, see the part of this manual called
“Children.” Follow those rules for everyone’s protection.
First, you’ll want to know which restraint systems your
vehicle has.
We’ll start with the driver position.
Driver Position
This part describes the driver’s restraint system.
Lap-Shoulder Belt
Here’s how to wear the lap-shoulder belt properly.
1. Close and lock the door.
2. Adjust the seat (to see how, see “Seats” in the Index)
so you can sit up straight.
R I
The driver has a lap-shoulder belt. The shoulder portion
of the belt has an energy management loop. It is
designed
to open and help protect you in certain crashes.
If it opens, you will
see a label on the safety belt that
says to replace the belt. Be sure
to do so. If you don’t,
the safety belt won’t work properly and won’t protect
you in another crash. For more information on replacing
safety belts after a crash, see “Replacing Safety Belts’’
in the Index.
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3. Pick up the latch plate and pull the belt across you.
Don’t let it get twisted.
4. Push the latch plate into the buckle until it clicks.

The best way to protect the fetus is to protect the
mother. When
a safety belt is worn properly, it’s more
likely that the fetus won’t be hurt in a crash. For
pregnant women, as for anyone, the key to making
safety belts effective
is wearing them properly.
Right Front Passeng . Position
To learn how to wear the right front passenger’s safety belt
properly,
see “Driver Position’’ earlier in this section.
The right front passenger’s safety belt works the same way as
the driver’s safety belt
-- except for one thing. If you ever pull
the lap portion of the belt out all
the way, you will engage the
child restraint locking feature.
If this happens, just let the belt
go back all the way and start again.
Supplemental Restraint System (SRS)
This part explains the Supplemental Restraint System
(SRS) or air bag system.
Your vehicle has “Next Generation” reduced-force
frontal air bags
-- one air bag for the driver and another
air bag for the right front passenger.
Reduced-force frontal air bags are designed
to help
reduce the
risk of injury from the force of an inflating
air bag. But even these air bags must inflate very
quickly
if they are to do their job and comply with
federal regulations. Here
are the most important things to know about the air
bag system:
I
You can be severely injured or killed in a crash if
you aren’t wearing your safety belt
-- even if you
have air bags. Wearing your safety belt during a
crash helps reduce your chance of hitting things
inside the vehicle or being ejected from it. Air
bags are “supplemental restraints’’ to the safety
belts. All air bags are designed to work with
safety belts, but don’t replace them. Air bags
are designed to work only in moderate to severe
crashes where the front of your vehicle hits
something. They aren’t designed to inflate at
all in rollover, rear, side or low-speed frontal
crashes. Everyone in your vehicle should wear a
safety belt properly
-- whether or not there’s an
air bag for that person.
i
1-21

- -
A CAU LON:.
Air bags inflate with great force, faster than the
blink
of an eye. If you’re too close to an inflating
air bag, it could seriously injure
yon. This is true
even with reduced-force frontal air bags. Safety
belts help keep you in position before and during
a crash. Always wear your safety belt, even with
reduced-force air bags. The driver should sit as
far back as possible while still maintaining
control of the vehicle.
A CAUTT3N:
I
Children who are up against, or very close to, an
air bag when it inflates can be seriously injured
or killed. This
is true even though your vehicle
has reduced-force frontal air bags. Air bags plus
lap-shoulder belts offer the best protection for adults, but not for young children and infants.
CAUTION: (Continued) Neither the
vehicle’s safety belt system nor its air
bag system is designed for them. Young children
and infants need the protection that
a child
restraint system can provide. Always secure
children properly in your vehicle.
To read how,
see the part of this manual called “Children” and
see the caution labels on the sunvisors and the
right front passenger’s safety belt.
There
is an air bag
readiness light on the
instrument panel, which
AIR BAG shows AIR BAG.
The system checks the air bag electrical system for
malfunctions. The light tells
you if there is an electrical
problem. See “Air Bag Readiness Light” in the Index
for more information.
1-22

To unlatch the belt, just push the button on the buckle.
Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides
for Children and Small Adults
Rear shoulder belt comfort guides will provide added
safety belt comfort for children who have outgrown
child restraints and for small adults. When installed on
a shoulder belt, the comfort guide pulls the belt away
from the neck and head. There is one
guide for each outside passenger position
in the rear seat.
To provide added safety belt comfort
for children who have outgrown child restraints 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.
1-30

Children
Everyone in a vehicle needs protection! That includes
infants and all children smaller than adult size. Neither
the distance traveled nor the age and
size of the traveler
changes the need, for everyone, to use safety restraints.
In fact, the law in every state in the United States and in
every Canadian province
says children up to some age
must
be restrained while in a vehicle.
Smaller Children and Babies
TTTi3N:
Children who are up against, or very close to, any
air bag when it inflates can be seriously injured
or killed. This is true even though your vehicle
has reduced-force frontal air bags. Air bags plus
lap-shoulder belts offer the best protection for
adults, but not for young children and infants.
Neither the vehicle’s safety belt system nor its air
bag system is designed for them. Young children
and infants need the protection that a child
restraint system can provide. Always secure
children properly in your vehicle.
1-34

A -AUTION:
Smaller children and babies should always be
restrained in a child or infant restraint. The
instructions for the restraint will say whether
it is the right type and size for your child.
A
very young child’s hip bones are so small that a
regular belt might not stay low on the hips, as
it
should. Instead, the belt will likely be over the
child’s abdomen.
In a crash, the belt would apply
force right on the child’s abdomen, which could
cause serious or fatal injuries.
So, be sure that
any child small enough for one is always properly
restrained in a child or infant restraint.
Infants need complete support, including support for
the head and neck. This is necessary because an infant’s
neck is weak and its head weighs
so much compared
with the rest of its body.
In a crash, an infant in a
rear-facing restraint settles
into the restraint, so the
crash forces can be distributed across the strongest part
of the infaIit’s body, the back
and shoulders. A baby
should be secured in an appropriate infant restraint.
This is so important that many hospitals today won’t
release a newborn infant to its parents unless there
is an
infant restraint available for the baby’s first trip in a
motor vehicle.
1-35

Child Restraints
Every time infants and young children ride in vehicles, they should have protection provided by
appropriate restraints.
@ What are the different types of add-on
child restraints?
A: Add-on child restraints are available in four basic
types. When selecting a child restraint, take into
consideration not only the child’s weight and size,
but also whether or not the restraint will be
compatible with the motor vehicle
in which it
will be used.
An infant car bed (A) is a special bed made for use
in a motor vehicle. It’s an infant restraint system
designed to restrain or position a child
on a
continuous flat surface. With an infant car bed,
make sure that the infant’s head rests toward the
center of the vehicle.

A forward-facing child restraint (C-E) positions a
child upright to face forward in the vehicle. These
forward-facing restraints are designed to help
protect children who are from
20 to 40 lbs. (9 to
18 kg) and about 26 to 40 inches (66 to 102 cm) in
height, or up to around four years of age. One type,
a convertible restraint, is designed to be used either
as a rear-facing infant seat
or a forward-facing
child seat.
1-39

When choosing a child restraint, be sure the child
restraint is designed to be used in a vehicle. If it is,
it
will have a label saying that it meets Federal Motor
Vehicle Safety Standards.
Then follow the instructions for the restraint. You may
find these instructions on the restraint itself or
in a
booklet, or both. These restraints use the belt system in
your vehicle, but the child also has
to be secured within
the restraint to help reduce the chance of personal injury.
The instructions that come with the infant or child
restraint will show you how to do that. Both the owner’s
manual and
the child restraint instructions are important,
so if either one of these is not available, obtain a
replacement copy from the manufacturer.
Where to Put the Restraint
Accident statistics show that children are safer if they
are restrained in the rear rather than the front seat. We at
General Motors therefore recommend that you put your
child restraint in the rear seat.
Never put a rear-facing
child restraint in the front passenger seat. Here’s why:
A CAUTION:
A child in a rear-facing child restraint can be
seriously injured if the right front passenger’s air
bag inflates, even though your vehicle has
reduced-force frontal air bags. This is because
the back of the rear-facing child restraint would
be very close to the inflating air bag. Always
secure a rear-facing child restraint in
a rear seat.
You may secure
a forward-facing child restraint
in the right front seat, but before you do, always
move the front passenger seat as
far back as it
will go. It’s better to secure the child restraint in
the rear seat.
Wherever you install
it, be sure to secure the child
restraint properly.
Keep in mind that an unsecured child restraint can move
around in a collision or sudden stop and injure people
in the vehicle. Be sure to properly secure any child
restraint
in your vehicle -- even when no child is in it.