OLDSMOBILE AURORA 2003 Workshop Manual

4.
5.
To tighten the belt, pull up on the shoulder belt
while you push down
on the child restraint. If
you’re using a forward-facing child restraint, you
may find it helpful to use your knee to push down on
the child restraint as you tighten the belt.
Push and pull the child restraint in different
directions to be sure it is secure. To
remove the child restraint, just unbuckle the vehicle’s
safety belt and let it
go back all the way. The safety
belt will move freely again and be ready to work for an
adult
or larger child passenger.
Securing a Child Restraint in the
Right Front Seat Position
I -44
ProCarManuals.com

Your vehicle has a right front passenger air bag.
Never put a rear facing child restraint in this seat.
Here’s why:
A child in a rear-facing child restraint can be
seriously injured or killed
if the right front
passenger’s air bag inflates. 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.
Although a rear seat is a safer place, you can secure a
forward-facing child restraint in the right front seat.
You’ll be using the lap-shoulder belt. See
Top Strap on
page 1-38 if the child restraint has one. Be sure to
fnlln\A/ the instr~~dinns that came with the child restraint
Secure the child in the child restraint when and as
the instructions say.
1. Because your vehicle has a right front passenger
air bag, always move the seat as far back as it will
go before securing a forward-facing child restraint.
See
Power Seats on page 1-2.
2. Put the restraint on the seat.
3. Pick up the latch plate, and run the lap and shoulder
portions of the vehicle’s safety belt through or
around the restraint. The child restraint instructions
will show you how.
4. Buckle the belt. Make sure the release button is
positioned
so you would be able to unbuckle the
QulbLy U’CIIL yulu \ly II ywu uv-I IlUU LW. clfnt
halt PII ~i,-Jfl\l if \/AI I o
nr hcaA tn
1 -45
ProCarManuals.com

5. Pull the rest of the lap belt all the way out of the
retractor to set the lock. 6.
To tighten the belt, feed the lap belt back into the
retractor while you push down on the child restraint.
You may find it helpful to use your knee to push
down on the child restraint as you tighten the belt.
directions to be sure it
is secure.
7. Push and pull the child restraint in different
To remove the child restraint, just unbuckle the vehicle’s
safety belt and let
it go back all the way. The safety
belt will move freely again and be ready to work for
an
adult or larger child passenger.
1-46
ProCarManuals.com

Air Bag Systems
This part explains the frontal and side impact air bag
systems.
Your vehicle has four air bags
- a frontal air bag for the
driver, another frontal air bag for the right front
passenger, a side impact air bag for the driver, and
another side impact air bag for the right front passenger.
Frontal air bags are designed to help reduce the risk
of injury from the force of an inflating air bag. But these
air bags must inflate very quickly to do their job and
comply with federal regulations.
Here are the most important things to know about the
air bag system:
You can be severely ,njured 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.
CAUTION: (Continued)
Air bags are designe ,o work with safety belts
but don’t replace them.
Frontal air bags for the driver and right front
passenger are designed to deploy only in
moderate to severe frontal and near frontal
crashes. They aren’t designed to inflate at all
in rollover, rear or low-speed frontal crashes,
or in many side crashes. And, for some
unrestrained occupants, frontal air bags may
provide less protection in frontal crashes than
more forceful
air bags have provided in
the past.
The side impact air bags for the driver and right front passenger are designed to inflate
only in moderate to severe crashes where
something hits the side of your vehicle. They
aren‘i ciesigneci to iniiaie in ironiai, in roiiover
or in rear crashes.
Everyone in your vehicle should wear a safety
belt properly
- whether or not there’s an air
bag for that person.
1-47
ProCarManuals.com

Bot rontal and le impact E bags inf e
with great force, faster than the blink of an
eye. If you’re too close to an inflating air bag,
as you would be
if you were leaning forward, it
could seriously injure you. Safety belts help keep you in position for air bag inflation before
and during a crash. Always wear your safety
belt, even with frontal air bags. The driver
should sit as far back as possible while
still
maintaining control of the vehicle. Front
occupants should not lean on or sleep against
the door.
Anyone who
is up against, or very close to,
any air bag when
it inflates can be seriously
injured or killed.
CAUTION: (Continued)
I I
-
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.
To read how, see the
part of this manual called “Older Children” or “Infants and Young Children”.
There
is an air bag
readiness light on the
instrument panel, which
shows the air bag symbol.
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 on page 3-34.
1 -48
ProCarManuals.com

Where Are the Air Bags?
The driver’s frontal air bag is in the middle of the
ut”-, I, 1y ““I ,L,-,. ctnnrinry rrrhnnl
I I
instrument panel on the passenger’s side.
The driver’s side impact air bag
is in the side of the
driver’s seatback closest to the
door.
1-49
ProCarManuals.com

If something is between an occupant and an
air bag, the bag might not inflate properly or
it
might force the object into that person causing
severe injury or even death. The path of an
inflating air bag must be kept clear. Don’t put
anything between an occupant and an air bag,
and don’t attach or put anything
on the
steering wheel hub or on or near any other air
bag covering. Don’t let seat covers block the
inflation path
of a side impact air bag.
The right front passenger’s side impact air bag is in the
side of the passenger’s seatback closest to the door.
1-50
ProCarManuals.com

When Should an Air Bag Inflate?
The driver’s and right front passenger’s frontal air bags
are designed to inflate in moderate to severe frontal
or near-frontal crashes. But they are designed to inflate
only
if the impact speed is above the system’s
designed “threshold level”.
In addition, your vehicle has “dual stage” frontal air
bags, which adjust the amount of restraint according to
crash severity. For moderate frontal impacts, these
air bags inflate at a level less than full deployment. For
more severe frontal impacts, full deployment occurs.
If the front of your vehicle goes straight into a wall that
doesn’t move or deform, the threshold level for the
reduced deployment is about
10 to 16 mph (1 8
to
26 km/h), and the threshold level for a full deployment
is about 18 to
24 mph (29 to 38.5 km/h). The threshold
level can vary, however, with specific vehicle design,
so that it can be somewhat above or below this range.
If your vehicle strikes something that will move or
deform, such as a parked car, the threshold level will be
higher. The driver’s and right front passenger’s frontal
air bags are not designed to inflate in rollovers, rear
impacts, or in many side impacts because inflation
would not help the occupant. The
side impact air bags are designed to inflate in
moderate to severe side crashes.
A side impact air bag
will inflate
if the crash severity is above the system’s
designed “threshold level”. The threshold level can vary
with specific vehicle design. Side impact air bags are
not designed to inflate in frontal or near-frontal impacts,
rollovers or rear impacts, because inflation would not
help the occupant.
A side impact air bag will only deploy
on the side of the vehicle that is struck.
In any particular crash, no one can say whether an air
bag should have inflated simply because of the damage
to a vehicle or because of what the repair costs were.
For frontal air bags, inflation is determined by the angle
of the impact and how quickly the vehicle slows down
in frontal and near-frontal impacts. For side impact
air bags, inflation is determined by the location
and severity of the impact.
1-51
ProCarManuals.com

What Makes an Air Bag Inflate?
In an impact of sufficient severity, the air bag sensing
system detects that the vehicle is in a crash. For
both frontal and side impact air bags, the sensing
system triggers a release of gas from the inflator, which
inflates the air bag. The inflator, the air bag and
related hardware are all part of the air bag modules
inside the steering wheel, the instrument panel, and the
side of the front seatbacks closest to the door.
How Does an Air Bag Restrain?
In moderate to severe frontal or near frontal collisions,
even belted occupants can contact the steering wheel or
the instrument panel. In moderate to severe side
collisions, even belted occupants can contact the inside
of the vehicle. The air bag supplements the protection
provided by safety belts. Air bags distribute the force of
the impact more evenly over the occupant’s upper
body, stopping the occupant more gradually. But the
frontal air bags would not help you in many types
of collisions, including rollovers, rear impacts, and many
side impacts, primarily because an occupant’s motion
is not toward the air bag. Side impact air bags would not
help you in many types of collisions, including frontal
or near frontal collisions, rollovers, and rear impacts,
primarily because an occupant’s motion is not toward those air bags.
Air bags should never be regarded as
anything more than a supplement to safety belts,
and then only in moderate to severe frontal or
near-frontal collisions for the driver’s and right front
passenger’s frontal air bags, and only in moderate to
severe side collisions for the driver’s and right front
passenger’s side impact air bag.
What Will You See After an Air Bag
Inflates?
After the air bag inflates, it quickly deflates, so quickly
that some people may not even realize the air bag
inflated. Some components of the air bag module
- the
steering wheel hub for the driver’s air bag, the
instrument panel for the right front passenger’s bag, the
side of the seatback closest to the door for the driver
and right front passenger‘s side impact air
bags
- will be hot for a short time. The parts of the bag
that come into contact with you may be warm, but not
too hot to touch. There will be some smoke and
dust coming from the vents in the deflated air bags. Air
bag inflation doesn’t prevent the driver from seeing
or being able to steer the vehicle, nor does it stop
people from leaving the vehicle.
1-52
ProCarManuals.com

When an air bag inflates, there is dust in the
air. This dust could cause breathing problems
for people with a history of asthma or other
breathing trouble.
To avoid this, everyone in
the vehicle should get out as soon as
it is safe
to do
so. If you have breathing problems but
can’t get out of the vehicle after an air bag
inflates, then get fresh air by opening a
window or a door.
If you experience breathing
problems following an air bag deployment, you
should seek medical attention.
Your vehicle has a feature that will automatically unlock
the doors and turn the interior lamps on when the air
bags inflate
(if battery power is available). You can lock
the doors again and turn the interior lamps
off by
using
ii~e door iock ana inierior iamp conirois.
In many crashes severe enough to inflate an air bag,
windshields are broken by vehicle deformation.
Additional windshield breakage may also occur from the
right front passenger air bag.
Air bags are designed to inflate only once. After an
air bag inflates, you’ll need some new parts for
your air bag system. If you don’t get them, the air
bag system won’t be there to help protect you
in another crash.
A new system will include air bag
modules and possibly other parts. The service
manual for your vehicle covers the need to replace
other parts.
Your vehicle is equipped with an electronic frontal
sensor, which helps the sensing system distinguish
between a moderate frontal impact and a more
severe frontal impact. Your vehicle is also equipped
with a crash sensing and diagnostic module,
which records information about the frontal air bag
system. The module records information about
the readiness of the system, when the system
commands air bag inflation and driver’s safety belt
usage at deployment. The module also records
speed, engine
RPM, brake and throttle data.
1-53
ProCarManuals.com