child restraint OLDSMOBILE BRAVADA 1998 Owners Manual

wearing a satety belt correctly IS one ot the most I
your passengers can do. This section contains veq
about safety belt usage, air bags and child restraints 3
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Section 1 Seats and Restraint Systems
Here you’ll find information about the seats in your vehicle\
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.
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Seats and Seat Controls
Safety Belts: They’re for Everyone
Here Are Questions Many People Ask
About Safety Belts
-- and the Answers
How to Wear Safety Belts Properly
Driver Position
Safety Belt Use During Pregnancy
Right Front Passenger Position
Supplemental Inflatable
Restraint (SIR) System Rear Seat Passengers
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,
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Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides
for Children and Small Adults
Center Rear Passenger Position
Children
Child Restraints
Larger Children Safety Belt Extender
Checking Your Restraint Systems
Replacing Restraint System Parts
After a Crash
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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
The driver has a lap-shoulder belt. Here’s how to wear
it 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.
3. 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.
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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 Passenger 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 shoulder 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 Inflatable Restraint
(SIR) System
This part explains the Supplemental Inflatable Restraint
(SIR) system or air bag system.
Your vehicle has two air bags
-- one air bag for the
driver and another air bag for the right front passenger.
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 “supplenlental 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.
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A CAUTION:
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 you. Safety belts
help keep you in position before and during a
crash. Always wear your safety belt, even with air
bags. The driver should sit as
far back as possible
while still maintaining control of the vehicle.
/! CAUTION:
Children who are up against, or very close to, an
air bag when it inflates can be seriously injured
or killed.
Air bags plus lap-shoulder belts offer
the best protection for adults and older children,
but not for young children and infants. Neither
CAUTION: (Continued) 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 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” in the Index
for more information.
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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.
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Children Smaller phildren and Babie
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.
/r C."' u HON:
Children who are up against, or very close to, an
air bag when it inflates can be seriously injured
or killed.
Air bags plus lap-shoulder belts offer
the best protection for adults and older children, 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.
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A CAUTIO, 4:
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 infant’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 infdnt to its parents unless there is an
infant restraint available for the baby‘s
first trip in a
motor vehicle.
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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.
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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 Ibs. (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 rea-facing
infant seat or a forward-facing child seat.
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