Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme 1996 s Owner's Guide

5. To make the lap part tight, pull down on the buckle
end of the belt as you pull up on the shoulder belt. 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 likely \
to slide under the lap belt.
If you slid under it, 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.
The safety belt locks if there’s a sudden stop or crash, or
if you pull the belt very quickly out of the retractor.
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Shoulder Belt Height Adjuster @-Door Models)
Before you begin to drive, move the shoulder belt
adjuster to the height that is right for you.
To move it down, squeeze .the release lever and move
the height adjuster to the desired position. You can move
the adjuster up just by pushing up on the shoulder belt
guide. After you move the adjuster to where you want it,
try to move it down without squeezing the release lever
to make sure it has locked into position.
Adjust the height
so that the shoulder portion of the
belt
is centered on your shoulder. The belt should be
away
from your face and neck, but not falling off
your shoulder.
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@ What’s wrong with this? You can be seriously hurt if your shoulder belt is
too loose. In a crash, you would move forward
too much, which codd increase injury. The
shoulder belt should fit against your body.
A: The shoulder belt is too loose. It won’t give nearly
as much protection this way.

@ What’s wrong with this?
A: The belt is buckled in the wrong place. You
can be seriously injured
if your belt is
buckled in the wrong place like this. In
a crash, ’
the belt would go up over your abdomen. The
belt forces would be there, not
at the pelvic
bones. This could cause serious internal injuries.
Always buckle your belt into the buckle
nearest you.
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.

@ What’s wrong with this?
A CAUTION: !
You can be seriously injured if you wear the
shoulder belt under your arm. In a crash, your
body would move too
far forward, which would
increase the chance
of head and neck injury.
Also, the belt would apply too much force to the
ribs, which aren’t as strong’as shoulder bones.
You could also severely injure internal organs
like your liver or spleen.
A: The shoulder belt is worn under the arm. It should
be worn over the shoulder at all times.
I
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@ What's wrong with this?
A: The belt is twisted across the body.
A CAUTION:
You can be seriously injured by a twisted belt. In
a crash, you wouldn't have the full width of the
belt to spread impact forces. If a belt is twisted,
make it straight
so it can work properly, or ask
your retailer to
fix it.

To unlatch the belt, just push the button on the buckle.
The belt should
go back out of the way.
Before you close the door, be sure the belt is out of the
way. If you slam the door on it, you can damage both the
belt and your vehicle.
Supplemental Restraint System (SRS)
This part explains the Supplemental Restraint System
(SRS) or air bag system. Your
Oldsmobile 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:
You can be severely injured or killed in a crash if
you aren’t wearing your safety belt -- even if you
have an
air bag. Wearing your safety belt during a
crash helps reduce your chance of hitting things
inside the vehicle or being ejected from it. The
air
bag is only a “supplemental restraint.” That is, it
works with safety belts but doesn’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, including the driver,
should wear
a safety belt properly -- whether or
not there’s
an air bag for that person.
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~

I
~~ ~
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 for an air bag inflation
in
a crash.’ Always wear your safety belt, even
with an air bag. The driver should sit as far back
as possible while still maintaining control of
the vehicle.
A CAUTION:
An inflating air bag can seriously injure small
children. Always secure children properly
in. your
vehicle.
To read how, see the part of this manual
called “Children” and the caution label on the
right front passenger’s safety belt.
0. AIR
4 BAG
There is an air bag readiness
light on the instrument
panel, which shows
AIR BAG or the
air bag symbol.
The system checks the air bag’s 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.

How the Air Bag System Works
L
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panel on the passenger’s side.
Where is the air bag?
The driver’s air bag is in the middle of the steering wheel. The
right front passenger’s air bag is in the instrument
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L!b CAUTION:
Don’t put anything on, or attach anything to, the steering wheel or instrument panel.
Also, don’t
put anything (such as pets or objects) between
any occupant and the steering wheel or
instrument panel.
If something is between an
occupant and an
air bag, it could affect the
performance
of the air bag -- or worse, it could.
cause injury.
i When should an air bag inflate?
i The air bag is designed to inflate in moderate to severe
frontal or near-frontal crashes. The air bag will inflate
only. if the impact speed is above the system’s designed
“threshold level.” If your vehicle goes straight into a
wall that doesn’t move or deform, the threshold level is
about
9 to 15 mph (14 to 24 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
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vehicle strikes something that will move or deform, such
as a parked car, the threshold level will be higher.
The
air bag is not designed to inflate in rollovers, side
impacts or rear impacts, because inflation would not
help the occupant.
’ 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.
Inflation is determined by the angle of the impact and
the vehicle’s deceleration. Vehicle damage is only one
indication of this.
What makes an air bag inflate?
In a frontal or near-frontal impact of sufficient severity,
the air bag sensing system detects that the vehicle is
suddenly stopping as a result
of a crash. The sensing
system triggers a chemical reaction of ,the sodium azide
sealed in the inflator. The reaction produces nitrogen
gas, which inflates the air bag. The inflator, air bag and
related hardware are all part of the air bag modules
packed inside the steering wheel and in the instrument
panel in front of the right front passenger.
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