OLDSMOBILE SILHOUETTE 1994 Owner's Manual

I’
This figure lights up as a reminder to
buclde up. (See
Safety Belt Reminder
Light in the Index.)
In many states and Canadian provinces,
the law says to wear safety belts. Here’s
why:
They work.
You never know if you’ll be in a crash.
If you do have a crash, you don’t know
if it will be a bad one.
A few crashes are mild, and some
crashes can be
so serious that even
buckled up
a person wouldn’t survive.
But most crashes are in between. In
many of them, people who buckle up
can survive and sometimes walk away.
Without belts they could have been
badly hurt or killed.
After more than
25 years of safety belts
in vehicles, the facts are clear. In most
crashes buckling up does matter
... a lot!
Why Safety Belts Work
When you ride in or on anything, you
go as fast as it goes.
1. For example, if the bike is going 10
mph (16 l 19
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Seats & Restraint Systems
4. Put someone on it. 2. When the bike hits the block, it stops.
But the child keeps going! 3. Take the simplest vehicle. Suppose
it's just a seat on wheels.
I
5. Get it up to speed. Then stop the
vehicle. The rider doesn't stop. i: 6. The person keeps
going until stopped
In a real vehicle, it could be the
windshield..
.
by something. nstrurnent panel
...
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8. or the safety belts!
With safety belts, you slow down as the
vehicle does. You get more time to stop.
You stop over more distance, and your
strongest bones take the forces. That’s
why safety belts make such good sense.
I Here Are Questions Many
People
Ask About Safety
Belts
- and the Answers
Q: Won’t I be trapped in the vehicle
after an accident
if I’m wearing a
safety belt?
A: You could be - whether you’re
wearing a safety belt or not. But you
can easily unbuckle a safety belt,
even if you’re upside down. And
your chance of being conscious
during and after an accident,
so you
can unbuckle and get out, is much
greater if you are belted.
Q: Why don’t they just put in air bags
so people won’t have to wear safety
belts?
A: Air bags, or Supplemental Restraint
Systems, are in some vehicles today
and will be in more of them in the
future. But they are supplemental
systems only
- so they work with
safety belts, not instead of them.
Every air bag system ever offered for
sale has required the use of safety belts.
Even if you’re in a vehicle that
has air bags, you still have
to buckle
up to get the most protection. That’s
true not only in frontal collisions, but
especially in side and other
collisions.
drive far from home, why should I
wear safety belts?
A: You may be an excellent driver, but i
you’re in an accident
- even one
that isn’t your fault
- you and your
passengers can be hurt. Being a good
driver doesn’t protect you from
things beyond your control, such as
bad drivers. Most accidents occur
within
25 miles (40 lun) of home.
And the greatest number of serious
injuries and deaths occur at speeds
of less than
40 mph (65 lun/h) .
Safety belts are for everyone.
Q: If I’m a good driver, and I never
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Seats & Restraint Systems
Safety Belt Reminder Light
When the key is turned to Run or Start,
a chime will come on for about eight
seconds to remind people to fasten their
safety belts, unless the driver’s safety
belt is already buckled. The safety belt
light will also come on and stay on until
the driver’s belt is buckled.
I How To Wear Safety Belts
Adults
Properly
This section 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 Oldsrnobile, see the
section after this one, called
ChiZdren.
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.
n
I Driver Position
This section describes the driver’s
restraint system.
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LapShoulder 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.
until it clicks.
4. Push the latch plate into the buckle
If the belt stops before it reaches the
buckle, tilt the latch plate and keep
pulling until you can buckle the belt.
Pull up on the latch plate to make sure
it is secure.
If the belt isn’t long enough, see Safety
Belt Extender
at the end of this section.
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.
1
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Seats di Restraint Systems
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
ow and snug on the hips, just touching
:he thighs. In a crash, this applies force
:o the strong pelvic bones. And you’d be
ess likely to slide under the lap belt. If
IOU slid under it, the belt would apply
orce at your abdomen. This could
:ause serious or even fatal injuries. The
ihoulder belt should
go over the
ihoulder and across the chest. These
)arts of the body are best able to take
lelt restraining forces.
The safety belt locks
if there’s a sudden
;top or a crash.
Q: What’s wrong with this?
A: The shoulder belt is too loose. It
won’t give nearly as much protection
this way.
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Q: What’s wrong with this?
i A: The belt is buckled in the wrong
~ place.
3: What’s wrong with this?
4: The belt is over an armrest.
Q: What’s wrong with this?
A: The shoulder belt is worn under the
arm.
It should be worn over the
shoulder at all times.
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Seats & Restraint Systems
26
I Illlllllllll
Q: What’s wrong with this?
A: The belt is twisted across the body. 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 section explains the driver’s
Supplemental Restraint System (SRS),
commonly referred to as an air bag.
Here are the most important things
to
know:
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Q;;=
LOW
SERVICE
ENGINE SOON (BRAI
la
Air Bag Readiness Light
There is an air bag readiness light on
the instrument panel, which shows
AIR
BAG. The system checks for electrical
malfunctions, and the light tells you
if
there is a problem.
You will see this light flash for a few
seconds when you turn your ignition to
Run or Start. Then the light should go
out, which means the system is ready.
Remember,
if the air bag readiness light
doesn’t come
on when you start your
vehicle, or stays
on, or comes on when
you are driving, your air bag system
may not work properly. Have your
vehicle serviced right away.
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Seats & Restraint Systems
28
How The Air Bag System Works
Where is the air bag?
The driver’s air bag is in the middle of
the steering wheel.
When is an air bag expected to
inflate?
The air bag is designed to inflate in
moderate to severe frontal or near-
frontal crashes. The air bag will only
inflate
if the velocity of the impact is
above the designed threshold level.
When impacting straight into a wall that
does not move or deform, the threshold
level for most
GM vehicles is between 9
and 15 mph (14 and 23 ltm/h).
However, this velocity threshold
depends on the vehicle design and may
be several miles-per-hour faster or slower.
In addition, this threshold
velocity will be considerably higher
if
the vehicle strikes an object such as a
parked car which will move and deform
on impact. The air bag is also not
designed to inflate in rollovers, side
impacts, or rear impacts where the
inflation would provide no occupant
protection benefit.
In any particular crash, the
determination of whether the air bag
should have inflated cannot be based
solely on the level of damage on the
vehicle(s)
. Inflation is determined by
the angle
of the impact and the vehicle’s
deceleration, of which vehicle damage is
only one indication. Repair cost is not a
good indicator of whether an air bag
should have deployed.
What makes an air bag inflate?
In a 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 cloth bag. The inflator, cloth
bag, and related hardware are all part of the
air bag inflator module packed
inside the steering wheel.
How does an air bag restrain?
In moderate to severe frontal or near-
frontal collisions, even belted occupants
can contact the steering wheel. 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 air bags would not provide
protection in many types of collisions,
including rollovers and rear and side
impacts, primarily because an
occupant’s motion is not toward the air
bag. Air bags should never be regarded
as anything more than a supplement to
safety belt protection in moderate to
severe frontal and near-frontal
collisions.
What will you see after an air bag
inflation?
After the air bag has inflated, it will
then quickly deflate. This occurs
so
quicldy that some people may not even
realize that the air bag inflated. Some
components of the air bag module in
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