OLDSMOBILE SILHOUETTE 1998 Repair Manual

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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 a cram,
or
if you pull the belt very quickly out of the retractor.
I
You can be seriously hurt if your shoulder belt is
too loose. In a crash, you would move forward
too much, which could increase injury. The
shoulder belt should fit against your body.
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To unlatch the belt, just push the button on the buckle.
Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for
Children and Small Adults
Your vehicle may have rear shoulder belt comfort guides.
This feature 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.
If your vehicle has bucket seats in the second row, there
is one guide for each outside passenger position. If your
vehicle has a bench seat in the second row, there is one
guide for the left-hand outside passenger position. If
your vehicle has third-row seats, there is one guide for
each outside passenger position.
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:
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1. Remove the guide from its storage clip on the side of
the seatback.
2. Place the guide over the belt and insert the two edges
of the belt into the slots of the guide.
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3. Be sure that the belt is not twisted and it lies flat. The 4. Buckle, position and release the safety belt as
guide must be
on top of the belt. described in “Rear Seat Outside Passenger Positions”
earlier
in this section. Make sure that the shoulder
belt crosses the shoulder.
To remove and store the comfort guides, squeeze the
belt edges together
so that you can take them out from
the guides. Slide the guide onto the storage clip.
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Center Passenger Position
(Bench Seat)
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Lap Belt
If your vehicle has a third row rear bench seat, someone
can sit in the center position. When
you sit
in the center position of the bench seat,
you have a lap safety belt, which has no retractor. To
make the belt longer, tilt the latch plate and pull it along
the belt.
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TO make the belt shorter, pull its free end as shown until
the belt is snug.
Buckle, position and release it the same way as the lap
part of a lap-shoulder belt.
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
1 if you ever had to.
Center Passenger Position
(Bucket Seat)
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Lap Belt
If your vehicle has bucket seats, someone can sit in the
center position bucket seat.
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When you sit in the center position bucket seat, you
have a lap safety belt which has
a retractor.
1. Pick up the latch plate and, in a single motion, pull
the belt across you. Don’t let it get twisted.
2. Push the latch plate into the buckle until it clicks. If
the belt stops before it reaches the buckle, let it go
back
all the way and start again. Pull up on the latch
plate to make sure
it is secure.
3. Feed the lap belt into the retractor to tighten it.
4. Position and release it the same way as the lap part
of a lap-shoulder belt.
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 unbu&le the safety belt quickly
if
you ever had to.
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Smaller Children and Babies
c A CAUTION
TO HELP AVOID PERSONAL
SEAT IN LOCATION SHOWN
INJURY, SECURELY LATCH
SEE OWNER’S MANUAL
MORE INFORMATION. ONLY _. Seat Location printed in: 10279595
The center position bucket seat is a CENTER OR LEFT
type seat. Because it is the only bucket seat with a lap
belt, and has a buckle on only one side, there are certain
places a CENTER
OR LEFT type bucket seat should,
and should
not, be used. See “Seats” in the Index. If the
CENTER OR LEFT bucket seat
is used on the left side
of the vehicle, the person sitting there should use the
lap-shoulder belt.
See “Rear Seat Outside Passenger
Positions” in the Index.
Children
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.
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.
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.
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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 infant to its parents unless there is an
infant restraint available for the baby’s first trip in a
motor vehicle.
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I A CAUTION:
1 Never hold a baby in your arms while riding in a
vehicle. A baby doesn’t weigh much -- until a
crash. During a crash a baby will become so
heavy you can’t hold it. For example, in a crash
CAUTION: (Continued)
at only 25 mph (40 kmh), a 124b. (5.5 kg) baby
will suddenly become
a 240-1b. (110 kg) force on
your arms. The baby would be almost impossible
to hold.
Secure the baby in an infant restraint.
.
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