child restraint PONTIAC BONNEVILLE 1998 Owners Manual

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Section 1 Seats and Restraint Systems
Here you’ll find information about the seats in your Pontiac\
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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1-9 Seats and Seat Controls
Safety Belts: They’re for Everyone
Here Are Questions Many People Ask About
Safety Belts
-- and the Answers
1-10 How to Wear Safety Belts Properly
1-10 Driver Position
1 - 17 Safety Belt Use During Pregnancy
1 - 18 Right Front Passenger Position
1 - 18 Supplemental Restraint System (SRS)
1-24 Center Passenger Position
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1-49 1-49 Rear Seat Passengers
Rear Safety Belt
Comfort Guides for Children
and Small Adults
Children
Child Restraints
Larger Children
Safety Belt Extender
Checking Your Restraint Systems
Replacing Restraint System Parts
After
a Crash

Q: If I’m a good driver, and I never drive far from
home, why should I wear safety belts?
A: You may be an excellent driver, but if 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 km) of
home. And the greatest number
of serious injuries
and deaths occur at speeds
of less than 40 mph
(65 km/h).
Safety belts are for everyone.
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 mand 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.
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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 fiont passenger’s safety belt works the same way
as
the driver’s safety belt -- except for one thing. If you ever pull
the lap 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.
If your vehicle has a center passenger position, be sure
to use the correct buckle when buckling your
lap-shoulder belt.
If you find that the latch plate will not
go fully into the buckle, see if you are using the buckle
for the center passenger position.
Supplemental Restraint System (SRS)
This part explains the Supplemental Restraint System
(SRS) or air bag system.
Your vehicle has “Next Generation” reduced-force
frontal air bags
-- one air bag for the driver and another
air bag for the right front passenger. Reduced-force frontal
air bags
are designed to help
reduce the
risk of injury from the force of an inflating
frontal
air bag. But even these air bags must inflate very
quickly
if they are to do their job and comply with
federal regulations.
Here are
the most important things to know about the air
bag system:
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pu 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 “supplemental restraints” to the safety belts.
All air bags -- even redud-force air bags -- are
designed to work with safety belts, but don’t
replace them. Air bags ace designed to work only
in moderate to severe crashes where the front of
your vehicle hits something. They aren’t designed
to Mate at all in rollover, rear, side or low-speed
CAUTION: (Continued)

frontal crashes. And, for unrestrained occupants,
reduced-force
air bags may provide less protection
in frontal crashes than more forceful air bags have
provided
in the past. 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. This is true
even with reduced-force frontal air bags. Safety
belts help keep you in position before and during
a crash. Always wear your safety belt, even with
reduced-force air bags. The driver should sit as
far back as possible while still maintaining
control of the vehicle.
’ A CAUTION:
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 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. 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.
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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
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.

4. Buckle, position and release the safety belt as
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 Erom the
guides.
Pull the guide upward to expose its storage clip,
and
then slide the guide onto the clip. Rotate the guide and
clip inward and in between
the seatback and the interior
body, leaving only the loop of elastic cord exposed.
Children
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.
Smaller Children and Babies
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A CAUTION:
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Children who are up against, or very close to, any
air bag when it inflates can be seriously injured or
killed. This is true even though your vehicle has
reduced-force fmntal
air bags. 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 CAUTION:
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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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 lbs.
(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 rear-facing infant
seat or a forward-facing child seat.
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When choosing a child restraint, be sure the child
restraint is designed to be used in a vehicle.
If it is, it
will have a label saying that it meets Federal Motor
Vehicle
Safety Standards.
Then follow the instructions for the restraint.
You may
find these instructions on the restraint itself or
in a
booklet, or
both. These restraints use the belt system in
your vehicle, but the child also has to be secured within
the restraint to help reduce the chance of personal injury.
The instructions that come with the infant or child
restraint will
show you how to do that. Both the owner’s
manual and the child restraint instructions
are important,
so if either one of these is not available, obtain a
replacement copy
from the manufacturer.
Where to Put the Restraint
Accident statistics show that children are safer if they
are restrained
in the rear rather than the front seat. We at
General Motors therefore recommend that you put
your
child restraint in the rear seat. Never put a rear-facing
child restraint in
the front passenger seat. Here’s why:
A child in a rearfacing child restraint can be
seriously injured if the right front passenger’s air
bag inflates, even though your vehicle has
reduced-force frontal
air bags. This is because
the
back of the rearfacing child restraint would
be very close to the inflating air bag. Always
secure a rearfacing child restraint in a rear seat.
You may, however, secure a forward-facing child
restraint in the right front seat, but before
you
do, always move the front passenger seat as far
back
as it will go. It’s better to secure the child
restraint
in the rear seat.
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