PONTIAC BONNEVILLE 2003 Owner's Guide

Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for
Children and Small Adults
Your vehicle may have this feature already. If it doesn’t,
you can get
it from any GM dealer.
Rear shoulder belt comfort guides provide added safety
belt comfort for older children who have outgrown
booster seats and for small adults. When installed on a
shoulder belt, the comfort guide better positions the
belt away from the neck and head.
There is one guide available for each outside passenger
position in the rear seat.
To provide added safety belt
comfort for children who have outgrown child restraints
and booster seats 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. Remove the guide from its storage pocket on the
side of the seatback.
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2. Slide the guide under and past the belt. The elastic
cord must be under the belt. Then, place the guide
over the belt, and insert the two edqes of the
belt into the slots
of the guide.
3. Be sure that the belt is not twisted and it lies flat.
The elastic cord must be under the belt and the
guide on top.
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Safety Belt Extender
If the vehicle’s safety belt will fasten around you, you
should use it.
But
if a safety belt isn’t long enough to fasten, your
dealer will order you an extender. It’s free. When you go
in to order it, take the heaviest coat you will wear,
so
the extender will be long enough for you. The extender
will be just for you, and just for the seat in your
vehicle that you choose. Don’t let someone else use it,
and use it only for the seat it is made to fit.
To wear
it, just attach it to the regular safety belt.
4. Buckle, position and release the safety belt as
described in
Rear Seat Passengers on page 1-21.
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 of the
guides. Slide the guide into its storage pocket on the
side of the seatback.
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Child Restraints
Older Children
Q: What is the proper way to wear safety belts?
A: If possible, an older child should wear a
lap-shoulder belt and get the additional restraint
a
shoulder belt can provide. The shoulder belt
should not cross the face or neck. The lap belt
should fit snugly below the hips, just touching the
top of the thighs. It should never be worn over
the abdomen, which could cause severe or even
fatal internal injuries in a crash.
Accident statistics show that children are safer if they
are restrained in the rear seat.
In a crash, children who are not buckled up can strike
other people who are buckled up, or can be thrown
out of the vehicle. Older children need to use safety
belts properly.
Older children who have outgrown booster seats should
wear the vehicle’s safety belts.
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Never do this.
Here two children are wearing the same belt.
The belt can’t properly spread the impact
forces.
In a crash, the two children can be
crushed together and seriously injured.
A belt
must be used by only one person at a time.
Q: What if a child is wearing a lap-shoulder belt,
but the child is
so small that the shoulder belt
is very close to the child’s face or neck?
A: If the child is sitting in a seat next to a window,
move the child toward the center
of the vehicle.
If the child is sitting in the center rear seat
passenger position, move the child toward the
safety belt buckle. In either case, be sure that the
shoulder belt still is
on the child’s shoulder, so
that in a crash the child’s upper body would have
the restraint that belts provide. If the child is
so
small that the shoulder belt is still very close to the
child’s face or neck, you might want
to place the
child in a seat that has a lap belt,
if your vehicle
has one.
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Never do this.
Here a child is sitting in a seat that has a
lap-shoulder belt,
but the shoulder part is
behind the child. If the child wears the belt in
this way, in a crash the child might slide under
the belt. The belt’s force would then be applied
right on the child’s abdomen. That could causc
serious or fatal injuries.
Wherever the child sits, the lap portion of the belt
should be worn low and snug on the hips, just touching
the child’s thighs. This applies belt force to the child’s
pelvic bones in a crash.
Infants and Youna - Children
Everyone in a vehicle needs protection! This includes
infants and all other children. Neither the distance
traveled nor the age and size
of the traveler changes
the need, for everyone, to use safety restraints. In fact,
the latv in every. state in :he Ur;i:ed States ad in
every Canadian province says children up to some age
must be restrained while in a vehicle.
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Every time infants and young children ride in vehicles,
they should have the protection provided by appropriate restraints. Young children should not use the vehicle’s
adult safety belts alone, unless there is no other choice.
Instead, they need to use a child restraint. People should
never hold a bab n their arms
while riding
in a vehicle. A baby doesn’t weigh
much
-- until a crash. During a crash a baby
~ will become so heavy it is not possible to hold
~ it. For example, in a crash at only 25 mph
~ (40 km/h), a 12-lb. (5.5 kg) baby will suddenly
~ become a 240-lb. (110 kg) force on a person’s
arms.
A baby should be secured in an
appropriate restraint.
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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.
Air bags plus lap-shoulder
belts offer outstanding protection for
adultsand 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.
Q: What are the different types of add-on child
A: Add-on child restraints, which are purchased by the
restraints?
vehicle’s owner, are available in four basic types.
Selection of a particular restraint should take
into consideration not only the child’s weight, height
and age but also whether or not the restraint will
be compatible with the motor vehicle in which it will
~~ be used. -
For most basic types of child res:raints, W IG~G fi Eire
many different models available. When purchasing a
child restraint, be sure
it is designed to be used
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in a motor vehicle. If it is, the restraint will have a
label saying that it meets federal motor vehicle
safety standards.
The restraint manufacturer’s instructions that come
with the restraint state the weight and height
limitations for a particular child restraint.
In addition,
there are many kinds of restraints available for
children with special needs.
Newborn infants need complete support,
including support for the head and neck. This
is necessary because a newborn 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 seat settles into the
restraint,
so the crash forces can be
distributed across the strongest part of an
infant’s body, the back and shoulders. Infants
always should be secured
in appropriate infant
restraints. The
body structure of
_. loung ck---J is quite
unlike that of an adult or older child, for whom
the safety belts are designed. A young child’s
hip bones are still
so small that the vehicle’s
regular safety belt may not remain
low on the
hip bones, as
it should. Instead, it may settle
up around the child’s abdomen. In a crash, the
belt would apply force on a body area that’s
unprotected by any bony structure. This alone
could cause serious or fatal injuries. Young
children always should be secured in
appropriate child restraints.
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seating surfzce against the back of the infant. The
An infant car bed (A), a special bed made for use in a harness system holds the infant in place and, in a crash,
motor vehicle,
is an iniant restramt system designeu acts to keep the infant positioned in the restraint.
to restrain or position a child
on a continuous flat
surface. Make sure that the infant’s head rests toward
the center of the vehicle.
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