child seat PONTIAC GRAND AM 1997 Owners Manual

Section 1 Seats and Restraint Systems
1-2 Seats and Seat Controls
1-7 Safety Belts: They’re for Everyone
1 - 12 Here Are Questions Many People Ask About
1-13 How to Wear Safety Belts Properly
1-20 Safety Belt Use During Pregnancy
Safety Belts
-- and
the Answers
1-13 Driver Position
1-21 Right Front Passenger Position
1-21 Supplemental Restraint System (SRS)
1-27 Rear Seat Passengers
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.
1-3
1
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1-35
1-37 1-45
1-48
1-48
1-48 Rear Safety Belt
Comfort Guides for Children
and Small Adults
Center Passenger Position
Children
Child Restraints
Larger Children Safety Belt Extender
Checking Your Restraint Systems
Replacing Restraint System Parts After
a Crash
1-1

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 Pontiac, see the part of this manual 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.
3. Pick up the latch plate and pull the belt across you.
4. Push the latch plate into the buckle until it clicks.
Don’t
let it get twisted.
1-13

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.
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Child Restraints
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,
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 CAUTION:
A child in a rear-facing child restraint can be
seriously injured if the right front passenger’s air
bag inflates. This is because the back of
a
rear-facing child restraint would’be very close to
the inflating air bag. Always secure
a rear-facing
child restraint in the rear seat.
You may, however, secure a forward-facing child
restraint in the right front seat, Before you secure
a forward-facing child restraint, always move the
front passenger seat as
far back as it will go. Or,
secure the child restraint in the rear seat.
Wherever you install it, be sure to secure the child
restraint properly.
Keep in mind that an unsecured child restraint can move
around in a collision or sudden stop and injure people in
the vehicle. Be sure to properly secure any child
restraint in your vehicle
-- even when no child is in it.
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Securing a Child Restraint in a Rear
Outside Seat Position
You’ll be using the lap-shoulder belt. See the earlier part
about the top strap if the child restraint has one.
1. Put the restraint on the seat. Follow the instructions
for the child restraint.
2. Secure the child in the child restraint as the
instructions say.
3. Pick up the latch plate, and run the lap and shoulder
portions
of the vehicle’s safety belt through or
around the restraint. The child restraint instructions
will show you how. Tilt the latch plate
to adjust the belt if needed.
If the shoulder belt goes in front of the child’s face or
neck, put it behind the child restraint.
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Securing a Child Restraint in the Center
Rear Seat Position
U
You’ll be using the lap belt.
See the earlier part about the top strap
if the child
restraint has one.
1. Make the belt as long as possible by tilting the latch
plate and pulling it along the belt.
2. Put the restraint on the seat. Follow the instructions
for the child restraint.
3. Secure the child in the child restraint as the
instructions say.
4. Run the vehicle’s safety belt through or around the
restraint.
The child restraint instructions will show
you how.
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Securing a Child Restraint in the Right
Front Seat Position
Your vehicle has a right front passenger air bag. Never
put a rear-facing child restraint in this seat. Here’s why:
A CAUTION:
A child in a rear-facing child restraint can be
seriously injured if the right front passenger’s air
bag inflates. This is because the back of a
rear-facing child restraint would be very close to
the inflating air bag. Always secure a rear-facing
child restraint in the rear seat.
You’ll be using the lap-shoulder belt. See the earlier part
about the top strap
if the child restraint has one.
1. Because your vehicle has a right front passenger air
bag, always move the seat as
far back as it will go
before securing a forward-facing child restraint. (See
“Seats” in the Index.)
2. Put the restraint on the seat. Follow the instructions
for the child restraint.
3. Secure the child in the child restraint as the
instructions say.
4. Pick up the latch plate, and run the lap and shoulder
portions
of the vehicle’s safety belt through or
around the restraint.
The child restraint instructions
will show you how.
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Accident statistics show that children are safer if they
are restrained in the rear seat. But they need to use the
safety belts properly.
Children who aren’t buckled up can be thrown out in
a crash.
Children who aren’t buckled up can strike other
people who are. 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.
e.’ 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: Move the child toward the center of the vehicle, but
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 sitting in
a rear seat outside position, see
“Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides” in the Index. 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 the center seat position,
the one
that has only a lap belt.
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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 cause 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.
1-47

A CAUTION:
Do not load your vehicle any heavier than the
GVWR, or either the maximum front or rear
GAWR. If you do, parts on your vehicle can
break, or it can change the way your vehicle
handles. These could cause you to lose control.
Also, overloading can shorten the life of
your vehicle.
NOTICE:
Your warranty does not cover parts or
components
that fail because of overloading.
If you put things inside your vehicle- like suitcases,
tools, packages,
or anything else-they will go as fast as
the vehicle goes. If you stop or turn quickly, or
if there
is a crash, they’ll keep going. Things
you put inside your vehicle can strike and
injure people in
a sudden stop or turn, or in
a crash.
Put things in the trunk of your vehicle. In a
trunk, put them as far forward as you can.
Try to spread the weight evenly.
Never stack heavier things, like suitcases,
inside the vehicle
so that some of them are
above the tops
of the seats.
Don’t leave an unsecured child restraint in
your vehicle.
When you carry something inside the
vehicle, secure it whenever you can.
Don’t leave a seat folded down unless you
need
to.
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