belt SATURN ION 2004 Owner's Manual

Rear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for
Children and Small Adults
Rear shoulder belt comfort guides will 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 is how to install a comfort guide and use the
safety belt:
1. Fold down the rear seatback of the desired seating
position. SeeSplit Folding Rear Seat on page 1-7
for instructions about how to fold the rear seatback.2. Remove the guide located on the trim behind the
seatback from its storage clip. Pull the guide
around the rear seatback.
{CAUTION:
If the seatback is not locked, it could move
forward in a sudden stop or crash. That could
cause injury to the person sitting there. Always
press rearward on the seatback to be sure it is
locked.
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3. Return the rear seatback to its upright position and
make sure it is latched into place.
4. 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 edges of the
belt into the slots of the guide.5. Be sure that the belt is not twisted and it lies at.
The elastic cord must be under the belt and the
guide on top.
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6. Buckle, position and release the safety belt as
described inRear Seat Passengers on page 1-22.
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. Fold down the rear seatbacks. Store the
guides on their storage clips. Lift the rear seatbacks to
their original seating positions.
Safety Belt Pretensioners
Your vehicle has safety belt pretensioners. You’ll nd
them on the retractor portion of the safety belts for
the driver and right front passenger. They help the
safety belts reduce a person’s forward movement in a
moderate to severe crash in which the front of the
vehicle hits something.
Pretensioners work only once. If they activate in a
crash, you’ll need to get new pretensioners and may
need other new parts for your safety belt system.
SeeReplacing Restraint System Parts After a Crash
on page 1-59for more information.
Safety Belt Extender
If the vehicle’s safety belt will fasten around you,
you should use it.
But if a safety belt is not long enough to fasten, your
retailer will order you an extender. 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. Do not let someone else use it,
and use it only for the seat it is made to t. To wear
it, just attach it to the regular safety belt.
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Child Restraints
Older Children
Older children who have outgrown booster seats should
wear the vehicle’s safety belts.
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 t 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.
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{CAUTION:
Never do this.
Here two children are wearing the same belt.
The belt can not 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.
SeeRear Safety Belt Comfort Guides for Children
and Small Adults on page 1-26. 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.
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{CAUTION:
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.
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Infants and Young 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 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.
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.
{CAUTION:
People should never hold a baby in their arms
while riding in a vehicle. A baby does not
weigh much — until a crash. During a crash a
baby will become so heavy it is not possible to
CAUTION: (Continued)
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CAUTION: (Continued)
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.
{CAUTION:
Children who are up against, or very close to,
any air bag when it inates can be seriously
injured or killed. Air bags plus lap-shoulder
belts offer outstanding 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.
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{CAUTION:
The body structure of a young child 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 is
unprotected by any bony structure. This alone
could cause serious or fatal injuries. Young
children always should be secured in
appropriate child restraints.
Child Restraint Systems
An infant car bed (A), a special bed made for use in a
motor vehicle, is an infant restraint system designed
to restrain or position a child on a continuous at
surface. Make sure that the infant’s head rests toward
the center of the vehicle.
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A booster seat (F-G) is a child restraint designed to
improve the t of the vehicle’s safety belt system.
Some booster seats have a shoulder belt positioner,
and some high-back booster seats have a ve-point
harness. A booster seat can also help a child to see out
the window.
Q:How do child restraints work?
A:A child restraint system is any device designed for
use in a motor vehicle to restrain, seat, or position
children. A built-in child restraint system is a
permanent part of the motor vehicle. An add-on
child restraint system is a portable one, which
is purchased by the vehicle’s owner.
For many years, add-on child restraints have used
the adult belt system in the vehicle. To help reduce
the chance of injury, the child also has to be secured
within the restraint. The vehicle’s belt system
secures the add-on child restraint in the vehicle, and
the add-on child restraint’s harness system holds the
child in place within the restraint.
One system, the three-point harness, has straps that
come down over each of the infant’s shoulders and
buckle together at the crotch. The ve-point harness
system has two shoulder straps, two hip straps and a
crotch strap. A shield may take the place of hip
straps. A T-shaped shield has shoulder straps that
are attached to a at pad which rests low against the
child’s body. A shelf- or armrest-type shield has
straps that are attached to a wide, shelf-like shield
that swings up or to the side.
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