belt VOLKSWAGEN GOLF 2004 Owner's Manual

first
Why safety belts?
occupants in a
The physical prin ciples are simpl e. Both the
neers call this energy
The higher the speed of the vehicle and the grea te r th e vehicle's weight, th e more energy has to be in th e crash.
Vehicle spee d is the most s ignificant factor.lfthe speed doubles from 15 to mph (25 to km /hJ. the energy inc reases 4 times!
Because the passengers of th e veh icle are no t
using safety fig . th ey will keep moving at th e sa m e speed the ve hicl e was moving just
Fig . 8 The vehicle crashes into th e
before th e until something stops them th e wall fig. 8.
The same principles ap ply to people s itting in a
ve hicle that is in volved in a fron ta l collis io n.
Even at mph th e fo rces acting on th e body can reach one ton kg) or more. A t
greater
course the laws of phys ics don 't just apply to
frontal collisions, they determine what happens in all kinds of accidents and collisions.

In crashes unbelted occupants cannot stop themse lvesfromflyingforward and
b eing injured or killed. Always wear safety belts.
Fig . 9 A driver not wearing o safety belt is violen tly
t hrown forward
mend ous forces of impact by holdin g tight or b racing themselves. Witho ut the benefit of
safe ty res traint systems, the unre strain ed pant will sla m vio le ntl y into the steering wheel.
instrument pan el, win dshield , or whateve r else
is in the fig . 9 . T his impact with the hi cle int erio r has all the energ y they had ju st
tional pro tection. Airb ags are no t supposed to
deploy in all kinds of ac cid en ts. your Volkswa gen i s equipp ed with airb ags. all vehicle occupams, inclu ding th e driver. must sa fe ty correctly in order to m in imize the risk of severe inj ury or d ea th in a crash , regard-
16 Safety
Fig. A rear passenger not wearing a safety belt fly forward and strike the driver
less of w hether a seating p os ition has an ai rbag
occupants can al so be thro wn out of the vehicle whe re even more severe or fatal injuries can occur.
is also important f or the rea r passe nge rs to
wear safet y
I n a fronta l collision they will be thrown forward violemly, where they can hit and inju re th e driv er and/or fro nt seat passe nger.

Booklet 2.1 Safety first
Safety
Fig . 11 Driver is correctly restrained in a sudden braking maneu ve r.
used properly can make a big differ­
e n ce . help to kee p passenge rs in
t h ei r gradually red uce energy levels ap­plied to the body in a collisio n. an d h elp prevent
t h e uncontrolled movement that can cause se­
r ious injuries. additio n, safety reduce the danger of being throw n out of the vehicle.
passengers to the car and give them the benefi t o f being slowed down more ge ntly or t hroug h the c rumple zones and oth er sa fety features engineered today's vehicles. By
hough these examples are based on
Acci dent statist ics show that
veh icle occupants prop erly wearing safety have a lowe r risk of being i n ju red and
pro­
v id ed . Fron t airbags, for example, are activated
only in some frontal collisions. The front airbags
are not activated in all frontal collision s, in side and rea r collisions, in rollovers or in cases where
there is not e n ough deceleration through impact
to the front of the ve hicle. The sa me goes for the
o ther airbag systems in your Volk sw age n. al­
ways wear your saf ety
safety instructions about safety
Safety belts must always be correctly positioned across
Always wear safety belts as illu strate d
a
nd d esc ribed in thi s Book let.
WARNING
Not wearing safety belt s or w earin g them im­
p ro perl y in cre ases the ri sk of serio us pe rso nal
Always fas te n your safety belt s correc tly
before driv ing off and make su re all passen ­gers are corr ec tly res traine d.
For m aximum protectio n, safe ty belts must a lways be pos itioned correctly on the
Safety belts 17

2.1 Safety first
Never strap more than one person, in­
cluding c hildren, into any belt.
Never place a safety belt over a child sittin g on your lap.
• Always keep feet in
the footwell in front of the seat while the vehicle is being driven.
Never let any person ride with feet on the instrument panel or sticking out the window or on the seat.
Never remove a safety belt while the ve­
hicle is moving. Doing so will increase your
risk of being injured or killed.
Never wear belt s twisted.
Never wear belt s over rigid or breakable
objects in or on your clothing, such as eye
glasses, pens, keys, etc., as these may cause in­jury.
Never allow safety belts to become dam­aged by being caught in door or seat hardware.
Never wear the shoulder part of the belt under your arm or othenvise out of position.
Several layers of heavy clothing may inter­
fere with correc t positioni11g of belts and re­duce the overall effectiveness of the sys tem.
18 Safety
(continu ed)
Always keep belt buckles free of anything
that may preven t the buckle from latch ing se­
cure ly.
Neve r use comfort clips or devices that create slack in the sh oulder belt. However,
specia l clips may be required for the correct
use of some c hild restraint systems.
Torn or frayed safety belts can tear and damaged belt hardware can break in an acci­dent.lnspect belts regularly. If webbing, bind­
ings, buckles, or retractors are damaged, have
be lts replaced by an authorized Volkswagen
dealer or qualified workshop.
Safety belts that have been worn and loaded in an accident must be replaced with the correc t rep lacement safety belt by an au­thorized Volkswagen dealer or qualified work­
s h op. Replacement may be necessary even if damage cannot be clearly seen. Anchorag es
that were loaded must a lso be inspected.
Never remove, modify, disassem ble, or try
to repair the safety belts yourself.
Alwa ys keep the belts clean. Dirty belts
may not work correct ly and can impair t11e func tion of inertia reel booklet 3.2 and

Safety
Safety first-everybody buckle up!
Fig. 12
page 2 1.
- A
djus t the front seat and head restra int
page 4.
-
Make sure the seat back of the rear seat
bench is in an upright position and
cure ly latched in place before using the
safe ty
belt
- Hold the belt b y the to ngue and pull it
eve
nly across the chest and
page 19, fig . 1 2.
-
o n th e belt to make sure that it is se­
c u re ly latched in the buckl e.
Automatic safe ty belt retractors
Every safe ly is equi ppe d an o n he s houlder b ell.
The
s a fe ly belt r etrac tor lock s th e belt
w he n the belt is pulled out fast, durin g ha rd
brak ing and in a collision. The ma y also lock when you drive u p or d own a steep hill or
Booklet 2.1
through a sharp curv e. During normal drivin g
the
for the d river, fron t passenge r,
a nd rear out bo ard seating po sition s are equipped wit h a prete n sioner that h elp s to tig h ten the sa fe ty and remove slack w hen
th e pr ete n sioner is act iva te d. Th e functi on of th e
p retension er is monito re d b y a warning light
Switchable lockin g feature
Every safety exce pt for th e one on th e dri ver seat is equipped w ith a switchabl e lock ing ture that mus t be u se d w hen the sa fety is u se d to install a c hild seal. Be sure to read he portant informa tio n abou t thi s fea tur e page63.
WARNING
Improperly posi tion ed safety
offe r optimum protec tion only when the seat back is upright and belts are correctl y po sition ed on the body.
Alwa ys make sure that the rear seat back­
r es t to whi ch th e center rear safety is at­
tach ed is secu re ly latched whenever th e re ar
cente r safe ty belt is being used bookl et 3.1. If the bac kres t is not s ecurely la tc hed , the pas­senger wiU move forward with the backre st durin g sudden braking, in a sudden maneuver
and e specially in a cra sh .
Never att ac h the safet y belt to the buckle
for another scat. Atta chin g the belt to the wrong buckle w ill re du ce safety belt ness and can ca use serious perso nal injury.
A passenger who is not correctl y res tra ined can be se riou sly injured by the sa fety belt itself
w hen it moves from th e stronger parts of the body int o sensit ive areas like the abdomen.
Alwa ys lock th e safe ty belt re tra ctor m ech­anism when yo u secure a child seat in th e ve-
Safety belts 19

Booklet 2.1 Safety first
Safety
key to getting maximum protection from
help you ad­
ju st the position of th e safe ty belt to mat ch your body size.
b elt he ig ht ad justment for th e front seats a nd
th e outer se atin g pos ition s on the rear se ats,
front seat height adju stment.
(con tinued)
The safety belt must lie flat and snug on the occupant's upper fig. 13 .
T he lap belt portion of the safety belt must be positioned as
fig. 14 . on the b elt
to tighte n if ne cess ary.
A loose-filli ng safety belt can cause serious
injuri es by shifting its position on your body
from the strong bone s to more v ulnerabl e, soft tissue and cause seriou s injury.
Always read and heed all a n d other important infor matio n 17.
Safety belts 21

belt positio n during pregnancy
To prov ide maximum protectio n, safety
belt s
must always be position ed co rrectly
o n th e
weare r's page 21.
- Adjust th e front seat and head res traint
- Hold the be lt by the tongue and pull it
even ly across the c h
est and fig. 15.
- In
ser t the to ngu e into the correct
buckle of you r seat until you hear it la tc h
-on the belt to make sure that it is
WARNING
Improperly positioned safety b elts can cause serious pe rsonal injury in an acci dent.
Exp ectant m others must a lways wear th e lap portion of th e safety be lt as low as possib le
acros s th e pelv is and b elo w the rounding of the abdom en.
Always read and heed all WARNINGS and other important informati on=> page 17, portant safe ty instruct ions about safet y

Safety
sengel:
Fig. 16 Safe ty
out fig . 16 . Never use th e safe ty belt
ex tende r for any oth er purpo se includin g th e tachment of a c hild restraint.
Th e
exte nder adds a boutB inches mm) to
the safery belt. Whe n it is not require d , always
s hop for a ss is tan ce if an extende r is requ ired .
H ow to fas te n the s
afety belt extender properly 24, th e sa fe ty belt
crea ses the risk of seriou s personal injury and death.
a safery belt exten de r w hen not needed can increase the risk of injury , cially in a collision. it is worn low
and snug, and in the cor rec t seating position.
R emove and sto w safe ly when not needed.
Never use the safet y belt extender if yo u
ca n fasten the sa fety belt without it.
Never use more than one extender with a
safery be lt. The use of m ore than one extender c a n ch ang e the way the sa fe ty belt passes over
the body and can cause se rious injury .
Never leave the saferybelt extender ta ched to the veh icle safe ty belt latch when it is not needed and being used because th e airbag control module will not re ceive the correc t
s ign al from the safety b elt la tc h and prevent the Advanc ed Airbag from working properly .
Never use the safe ty belt extender to secure
a child restraint.
Never use a safery belt ex tender from
Nev er u se the safery belt extend er yo u tained for your vehicle for any other vehicle,
regardless of make, model or model year.
A driver or pass enger w ho is not correct ly
re strained can be seriously injured b y striki ng the interior of the passe ng er compartment or by the safery b elt its elf whi ch can b e di spla ced
from stronger parts of the body into se nsiti ve areas lik e th e abdomen.
Always read and heed all WARNINGS and other important pa ge
signal th e airbag
co ntrol unit that the front passenge r seat is
ca use the s afery belt prete nsio n er to deploy necessarily and fron t to deplo y la ter in
collision s th at would trigge r the front
a irb ag earlie r in th e to help pro tect an unrestrain ed front seat occ upant. A sioner that has dep loyed can not b e repair ed.
T he entire sa fety belt mu st b e rep laced.
Safety

used and the warnin g to ne will no t sound
Fastening the safety
extender to the hide's safety belt
B efor e fastening th e sa fe ty ex tender
a lwa ys adjust th e front seat and hea d str aint s correctly.
- In
sert the m etal ton gu e of th e ex tender
into th e res pectiv e safety belt buckle
- Gra sp th e belt tongue of th e s afet y belt
and pull the belt in a continuous s low
motion across you r chest and la p .
- Inse
rt the safe ty belt ton gue into the
buckle of th e ex tender and push down
until it is secure ly lo cke d with an audibl e
cli ck.
- Make s
ure th e safe ty belt or th e
tender is no t tw is ted.
-
Sa fe ty belt buc kle fig . 17
Ton g ue of ex te nder fig. 17
Buckle o f ex te nd er fig. 17
fig. 17
24 Safety
ev en th oug h the seat is occupied and the safety
belt is no t being used.
Fig. 18 Measurements
Fro nt edge of buckle fig. 18
Distanc e of buckle and body (les s than 6 inches (15 em ) fig.
Body centerlin e
WARNING
belt s offer optimum protection only
when scat back is upright and b e lts are correctly positioned on body. Improperly
po sition ed safety belts can cause serio us
u se the extender unless it is ca lly required
Never use the extend er if the distan ce betwee n the front edge of the ex tende r buck le th e occupant's body centerlin e@ to be l ess than 6 inches (15 em).
A lwa ys make sure safety belt tongu e is
insert e d into the buckl e for the seating tion that belongs to the seat wh ere the tende r is being used.
Attaching t11e sa fety be lt to the buckle for
ano ther seat could reduce safe ty belt ness injury.

Unbuckle the safety belt with the red re lease button only after the vehicle has
stopp ed.
Fig. 19 Relea sing the tongue from the buckle
-the red re lease butto n on the
fig. 19 . The belt tongue will
s p ri
ng out of th e
WARNING
Never unfaste n safet y belt while the vehicle is
moving. Doing so will increase your risk of being injured or
to h eight adjustment
Adju sting safety
the safety belt height adjustm ent to ch ange belt position on th e shoulde r.
Fig. Location of manual belt height adjuster
The b e lt heig ht adjusunent for th e
fron t
seating pos it ion s ca n be used to ad­
just the heig ht of th e should er porti on of
the safety belt so that i t is posit ioned cor­
r
ectly .
-
Keep the s trap guid e squeeze d in the di­
r
ection indicate d by th e fig.
-
WARNING
Always read and hee d WARNINGS and other important page 17.