Chevrolet 2003 Astro Owner's Manual page 49

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born 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 restrained in appropriate infant restraints.
However, infants, who should be restrained
in
a rear-facing child restraint, cannot ride safely
in this vehicle.
The body structure of a young cf I i s
qi
!
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
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injuries. Young children always should be
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secured in appropriate child restraints.
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