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Ch ild
safety
Child
safety
Important
information
Introduction
The rear seat is generally the safest place in a
collision.
The physical principles of what happens when
your vehicle is
in
a crash apply also to children
¢
page 141, What happens to occupants not
wearing safety belts?
.
But
unlike
adults and
teenagers, the
ir
muscles and bones are
not
fully
developed.
In many
respects
children
are at
greater
risk of serious
injury in
crashes than
adults.
Because
children's bodies are not fully developed,
they requ ire restra int systems especially
de-
signed for their size, weight,
and
body
structure.
Many
countr ies
and all
states of the United
States and provinces of
Canada
have laws requir
-
ing the use of approved
child
restraint systems
for infants and small children.
I
n a fronta
l
crash
at a speed of
20-35
mph
(30 -56
km/h)
the forces acting on a 13-pound
(6 kg) infant wi
ll
be more than 20 times the
weight of the child. This means the weight of the
child would suddenly be more than 260 pounds
(120 kg). Under these conditions, only an appro-
priate child restra int properly used can reduce
the risk of serious injury
.
Child
restraints, like
adult safety belts, must be
used properly to
be
effective.
Used
improperly, they
can
increase
the
risk of serious injury
in
an accident.
Consult
the
child safety seat manufacturer's in-
structions in order to be sure the seat is right for
your child's size
¢
page 175,
Important
safety
instructions for using
child
safety seats
.
Please
be sure
to
read
and heed
all
of the important in-
formation and WARNINGS about
child
safety, Ad-
vanced Airbags, and the
installation
of child
re-
straints
in
this chapter.
There
is a lot you need
to
know about the
Ad-
vanced Airbags in your vehicle and how they work
when infants and children in child
restraints
are
on the front passenger seat. Because of the large
amount
of important
information, we cannot
re-
172
peat
it all here. We urge you to read the
detailed
information
in this owner's manua
l
about airbags
and the Advanced Airbag System in your vehicle
and the very important information about trans-
porting children on the front passenger seat.
Please be sure to heed the WARNINGS
-
they are
extremely important
for
your safety and the safe-
ty of your
passengers, especially
infants and
small chi ldren.
.&_
WARNING
-
Accident statistics have
shown
that
children
are
generally safer in the rear seat
area
than
in the
front
seating position. Always
restrain
any child age 12 and under in the rear.
- All vehicle occupants
and
especially children
must be restrained properly whenever riding
in a vehicle. An unrestrained or improperly
restrained
child
could be injured by striking
the inter ior or by being ejected from the ve-
hicle dur ing a sudden maneuver or impact
.
An unrestra ined or improperly
restrained
child is also at greater
risk
of injury or death
through
contact
with an inflating airbag.
-
A suitable
child
restraint properly installed
and used at one of the
rear
seating posit ions
provides the highest degree of
prot
ect ion
for
infants
and
small
children
in most acci-
dent sit uations.
.&_
WARNING
Children
on the
front seat of any
car
even with
Advanced Airbags can be
seriously
injured or
even
killed
when an airbag inflates. A child in
a rearward-facing child safety seat installed
on the front passenger seat will be serious ly
injured and can be
killed
if the front airbag in-
flates.
-
The
inflating
airbag will hit the child safety
seat or infant carr ier with great force and
w ill smash
the
child safety seat and child
against
the
backrest, center armrest,
or
door.
-
Always install rear-fac ing
child
safety seats
on the rear seat.
-
If you must install a rearward fac ing child
safety seat on the front passenger seat in
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