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176
Ch ild Saf e ty
• Secure unused safety belts on the rear seat
9 page 172 .
Children up to about 40 lbs. (18 kg) are best
protected in child safety seats designed for
their age and weight . Experts say that the
skeleta l structur e, particular ly the pelvis, of
these children is not fully developed, and they
must not use the vehicle safety belts without
a suitable child restra int.
It is us ually best to put these children in ap-
propriate booster seats. Be sure the booster
seat meets all applicab le safety standards.
Booster seats raise the seating position of the
child and reposition bot h the lap and sho ulder
parts of the safety belt so that they pass
across the child 's body in the right places. The
routing of the belt over the chi ld's body is very
important for the ch ild's protection, whether
or not a booster seat is used . Children age 12
and under must always ride in the rear seat.
Children who are at least 4
ft .
9 in. (S7 in-
ches/1.4S meters) tall can generally use the
vehicle's three po int lap and shoulder be lts .
Never use the lap belt portion of the veh icle's
safety be lt a lone to restrain any child, regard-
less of how big the child is. Always remembe r
that children do not have the pronounced pe l-
vic structure required for the proper function
of lap belt portion of the vehicle's three point
lap and shoulder be lts. The child's safety ab -
solutely requires that a lap be lt portion of the
safety belt be fastened snugly and as low as
possib le around the pelvis . Never let the lap
be lt po rtion of the safety belt pass over the
chi ld's stomach or abdomen.
In a crash, airbags must inflate within a blink
of an eye and with cons iderable force . In order
to do its job, the airbag needs room to inflate
so t hat it will be there to p rotect the occupant
as t he occupant moves forw a rd into the air-
bag.
A vehicle occupant who is out of position and
too close to the airbag gets in the way of an
inflat ing airb ag. When an occupant is too
close, he or she will be str uck violen t ly and
will receive se rious or possib ly even fatal in-
jury .
In orde r fo r the airbag to offer protect ion, it is
impor t ant t hat a ll vehicle occupants, espe cial-
ly any children, who must be in the front seat
because of exceptiona l circumstances , be
proper ly restrained and as fa r away from the
airbag as possible . By keeping room between
the child's body and the front of the passen-
ger compartment,
the airbag can inflate com -
pletely and prov ide supplemental
protection
in certain frontal collisions .
.&,
WARNING
Not using a booste r seat, using the boos -
ter seat imp roperly, incorrectly installing a
boos t er seat or using the vehicle safety
belt imp roperly increases the risk of seri-
ous persona l injury and death in a collision
or other emergency situat ion. To he lp re-
d uce the risk of serio us personal injury
and/or death:
- The shou lder belt must lie as close to the
center of the child's collar bone as possi-
ble and must lie flat and snug on the up-
per body . It must neve r lie across the
throat or neck . The lap belt must lie
across the pe lvis and neve r ac ross t he
st omach or abdomen. Make sure t he belt
liesflat a nd snug.Pullon
t hebelt t o
tighten if necessary.
- Failure t o properly route safe ty belts
over a child's body will ca use seve re inju-
ries in an accident or other emergency
situation ¢ page 138 .
- The rear side of the child safety seat
should be pos itioned as close as possib le
to the backrest on the vehicle seat. Ad-
just or remove the rear seat head re-
straint if it is diffic ult to install the child
seat with the head restraint in place
c::;,
page
61 . Install t he head rest raint
aga in immediately once the ch ild seat is
removed . Driving without head restraints
or with head restra ints t hat ar e not prop-
erly adju sted increases the risk of serious
.
or fatal neck inju ry drama t ically.
""
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