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Secu re unused safety belts on the rear seat
¢ page
177 .
Children up to at leas t 8 years old (over 40 lbs
or 18 kg) are best protected in chi ld safety
seats designed for their age and weight . Ex-
perts say that the ske letal structure, particu-
larly the pelvis, of these chi ldren is not fu lly
developed, and they must not use the vehicle
safety belts without a su itable child restraint.
It is usually best to put these children in ap-
propriate booster seats. Be sure the booster
seat meets all applicable safety standards .
Booster seats raise the seating position of the
chi ld and reposition both the lap and shou lder
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 child's body is very
important for the ch ild's protection, whether
or not a booste r seat is used . Children age 12
and under must always ride in the rear seat.
Children who are at least 4
ft .
9 in. (57 in-
ches/1.45 meters) tall can generally use the
vehicle's three po int lap and shoulder belts .
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 requ ires that a lap be lt portion of the
safety belt be fastened snugly and as low as
possible around the pelvis. Never let the lap
be lt portion of the safety belt pass over the
child's stomach or abdomen.
In a cras h, airbags must inflate within a blink
of an eye and with cons iderable force. In orde r
to do it s job, the airbag needs room to inflate
so that it will be there to p rotect the occupant
as the occupant moves forward into the air-
bag.
A vehicle occupant who is out of pos ition and
too close to the airbag gets in the way of an
inflat ing a irbag. When an occupant is too
close, he or she will be str uck violen tl y and
Child Sa f et y
18 1
will receive se rious or possib ly even fatal in-
jury .
In orde r fo r the airbag to offer pro t ection, it is
important t ha t a ll veh icle occupants, espec ial-
ly any children, who must be in the front seat
because of exceptiona l circumstances, be
properly restrained and as far away from the
airbag as possible . By keeping room between
the child's body and the front of t he passen-
ger compartment,
the a irbag can inflate com -
pletely and provide supplemental
protection
in certain frontal collisions .
_&.
WARNING
Not using a booste r seat, using the boos-
ter se at imp roperly, incorrectly installing a
boos t er sea t 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-
duce the risk of serious 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 f lat and snug on the up-
per body . It must never lie across the
throat or neck . The lap belt must lie
across the pelvis and neve r across the
st om ach o r abd omen. Make sure t hat t he
be lt lies flat and sn ug. Pull on the bel t to
tighten if necessary.
- Failure t o properly route safety belts
over a child's body will cause seve re inju-
ries in an accident or othe r emergency
situation ¢ page 136 .
- The rear side of the child safety seat
should be pos itioned as close as possib le
to the backrest on the vehicle seat.
- For adj ustab le head restraints: adjust or
remove the rea r seat head restraint if it
is difficult to install the child seat w ith
the head restraint in place¢ page 56. In-
stall the head restraint again immed iate-
ly once the child seat is removed. Driving
without head restraints o r with head re-
.
straints that are not properly adjusted
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