156 S a fet y belt s
To provide maximum protection, safety belts
must always be positioned correctly on the
wearer 's body.
.,. Adjust t he front seat and head restra int
properly ¢
page 62, General recommenda-
tions .
.,. Make sure the seatback of the rear seat
bench is in an upright pos ition and securely
latched in place before using the belt¢ ,& .
.,. Hold the belt by the tongue and pull it
evenly across t he chest and pelvis
Q ,& .
.,. Inse rt the tongue into the correct buckle of
your sea t until you hea r it latc h securely
Q fig. 170.
.,. Pull on the be lt to make sure that it is se-
curely latched in t he buckle.
Automatic safety belt retractors
Every safety belt is equipped with an automat-
ic belt retracto r on the shoulder be lt. This fea-
ture locks the be lt whe n the belt is pulled out
fast, dur ing hard braking and in an accident.
The belt may also lock when you drive up or
down a steep hill or throug h a sharp curve.
During normal driving the belt lets you move
freely.
Safety belt pretensioners
The safety belts are equipped with a be lt pre -
tensioner that helps to tighten the safety belt
and remove s lack when the pretensioner is ac-
tivated. The funct ion of the pretensioner is
monitored by a warning light
Qpage 15 .
Switchable locking feature
Every safety belt excep t the one on the dr iver
seat is eq uipped with a switchable locking fea-
ture that
must be used when the safety belt is
used to attach a child safe t y seat. Be sure to
read the important information about this
featu re ¢
page 190.
A WARNING
Imprope rly positioned safety belts can
cause se rious injury in an accident
¢ page 156, Safety belt position.
- Safety belts offe r optimum pro tection
only when the seatba ck is upright and
be lts are properly posit ioned on the
body.
- Always make sure that the rear seat
backrest to wh ich the center rear safety
belt is attached is securely latched when-
ever the rea r center safety belt is being
used. If the backrest is not secure ly
latched, t he passenger will move for-
ward with the backrest dur ing sudd en
bra king, in a sudden maneuver and es pe-
cially in a crash.
- Never attach t he safety belt to t he buck-
le for an ot her se at . Attac hing the belt to
the wrong buckle will redu ce safety be lt
effec t iveness and can cause serio us per -
sonal injury.
- A passenger who is not properly restrain-
ed can be seriously injured by the safety
be lt itself when it moves from the stro n-
ger parts of the body into critical areas
like the abdomen .
- Always lock the convertible locking re-
tractor when you are secu ring a child
safety seat in the vehicle
Q page 192 .
Safety belt position
Correct belt position is the key to gett ing
maximum protection from safety belts.
Fig. 171 Head rest raint and safety belt posit ion as
seen from t he side
Standard features on your vehicle he lp you ad-
just the pos ition of the safety be lt to match
your body s ize.
- be lt heigh t adjus t ment for t he front sea t s,
- automatic belt height adjus tment for the
rear seats .
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