Essential Safety Equipment; Child Restraint; One Belt, One Passenger:- Page 46

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Essential Safety Equipment

Child Restraint

Form No. 8R21-EA-02G

Holding a Child While the Vehicle is Moving:
Holding a child in your arms while the vehicle is moving is extremely dangerous. No 
matter how strong the person may be, he or she cannot hold onto a child in a sudden 
stop or collision and it could result in serious injury or death to the child or other 
occupants. Even in a moderate accident, the child may be exposed to air bag forces 
that could result in serious injury or death to the child, or the child may be slammed 
into the adult, injuring the adult. Always secure a child in a proper child-restraint 
system.

Rear-Facing Child-Restraint System:
Rear-facing child-restraint systems on the front seat are particularly dangerous.
The child-restraint system can be hit by a deploying air bag and moved violently 
backward resulting in serious injury or death to the child. NEVER use a rear-facing 
child-restraint system in the front seat with an air bag that could deploy.

Children and Seating Position with Side Air Bag:
Allowing anyone to lean over or against the front door is dangerous. If the vehicle is 
equipped with side air bags, the impact of an inflating side air bag could cause serious 
injury or death to the person. Children are more likely to sleep in the vehicle; when 
they do, they are more at risk in the front passenger’s seat that has a side air bag 
because they may slump over into the path of the seatback-mounted air bag. 
Furthermore, leaning over or against the doors could block the side air bag and 
eliminate the advantages of supplemental protection. With the front air bag and the 
additional side air bag that comes out of the front seat, the rear seat is always a better 
location for children who are prone to sleeping. If a child can’t be seated in the rear, 
do not allow the child to lean over or against the front door, even if the child is seated 
in a child-restraint system.

One Belt, One Passenger:
Using one seat belt for more than one person at a time is dangerous. A seat belt used 
in this way can’t spread the impact forces properly and the two passengers could be 
crushed together and seriously injured or even killed. Never use one belt for more 
than one person at a time.

WARNING

Deploying air bag

J16L_8R21-EA-02G.book  Page 38  Saturday, June 8, 2002  11:16 AM