This section gives you important
information about how to protect
yourself and your passengers. It
shows you how to use seat belts. It
explains how your airbags work. And
it tells you how to properly restrain
infants and children in your vehicle.
You’ll find many safety
recommendations throughout this
section, and throughout this manual.
The recommendations on this page
are the ones we consider to be the
most important.
A seat belt is your best protection in
all types of collisions. Airbags are
designed to supplement seat belts,
not replace them. So even though
your vehicle is equipped with airbags,
make su
Children age 12 and under should
ride properly restrained in a back
seat, not the front seat. Infants and
small children should be restrained
in a child seat. Larger children
should use a bo
Child Seat Type
An infant must be properly
restrained in a rear-facing, reclining
child seat until the child reaches the
seat maker’s weight or height limit
for the seat, and the child is at least
one year old.
Only a rear-facing child seat provides
proper support for a baby’s
Testing of Readiness Codes
If you take your vehicle for an
emissions test shortly after the
battery has been disconnected or
gone dead, it may not pass the test.
This is because of certain ‘‘readiness
codes’’ that must be set in the onboard
diagnostics for the emissions
systems