If your child restraint has the LATCH system, see Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) .
If your vehicle is a passenger van, there is no top tether anchor in the right front passenger’s position. Do not secure a child seat in this position if a national or local law requires that the top tether be anchored, or if the instructions that come with the child restraint say that the top tether must be anchored. See Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) if the child restraint has a top tether.
Unless your vehicle has an airbag off switch and you have used it to turn the passenger's airbag off, never put a rear-facing child restraint in the right front passenger's seat. Here is why:
Caution: A child in a rear-facing child restraint can be seriously injured or killed if the right front passenger's airbag inflates. This is because the back of the rear-facing child restraint would be very close to the inflating airbag. If your vehicle is a passenger van, always secure a rear-facing child restraint in a rear seat. If your vehicle is a cargo van with a right front passenger airbag and an airbag off switch, be sure to turn off the airbag before using a rear-facing child restraint in the right front seat position. If your vehicle is a cargo van with a right front passenger airbag but does not have an airbag off switch, do not use a rear-facing child restraint in this vehicle.
Even though the airbag off switch is designed to turn off the passenger's frontal airbag, no system is fail-safe and no one can guarantee that an airbag will not deploy under some unusual circumstance, even though it is turned off. GM recommends that rear-facing child restraints be transported in vehicles with a rear seat that will accommodate a rear-facing child restraint whenever possible. If you need to secure a forward-facing child restraint in the right front passenger position, always move the passenger seat as far back as it will go.A rear seat is a safer place to secure a forward-facing child restraint. See Where to Put the Restraint .
Caution: If the airbag readiness light ever comes on when you have turned off the airbag, it means that something may be wrong with the airbag system. The right front passenger's airbag could inflate even though the switch is off. If this ever happens, do not let anyone whom the national government has identified as a member of a passenger airbag risk group sit in the right front passenger's position (for example, do not secure a rear-facing child restraint in your vehicle) until you have your vehicle serviced. See Airbag Off Switch .
If your child restraint does not have the LATCH system, you will be using the lap-shoulder belt to secure the child restraint in this position. Be sure to follow the instructions that came with the child restraint. Secure the child in the child restraint when and as the instructions say.
- If your vehicle has a passenger's airbag and an airbag off switch, and you are using a rear-facing child restraint in this seat, make sure the airbag is turned off. See Airbag Off Switch . If your child restraint is forward-facing, always move the seat as far back as it will go before securing it in this seat. See Power Seat or Manual Seats .
- Put the child restraint on the seat.
- Pick up the latch plate, and run the lap and shoulder portions of the vehicle's safety belt through or around the restraint. The child restraint instructions will show you how.
- Buckle the belt. Make sure the release button is positioned so you would be able to unbuckle the safety belt quickly if you ever had to.
- Pull the rest of the lap belt all the way out of the retractor to set the lock.
- To tighten the belt, pull the shoulder portion of the belt to tighten the lap portion of the belt and feed the shoulder belt back into the retractor. You may find it helpful to use your knee to push down on the child restraint as you tighten the belt.
- If your child restraint has a top tether, and the position that you are using has a top tether anchor, attach and tighten the top tether to the top tether anchor. Refer to the instructions that came with the child restraint and to Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH)
- Push and pull the child restraint in different directions to be sure it is secure.
To remove the child restraint, just unbuckle the vehicle's safety belt and let it go back all the way. The safety belt will move freely again and be ready to work for an adult or larger child passenger.
If you were using a rear-facing child restraint in a vehicle with an airbag off switch, turn on the right front passenger's airbag when you remove the rear-facing child restraint from the vehicle unless the person who will be sitting there is a member of a passenger airbag risk group. See Airbag Off Switch .
Caution: If the right front passenger's airbag is turned off for a person who is not in a risk group identified by the national government, that person will not have the extra protection of an airbag. In a crash, the airbag will not be able to inflate and help protect the person sitting there. Do not turn off the passenger's airbag unless the person sitting there is in a risk group. See Airbag Off Switch for more on this, including important safety information.
