Your vehicle has a right front passenger's airbag. A rear seat is a safer place to secure a forward-facing child restraint. See Where to Put the Restraint .
In addition, your vehicle has the passenger sensing system. The passenger sensing system is designed to turn off the right front passenger's frontal airbag and seat-mounted side impact airbag (if equipped) when a child in a child restraint or booster seat is detected. See Passenger Sensing System and Passenger Airbag Status Indicator for more information about the conditions that could affect the passenger sensing system and other important safety information.
A label on your sun visor says, "Never put a rear-facing child seat in the front." This is because the risk to the rear-facing child is so great, if the airbag deploys.
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.
Even though the passenger sensing system is designed to turn off the passenger's frontal airbag and seat-mounted side impact airbag (if equipped) under certain conditions, 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. General Motors recommends that rear-facing child restraints be secured in the rear seat, even if the airbag is off.If you need to secure a forward-facing child restraint in the right front seat position, move the seat as far back as it will go before securing the forward-facing child restraint. See Manual Seats .
If your child restraint is equipped with the LATCH system, see Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) .
There is no top tether anchor at the right front seating 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.
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.
- Your vehicle has airbags. See Passenger Sensing System . General Motors recommends that rear-facing child restraints be secured in a rear seat, even if the airbag is off. If your child restraint is forward-facing, move the seat as far back as it will go before securing the child restraint in this seat. See 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 shoulder belt all the way out of the retractor to set the lock.
- To tighten the belt, push down on the child restraint, pull the shoulder portion of the belt to tighten the lap portion of the belt and feed the shoulder belt back into the retractor. If you are using a forward-facing child restraint, you may find it helpful to use your knee to push down on the child restraint as you tighten the belt. You should not be able to pull more of the belt from the retractor once the lock has been set.
- Push and pull the child restraint in different directions to be sure it is secure.
- If the passenger sensing system has turned off the right front passenger's frontal airbag and seat-mounted side impact airbag (if equipped), the off indicator in the passenger airbag status indicator will be lit and stay lit when the key is turned to ON.
When the passenger sensing system has turned off the right front passenger's frontal airbag and seat-mounted side impact airbag (if equipped), the off indicator in the passenger airbag status indicator should light and stay lit when you turn the ignition to ON. See Passenger Airbag Status Indicator .
If a child restraint has been installed and the on indicator is lit, turn the vehicle off. Remove the child restraint from the vehicle and reinstall the child restraint with the ignition key in the ACC or LOCK position.
If after reinstalling the child restraint and restarting the vehicle, the on indicator is still lit, check to make sure that the vehicle's seatback is not pressing the child restraint into the seat cushion. If this happens, slightly recline the vehicle's seatback and adjust the seat cushion if possible. Also make sure the child restraint is not trapped under the vehicle head restraint. If this happens, adjust the head restraint.
If the on indicator is still lit, secure the child in the child restraint in a rear seat position in the vehicle and check with your dealer.
If the airbag readiness light and the OFF light in the passenger airbag status indicator come on together, it may mean there is a malfunction in the passenger sensing system. Secure the child in the child restraint in a rear seat position in the vehicle and check with your dealer.
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.
