Seat Belt: Description and Operation

RESTRAINT SYSTEM

CAUTION: To help avoid personal injury from unrepaired crash damage to a restraint system, perform the seat belt check for each seat belt system. Replace the seat belt system if there Is any doubt about the condition Of system components.

Seat belts are the primary means of occupant restraint. seat belts help to keep the occupant inside the passenger compartment and to ride down the crash forces more gradually during the following events.
^ Frontal impact type crashes
^ Rear impact type crashes
^ Side impact type crashes
^ Roll over type crashes

All seat belts have emergency locks in the retractors. During normal operation, the retractors remain unlocked to allow free movement of the occupant's upper body under normal driving conditions. The seat belt webbing is locked to position by a pendulum that causes a locking bar to engage a cog on the spool of the retractor mechanism under the following conditions.
^ The rapid extraction of the seat belt webbing from the retractor.
^ The speed of the vehicle changes abruptly.
^ The direction of the vehicle changes abruptly.
^ The vehicle is on a steep upgrade or a downgrade.

The seat belts have an automatic locking (cinch) feature. The cinch feature is activated when the seat belt webbing is completely extended from the retractor. The cinch feature will not allow the webbing to extend from whatever position it is allowed to retract. It is recommended that the cinch feature is used when securing a child seat. The cinch feature is canceled by allowing the webbing to be completely wound back into the retractor. After the cinch feature is canceled, the webbing is unlocked and will extend from the retractor.

The seat belts have a comfort lock feature which prevents full retraction of the webbing allowing the user to lock the seat belt into a comfortable position. The feature is activated by slowly allowing the webbing to wind in to the retractor. The user can readjust the comfort lock during vehicle operation. The feature is canceled by extending the webbing from the retractor or the user's door is opened allowing the webbing to fully retract to the stowed position.

FRONT SEAT BELT SYSTEM
The front seat belt system includes the following components:
1. The driver and the passenger seat belt retractors. The driver and passenger seat belt retractors are located on the center pillar.
2. The driver and passenger seat belt buckles. The driver and the passenger seat belt buckles are located between the two front seats. The seat belt buckles are attached to each seat.
3. The driver's seat belt system includes a seat belt switch in the driver seat belt buckle which controls the fasten safety belt indicator and a tone alarm.

REAR SEAT BELT SYSTEM
The rear seat belt system includes the following components:
^ The rear seat belt retractors, which are located under the rear quarter lower trim panels and are attached to the body.
^ The center rear seat belt on four door models, which is attached to the rear floor pan. The center seat belt is marked with the word "CENTER" on the latch plate. The center rear seat belt will only latch to the buckle marked with the word "CENTER".
^ The rear seat belt buckles, which are located beneath the rear seat cushion and are attached to the rear floor pan. The center seat belt buckle is marked with the word "CENTER". The center buckle will NOT latch if either of the outside rear seat belt retractors are inserted into it. The rear seat belt and the buckle marked with the word "CENTER" are the only ones that will latch together.