Buick Encore: Child Restraints / Securing Child Restraints (With the Seat Belt in the Front Seat)

This vehicle has airbags. A rear seat is a safer place to secure a forward-facing child restraint. See Where to Put the Restraint.

In addition, the vehicle has a passenger sensing system which is designed to turn off the front outboard passenger frontal airbag and knee airbag (if equipped) under certain conditions. See Passenger Sensing System  and Passenger Airbag Status Indicator for more information, including important safety information.

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.

Warning

A child in a rear-facing child restraint can be seriously injured or killed if the front outboard passenger frontal airbag inflates. This is because the back of the rear-facing child restraint would be very close to the inflating airbag. A child in a forward-facing child restraint can be seriously injured or killed if the front outboard passenger frontal airbag inflates and the passenger seat is in a forward position.

Even if the passenger sensing system has turned off the front outboard passenger airbag(s), no system is fail-safe. No one can guarantee that an airbag will not deploy under some unusual circumstance, even though the airbag(s) are off. Secure rear-facing child restraints in a rear seat, even if the airbag(s) are off.

If you secure a forward-facing child restraint in the front outboard passenger seat, always move the seat as far back as it will go. It is better to secure the child restraint in a rear seat.

See Passenger Sensing System for additional information.

If the child restraint uses a top tether, see Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH System) for top tether anchor locations.

1. Move the seat as far back as it will go before securing the forward-facing child restraint. Move the seat upward or the seatback to an upright position, if needed, to get a tight installation of the child restraint.

   When the passenger sensing system has turned off the front outboard passenger frontal airbag and knee airbag (if equipped), the OFF indicator on the passenger airbag status indicator should light and stay lit when you start the vehicle. See Passenger Airbag Status Indicator.

2. Put the child restraint on the seat.
3. Pick up the latch plate, and run the lap and shoulder portions of the vehicle seat belt through or around the restraint. The child restraint instructions will show you how.

   

4. Push the latch plate into the buckle until it clicks.

   Position the release button on the buckle, away from the child restraint, so that the seat belt could be quickly unbuckled if necessary.

   

5. Pull the shoulder belt all the way out of the retractor to set the lock. When the retractor lock is set, the belt can be tightened but not pulled out of the retractor.

   

6. 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. When installing a forward-facing child restraint, it may be helpful to use your knee to push down on the child restraint as you tighten the belt.

   Try to pull the belt out of the retractor to make sure the retractor is locked. If the retractor is not locked, repeat Steps 5 and 6.

7. Before placing a child in the child restraint, make sure it is securely held in place. To check, grasp the child restraint at the seat belt path and attempt to move it side to side and back and forth. When the child restraint is properly installed, there should be no more than 2.5 cm (1 in) of movement.

If the airbag or airbags are off, the OFF indicator in the passenger airbag status indicator will come on and stay on when the vehicle is started.

If a child restraint has been installed and the ON indicator is lit, see “If the On Indicator Is Lit for a Child Restraint” under Passenger Sensing System.

To remove the child restraint, unbuckle the vehicle seat belt and let it return to the stowed position.