Get Safety -> belts Guide for Volkswagen Golf 4 Door 2023

keeping your knee(s) slightly bent. The distance to

the instrument panel in the knee area must be at

least 4 inches (10 cm) → fig. 21 B .

Always secure children in the vehicle with a re-

straint system appropriate for their age, weight

and height → page 64, Child safety and child

restraints.

·

— Adjust the seat height so that the top point of the

steering wheel can be reached.

Always fasten safety belts correctly before driv-

ing off and make sure that all passengers are

properly restrained.

·

— Always keep both feet in the footwell so that you

are in control of the vehicle at all times.

Never attach the safety belt to the buckle of an-

other seat. Attaching the safety belt to the

wrong buckle will reduce safety belt effective-

ness and can cause serious personal injury.

Passenger - front seat adjustment:

— Push the passenger seat as far back as possible in

order to ensure optimum protection if the airbag

is deployed.

Never let any objects or liquids get into the

safety belt latch and prevent it from working

properly.

·

Never remove a safety belt while the vehicle is

moving. Doing so will increase your risk of being

injured or killed.

Safety belts

Introduction

Never strap more than one person, including

small children, into any single safety belt.

·

Properly worn safety belts are the single most effec-

tive means of reducing the risk of serious injury and

death in a collision or other accident.

Never let children or babies ride sitting on your

lap, and never place a safety belt over a child

sitting on your lap.

Damage to safety belts reduces their overall effec-

tiveness and increases the risk of serious personal

injury and death whenever the vehicle is being used.

Never wear belts over rigid or breakable objects

in or on your clothing, such as eyeglasses, pens,

keys, etc., as these may cause injury.

·

Check the condition of all safety belts and buckles

regularly.

Several layers of heavy clothing (such as a coat

worn over a sports jacket) may interfere with

proper positioning of the safety belt and reduce

the overall effectiveness of the system.

If a safety belt shows damage to webbing, hard-

ware, retractors, or buckles, have the safety belt re-

placed by an authorized Volkswagen dealer or an au-

Never use comfort clips or devices that create

slack in the shoulder belt. However, special clips

may be required for the correct use of some

child restraint systems.

·

thorized Volkswagen Service Facility →

.

WARNING

Safety belts offer optimum protection only

when the seat backrest is upright and belts are

correctly positioned on the body.

Not wearing a safety belt or wearing an improperly

positioned safety belt increases the risk of severe

personal injury or death. Safety belts offer opti-

mum protection only when they are used properly.

WARNING

Properly worn safety belts are the single most

·

effective means of reducing the risk of serious

injury and death in a collision or other accident.

For this reason, always wear your safety belt

properly and make sure all passengers wear

their safety belts properly as well whenever the

vehicle is moving.

Damage to safety belts reduces their overall effec-

tiveness and increases the risk of serious personal

injury and death whenever the vehicle is being

used.

Never let safety belts become damaged by be-

ing caught in the door or seat hardware.

·

The driver must always make sure that every

·

Torn or frayed safety belts can tear, and dam-

aged safety belt hardware can break in an acci-

dent.

·

person in the vehicle is properly seated on

a seat of his or her own, properly fastens the

safety belts belonging to that seat before the

vehicle starts to move, and keeps the belts

properly fastened while riding in the vehicle.

This applies even when just driving around

town. Therefore, always wear your safety belts

and make sure that everybody in your vehicle is

properly restrained.

Inspect belts regularly for damage. If webbing,

·

hardware, buckles, or retractors are damaged,

have the belts replaced immediately with the

correct replacement belts approved by Volkswa-

gen for your vehicle, model, and model year.

36

Safety

Safety belts that were subject to stress in an ac-

cident and stretched must be replaced with

a correct, new safety belt, preferably by an au-

thorized Volkswagen dealer or authorized Volks-

wagen Service Facility.

light and the chime go out when both driver and

front passenger have buckled their safety belts.

·

If the driver and front seat passenger do not both

fasten their safety belts within about 24 seconds af-

ter the chime stops and the vehicle is moving at

a speed of more than about 15 mph (25 km/h), the

chime will again sound for about 6 seconds, then go

off for about 24 seconds, then sound again for about

another 6 seconds. The same thing happens if one of

the safety belts is fastened and then unfastened

while the vehicle is moving. The safety belt warning

light also flashes. The warning chime continues to

sound at 24 second intervals for up to 2 minutes. No

chime sounds at speeds of less than about 5 mph

(8 km/h).

Replacement after a crash may be necessary

even if a safety belt shows no visible damage.

Anchorages that have been loaded must also be

inspected.

Damaged safety belts must be replaced; they

cannot be repaired.

·

Never try to repair a damaged safety belt your-

self. Never remove or modify the safety belts in

any way.

Have safety belts, hardware, retractors, and

buckles replaced by an authorized Volkswagen

dealer or authorized Volkswagen Service Facili-

ty.

·

If the ignition is switched on, the safety belt warning

light stays on until the driver and front passenger

have both buckled their safety belts.

Always keep the belts clean. Dirty belts may not

work correctly and can impair the function of

the inertia reel.

WARNING

Not wearing a safety belt or wearing an improperly

positioned safety belt increases the risk of severe

personal injury or death. Safety belts offer opti-

mum protection only when used correctly.

Warning light

Please read the introductory information and

Frontal collisions and laws of phys-

ics

heed the Warnings and Notice

on page 36.

Please read the introductory information and

heed the Warnings and Notice

on page 36.

Fig. 22 Warning light in the instrument cluster.

Driver and/or front passenger have not fas-

tened their safety belts, if front passenger

seat is occupied. Fasten safety belts.

Fig. 23 A vehicle with passengers not wearing safety

belts approaches a wall.

When the ignition is switched on, several warning

and indicator lights come on briefly for a function

check. They go out after a few seconds.

A warning chime also sounds.

The safety belt warning light comes on for 6 sec-

onds when the ignition is switched on. A warning

chime also sounds for up to 6 seconds if the driver's

safety belt is not buckled. The chime stops sooner if

the driver buckles his or her safety belt. The warning

Safety belts

37

What happens to passengers not

wearing a safety belt

Please read the introductory information and

heed the Warnings and Notice

on page 36.

Fig. 24 A vehicle with passengers not wearing safety

belts hits a wall.

The physical principles of a frontal collision are sim-

ple. Both the moving vehicle and the passenger pos-

sess energy → fig. 23, which varies with vehicle

speed and body weight. Engineers call this energy

“kinetic energy.”

The higher the speed of the vehicle and the greater

the vehicle's weight, the more energy has to be “ab-

sorbed” in a crash.

Fig. 25 The unbelted driver is thrown forward.

Vehicle speed is the most significant factor. If your

speed doubles (for example, from 15 mph to 30 mph

– 25 km/h to 50 km/h), the energy increases 4 times!

Because the occupants of the vehicle in the above

example are not using safety belts, they are not “at-

tached” to the vehicle. In a frontal collision, they will

keep moving at the same speed the vehicle was

moving just before the crash, until something stops

them - here, the inside of the passenger compart-

ment. Because the occupants of the vehicle in the

example are not wearing safety belts, their entire ki-

netic energy will be absorbed by impact with the

wall → fig. 24.

The same principles apply to people in a vehicle that

is in a frontal collision on the highway. Even at city

speeds of 20–30 mph (30–50 km/h), the forces act-

ing on the body can reach one ton (2,000 lbs or

1,000 kg) or more. At greater speeds, these forces

are even higher.

Fig. 26 Unbelted passengers in the rear seats are

thrown forward on top of the belted driver.

Many people believe that it is possible to resist the

forces of an impact by holding tight or bracing

themselves. That is simply not true!

Of course, the laws of physics don't apply just to

frontal collisions; they determine what happens in

all kinds of accidents and collisions.

Even at low collision speeds, the forces acting on

the body are too much for the body to be held in the

seat with the arms and hands. In a frontal collision,

unrestrained occupants will slam violently into the

steering wheel, instrument panel, windshield or any-

thing else in the way → fig. 25.

Never rely on airbags alone for protection. Even

when they deploy, airbags provide only additional

protection. Airbags are not supposed to deploy in all

kinds of accidents. Even if your vehicle is equipped

with airbags, all vehicle occupants, including the

driver, must wear safety belts correctly in order to

minimize the risk of severe injury or death in a crash,

38

Safety

regardless of whether a seating position has an air-

bag or not.

body become more “tolerable” and less likely to

cause injury.

An airbag will deploy only once. Safety belts are al-

ways there to offer protection in those accidents in

which airbags are not supposed to deploy or when

they have already deployed. Unbelted occupants can

also be thrown out of the vehicle, causing even more

severe injuries or death.

Although these examples are based on a frontal col-

lision, safety belts can also substantially reduce the

risk of injury in other kinds of crashes. So, whether

you're on a long trip or “just going to the corner

store,” always buckle up and make sure that others

do, too.

It is also important for occupants in the rear seats to

wear their safety belts properly since they can be

thrown violently forward through the vehicle in the

event of an accident. Unbelted passengers in the

rear seats endanger not only themselves but also

the driver and other passengers in the vehicle

→ fig. 26.

Accident statistics show that vehicle occupants

properly wearing safety belts have a lower risk of

being injured and a much better chance of surviving

a collision. Properly using safety belts also greatly

increases the ability of the supplemental airbags to

do their job in a collision. For this reason, wearing

a safety belt is required by law in most countries in-

cluding the United States and Canada.

Although your Volkswagen is equipped with airbags,

you still have to wear the safety belts provided.

Front airbags, for example, are activated only in

some frontal collisions. The front airbags are not ac-

tivated in all frontal collisions, in side and rear colli-

sions, in rollovers, or in cases when the conditions

for deployment stored in the electronic control unit

are not met. The same goes for the other airbag sys-

tems on your Volkswagen.

Safety belts protect

Please read the introductory information and

heed the Warnings and Notice

on page 36.

So always wear your safety belt and make sure that

everybody in your vehicle is properly restrained!

Using safety belts

Please read the introductory information and

heed the Warnings and Notice

on page 36.

Checklist

Using safety belts →

Fig. 27 Belted driver secured by the correctly worn

safety belt in the event of a sudden braking maneuver.

✓

Damage to safety belts reduces their overall ef-

fectiveness and increases the risk of serious

personal injury and death whenever the vehicle

is being used.

Used properly, safety belts can make a big differ-

ence. Safety belts help to keep passengers in their

seats, gradually reduce energy levels applied to the

body in a collision, and help prevent the uncontrol-

led movement that can cause serious injuries. In ad-

dition, safety belts reduce the danger of being

thrown out of the vehicle → fig. 27.

✓

Check the condition of all safety belts and buck-

les regularly.

✓

Keep safety belts clean.

Keep objects and liquids away from safety belt

webbing, the safety belt buckle tongue, and the

safety belt buckle latch and opening.

Safety belts attach passengers to the car and give

them the benefit of being slowed down more gently

or “softly” through the “give” in the safety belts,

crumple zones, and other safety features (such as

airbags) engineered into today's vehicles. The front

crumple zones and other passive safety features

(such as the airbag system) are also designed to ab-

sorb kinetic energy. By “absorbing” the kinetic ener-

gy over a longer period of time, the forces on the

✓

Do not pinch or damage the safety belt or buck-

le tongue (for instance, when closing a door).

Never modify, disassemble or try to repair safe-

ty belts and safety belt anchorages.

Safety belts

39

✓

Always fasten your safety belt properly before

driving and keep it fastened whenever the vehi-

cle is moving.

Always keep objects and liquids away from the

belt buckle and buckle opening.

·

Twisted safety belt

Fastening and unfastening safety

belts

If it is difficult to pull the safety belt out of the belt

guide, the belt may be twisted inside the side trim

because the belt retracted too quickly when it was

taken off.

Please read the introductory information and

heed the Warnings and Notice

on page 36.

— Hold the safety belt tongue, slowly and carefully

pull safety belt all the way out.

— Untwist the safety belt and slowly return the belt

by hand.

If you cannot untwist the safety belt, wear it any-

way. Make sure that the safety belt is twisted in

a spot where it does not come in direct contact with

your body. Have the safety belt untwisted immedi-

ately by an authorized Volkswagen dealer or author-

ized Volkswagen Service Facility.

Lockable safety belt

The retractors for the rear seat safety belts and the

front passenger safety belt have a switchable lock-

ing feature for child restraints in addition to the

emergency locking feature. Whenever a child re-

straint is installed with a safety belt, the safety belt

must be locked so that the safety belt webbing can-

not unreel. The switchable locking feature lets you

lock the belt so that a child restraint can be properly

installed and, for example, so that it can't tip to the

side when the vehicle goes around a corner

Fig. 28 Inserting the buckle tongue into the belt buck-

le.

→ page 64, Child safety and child restraints.

To see that a safety belt is lockable, pull the safety

belt all the way out of the safety belt retractor. You

should then hear a “clicking” sound as the belt winds

back into the retractor reel. Test the switchable

locking feature by pulling on the belt. When the

switchable locking feature is active, you should no

longer be able to pull the belt out of the retractor.

Fig. 29 Releasing the buckle tongue from the belt

buckle.

Properly worn safety belts help to hold occupants in

their seats and provide optimum protection during

The locking feature must be deactivated when a ve-

hicle occupant uses the safety belt.

braking or in a collision or other accident →

.

The switchable locking feature makes a “clicking”

sound when the safety belt is winding back onto the

safety belt retractor wheel after being pulled all the

way out. Whenever a child restraint is installed with

a safety belt, the safety belt must be locked so that

the safety belt webbing cannot unreel → page 64,

Child safety and child restraints. If active, deactivate

the locking feature before using the safety belt to

restrain a person without a child restraint system.

WARNING

Improper use and care of safety belts increases the

risk of severe personal injury or death.

Regularly check safety belts and related parts

for damage.

·

Damaged safety belts must be replaced; they

cannot be repaired.

·

Always keep safety belts clean.

·

Fastening safety belts

Always buckle your safety belt before driving.

Never catch, damage or chafe safety belt web-

bing on sharp edges.

40

Safety

— Adjust the front seat and head restraint correctly

→ page 104, Seats and head restraints.

Safety belt position

— Make sure the seat backrest of the rear seat

bench is in an upright position and securely latch-

Please read the introductory information and

heed the Warnings and Notice

on page 36.

ed in place before using the safety belt →

.

— Hold the safety belt by the tongue and pull it

slowly and evenly across the chest and pelvis. Do

not twist the safety belt webbing →

.

— Insert the tongue into the correct buckle for your

seat until you hear it latch securely → fig. 28.

— Pull on the safety belt to make sure that it is se-

curely latched in the buckle.

Unfastening safety belts

Unfasten safety belts only when the vehicle is not

moving →

.

Fig. 30 Proper safety belt positioning and head re-

straint adjustment.

— Press the red button on the buckle → fig. 29. The

buckle tongue is ejected.

— Let the belt wind up on the retractor as you guide

the belt tongue to its stowed position to help pre-

vent the safety belt from twisting and to help

avoid damage to the interior trim.

WARNING

Improperly positioned safety belts can cause seri-

ous personal injury or death in an accident.

Safety belts offer optimum protection only

when the seat backrest is upright and belts are

correctly positioned on the body.

·

A person who is not properly restrained can be

·

seriously injured by the safety belt itself if it

slips from the stronger parts of the body into

sensitive areas like the abdomen.

Fig. 31 Proper safety belt positioning for expectant

mothers.

Unfastening safety belts while the vehicle is in

·

motion can cause severe personal injury or

death in the event of an accident or braking ma-

neuver!

Wearing safety belts improperly can cause serious

injury or death. Safety belts can only work when

they are correctly positioned on the body. A properly

worn safety belt also helps to position the occupant

so that an airbag can provide maximum protection

when deployed. Therefore, always fasten your safety

belt and make sure that it is properly positioned over

your body.

Improper seating positions reduce the effectiveness

of safety belts and even increase the risk of injury or

death by moving the safety belt to critical areas of

the body. Improper seating positions also increase

the risk of severe injury or death when an airbag de-

ploys and strikes an occupant who is not seated

properly → page 33, Sitting properly and safely.

Proper safety belt position

— The shoulder portion of the safety belt must al-

ways run over the center of the shoulder and nev-

Safety belts

41

er over the throat, over the arm, under the arm or

behind the back.

Do not twist the belt when attaching it. If you

cannot untwist a twisted safety belt, wear it

anyway, but make sure the twisted part is not in

contact with your body. Have the problem cor-

rected right away by an authorized Volkswagen

dealer or authorized Volkswagen Service Facili-

ty.

·

— The lap portion of the safety belt must always run

as low as possible over the pelvis and never over

the abdomen.

— Always wear the safety belt flat and snug against

the body. Pull on the safety belt to tighten if nec-

essary.

Never hold the safety belt away from your body

with your hand.

·

Expectant mothers must always wear the lap por-

tion of the safety belt as low as possible across the

pelvis and below the rounding of the abdomen –

throughout the pregnancy. The safety belt must lie

flat against the body to avoid pressure against the

abdomen → fig. 31.

Never wear belts over rigid or breakable objects,

such as eyeglasses, pens or keys.

Never modify the position of the belt using

comfort clips, loops or similar devices.

If you have a physical impairment or condition

that prevents you from sitting properly on the

Adjusting safety belt height

seat with the safety belt properly fastened, special

modifications to your vehicle may be necessary.

Contact your authorized Volkswagen dealer or au-

thorized Volkswagen Service Facility or call the

Volkswagen Customer CARE Center at

The safety belt position can be adjusted using the

following features:

— Safety belt height adjusters for the front seats.

— Front seats with height adjustment.

1-800-822-8987 for information about possible

modifications to your vehicle.

WARNING

Improperly positioned safety belts can cause seri-

ous personal injury in an accident or a sudden

braking maneuver.

Safety belt height adjusters

Always make sure that all vehicle occupants are

·

Please read the introductory information and

correctly restrained and stay in a correct seating

position whenever the vehicle is being used.

heed the Warnings and Notice

on page 36.

Safety belts offer optimum protection only

when the seat backrest is upright and belts are

correctly positioned on the body.

·

A loose-fitting safety belt can cause serious in-

·

juries by shifting its position on your body from

the strong bones to more vulnerable soft tissue

and cause serious injury.

The shoulder belt portion of the safety belt

·

must be positioned over the middle of the occu-

pant's shoulder and never across the neck or

throat.

The safety belt must lie flat and snug on the oc-

cupant's upper body.

·

Never wear the shoulder part of the safety belt

under your arm or otherwise out of position.

·

Fig. 32 Next to the front seats: Safety belt height ad-

juster.

The lap portion of the safety belt must be posi-

·

tioned as low as possible across the pelvis and

never over the abdomen. Make sure the belt lies

flat and snug against the pelvis. Pull on the

safety belt to tighten if necessary.

Safety belt height adjusters for the front seats can

be used to adjust the height of the shoulder portion

of the safety belt so that it is positioned correctly:

— Pinch the safety belt attachment together as indi-

cated by the arrows and hold → fig. 32.

Expectant mothers must always wear the lap

·

portion of the safety belt as low as possible

across the pelvis and below the rounding of the

abdomen.

— Slide the belt and upper attachment up or down

until the safety belt is positioned over the center

of the shoulder → page 41, Safety belt position.

42

Safety

— Release the safety belt attachment.

with these regulations → page 43, Service and dis-

posal of belt pretensioners.

— Pull on the safety belt to make sure that the up-

per attachment is securely locked in place.

WARNING

Service and disposal of belt preten-

sioners

Never adjust the height of the safety belt while

driving.

Please read the introductory information and

heed the Warnings and Notice

on page 36.

Safety belt retractor, pretensioner,

load limiter

The pretensioners are part of the safety belts instal-

led at the front seats in your vehicle. Installing, re-

moving, servicing, or repairing of safety belt preten-

sioners can damage the safety belt system and pre-

vent it from working correctly in a collision. The pre-

tensioners themselves may then also not work in the

event of an accident, or not work properly.

Please read the introductory information and

heed the Warnings and Notice

on page 36.

The safety belts in the vehicle are part of the vehi-

cle's safety concept → page 50, Safety equipment

and consist of the following important features:

There are some important things you have to know

to make sure that the effectiveness of the system

will not be impaired and that discarded components

do not cause injury or pollute the environment. Un-

deployed safety belt pretensioners and airbag mod-

ules contain explosive materials that can cause seri-

ous injuries to the general public and to people who

work at dealerships and workshops, scrap yards, and

recycling facilities. For this reason, the systems must

be properly handled when they or the vehicles they

are installed in are scrapped.

Automatic safety belt retractors

Every safety belt is equipped with an automatic

safety belt retractor on the shoulder belt. As long as

the safety belt is pulled out slowly, the shoulder belt

will extend to let you move freely under normal driv-

ing conditions. The automatic safety belt retractor

locks the belt when the belt is pulled out fast, during

hard braking and in a collision. The belt may also

lock when you drive up or down a steep hill or

through a sharp curve.

Undeployed safety belt pretensioners and airbag

modules can also pollute the environment. Never

abandon vehicles or vehicle parts. If your vehicle

must be scrapped, please make sure that it is done

safely, responsibly, and in compliance with all appli-

cable environmental regulations. Take it to a li-

censed facility that has the knowledge and experi-

ence to properly dispose of the vehicle and its safety

belt system. Your authorized Volkswagen dealer and

authorized Volkswagen Service Facility are familiar

with these regulations.

Safety belt pretensioner

The safety belt retractors for the driver and front

seat passenger have a pretensioner that helps take

the slack out of the safety belt and tighten it when

the pretensioner is activated.

The pretensioners are activated by the electronic

control unit for the airbag system in front, side, and

rear collisions, and in rollovers. By tightening the

safety belt, the pretensioner helps to reduce the oc-

cupant's forward movement. The belt pretensioner

works together with the airbag system; its function

is monitored by the airbag system indicator light.

WARNING

Improper handling, care, servicing, and repair pro-

cedures can increase the risk of personal injury and

death by preventing a belt pretensioner from acti-

vating when needed or by causing it to activate

unexpectedly.

A fine dust may be released upon activation. This is

normal and is not caused by a fire in the vehicle.

Safety belt load limiter

The pretensioner can be activated only once. If

a pretensioner has been activated, the safety

belt must be replaced.

·

The front and rear outboard safety belts also have

load limiters to help reduce the forces applied to the

body in a crash.

Safety belt systems including the pretensioners

·

Heed all safety regulations if the vehicle or in-

dividual components of the system have to be

scrapped. Your authorized Volkswagen dealer and

authorized Volkswagen Service Facility are familiar

cannot be repaired. Special procedures are re-

quired to remove, install, and dispose of this

system.

Safety belts

43

Never repair, adjust, or change pretensioners or

any other part of the safety belt system your-

self. We strongly recommend that you have any

work on the safety belt system performed by an

authorized Volkswagen dealer or authorized

Volkswagen Service Facility. They have the nec-

essary technical information, training, and spe-

cial equipment → page 316, Parts, accessories,

repairs, and modifications.

Even when they deploy, airbags provide only

supplemental protection.

·

Airbags work most effectively when used with

properly worn safety belts → page 36, Safety

belts.

The driver must always make sure that every

person in the vehicle is properly seated on

a seat of his or her own, properly fastens the

safety belts belonging to that seat before the

vehicle starts to move, and keeps the belts

properly fastened while riding in the vehicle.

This applies even when just driving around

town. Therefore, always wear your safety belts

and make sure that everybody in your vehicle is

properly restrained.

·

WARNING

Undeployed safety belt pretensioners and airbag

modules contain explosive materials that can

cause serious personal injuries if they are not

properly handled when they or the vehicles they

are installed in are scrapped.

WARNING

Never abandon vehicles or vehicle parts.

·

Sitting too close to the steering wheel or instru-

ment panel will decrease the effectiveness of the

airbags and will increase the risk of personal injury

in a collision.

Always scrap vehicles and vehicle parts, espe-

cially those containing undeployed airbag mod-

ules and undeployed safety belt pretensioners,

at a licensed facility that has the knowledge and

experience to properly dispose of the vehicle

and its safety belt and airbag systems.

Never sit closer than 10 inches (25 cm) to the

steering wheel or instrument panel.

·

If you cannot sit upright more than 10 inches

Undeployed airbag modules and safety belt

pretensioners are classified as Perchlorate

·

(25 cm) from the steering wheel and with your

back against the backrest, investigate whether

adaptive equipment may be available to help

you reach the pedals and increase your seating

distance from the steering wheel.

Material. Special handling may apply – see http://

www.dtsc.ca.gov/hazardouswaste/perchlorate. Obey

all applicable legal requirements regarding handling

and disposal of the vehicle or parts of its restraint

system, including airbag modules and safety belts

with pretensioners. Authorized Volkswagen dealers

and authorized Volkswagen Service Facilities are fa-

miliar with the requirements, and we recommend

that you have them perform this service for you.

If you are unrestrained, leaning forward, sitting

sideways or out of position in any way, your risk

of injury is much higher.

·

You will also receive serious injuries and could

even be killed if you are up against the airbag or

too close to it when it inflates.

·

To reduce the risk of injury when an airbag in-

flates, always wear safety belts properly. See

→ page 36, Safety belts.

·

Airbag system

An infant in a rearward-facing child restraint in-

Introduction

·

stalled on the front passenger seat will be seri-

ously injured and can be killed if the front airbag

inflates.

Your vehicle is equipped with a front airbag for the

driver and front seat passenger. The front airbags

can provide additional protection for the chest and

head of the driver and the front seat passenger

when seats, safety belts, head restraints and, for the

driver, the steering wheel, are properly used and

have been properly adjusted. Airbags are only sup-

plemental restraints. They are not a substitute for

safety belts that must be worn even though the

front seating positions are equipped with front air-

bags.

Always make certain that children age 12 or

·

younger always ride in the rear seat. If children

are not properly restrained, they may be severe-

ly injured or killed when an airbag inflates.

Never let children ride unrestrained or improp-

erly restrained in the vehicle.

·

Never put your feet on the instrument panel or

·

on the seat. Always keep both feet on the floor

in front of the seat to help prevent serious inju-

ries to the head, legs and hips if the airbag in-

flates.

WARNING

Never rely on airbags alone for protection.

44

Safety

Safety -> belts for Your Volkswagen Golf 4 Door 2023

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