Safety belts -> Introduction for Your Volkswagen Passat SUV Seventh Generation (2010-2014)

Safety belts  
¤ Introduction  
In this section you’ll find information about:  
Warning light  
Frontal collisions and laws of physics  
What happens to passengers not wearing a safety belt  
Safety belts protect  
Using safety belts  
Fastening and unfastening safety belts  
Safety belt position  
Safety belt height adjusters  
Safety belt extender  
Safety belt retractor, pretensioner, load limiter  
Service and disposal of belt pretensioners  
Properly worn safety belts are the single most effective means of re-  
ducing the risk of serious injury and death in a collision or other acci-  
dent.  
Damage to safety belts reduces their overall effectiveness and in-  
creases the risk of serious personal injury and death whenever the  
vehicle is being used.  
Check the condition of all safety belts regularly.  
If a safety belt shows damage to webbing, bindings, retractors or  
buckles, have the safety belt replaced by an authorized Volkswagen  
dealer or an authorized Volkswagen Service Facility  
.
More information:  
Adjusting the seating position  
Airbag system  
Child safety and child restraints  
Parts, accessories, repairs and modifications  
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 optimum protection only when they are used  
properly.  
Properly worn safety belts are the single most effective  
means of reducing the risk of serious injury and death in a col-  
lision or other accident. For this reason, always wear your safe-  
ty belt properly and make sure all passengers wear their safety  
belts properly as well whenever the vehicle is moving.  
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 vehi-  
cle 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.  
Always secure children in the vehicle with a restraint system  
appropriate for their age, weight and height Child safety and  
child restraints.  
Always fasten safety belts correctly before driving off and  
make sure that all passengers are properly restrained.  
Never attach the safety belt to the buckle of another seat. At-  
taching the safety belt to the wrong buckle will reduce safety  
belt effectiveness and can cause serious personal injury.  
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.  
Never strap more than one person, including small children,  
into any single safety belt.  
Never let children or babies ride sitting on your lap, and nev-  
er place a safety belt over a child sitting on your lap.  
Never wear belts over rigid or breakable objects in or on your  
clothing, such as eyeglasses, pens, keys, etc., as these may  
cause injury.  
Several layers of heavy clothing (such as a coat worn over  
top of a sports jacket) may interfere with proper positioning of  
the safety belt and reduce the overall effectiveness of the sys-  
tem.  
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.  
Safety belts offer optimum protection only when the seat  
backrest is upright and belts are correctly positioned on the  
body.  
WARNING  
Damage to safety belts reduces their overall effectiveness and  
increases the risk of serious personal injury and death when-  
ever the vehicle is being used.  
Never let safety belts become damaged by being caught in  
the door or seat hardware.  
Torn or frayed safety belts can tear, and damaged safety belt  
hardware can break in an accident.  
Inspect belts regularly for damage. If webbing, bindings,  
buckles, or retractors are damaged, have the belts replaced  
immediately with the correct replacement belts approved by  
Volkswagen for your vehicle, model, and model year.  
Safety belts that were subject to stress in an accident and  
stretched must be replaced with a correct, new safety belt,  
preferably by an authorized Volkswagen dealer or authorized  
Volkswagen Service Facility.  
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 re-  
paired.  
Never try to repair a damaged safety belt yourself. Never re-  
move or modify the safety belts in any way.  
Have safety belts, bindings, retractors and buckles replaced  
by an authorized Volkswagen dealer or authorized Volkswagen  
Service Facility.  
Always keep the belts clean. Dirty belts may not work cor-  
rectly and can impair the function of the inertia reel.