Mazda 2004 Miata MX-5, Owner'S Manual

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Essential Safety Equipment
Form No. 8S15-EA-03G
Child Restraint
Mazda strongly urges the use of child-restraint systems for children small enough to use
them.
You are required by law to use a child-restraint system for children in the U.S. and Canada.
Check your local and state or provincial laws for specific requirements regarding the safety
of children riding in your vehicle.
Whatever child-restraint system you consider, please pick the appropriate one for the age
and size of the child, obey the law and follow the instructions that come with the individual
child-restraint system.
A child who has outgrown child-restraint systems should use seat belts, both lap and
shoulder. If the shoulder belt crosses the neck or face, move the child closer to the center of
the vehicle .
A rear-facing child-restraint system should NEVER be used in the front seat with the air
bag system activated.
We have installed lower LATCH anchor points for LATCH style booster seats and infant
carriers that work without tethers only. Any other child-restraint system that has an upper
tether cannot be used in this vehicle because there is no tether anchor. Do not try to connect
a tether, the seat and head restraint combination allows you maximum adult space but any
attempt to install a tether point will result in too much slack in an accident or a very skewed
child seat location and pose a serious risk of injury or death to your child. Use the seat belts
to properly secure the non-tethered child-restraint systems other than the LATCH booster
seats and non-tethered infant carriers. Turn off the passenger air bag deactivation switch.
To expose and use the lower LATCH anchor points, which are affixed to the body and not
the seat, slide the seat all the way rearward which is the optimal vehicle seat position for all
children in this two seat car.
We have provided a deactivation switch that will disable passenger air bag inflation. Do not
switch off the passenger air bag without reading the "Passenger Air Bag Deactivation
Switch" (page 2-23).
Child Restraint Precautions
Proper Size of Child-Restraint System:
For effective protection in vehicle accidents and sudden stops, a child must be
properly restrained using a seat belt or child-restraint system depending on age and
size. If not, the child could be seriously injured or even killed in an accident.
WARNING
J07S_8S15-EA-03G_Edition2.book Page 13 Thursday, August 21, 2003 10:04 AM