Chevrolet Equinox Service Manual: Seat Belt System Description and Operation Primary Seat Belts

Restraint System

The vehicle has front and rear seat belts that are the primary means of occupant restraint.Seat belts help to keep the occupants inside the passenger compartment and to graduallyreduce the impact forces during the following events:

Frontal impact type crashesRear impact type crashesSide impact type crashesRoll-over type crashes

All seat belt retractors have emergency locks. The retractors remain unlocked duringnormal operation and under normal driving conditions. The retractors remain unlockedduring normal conditions in order to allow free movement of the upper body of eachoccupant. A pendulum locks the seat belt webbing into position. The pendulum causesa locking bar to engage a cog on the spool of the retractor mechanism when the followingconditions occur:

A rapid extraction of the seat belt webbing from the retractorAn abrupt change in vehicle speedAn abrupt change in vehicle directionOperation of the vehicle on a steep upgradeOperation of the vehicle on a downgrade

The seat belts have an automatic locking (cinch) feature. The cinch feature is activatedwhen the seat belt webbing is completely extended from the retractor. The cinch featureprevents the webbing from extending beyond the position from which it is allowed toretract. Use of the cinch feature is recommended for securing a child seat. The cinchfeature may be cancelled by allowing the webbing to wind back completely into theretractor.After the cinch feature is cancelled, the webbing is unlocked. After the cinch featureis cancelled, the webbing will extend from the retractor. This vehicle is also equippedwith a supplemental inflatable restraint (SIR) system. Refer toSupplemental Inflatable Restraint System Description and Operation

Front Seat Belt System

The front seat belt system includes a driver and passenger seat belt pretensionerretractor. Both front seat belt pretensioners includes a seat belt switch in the seatbuckle which controls a reminder lamp and a tone alarm.

Note:The front passenger seat is equipped with a seat belt reminder sensor, which detectsan occupant. If the seat belt reminder sensor detects an empty front passenger seat,then the passenger fasten safety belt indicator will be disabled.

When the driver seat belt is buckled and the ignition switch is turned ON, the followingevents will occur:The tone alarm will not operate.The reminder lamp will not operate.When the passenger seat belt is buckled with an occupant sitting in the passengerfront seat, then the ignition switch is turned ON, the following events will occur:The tone alarm will not operate.The reminder lamp, which is located within the Passenger Air Bag Disable Indicator,will not be turned ON.When the driver seat belt is not buckled and the ignition switch is in the ON position,the following events will occur:The tone alarm will operate for 4–8-seconds and then go OFF.The fasten safety belt indicator will turn ON for 20-seconds, until the driver seatbelt is buckled.When the passenger seat belt is not buckled with an occupant sitting in the passengerfront seat, then the ignition switch is turned ON, the following events will occur:The tone alarm will operate for 4–8-seconds and then go OFF.The reminder lamp, which is located within the Passenger Air Bag Disable Indicator,will be turned ON.Rear Seat Belt System

The Rear Seat Belt System includes the following components:

The rear seat belt retractor is located at the wheelhouse panel and attached to thefloor panel by the rear seat shoulder belt retractor bracket.The rear and the middle seat belt buckles are attached to each seat.Child Seat Restraint System

Warning:A child in a rear-facing child restraint can be seriouslyinjured if the right-front passengers air bag inflates. This isbecause the back of a rear-facing child restraint would be veryclose to the inflating air bag. NEVER use a rear-facing childrestraint in this vehicle. If a forward-facing child restraint issuitable for your child, ALWAYS move the front passenger seat asfar back as it will go and then install the child restraint. Besure the child restraint position does not conflict with anyadditional requirements provided by the manufacturer. For moreinformation, refer to the vehicle owners manual and the instructionthat came with the child restraint.

A child in a rear-facing child restraint can be seriously injured if the right-frontpassengers air bag inflates. This is because the back of a rear-facing child restraintwould be very close to the inflating air bag. NEVER use a rear-facing child restraintin this vehicle. If a forward-facing child restraint is suitable for your child, ALWAYSmove the front passenger seat as far back as it will go and then install the childrestraint.Be sure the child restraint position does not conflict with any additional requirementsprovided by the manufacturer. For more information, refer to the vehicle owners manualand the instruction that came with the child restraint.

The child seat may only be used in a forward facing seating location. The child seatshould be installed and secured according to the manufacturer's directions. If thechild seat has a top strap, the seat will need to be anchored. Passengers should notbe allowed to sit at locations where the seat belts are being used to secure the childseat.

All vehicles are equipped with a dual-mode type retractor with emergency and automaticlocking features. The automatic locking feature is for restraint of a child seat.The child seat can be secured by pulling the seat belt all the way out to lock it.Then tighten the seat belt around the child seat.

If a child seat is to be used in the second seat position, a special dealer-installedanchor must be used in order to anchor the child seat top strap. This only appliesto the seats designed with the top strap provision and for the vehicles sold in Canada.In order to ensure the correct top strap angle, the child seat is only to be usedat the seating position for which the top strap anchor is installed.

Fasten Safety Belt Indicators

There are two fasten safety belt indicators for this vehicle. The driver fasten safetybelt reminder is displayed in the instrument cluster, and the passenger fasten safetybelt reminder is displayed in the passenger air bag disable indicator. The fastensafety belt indicator may only be ON during RUN. The fasten safety belt indicatorilluminates under the following conditions:

During the bulb checkThe inflatable restraint sensing and diagnostic module (SDM) sends the status of thedriver seat belt to the instrument cluster via serial data. The passenger seat beltstatus is sent to the passenger air bag disable indicator DIC via a hardwire. If anyof the seat belts are unfastened, the inflatable restraint sensing and diagnosticmodule will send a serial data message to the radio requesting a chime sound to beturned ON aftera bulb check.