2004 Honda Accord Owner's Manual - Page 12

Protecting Adults and Teens The rest of this section gives more detailed information about how you can maximize your safety. Remember, however, that no safety system can prevent all injuries or deaths that can occur in severe crashes, even when seat belts are properly worn and the airbags deploy. Introduction The following pages provide instructions on how to properly protect the driver, adult passengers, and teenage children who are large enough and mature enough to ride in the front. See pages 34 55 for important guidelines on how to properly protect infants, small children, and larger children who ride in your vehicle. 1.Close and Lock the Doors After everyone has entered the car, be sure the doors are closed and locked. Your vehicle has a door monitor light on the instrument panel to indicate when a specific door is not tightly closed. Locking the doors reduces the chance of someone being thrown out of the vehicle during a crash, and it helps prevent passengers from accidentally opening a door and falling out. Locking the doors also helps prevent an outsider from unexpectedly opening a door when you come to a stop. See page 83 for how to lock the doors, and page 64 for how the monitor light works. Driver and Passenger Safety 11