1998 Toyota RAV4 Owners Manual - Page 68

Child restraint- -Child restraint precautions NOTICE Do not disconnect the battery cables before contacting your EV service station. Toyota strongly urges the use of child restraint systems for children small enough to use them. The laws of all fifty states in the U.S.A. now require the use of a child restraint system. Your vehicle conforms to SAEJ1819. If a child is too large for a child restraint system, the child should sit in the rear seat and must be restrained using the vehicle's seat belt. See "Seat belts" for details. D Toyota strongly urges use of a proper child restraint system that conforms to the size of the child on the rear seat. According to accident statistics, the child is safer when properly restrained in the rear seat than in the front seat. D Never install a rear- facing child restraint system on the front seat. In the event of an accident, the force of the rapid inflation of the airbag can cause severe injury if a rearfacing child restraint system is installed on the front seat. CAUTION D For effective protection in automobile accidents and sudden stops, children must be properly restrained using a seat belt or child restraint system depending on the age and size of the child. Holding a child in your arms is not a substitute for a child restraint system. In an accident, the child can be crushed against the windshield, or between you and the vehicle's interior. D Unless it is unavoidable, do not install a forward- facing child restraint system on the front seat. DA forward- facing child restraint system should be allowed to put on the front seat only when it is unavoidable. Always move the seat as far back as possible, because the force of a deploying airbag could cause death or serious injury to the child. 60