Volkswagen Tiguan Owners Manual: Infant seats

Fig. 75 Rearward-facing infant seat properly installed on the rear seat.

Read and follow the introductory information and safety information first⇒Introduction to the subject 

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that all infants should ride in rear-facing car safety seats (in which the child faces the back of the vehicle) starting with their first ride home from the hospital. All infants and toddlers (generally up to age 3) should ride in a rear-facing car safety seat as long as possible until they reach the highest weight or height allowed by their child restraint’s manufacturer. These infant seats support the baby's back, neck and head in a collision. Rear-facing child seats can be used safely only on the rear seat of the vehicle ⇒ Fig. 75 .

Before installing a child restraint on the front passenger seat, be sure to follow the special instructions and heed the warnings ⇒ The dangers of using child restraints on the front seat. .

• When using the vehicle safety belt to install a child seat, you must first activate the switchable locking feature on the safety belt to help prevent the child seat from moving ⇒ Using a child restraint on the rear seat .

• Attach the tether strap to the tether anchorage for the seating position where the child restraint is being installed ⇒ Securing a child restraint with the Top Tether strap .

• If a tether strap is being used to tie the child seat to the front passenger seat, make sure that it is not so tight that it causes the weight-sensing mat to measure more weight than is actually on the seat and turn the front passenger airbag on when it must be off (suppressed).

The airbag on the passenger side makes the front seat a potentially dangerous place for a child to ride. The front seat is not the safest place for a child in a forward-facing child seat. It is a very dangerous place for an infant or a larger child in a rearward-facing seat.

You must take special precautions when installing a child restraint with the vehicle safety belt or with LATCH/UCRA lower universal anchorages behind the front passenger seat or behind the driver seat. Always route the unused center seat safety belt and the unused safety belt for the seating position where the LATCH/UCRA child restraint is being installed around the rear head restraint behind the child restraint to help prevent a child from playing with the unused belt and becoming entangled in it.

Danger!

Not using a child seat, using the wrong child seat or improperly installing a child restraint increases the risk of serious personal injury and death in a collision or other emergency situation.

• Never install rearward-facing child seats or infant carriers on the front passenger seat even with an Advanced Airbag System. A child will be seriously injured and can be killed when the inflating airbag hits the child seat or infant carrier with great force and smashes the child seat and child against the backrest, center armrest, door or roof.

• Always install rearward-facing child seats and infant carriers on the rear seat.

• Never install a rearward-facing child restraint in the forward-facing direction. These restraints are designed for the special needs of infants and very small children and cannot protect them properly if the seat is forward-facing.

• If you must install a rearward facing child seat on the front passenger seat because of exceptional circumstances, but the PASSENGER AIR BAG light does not come on and stay on, immediately install the rearward-facing child seat at a seating position on the rear seat and have the airbag system inspected right away by your authorized Volkswagen dealer or authorized Volkswagen Service Facility.

• Always read and heed all WARNINGS whenever using a child restraint in a vehicle. See ⇒ Safety belts , ⇒ Airbag system  and ⇒ Child safety and child restraints .

Warning

A child in a child restraint installed with the LATCH/UCRA lower universal anchorages or with the standard safety belt on the rear seat may play with unused rear seat safety belts and become entangled resulting in serious personal injury and even death.

• Always secure unused rear seat safety belts out of reach of children in child seats such as by properly routing them around the head restraint for the seating position where the child restraint is installed.

• Never activate the switchable locking retractor when routing the safety belts around the head restraints.

• Never let anyone sit at the center rear seating position if the center rear safety belt has been routed around a rear head restraint.

Note

Be careful not to activate the switchable locking retractor when routing the center safety belt around the head restraint.

• Only pull the unused center safety belt out far enough to allow you to route the belt around the head restraint.

• When installing a child restraint, be careful not to get the belt caught in the structure of the child seat and become damaged, especially when the switchable locking feature has been activated.