Volkswagen Tiguan Owners Manual: Convertible child seats

Fig. 76 Some child restraints are equipped with lower anchors and a top tether, illustration Ⓐ and Ⓑ show the correct installation of the attachments applicable to a LATCH/UCRA seat. Figure Ⓒ shows the installation of the seat using the vehicle's safety belt system.

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

Children between 1 and about 7 years old must always be properly restrained in a child seat certified for their size and weight ⇒ Fig. 76 .

Once your child outgrows the rear-facing car seat (generally up to age 3), your child is ready to travel in a forward-facing car seat with a harness. Keep your child in a forward-facing car seat with a harness until he or she reaches the top height or weight limit allowed by your car seat’s manufacturer.

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 .

• Push the child seat down with your full weight to get the safety belt really tight so that the seat cannot move forward or sideways more than about 1 inch (2.5 cm).

• Fasten the harness webbing that is part of the child restraint system securely and pull it tight so that you can only slip one finger underneath the shoulder belt portion at the child's chest.

• 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 strap is being used to tie the child restraint 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.

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.

• Children on the front seat of any car, even with Advanced Airbags, can be seriously injured or even killed when an airbag inflates.

• A child in a rearward-facing child seat installed on the front passenger seat will be seriously injured and can be killed if the front airbag inflates – even with an Advanced Airbag System.

• The inflating airbag will hit the child seat or infant carrier with great force and will smash the child seat and child against the backrest, center armrest, door or roof.

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

• 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

An improperly installed child restraint can interfere with the airbag as it deploys and seriously injure or even kill the child – even with an Advanced Airbag System.

• If exceptional circumstances require the use of a forward-facing child restraint on the front passenger's seat, the child's safety and well-being require the following special precautions to be taken:
  • Forward-facing child seats installed on the front passenger seat may interfere with the deployment of the airbag and cause serious personal injury to the child.
  • Always make sure that the forward-facing seat has been designed and certified by its manufacturer for use on a front passenger seat with a front and side airbag.
  • Always carefully follow the manufacturer's instructions provided with the child seat or carrier.
  • Never install a child restraint without a properly attached top tether strap if the child restraint manufacturer's instructions require the top tether strap to be used.
  • Never put the forward-facing child restraint up against or very near the instrument panel.
  • Always set the safety belt upper anchorage to the adjustment position that permits proper installation in accordance with the child restraint manufacturer's instructions.
  • Always move the passenger seat to the highest position in the up and down adjustment range and move it back to the rearmost position in the seat's fore and aft adjustment range, as far away from the airbag as possible before installing the forward-facing child restraint.
  • Always make sure that nothing is in the way that prevents the front passenger's seat from being moved to the rearmost position in its fore and aft adjustment range.
  • Always make sure that the backrest is in the upright position.
  • Never place additional items on the seat that can increase the total weight registered by the weight-sensing mat and cause injury in a crash.
  • Make sure that the PASSENGER AIR BAG light comes on and stays on all the time whenever the ignition is switched on.
  • If the PASSENGER AIR BAG light does not come on and stay on, immediately install the forward-facing child seat at a seating position on the rear seat and have the airbag system inspected by your authorized Volkswagen dealer or authorized Volkswagen Service Facility.

• Always buckle the child seat firmly in place even if a child is not sitting in it. A loose child seat can fly around during a sudden stop or in a collision.

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

• 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.

• Be careful not to activate the switchable locking retractor when routing the safety belts around the head restraints. Only pull the safety belt out far enough to allow you to route the belt around the head restraint.